ry white man would
leave the ship if I struck a blow upon her. "Well, well," thought
I, "this is a hardship, but yet not a very serious one for me." The
difference between the wages of a calker and that of a common day
laborer, was an hundred per cent in favor of the former; but then I was
free, and free to work, though not at my trade. I now prepared myself
to do anything which came to hand in the way of turning an honest penny;
sawed wood--dug cellars--shoveled coal--swept chimneys with Uncle Lucas
Debuty--rolled oil casks on the wharves--helped to load and unload
vessels--worked in Ricketson's candle works--in Richmond's brass
foundery, and elsewhere; and thus supported myself and family for three
years.

The first winter was unusually severe, in consequence of the high prices
of food; but even during that winter we probably suffered less than many
who had been free all their lives. During the hardest of the winter, I
hired out for nine dolars(sic) a month; and out of this rented two rooms
for nine dollars per quarter, and supplied my wife--who was unable
to work--with food and some necessary articles of furniture. We were
closely pinched to bring our wants within our means; but the jail stood
over the way, and I had a wholesome dread of the consequences of running
in debt. This winter past, and I was up with the times--got plenty of
work--got well paid for it--and felt that I had not done a foolish thing
to leave Master Hugh and Master Thomas. I was now living in a new
world, and was wide awake to its advantages. I early began to attend the
meetings of the colored people of New Bedford, and to take part in them.
I was somewhat amazed to see colored men drawing up resolutions and
offering them for consideration. Several colored young men of New
Bedford, at that period, gave promise of great usefulness. They were
educated, and possessed what seemed to me, at the time, very superior
talents. Some of them have been cut down by death, and{273} others have
removed to different parts of the world, and some remain there now, and
justify, in their present activities, my early impressions of them.

Among my first concerns on reaching New Bedford, was to become united
with the church, for I had never given up, in reality, my religious
faith. I had become lukewarm and in a backslidden state, but I was still
convinced that it was my duty to join the Methodist church. I was not
then aware of the powerful influence of that religi