long black
arm lay extended, the hand holding to the side of the bed. Something
impelled Phillis to approach. At first she thought of her grumbling
disposition, her bitter resentment for injuries, most of which were
fanciful, her uncompromising dislike to the servants on the plantation. She
almost got angry when she thought "the more you do for her, the more she
complains." Then she recalled her talk the night before; of her being torn
away from her mother, and sold off, tied to a dead woman, and the storm and
the sharks; a feeling of the sincerest pity took the place of her first
reflections, and well they did--for the next idea--Phillis' knees knocked
together, and her heart beat audibly, for what was before her?

What but death! with all his grimness and despair, looking forth from the
white balls that were only partially covered with the dark lids--showing
his power in the cold hands whose unyielding grasp had closed in the
struggle with him. Setting his seal on brow and lips, lengthening the
extended form, that never would rouse itself from the position in which the
mighty conqueror had left it, when he knew his victory was accomplished.
What but death, indeed! For the heart and the pulse were still forever, and
the life that had once regulated their beatings, had gone back to the Giver
of life.

The two slave women were alone together. She who had been, had gone with
all her years, her wrongs, and her sins, to answer at the bar of her Maker.
The fierce and bitter contest with life, the mysterious curse, the dealings
of a God with the children of men. Think of it, Oh! Christian! as you gaze
upon her. The other slave woman is with the dead. She is trembling, as in
the presence of God. She knows he is everywhere, even in the room of death.
_She_ is redeemed from the slavery of sin, and her regenerate soul looks
forward to the rest that remaineth to the people of God. She "submits
herself to an earthly master," knowing that the dispensation of God has
placed her in a state of servitude. Yet she trusts in a Heavenly Master
with childlike faith, and says, "May I be ready when he comes and calls for
me."

Phillis was perfectly self-possessed when she went back to the kitchen.
"Nancy," she said, "didn't you think it was strange your grandmother slept
so quiet, and laid so late this morning? She always gets up so early."

"I didn't think nothin about it," said Nancy, "for I was 'sleep myself."

"Well there's no use put