leab de ole man har?'

'De little sapling dat grow in de shade may die while it'm young; de
great tree dat grow in de sun must lib till de ax cut him down.'

These words were the one drop wanting to make the great grief which was
swelling in the negro's heart overflow. Giving one low, wild cry, he
folded his wife in his arms, and burst into a paroxysm of tears.

'Come now, my chil'ren,' said the old preacher, kneeling down, 'let us
pray.'

The whole assemblage then knelt on the cold ground, while the old man
prayed, and a more sincere, heart-touching prayer never went up from
human lips to that God 'who hath made of one blood all nations that
dwell on the face of the earth.' Though clothed in rags, and in feeble
old age, a slave, at the mercy of a cruel task-master, that old man was
richer far than his master. His simple faith, which looked through the
darkness surrounding him into the clear and radiant light of the unseen
land, was of far more worth than all the wealth and glory of this world.
I know not why it was, but as I looked at him in the dim, red light
which fell on his upturned face, and cast a strange halo around his bent
form, I thought of Stephen, as he gazed upward and saw heaven open, and
'the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the throne of God.'

Rising from his knees, the old preacher turned slowly to the black mass
that encircled him, and said:

'My dear bredderin and sisters, de Lord say dat 'de dust shill return to
de earth as it war, and de spirit to Him who gabe it,' and now, 'cordin'
to dat text, my friends, we'm gwine to put dis dust (pointing to the two
coffins) in de groun' whar it cum from, and whar it shill lay till de
blessed Lord blow de great trumpet on de resumrection mornin'. De
spirits of our brudders har de Lord hab already took to hisseff. 'Our
brudders,' I say, my chil'ren, 'case ebery one dat de Lord hab made am
brudders to you and to me, whedder dey'm bad or good, white or brack.

'Dis young chile, who hab gone 'way and leff his pore fader and mudder
suffrin' all ober wid grief, _he_ hab gone to de Lord, _shore_. _He_
neber did no wrong; he allers 'bey'd his massa, and he neber said no
hard word, nor found no fault, not eben w'en de cruel, bad oberseer put
de load so heaby on him dat it kill him. Yes, my bredderin and sisters,
_he_ hab gone to de Lord; gone whar dey don't work in de swamps; whar de
little chil'ren don't tote de big shingles fru de water up to dar knees.