ay to him, and by-and-by he had to go away;
you see, he couldn't do nothin', because Jane had come North _with his
consent_. So Jane and I, we came up here, and we get what work we can,
and take care of the child, and nurse the old man. He's miserable! he
don't often leave his bed, and he's not likely to get much better, for
he's old and completely broke.'

So Sallie had told me her history; but she had not done. Her active mind
had found an outlet in the little negro church at Cincinnati, of which
she was a member. Her intense religious enthusiasm mingled with her deep
perception of the wrongs and cruelties inflicted upon her race. Her soul
lay like a glowing volcano beneath that easy, careless Southern manner,
which might have led one at first to regard her as merely a jolly,
ignorant, negro-woman.

At a word which one day touched upon this chord, her work fell from her
hands, her eyes flashed, and she poured forth, in old Scripture
phraseology, her indignation, her aspirations, and her glowing faith.
She wholly identified her race with the Jews in their wanderings and
their captivity, and the old descriptive and prophetic words fell from
her lips, as if wrung from her heart, startling one by the wondrous
fitness of the application. There was such magnetic power in her intense
earnestness, her strong emotions, and her certain and exultant trust in
God and his providence, that it held me spell-bound. I listened, as if
one of the old prophets had risen before me. I never heard eloquence
like it; for I never witnessed such an intense sense of the reality and
force of the cause which had called it forth. I can not recall her
words; but I remember, after describing the cruelty and apparent
hopelessness of her people's captivity, their groans, their prayers to
the Lord, day after day and year after year, their darkness and despair,
their still-continued crying unto God for help, she concluded by
describing how the Lord at length would appear for their relief. 'He
will come,' she said; 'he will shake and shake the nations, and will
say: 'Let my people go free.' And though there should seem to be no way,
he shall open the way before them, and they shall go forth free. They
shall sing and give thanks, for in the Lord have they trusted, and they
shall never be confounded.' She paused. Her words made a deep impression
upon me. At that time, how dark and hopeless seemed the way! nothing
then pointed to a coming deliverance. Blin