ession of sorrow, however, when
Mr. ---- and myself bade them good night at the conclusion of the
service, was on account of my crying, which appeared to affect them very
much, many of them mingling with their 'Farewell, good night, massa and
missis,' affectionate exclamations of 'God bless you, missis; don't cry!'
'Lor, missis, don't you cry so!' Mr. ---- declined the assistance of any
of the torch-bearers home, and bade them all go quietly to their quarters;
and as soon as they had dispersed, and we had got beyond the fitful and
unequal glaring of the torches, we found the shining of the stars in the
deep blue lovely night sky quite sufficient to light our way along the
dykes. I could not speak to ----, but continued to cry as we walked
silently home; and whatever his cogitations were, they did not take the
unusual form with him of wordy demonstration, and so we returned from one
of the most striking religious ceremonies at which I ever assisted.
Arrived at the door of the house we perceived that we had been followed
the whole way by the naked noiseless feet of a poor half-witted creature,
a female idiot, whose mental incapacity, of course, in no respect unfits
her for the life of toil, little more intellectual than that of any beast
of burthen, which is her allotted portion here. Some small gratification
was given to her, and she departed gibbering and muttering in high glee.
Think, E----, of that man London--who, in spite of all the bitter barriers
in his way, has learnt to read, has read his Bible, teaches it to his
unfortunate fellows, and is used by his owner and his owner's agents, for
all these causes, as an effectual influence for good over the slaves of
whom he is himself the despised and injured companion. Like them, subject
to the driver's lash; like them, the helpless creature of his master's
despotic will, without a right or a hope in this dreary world. But though
the light he has attained must show him the terrible aspects of his fate
hidden by blessed ignorance from his companions, it reveals to him also
other rights, and other hopes--another world, another life--towards which
he leads, according to the grace vouchsafed him, his poor fellow-slaves.
How can we keep this man in such a condition? How is such a cruel sin of
injustice to be answered? Mr. ----, of course, sees and feels none of this
as I do, and I should think must regret that he ever brought me here, to
have my abhorrence of the theory of slave