members of the family. White,
as well as I, perceived the difficulty, for yonder slept the old folks,
there the sons, and a little farther along slept the daughters; and
but one other bed remained. Who should have this bed, was the puzzling
question. There was some whispering between the old folks, some confused
looks among the young, as the time for going to bed approached.
After witnessing the confusion as long as I liked, I relieved the
kindly-disposed family by playfully saying, "Friend White, having got
entirely rid of my prejudice against color, I think, as a proof of it,
I must allow you to sleep with me to-night." White kept up the joke, by
seeming to esteem himself the favored party, and thus the difficulty was
removed. If we went to a hotel, and called for dinner, the landlord was
sure to set one table for White and another for me, always taking him to
be master, and me the servant. Large eyes were generally made when the
order was given to remove the dishes from my table to that of White's.
In those days, it was thought strange that a white man and a colored
man could dine peaceably at the same table, and in some parts the
strangeness of such a sight has not entirely subsided.

Some people will have it that there is a natural, an inherent, and{312}
an invincible repugnance in the breast of the white race toward
dark-colored people; and some very intelligent colored men think that
their proscription is owing solely to the color which nature has given
them. They hold that they are rated according to their color, and that
it is impossible for white people ever to look upon dark races of
men, or men belonging to the African race, with other than feelings
of aversion. My experience, both serious and mirthful, combats this
conclusion. Leaving out of sight, for a moment, grave facts, to this
point, I will state one or two, which illustrate a very interesting
feature of American character as well as American prejudice. Riding from
Boston to Albany, a few years ago, I found myself in a large car, well
filled with passengers. The seat next to me was about the only vacant
one. At every stopping place we took in new passengers, all of whom,
on reaching the seat next to me, cast a disdainful glance upon it, and
passed to another car, leaving me in the full enjoyment of a hole form.
For a time, I did not know but that my riding there was prejudicial to
the interest of the railroad company. A circumstance occurred, however,