he Yankees did not find
them, but they went into marster's store and took what they wanted. They
gave my father a box of hardtack and a lot of meat. Father was a
Christian and he quoted one of the Commandments when they gave him
things they had stolen from others. 'Thou shalt not steal', quoth he,
and he said he did not appreciate having stolen goods given to him.

I traveled with the white folks in both sections of the country, north
and south, after the _War Between the States_. I kept traveling with them
and also continued my education. They taught me to recite and I made
money by reciting on many of the trips. Since the surrender I have
traveled in the north for various Charitable Negro Societies and
Institutions and people seemed very much interested in the recitation I
recited called "When Malinda Sings".

The first school I attended was after the war closed. The school was
located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and was taught by a Yankee white
woman from Philadelphia. We remained in Chapel Hill only a few years
after the war ended when we all moved to Raleigh, and I have made it my
home ever since. I got the major part of my education in Raleigh under
Dr. H. M. Tupper[1] who taught in the second Baptist Church, located on
Blount Street. Miss Mary Lathrop, a colored teacher from Philadelphia,
was an assistant teacher in Dr. Tupper's School. I went from there to
Shaw Collegiate Institute, which is now Shaw University.

I married Aaron Stallings of Warrenton, North Carolina while at Shaw.
He died and I married Rev. Matthews Anngady of Monrovia, west coast of
Africa, Liberia, Pastor of First Church. I helped him in his work here,
kept studying the works of different authors, and lecturing and
reciting. My husband, the Rev. Matthews Anngady died, and I gave a lot
of my time to the cause of Charity, and while on a lecture tour of
Massachusetts in the interest of this feature of colored welfare for
Richmond, Va., the most colorful incident of my eventful life happened
when I met Quango Hennadonah Perceriah, an Abyssinian Prince, who was
traveling and lecturing on the customs of his country and the habits of
its people. Our mutual interests caused our friendship to ripen fast and
when the time of parting came, when each of us had finished our work in
Massachusetts, he going back to his home in New York City and I
returning to Richmond, he asked me to correspond with him. I promised to
do so and our friendship after a