w, but next week do you tidy her up and send
her to me."

CHAPTER V.

Hasty was dying. She knew that it was to be so. For herself it was a
release which she hailed gladly; but the thought of leaving her child
rent her heart with anguish. She could see what the lot of that poor
waif of childhood, cast upon the sea of Southern despotism, would be,
and she longed to protect her from it. Yet what is a slave mother's
protection to her child? What blow can she arrest? What temptation
avert? None. Even a mother's claim is unrecognized, and the child's
affection unregarded. Hasty's strength gradually declined until Sunday,
when, feeling that death was near, she sent Fanny for Mrs. Jennings, for
the purpose of bidding her farewell, and asking her protection for her
daughter. Mrs. Jennings, on learning from Fanny the condition of Hasty,
immediately complied with the request. On entering the room she was
surprised and shocked at the ravages that mental and bodily suffering
had made on the once handsome woman. Seating herself by the bedside,
Mrs. Jennings inquired in what way she could ease the mind of the dying
mother. With earnestness did Hasty plead that her child might be rescued
from her present condition. She entreated Mrs. Jennings to buy Fanny
from Mrs. Le Rue, and bring her up in the fear of God, and beyond the
reach of a slave girl's perils.

All this Mrs. Jennings promised, and with many a word of comfort she
smoothed the passing of the immortal spirit into the unknown country.
She pointed to the Saviour, and told of his wondrous love, of the
equality of all in his sight, and of the saving power of his grace
extended to all, whether bond or free.

Just as the sun threw his last rays upon the spires of the city, Hasty's
spirit was released, and she was _free_. Fanny gave herself up to a
child's grief, and refused to be comforted. To the slave, the affections
are the bright spots in his wilderness of sorrow and care; and as an
Arab loves the oasis the better that it is in the midst of the desert,
so the slave centers the whole strength of his nature in his loved ones,
the more so that he is shut out from the hopes of wealth, the longings
of ambition, and the excitements of a freeman's life.

Mrs. Jennings verified her promise to Hasty, and soon after her death
purchased Fanny. But her whole soul revolted at a system which could
cause the suffering she had seen; and in the course of a few months she
prevailed