w prone I am to err on the right side and on the left.
Bless the children! O Lord, visit and re-visit their tender minds. Lead
them in the paths of uprightness, for thy name's sake. I ask not riches
nor honor for them; but an inheritance in thy ever-blessed truth." She
left nine children, the youngest but six years old, to mourn the loss of
a most tender careful and self-sacrificing mother.

While her bereaved husband was still under the shadow of this great
grief, he was called to part with his son Isaac, who in little more than
a year, followed his mother, at the early age of fifteen. He was a
sedate gentle lad, and had always been a very pleasant child to his
parents. His father cherished his memory with great tenderness, and
seldom spoke of him without expressing his conviction that if he had
lived he would have become a highly acceptable minister in the Society
of Friends; a destiny which would have been more agreeable to his
parental feelings, than having a son President of the United States.

Soon after this melancholy event, Friend Hopper went to Maryland, to
visit two sisters who resided there. He was accompanied in this journey
by his wife's brother, David Tatum. At an inn where they stopped for
refreshment, the following characteristic incident occurred: A colored
girl brought in a pitcher of water. "Art thou a slave?" said Friend
Hopper. When she answered in the affirmative, he started up and
exclaimed, "It is against my principles to be waited upon by a slave."
His more timid brother-in-law inquired, in a low tone of voice, whether
he were aware that the mistress was within hearing. "To be sure I am,"
answered Isaac aloud. "What would be the use of saying it, if she were
_not_ within hearing?" He then emptied the pitcher of water, and went
out to the well to re-fill it for himself. Seeing the landlady stare at
these proceedings, he explained to her that he thought it wrong to avail
himself of unpaid labor. In reply, she complained of the ingratitude of
slaves, and the hard condition of their masters. "It is very
inconvenient to live so near a free state," said she. "I had sixteen
slaves; but ten of them have run away, and I expect the rest will soon
go."

"I hope they will," said Isaac. "I am sure I would run away, if I were a
slave."

At first, she was disposed to be offended; but he reasoned the matter
with her, in a quiet and friendly manner, and they parted on very civil
terms. David Tatum often use