talk--how de
pore wite man am kep' down har; how he'm ragged, an' starvin', an' ob no
account, 'case de brack man am a slave. How der chil'ren can't get no
schulein', how eben de grow'd-up ones doan't know nuffin--not eben so
much as de pore brack slave, 'case de 'stockracy want dar votes, an
cudn't get 'em ef dey 'low'd 'em larnin'. Ef your folks know'd all de
truf--ef dey know'd how boff de brack an' de pore w'ite man, am on de
groun', an' can't git up, ob demselfs--dey'd do suffin--dey'd break de
Constertution--dey'd do _suffin_ ter help us. I doan't want no one
hurted, I doan't want no one wronged; but jess tink ob it, massa, four
million ob bracks, an' nigh so many pore w'ites, wid de bressed Gospil
shinin' down on 'em, an' dey not knowin' on it. All dem--ebry one ob
'em--made in de image ob de great God, an' dey driven roun' an' 'bused
wuss dan de brutes. You's seed dis, massa, wid your own eyes, an' you
kin tell 'em on it; an' you _will_ tell 'em on it, massa;' and again he
took my hand while the tears rolled down his cheeks; 'an' Scip will
bress you fur it, massa--wid his bery lass breaf he'll bress you; an' de
good Lord will bress you, too, massa; he will foreber bress you, for
he'm on de side ob de pore an' de 'flicted; his own book say dat, an' it
am true, I knows it, fur I feels it _har_;' and he laid his hand on his
heart, and was silent.

I could not speak for a moment. When I mastered my feelings, I said: 'I
_will_ do it Scip; as God gives me strength, I _will_.'

Reader, I am keeping my word.

This is not a work of fiction. It is a record of facts, and therefore
the reader will not expect me to dispose of its various characters on
artistic principles--that is, lay them away in one of those final
receptacles for the creations of the romancer--the grave and matrimony.
Death has been among them, but nearly all are yet doing their work in
this breathing, busy world.

The characters I have introduced are real. They are not drawn with the
pencil of fancy, nor, I trust, colored with the tints of prejudice. The
scenes I have described are true. I have taken some liberties with the
names of persons and places, and, in a few instances, altered dates; but
the events themselves occurred under my own observation. No one
acquainted with the section of country I have described, or familiar
with the characters I have delineated, will question this statement.
Lest some one who has not seen the slave and the poor whi