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THE BEQUEST OF
DANIEL MURRAY
WASHINGTON. D, C.
1425

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glawe • Girl's • Story-

UEING AN. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
Hate Drumgoold.

BROOKLYN-NEW YORK.

$cOfc-

A SLAVE SIRL'S STORY.

CHAPTER I.
|\NCE a slave girl, I have endeavored to till
I the pages with some of the most interest-
K^f, .-', ing thoughts that my mind is so full of,
wtfy*' and not with something that is dry.
This sketch is written lor the good of those that
have \vi itten niul prayed Hint the slaves might be n
freed people, and have schools and books and learn
to read and write for themselves; nnd the Lord, in
His love for us and to us as a race, has ever found
Tlio bequost ot favor in His sight, Tor when we were in the land of
Daniel Murray, bondage .He heard the prayers or the faithful ones,
Washington, D. C. 3gjp™n'e '° **"""' lhem °Ut °f the Land of
1925. For God loves those that are oppressed, and will
save them when they cry unto him, and when they
put. their trust in Him.
Some of the dear ones have gone to the better
• land, but. this is one of the answers to their prayers.
We, as the Negro Race, are a free people, and
God be praised for it. We, as the Negro Race,
need to feel proud of the race, and I for one do with
all my heart and soul and mind, knowing as I do,
for I have labored for the good of the race, that
their children might be the bright and shining
lights. And we can see the progress that we are
making in an edupational way in a short time, and

I think that we should feel very grateful to God
and those who are trying to help lis forward. God
bless such with their health, and heart full of that
same love, that this world can not give nor taketh
away. There are many doors that are shut to keep us
back as a race, but some are opened to us, and God
be praised for those Hint are opened to the rare, and
I hope that they will be true to their trust and be of
the greatest help to those that have given them a
chalice. There are many that have lost their lives in the
far South in trying to get an education, but there
are many that have done well, and we feel like giv
ing God all the praise.
I was born ill Old Virginia, in or near the Val
ley, the other side of Petersburg, of slave parents,
aiid I ran just call to mind the time when the war
began, for I was not troubled then about wars, as I
was feeling as free as any one oonld feel, for I was
sought by all of the rich whites of the neighbor
hood, as they all loved me, as noble whites will
love a child, like 1 was in those days, and they
would send forme If 1 should be at my piny and
have me to* talk for them, and all of their Mends
learned to love me and send me presents, and I
would stand nnd talk and preach for some time for
them. My dear mother was sold at the beginning of the
war, from all of her little ones, nfter the death of
the Indy Hint she belonged to, and who wns so kind
to my dear mother and all of the rest of the negroes
of the place; nnd she never liked the idea of hold
ing us as slaves, nnd she nlwnys said that we were
all that she had on the earth to love ; and she did
love me to the last.
The money that my mother wns sold for was to
keep the rich man from going to the Weld of battle,
ns lie sent a poor white man in his stead, nnd should

the war end in his favor, the poor white man should
have given to him one negro, and that would fiilljh
pay for all of his service in the army. Hut my GoS
moves in a way unknown to men, and they can
never understand His ways, for He can plant His
footsteps on the North, the South, the East, th6
West, and outride any man's ideas; and how wont
derful are all of his ways. And if we, ns a race)
will only put. our trust in Him, we shall gain the
glorious victory, nnd be a people whose God is the
Godot all this broad earth, and may we humble
ourselves before Him and call Him, Blessed.
I told you that my white mother did not like the
idea of calling us her slaves, and she always prayed
God that I should never know what slavery was,
for she said I was never bom to serve ns did the
slaves of some of the people that owned them.
And God, in His love for m« and to me, never let
me know oT if, ns did some of my own dear sisters,
for some of them were hired out nfter the old home
wns bioken up.
My mother was sold at Richmond, Virginia, and
n gentleman bought her who lived in Georgia, nnd
we did not know that she was sold until she was
gone ; and the saddest thought was to me to know
which way she had gone, and I used to go outside
and look up to see if there was anything that would
direct me, and I saw a clear place in the sky, and if
seemed to me the way she had gone, nnd I wntohetl
it three and a half years, not knowing what that
meant, and it wns there the whole time that mother
wns gone from her little ones.
On one bright Sunday I asked my older sister to
go with me for a nice walk and she did so, for she
was the one that was so kind to the rest of ns — and
we saw some sweet flowers on the wayside and we
b gan to have delight in picking them, when all at
o noe I was led to leave her alone with the flowers
a nd to go where 1 oonld look up at that nloe, clear

spot, and ns 1 wanted to get. as nenr to it as I could,
1 got on the fence, and ns I looked Hint way I saw
a form coming to mo that looked like my dear
mother's, ami calling to mv sister Frances Id come
at once and see if Hint did not look like my dear
mother, nnd she ciune to us, so glnd to see us, and to
ask after her baby that she was sold from that was
only six weeks old when she was taken from it ;
and 1 would that the whole world could have seen
the joy of amother and her two girls on that heaven-
made day — a mother returning back to her own once
more, a mother that we did not. know that we, should
ever see her face on this earth more. And mother,
not feeling good over the past events, had made up
her mind that she would take her children ton part
of this land where she thought that they would
never be in Imndnge any more on this earth.
So she sought out the head man that was placed
there by the North to look after Hie welfare of lately
emancipated negroes of the South, to see that they
should have their lights as a freed people.
This gentleman's name was Major Bnilley, who
was a gentleman of the highest type, and it was
this loving man that sent my dear mother and her
ten little girls on to this lovely city, nnd the same
time lie informed the people of Brooklyn that
we were on the way and what lime we should reach
there; and it seemed ns though the whole city
were out to meet us. And ns God would have
it, six of us had homes on that same day, nnd the
people had their carriages there to take ns to our
new homes.
This God-sent blessing was of a great help to
mother, as she could get the money to pay her rent,
which was ten dollars per month, and God bless
those of mv sisters who could help mother to care
for her little ones, for they had not been oalled
home then, and God be praised for all that we have
ever did for her love nnd comfort while she kept
house.

The subject was only a few years old, when
she saw her heart so llxed that she could not leave
me at my mother's any longer, so she took mo to be
her own dear, loving child, to eat, drink, sleep and
to go wherever sho went, if It was for months, or
even years ; I hud to be there ns her own and not
as a sijrvaiil, for she did not like that, but I was
there as her loving child for her to care for me, and
everything that I wanted. I had-; truly do I feel
grateful to my Heavenly Father for all of those
blessings that came to me in the time that I needed
so much of love and care.
This dear lady, Mrs. Bettie House, my while
mother, died at the beginning of the war. and then
the time came for poor me to go to my own dear
mother ngain Tor awhile, and soon the time came
for ns to be parted asunder, where we did not see
one another any more until after the war of 1805.
And we all thought that, mother wns dead, for we
did not hear any tidings of her after she had
reached the far South.
I shall never forget that lovely Sunday morning
when I saw my dear mother returning ngain to her
own native home and her own dear ones once more,
but mother would not go to the house with us, ns
she did not. want to take the law in her own hands.
So she told sister and 1 where she wns stopping nnd
told us to come to her nfter we had told tlie gentle
man where we lived, and I went to him nnd told
him Hint mother had come back nnd wanted to have
ns to come where she wns staying. He, Mr. House,
did not want us to go, and I took my oldest sister
nnd marched out to go where mother was and he
did not like that freedom, and he tried to find
which way that we had gone to the place, but he did
not find ns, and we had been to the place where the
people were that had homes, and that they would
kill ns at first sight, and that was all that I wanted
to see, and I did not find one thing true of their
sayings.

Mother now has to tell the gentleman where to
Hud all of her own dear ones whom God in His love
for had kept for her, and she should have been very
grateful to Him that her life had been prolonged and
all that she had left alive were still alive, awaiting
for her to return, and finding that, her children were
all over in different places, and now she has to tell
where to find them, through the help of the Lord.
And when she had gone for them and was told that
some of her own were dead, she said that she
would go and dig' up their bones; but they were
not dead, as was said, and she sent the soldiers after
them and sometimes they were told the same as
mother was, and some of the little ones had to be
sent for two or three times before they were
brought. My oldest sister knew where they all
were, so she could help to get the rest
One of my sisters who lived at the same place
where we were living was detained and the soldiers
had go three times before they could get her, for
they said that she had died since we had left, for I
would not stay at the place as he, Mr. House, did
not want ns to go on Monday to see my mother, on
whom I should look to, as she had come lo claim
her own I told my oldest sister that we would
leave, and my sister Annie was at one of Mr.
House's sons, who found that we were going to see
mother and she came with us, so that, left three
there yet ; that was sister Lavinia and the baby,
sister Rosa, and they let mother have the baby, as
it was" a sickly child ; and she had to send there
three times before she could get sister Lavinia, and
the last time the soldiers, with horses, went, and
the House's took off all of her clothing and put
them into water to keep them from taking her. and
they had to take blankets and wrap her in them,
and bring her to mother, and she took sick from
that time from the long ride, and getting cold she
nearly died.

9

One they hid in the garden ; one they put in the
cellar, and so these were hard limes for mother and
us, who were in the road one night walking to find
some place to get out of the rain and lei those wet
garments get dried, for it was so dark that we could
not see a hand before us.
But after all Hie hard trials we reached this lovely
city, where there are those that love and fear God,
and who love the souls of the negro as well as
those of the. white, the red, the yellow or brown
races of the earth, for we have ever found some of
the people who do not forget us day or night in
their prayers, that God will send a blessing to us as
a race- To my story of a life of slavery :
My dear mother had a dear husband that she was
sold from also, and he, not knowing that he should
ever see my mother any more, as the times were
then, he waited for a while and then he found him
another wife, and when mother came and found that
he was married to another she tried to get him, but
she could do nothing about it ; so having to leave
him behind to look after the last one and her fam
ily, although it seemed hard for her to do so.
My mother bad a large family to take care of, but
the Lord was good to her and helped her, for she
had laid some of them away, and then there were
ten little girls to care for. My brother was lost to
us and to mother also, as he wns sent to the war to
do service for his owner, and we did not know if he
was alive or not. and he was my mother's only boy,
as this is a girl family that you do not see or hear
of every day, for that made seventeen girls to have
battle through life had they all have lived to this
time.

10

CHAPTER II.

'Y mother did not know where my brother
was before she was sold, for we heard that
he had tried to get over to the Northern
side and had been taken to Richmond,
put into Castle Thunder, and that was
that we heard of him during the
war. When, to our surprise, we were on our way
North we learned that, he was going to school; that
the Northern people had teachers there in the South
to teach them to read and to write; and he learn
ing that we had gone North made himself ready
and came on, but he did not know where to find us,
so getting a place to work, and the same time tell
ing those that he worked for that his people were
here somewhere, they found mother and got her to
go to the place where he was, and sure enough
there was her dead and lost boy, and the joy and
love that came to that dear, loving mother and her
only son on that day will never be known on this
side of the grave, ns they have both gone to the
land of the blest, for my brother never used any bad
language in his life, and when he took the Lord
for his own. it was his meat and his drink to live
for Him and to follow where He led, and he died a
true child of the King.
A few years later and mother's name was enrolled
in the Lambs' Book of LiTe, for she gladly answered
to the roll call and fell asleep in the arms of Jesus.
Well, my first place was in Adelphi street, with
n family by the name of Hammond, nnd I was

11
there to help do the work, and when they found
that I liked to woik so well they wanted me to do
so much that I left that place and got me another,
for I did not get out to church or to Sunday-school,
and that was not the way that I had been trained,
for when I was three years old my white mother
had taken me to church with her on horseback.
Well, I said that I saw these children going to
school on every week day but Saturdays and on
Sundays to Sunday-school, and I there at work as
if it were not the lord's day, and I never shall like
to work on that day as I was born on Sunday morn-
VVell I left there not knowing what to do, and a
white lady took me in and told me to stay there
until T could get another place, and I helped her
girl on the next day to finish all of the work and 1
made ready to look for a place, and God did help
me to find one and I shall never forget Him as long
as I live, for that was with a fine family and they
showed me love at once and I showed them love
in return. , . .
They were members of the Washington Avenue
Baptist Church, and a more beloved family never
lived This was the Bailley family— Mr. and Mrs.
Bailley, Miss Abbey Bailley, Mr. Bailley' s sister,
a young lady in her teens. Miss Ella Bailley, and a
nice boy by the name of Johnny Bailley, and they
were a nice family and they took me to church on
Sunday morning and sent me to Sunday-school in
in the afternoon with their children, and what a
heaven it seemed to me from the place where I was^
living at first. '
~~*"I shall always remember my dear white mother.
of whom I spoke of in the first part, and whom I
shall call yonr attention to in many more pages of
this little Life Book, and shall always remember
her with love and the kindest feeling. She was a
member of the trne Methodist Church and was

12
never seen by her darling child from the House of God
Ws nHUl,r re,mTber- for l ^as with her at all
times on the family horse, Kimble, and when I got
™ II, i , n" tl,S,1met»« 'hat a horse could have,
and l„s name was Charlie Engrnm, and she paid
a huge pr,Ce for him, and he was the grandest
oi'se orVho,SI W' "I"1 •\Wn8 "* MW>* '» ^ »"«
n e n^ v rWhe" 1I.W,W " chil(l' tor l <Iid not
ik Hi /i °'.-i,ny Ki,Ul °f h"rse- i,n(1 J woiil.l
befo,; T m" ,hret rl,in* in tl,e morning, even
wl temn h °"Id '',a7e my bp«»krnst, and my dear
I won Irl . el' r',ld f Ve ib f Jr ,ne !ls 8be k''«w that
1 would have that ride first, for it always made her
and JilT" '"if66 h°W we» l had 1«B™«d to ride
ride or TV'? °"e "'f lad t""*1'* me llow «>
ncte, foi she had me on the horse when 1 was three
tn'rnm ? f''°"1 'J'** time Until sl,e Went home
io come out no more forever.
I was lwo and. a half years, as near as I can re
hn?„T: 'y,''6" n,y own slave mother's house was
mi ned to the ground, and I shall never forget that
Saturday night. My mother's husband had gone
to a dance and mother was there alone with her lit
tle ones, and we all came near gntting burned up.
we were all asleep when I awoke and found the
house in a blaze. I did not know enough or I was so
much scared that I did not call to my mother, but
t funk that she heard me when I rolled out of the
oe(t, and she was out of the bed quick as could be
and getting the feather beds she threw ihem out of
the door and got the children and threw them out.
""nr " « ¦ J1!1 t1?* ,,mt sl,e did not have »hem all, said.
My God! I have not all of my little ones;" and
she ran in the house to look and she found me under
the bed for I saw so much fire that I was getting out
or it, and God be praised that I was saved from that
hie, and I have not had the time to run after any
tires since, for that fire was all the fire I want

13
I had not to stay there then, for the time is near
at hand when I shall go to my white mother's to live,
for she is in Tennessee and will come home soon to
be with her darling child ; and when she shall start
again I shall go, and now the limes are all well for
me as then, but the time has come that the Lord has
called her away from her child to be with Him, and
and how could I live without her? And she was to
leave her sick child there for her own mother to
care for, and God will raise up friends in this lonely
world to look after those that cry unto heaven,
believing that He is a hearer of the true prayer. I
shall always remember that Saturday afternoon
when I was lying so sick when my dearlv beloved
white mother look so sick, and they had the doctor
there for me, and he had to see after her the same
time, and she was getting so much worse all the
lime and the doctor had not any hopes of her, and
they took me from the room where she was, to
a room upstaiis and she had them to lake me down
to look at her once more. That was on Sunday and
on Monday she heard the call to her lo come up to
that blessed land where she should be forever with
the Lord and her dear husband.
What a glory it must be for those that have
washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb.
I can call to mind when she the blessed one,
that I call my white mother, went to get me some
shoes and a fine hat, and the one that sold them
told her, as she looked at a hat I wanted, that its
price was twenty dollars, but I was not thinking of
the prices then as I do now, and I cried to have that
hat and did not want any of the others, nnd he told
my white mother that was too much for to spend
on a hat for me. but she told him nothing would
cost too much for her to get for me, and she got
that fine hat for me and he had his money ; so you
can see how much she loved me. And now that

14

dear one is gone from me, and it seemed the dearest
one on this earth, and I did not think then that I
could have lived without her whom God had given to
me for this world, but God, in His wonderful love
for me and to me, raised up friends for me and
helped me to find favor in the sight of all the
people, for they seemed to love me for her sake, and
I did not get well for a long time.
This subject came to this dear lady, Mrs. Bettie
House, when but, three years old, and from the day
she came to that house she walked in her footsteps,
for she. Mrs. House, could not move, but she was
right in the way ; and when she used to set me
down for my play at certain times in the day, when
she was going in her room for prayer, she would
find me near before she was through; and if ever
there was a loving woman she was one, and I owe
my love to God for such a one as she wns to cnre
for me all of those nights of watching by my bed,
while the angels watched from above to see that 1
should rise from that bed and live to be a woman
that would live for God and bless His name in all
the earth, knowing that I am tempted and tried on
every hand. But. trusting in His omnipotent power
I shall reach the land of the blest where that dear
one has gone to come out no more forever.
Well, to my story :
Dear public, hoping that this little life will be
read, with the greatest love for humanity, and I am
sure that if you have any love for the God of heaven
you can not fail to find a love for this book, and I
hope you will find a fullness of joy in reading this
life, for if your heart was like a stone yon would
like lo read this little life.
1 had many a hard spell of sickness since the
death of this lady and the doctors said that I could
not live beyond a certain time, but every time they
said so Doctor Jesus said she shall live, for because I
live she shall live also ; and He came to me and

15

laid His strong arm around me and raised me up by
the power of His might, and to see the salvation of
our God in the land of the living. And today I
can praise His name for His wonderful love to the
children of mnn.
I told you that my brother was the oldest child
of eighteen and he was in his teens when he was sent
to the war ; and it was a great thing to him when he
found himself in the hands of a people that were
so kind and good to him and showing such love for
him, after being knocked around by those he had
been staying with, and it seemed like a heaven to
him ; and he did learn fast, and he frit so glad to
learn to read and to write, and he would sit at
nights when he was through with his daily toil and
write, so that he could let some one look at it and
see how well he was gel ting along, and I saw how
anxious he was to get an education. I asked my
lady to let him come there and wait on the table,
and have time to go every day to school, and she
did so, and he would go to No. 1 School lo Mr. C.
Dosey, and he did nicely in his studies, nnd God
be praised that he had that much to take home with
him, and I shall always feel glad thnt I gave him
that much.
I was thinking of my dear brother when the news
reached me thnt he was in this city, and I can never
tell any one how glad that I was to see the only boy
that my mother ever had. for we all loved him
denrly, as he cared for all the rest of the children
and it was no more than natural thnt we should ;
nnd my mother thought so much of him that she
often would say if we were all boys she would not
have to worry, for boys could do so much better
than girls. But I think that she found that the
girls were the best in her old age, for if one could
not be near her the other would, and if there is a
time in the life of a parent it is when they are
helpless, and a boy is not any good to care for

16

a sick parent and they have to go without care.
But God be praised Tor all of the love and honor
Ihat wns bestowed on mother before she went home,
for God has told us to honor our fathers and bur
mothers that their days may be long u,)OI, f|,e i,,,,,)
which the Lord, thy God, giveth thee ; and we can
not do them enough honor for the love and the nll-
night watching that we have when we are babies
nnd if we have all oT the love nnd care Hint, I had, I
am sure that a mother lias her hands full ; and
when now I think or the care and the worry that it,
was to take care of my sick body. I can not help
telling some one of it, that they mav feel as grate
ful tis I fee], for God did give them love for me, and
it there is one that should feel grateful it is this
feeble-bodied slave girl, for I was such a slave to
sickness, and God was so good to raise me, even me,
and f will say, praise His name.
I was telling you of my white mother being so
true to the attendance in the services of God, and 1
only wish that, you could have known her as I did,
for she was more like one of the heavenly host Ihnn
she was likens, who are such sinful creatures. Now,
it seems like sometimes that we have not much love
for t|ie One who had so much love for us that He
gave all the dear One that He had to bring us to
to Himself, that we should taste of those joys
which Be has for those who hnve washed their
robes and made them white in the Blood of the
Limb. The Lord helped me to find love nnd favor with
all nfter my while mother was gone from this earth,
when I frit that I would soon follow the darling one
to the blessed mansion ; and I would look to see her
come lo me, and I went ns soon ns I wns well to
the house nnd lay on the steps, nnd it wns not until
we had left the dear old plnce before I could be
kept from there; and I wish that the whole world
could have seen how much she was like nn angel,

17
and I would to God she could see me to-day ; it
would do you good. Lord, lead me on day by day.
and help my feeble life to be formed like her's,
tor when I think how she used to watch by my bed
at nights, while the angels watched by my bed
from on high to see that I should rise; and is not
God the One that I should serve? And I love to
serve Him and honor Him, fur He is my all in all ¦
for she has shown me how great her love was for
me and till of humanity, and 1 love to think of her
ove and to know how wonderful it would be to see
her sweet fnce on this green earth, nnd it does seem
to me as if I could almost see her by thinking of
her so much.
I have said that we came to this lovely city in
the year of our Lord 1867), and in thnt year I went
to live with a good family that were members of
tile church, where the Lord spoke peace to my
soul, under the preaching of the Rev. David Moore
then the beloved leader of the noblest band of God's
children on this earth, and a more beloved people
never lived. They were always on Hie lookout for
any strangers that, might come in the church, and
they soon found me out as I was a stranger in the
Monday night meeting. The dear pastor came to me
the first one, for he did not stop to think whether I
was an African or what nation I had come from, bnt
he saw in me a soul, and he wanted to find out if
there wns any room for Jesus to live or what
I should do with Jesus, or what should I do for
Him. who hnd done so much for me; nnd my poor
heart was ready and waiting for some one to cpme
to its rescue. It was then nnd there that I yielded
my life nnd my all to the one Hint can save to the
uttermost all that come unto Him by the Lord Jesus
Christ. I followed my Lord and Master in the Jordan in
the yenr of our Lord 1800, nnd those sweet moments
have never left me once. As the years go by they

18
seem to be the more sweet to my sinful soul, and I
ain trying to wing my way to these bright mansions
above, where I shall meet those dear ones who have
gone before.
I have had some of the darkest days of my life
while on this voyage of life, but when it is dark
Jesus says, "Peace, be still and Tear not, for I will
pilot thee."
And then my heart, can sing :
" Jesus, Saviour, pilot inn
Over HfVH tempestuous Bea,
Unknown wnvi'B before mo roll,
HiiliiiK rocks and treacherous shoals,
Chart ami conipaKfl r.ome from Thee,
. Jeans, Saviour, pilot me."
I know that lie has led me through paths seen
and unseen and has been my pilot, for we have been
called lo pass through many a dark trial, but God
has been able for it all.
My dear mother had four of her children culled
home to heaven within a short time. Some oT them
left her for the land of love in the snme month, nnd
there seemed like nothing but God's displeasure on
ns, but it was God's love to us, for we know that
they are safe from all harm and danger in this
world of sin and distress. Some of them I never
saw more after landing in this city, but I shall see
them and know them when I shall have fought the
blessed battle on this side, and the victory shall be
on the Lord's side. Then I can sing with the angels
above :
•• Crown Him, Crown Him, angels.
Crown Him, Crown Him King of Kings,
Crown Hlin, Crown Him. angels.
Crown Him, Crown Him, Crown the Saviour King of Kings.
What joy there will be to crown Him as our
Heavenly King and to know that we are the inhab
itants of that kingdom.

19

CHAPTER III.

i^jjljj WAS baptized

the

by the Rev. David Moore,
pastor of the Washington Avenue
».|iY Church, who is one of the best beloved
*A&<r ones on this earth, for he never over
looked me in the time that m}- soul needed
the Lord Jesus Christ to save me from my
sins and make me a child of the King, which makes
me whnt 1 am lo day. I bless God thai he ever put
it. in my dear mother's mind to come to this place,
for she wns not a Christian, and Hie heaviest bur
den that I have carried was praying for one that
was the head of the great family where she should
have been a leader of her dear ones to the Lamb of
God. that taketh away the sins of the world. But
God be praised for a little one to lead so many, for
of all the people of mothers there was not one that
knew of this love of God, and how many were the
souls given for me to work for. I told my mother
that 1 had found Jesus nnd was going to follow
Him. She said, "My child, you are too young, I
am afraid that yon will not holdout." And I said,
^' Mother, if I should look to myself I should fail,
but I look to Jesus. I have given my life and He
can hold me in the power of His might nnd can
keep me from failing ; so I can not go against your
will, but I must follow Him, for you know how He
has saved me from sickness so many times, and
now the time has come for me to pay my vows unto
Him for making me His own." I went forward in

20
the way that He marked out for me and Ihen to
pray that she might be saved.
My grandma was almost one hundred years old,
and when she heard that the Lord had saved me
and that I was praying for her she saw her own sins
and asked me to come on to visit all of my people,
and I, getting ready, got my oldest sister to go with
me. I found that the way was opened for work, lis
there we began the work, and they were looking to
see something that they would never see in this
world, and sweetly they were all brought to the Sa
viour. Grandma went home to carry the good
news and some of the rest have gone with the same
good news.
Later years some of my sisters came nnd some
did not come. Then some got tired and went back
to the world, but I have no joy like the joy there is
in the Lord.
My dear mother found the peace in Jesus before
she went to that land of song. When the Lord
sent the death angel to call her name she was ready
to answer, " Here am I ready to go in, to come out
no more."
My mother left us on the 2Sth day of February,
1894, in the triumph of faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. What a blessed thought, that I shall soon
be with her on the other side of the river to help
her "Crown Him Lord of all."
To my story :
The subject of this sketch, as I said, was born
again under the preaching of Rev. David Moore, of
the Washington Avenue Baptist Church, which is
one of the noblest churches of this city, and it lias
some of the best people in it of any church in the
world, for there is more done for those in need in
other lands. When I became a member of that
church I could not read in any book, for I did not
know a letter. There was a gentleman in the
church by the name of Mr. Lansberry, who finding

21
that I was one of those that wasgoing to learn, went
to a store and bought me a First Reader and gave it
to me, and I did not lose any of my time at nights
I went to the meetings every night and came back
and got a lady, who was a sister of Mr. Bailey, to
be my teacher, and sometimes she used to be so
very sleepy that she could not keep her eyes open
and I would shake her and say that my lesson was
to be learned, and it was always well learned. Then
I went to the Sunday-school to let my Sunday-
school teacher hear it on Sundays, and he, Mr.
\\ ard, always said that he was sure that I would
learn so fast. I would soon catch up with his Bible
Class. It was not long before I co.ild lay my
Reader down and take my lessons in the Bible, and
I can bless God for all of this, for the love and the
kindness that I received of all that knew me was a
token of His great love for me, and I know that He
was near me all the time to bring me nearer to the
Light. My mind was then fixed that I shouldsome
day go to school and I could not, rest night or day
I was so anxious to go to school ; but my dear
mother could not send me. She had poor health
and no one to help her to take care of the younger
children, and 1 had to work and do the best I
could with my books, hoping that the time would
come that I should see myself sitting in some school
studying, the same time asking mother to let two of
the other children go to school every day. She did
let them go for awhile, but some one came and
wanted her to let them go to work out again and
she let them go out to work.
Well, I said that I would go to school some day,
and they had a fine time laughing at my high ideas
and I let them laugh all that they wanted to, but I
worked hard and long to get the means that I
might be able to go, as I said, to some pay school,
where I could not be stopped at any time. When I
was almost ready to leave for some school the small-

22

pox took me, and I was laid aside for three or four
years ; that is, I was not well, and thought that my
plans were all broken. I slill trusted in God, for I
knew that He would do all things for me as long
as I put my trust in Him.
Well, as time rolled on I found myself improving
slowly and I was then living with a dear, good lady
by the name of Miss L. A. Pousland, who is one of
the loveliest ladies that ever lived, for she loves me
to-day as a mother, though she is in eightieth odd
year and is doing well for an old lady.
We were living in South Oxford street when I
took sick of the smallpox and she did not want me
taken away from there, as she wanted to take care
of me herself, but 1 felt that, it would be too much
for her to wait on me, so the doctor said that it was
only a heavy cold that I had taken and would be all
right in a week or so. But I knew that I had a
fever of some kind, so I asked that I might go to
my mother's house, and she sent for the carriage
and I went home.
When I had reached my mother's I felt some
what better, only to grow worse all the time, and
my eyes getting so that I could not see when it was
day or night. I had a nurse that knew all about
the disease and a good doctor that the city health
doctor let take charge of the case after he had been
out there to see me : and knowing that the case was
taking, that no on6 should get it he let me remain
at home for nine days, and then I went to the hos
pital and was there till the symptoms were well
dried. When the doctor found out that, I wns able to
come out he, Dr. Schenck, wrote to my lady to send
a carriage out. She did so at once and I was nt my
mother's for awhile, and then my lady came to see
me and told me how the woman did the people in
the house, so I told her how bad my limbs were,
nnd she said that if I conld go home with her and

23

tell her what to do, she would get on without the
woman and let her go. My mother made me ready
in a little while and I was soon at the dear old home,
344 Carlton avenue.
God be praised for the way he has led me since I
was three years old until this day, for it was His
hand that taught me to remember all of these long
years. I have in my mind the time at the old home
when they put me on the fine dressing table in
front, of Hie large mirror, while the Rev. Mr.
Walker baptized me in the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Ghost, according to the Metho
dist tests in those days, and I always thought that.
was to give me my Christian name ; but when Hie
Lord had spoken peace to my soul He led me to fol
low in his footsteps, and I gladly followed Him to
bn buried to the world— that is, to be put out of
sight, and that is what the word means. I have
found it to be one of those times when the Father
was pleased with His own dear beloved Son, and I
know that He will be pleased whenever we do please
Him, for God so loved the world of sinful men that
He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever
believeth in Him should have everlasting life, for
God sent not His Son into the world to condemn it,
but that, through Him all mighi believe in Him and
have everlasting lifr.
I wish that I could know that the whole world
was receiving this life, and that we all could help
to crown Him, as the angels are crowning Him, the
King of Kings nnd Lord of Heaven and of this
earth. It is a blessed hope to know that God is love, and
they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit
and in. truth.
I joined the church in 1866 and began to try and
follow in this good old way that leads from earth
to glory, and it has not always been a path of the
sweetest flowers, but I have never failed to find my
all in the Lord Jesus Christ.

24

He led me on day by day, and after awhile I
found that He had led me to go away from home
that I might get ready for the work that my heart
was so full of, for every time that 1 saw the news
paper there was some one of our race in the far
South getting killed for trying to teach and 1 made
up my mind that I would die to see my people
taught. I was willing to go to prepare to die for
my people, for I could not rest till my people were
educated. Now they are in a fair way to be the
people that God speaks of in the Holy AVord, as He
says that, Ethopia shall yet stretch forth her hand
and all nations shall bow unto her. I long to see
the day that the Ethiopians shall all bow unto God
as the One that we should all bow unto, for it is to
Him that we all owe our homage and to be very
grateful to Hi in for jur deliverance as a race. If
we should fail to give him the honor due there
would a curse come to us as a race, for we remem
ber those of olden times were of the same descent
of our people, and some of those that God honored
most were of Hie Ethiopians, such as the Unica and
Philop, and even Moses, the law-giver, was of the
same seed.
And not long ago darkness hung over the face of
this race and God moved upon the face of this dark
earth and the light, came forth.
How wonderfully solemn and yet grand are these
inspired thoughts and woids of a race whose God is
so loving and forgiving, and we, contemplating the
grand mystery of the world beyond this vale of
tears, for God "does preserve all that He has planted
on this earth.
No subject can surely be a more delightful study
than the history of a slave girl, and the many
things thnt are linked to this life that man may
search and research in the nges to come, and I do
not think there ever can be found any that should
fill the mind ns this book.

25
This is a perfect representation of things as I can
remember them, and to think how wonderful are
these most beneficent streams of God's providence
to all those of our race that have prayed that their
loving children might feel the warm streams of an
education flowing through every child. Tens of
thousands of miles, North, South, West and East,
God has thrown His mantle of love all around us,
and it is that which should make us love and fear
Him. who is able to destroy both soul and body ;
for Bis searching eye rests on all of the negro race,
to see what use they are going to make of their time
and talent, and I hope that nature will teach them
that all of our talent belongs to the great God who
gave us our being.
Nature awakens in our being a feeling that we
must lay at His feet that we may get Hie blessed
approval, for we are so changeable, but God is un
changing. He is omnipotent, and all else is transi
tion. Yet, God rules the oceans, the mountains, the
valleys, and all that walks the broad earth.
Well, now I shall tell yon something more of my
working in the City of Brooklyn. I lived with the
Bailey family the first year, and when they went
away in the summer, as all of the rich used to do,
I stayed in the house for the summer and they w-ent
across the ocean nnd were away for some time. The
next year I did not like to stay in the house alone,
so Mrs. Bailey got me a place with a nice friend of
hers, and when she came home, thonght that she
was going to have me to come back to live with her
but I stayed with her friend as there were but three
in the family and the work was not hard, and it
gave me more time to study, and Mrs. Stafford's son.
Willie, was so glad to have me as his pupil that I
had not any trouble to get my lessons ready for
him. He went to school every day and he could
not get through his head how It was that I could
not go to school every day as he did. His mother

26

told him how it was and his eyes would fill with
tears and he would ask his mother and father to
let, him stay at home on Sundays to read the Bible
to me while I should get, the dinner ready, and
they would let him slay, for he wanted to see me
going to the House of God on Sundays as they did
anil was willing to have anything lo eat that I
might have the opportunity of attending the church
and Sunday-school. His mother would let me go
to the Sunday-school on every Sunday, for they
were good people and were of the kind that de
lighted in their help and they were members of the
Church of The Messiah, and they were a very
happy family. They did not think that, anything
was too good for my enjoyment, and that is the
reason that. I stayed with them and did not go back
to the lady as she wanted me to do. I could not
tell which seemed to love me most, and then her
son was so willing to teach me, as Miss Abbie
Bailey had, so I made up mind that as I l.ad more
time there for study I would remain, and I
had some 'of the best days of my life when I began
to learn so fast, and he would bring me before his
mother and father that, they might hear me recite
my lessons nnd see bow well I was doing under him
as my teacher. They felt the more glad to see how
much he was interested in teaching me. Later on
in years I was taken sick with the smallpox
and was carried nwny to the hospital. He was
taken sick while I was away and his mother said
that he would call for menbout the last one on this
earth, nnd she tried to find me, but she did not
know where I was for some lime after his death,
and then she felt so bad to think that he was gone
and did not see me; for he nlwnys loved to be with
me that he might hear me sing, ns I wns nlways on
the wings of song if I were at my work ; nnd thnt
is the way thnt I have been nil of my life.
When I got well of the smallpox, as I said, I

27
went back to the place where I was living when 1
look the malady, nnd there I tried to work, but was
very feeble for a long time and under the doctor's
care all of the time and spending more than I could
make, for some of the doctors charged me two dol
lars a visit, and that will use up a poor person' a
earnings very soon.
But all of this time I kept in mind the idea that
I should save every cent that I could that I might
send myself to school some day. That day did
come when it seemed ns dark ns any night I had
ever seen, when- I should go away to boarding
school and spend that little and should not have
enough to finish ; but I went, taking the Lord ns
the guide or my life, and the way began to grow
bright before me nnd I could see all . the clouds
lolling away and the brightness shining forth. I
went to Washington, D. C, and entered the Way-
land Seminary, under the leadership of Professor
G. M. P. King, of Bangor, Maine, with his other
teachers and professors under him ; all of whom
are a noble band of teachers. And the way the
Lord did help me in my studies is a blessing to the
dear ones that I had under me for the eleven years
thnt I was in the school work, nnd the way they
progressed .
1 said that I attended the Wayland Seminary for
three years, of eight months, making it in all of my
stay there twenty four months, which may seem
long to some, but it seems short tome, though lam
very glad that I had that much time there for it
was a fountain of blessing to my soul.
I left Washington, D. C, in the year of 1878 and
came to Brooklyn and went to work again to earn
money to go off to school, nnd when I did go it wns
to another school in the Blue Ridge, Alleghany
Mountnins, where the very air of heaven seemed
to fan the whole hill sides, and there never wns a
more lovely place on this earth for one to learn a

28
lesson, for we could see the key to all lessons
where nature had designed for a grand school of
learning. At this place wns to be found one of the
best schools of learning that has been built by man.
And I think of the hundreds and thousands of
teachers and preachers and lawyers and doctors
that these two schools have turned out in the dif
ferent parts of this country, and many of them are
in other parts of the world.
And all of this has been done through the
chinches, and God be praised for those that have
given of their means.
At Harper's Ferry I spent four years and they
were years of hard labor, but they were just as sweet
as they could well be, for the Lord went with me nnd
I found favor with all of the teachers. When I
had spent the first eight, months there I learned to
have the greatest love for my beloved teachers, and
when the time came for me to leave the teachers I
thought that my poor heart would break. Though
I was coming to my own people in Brooklyn, I felt
that I was leaving my best friends on the earth and
so did all of the students.
Well, now the Summer had passed and gone and
the Fall came when God permitted all of the lov
ing ones to come together once more to take up the
cares of studies again. So the time of the winter
season was always a blessing to all, and some found
it the happiest time of their lives, for they found
Jesus precious to their souls nnd could study so
much better than they could before.

"OS?

20

CHAPTER IV.

CSp-HERE were sometimes ns many as sixty or
\|]jlf seventy brought to the knowledge of the

pr^ir; Truth, and sometimes we had to go out of
•^.^ the class-room into the |>rnyer-room, for
the Lord wns among us in the Spirit's power.
When in 18?6 I went out for good, thnt I might
be of some use to my own people I started in the
strength of the Lord, and He did give me the great
est victory ns a school teacher, for all of the people
sought me to take their children in my school and
give I hem a start. Iliad my hands full of work,
but I let them come in for the Board always sent
them to me find out if I could find room and time,
and I always made the time for when scholars find
that a teacher loves them they will do any amount
of hard studying.
And so the time rolled on, with everything to
make me feel like hard work, in the strength of the
blessed Lord.
I wns three years old when I was leaving my own
dear mother's home to go to my new mother's
home, or I should say to my white mother's home,
to live with her, and I left my mother's as happy as
any child could leave her own home, for this lovely
lady was always at my mother's to see me ever
since I could remember anything, and she was the
joy of my little life and I seemed to be all the joy
of her sweet life. She had learned to love me from
the time that I came into the world.
She had watched me in my cradle and longed for

30

the day to come when I should be able to walk, for
she knew that I would follow her everywhere she
should go. She said to all of the friends around
that if I should live to remember her that would be
all that she would ask.
And so' she read her blessed Bible and prayed until
she saw her prayers answered, and then she went.
to her home in glory, where she has watched and
waited and longed to see the good old ships of those
who have washed their robes and made them white
in the Blood of the Lamb.
I can never tell any one how many happy hours
that Iliad, for the only trial that I had was that, of
sickness, which caused me to be of a great care to
her all of her life. It was her delight to wait on
me and to have her cousin, the doctor, to be always
ready to come at any moment she should send for
him. He was a good doctor by the name of Sims,
and I always liked him, too, until I had the typhoid
fever and I had to take some oil. I did not like to
take it and he held my hands so that they could
pour that in me, and he and 1 fell out.
My white mother used to give it lo ine, but she
did "not let me know what she was giving me, for
she put some molasses in the oil nnd cooked lliem,
so I should not know. I would not have khown if
I had not seen her one night have the old bottle in
her hand putting the oil in the kettle, which she
was making ready for me, nnd I looked up and saw
what it was and", ns young ones will do, did not
want to lake molasses and butter which I had been
taking so long, for I had to take it on every night ,
or I could not speak.
Later on she moved from the place where she was
and bought another farm where it was not near the
water, as the doctor thought that was not n good
place for me to be, and I was not sick so much as I
had been at the former.
The first hard spell of sickness on this farm was

31

the fever that I was sick of at the time that she
took sick of the yellow jaundice, and she turned as
yellow as any thing could be. She went home with
that awful malady, thinking of me and of what my
future should be in God's hands, to love and bless
the world in which I should live if it should be the
will of Him who knows the future of all the people
that live on this earth.
So God has been a father and a loving mother
and all else lo me, and sometimes there has been
enough of trials in this life to make me almost for
get that T had this strong arm to save me from these
trials and temptations ; but when I Hy to Him I
lind all and in all in Ilim.
He is my rock and my hiding place in the time
of trials, for a child that had all of the love and
comfort of a queen was now left lo her own dear
mother, who had so many more and had to work so
hard to take care of us all that I have seen sit up
all night long working for her little ones. I used
to feel Sorry to see her sitting up alone at her
work. I would get up out of the bed and sit wiih
her till daylight ; for I wns always near mother
after the dear one had been plucked from this
earth to await my arrival.
I have found Hint learning is to refine nnd ele
vate the mind, so we should cultivate our hearts
and minds and live to bless those we meet. We
should neither flatter nor despise those that are
rich or great.
It was not long after this dear one had been
called away before we were all in different places,
and to share the fate that comes to those that are
left behind those that have been good nnd kind.
Then the time is coming that mother is to be tnketi
from the whole family of little ones nnd they are to
he left in the hands of others. That is one of the
saddest times of life for children when they do not
know if they shall ever see her face on this green

32

earth any more ; and if to-day we should hear the
cries of those Utile lambs it surely would break the
heart of a stone, for remember that we have the
same feelings for our mothers as any race of people
and our hearts will melt as easily as the richest
ones on this earth.
But God in His great love to us meant that we
should see the return of our dear mother to her
own and that he would send her and the children
out of the Land of Egypt as He did of old when He
had tried to teach the rulers how wrong it was to
sell and buy human flesh, and this was one of those
awfi.il sins thnt had to be repented of by those that
could and would not see the truth. When the wrath
of God came upon them and took all of the slaves
away from them they could see nothing but tears and
curses to the God of Heaven, and some of them
cursed the earth, the stars, the moon. The ne
groes that had prayed so hard to God said
that w-as the cause of the war, for they could see
something in their prayers that seemed to reach up
to heaven, and the answer had come for their de
liverance. Is not this a great God who can hear the prayers
of the faithful ones when they pray ? Do not we
owe our lives and our all to this great and good
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Ghost 1 And if we should fail to recognize Him We
should have a worse sin fall on us than ever any
one race had.
Well, to my story :
My brother James was my mother's oldest
child. He was sent away to the war to keep his
master at home, nnd we did not hear from him for
a long time, but we made up our minds Hint if he
did not get killed he would go over to the Northern
side ns soon ns he should get the chance, though
we did not see him to tell him to do so, for all of
my mother's children were like herself in the love

33

of freedom. My mother was one that the master
could not do anything to make her leel like a slave
and she would battle with them to the last that she
would not recognize them as her lord and master
and she was right.
My brother did try to get away, but he was
caught and locked up in Richmond, Va., and for a
awhile we heard them say that he would be killed,
but God was there to help him, so he came out all
right and went to work on the breastwoiks, and when
he did try ngain he got over on the Northern side.
They almost caught him again, but as the Lord wns
his leader at night, he made his escape, and to hear
him tell of that river that he crossed and how he
walked on the water and he was so scared that he
did not know he got wet ; but I know that he did
get wet, though. He said the Lord carried him over
the river without letting him get wet. I am sure
that I could not help laughing at my brother to
hear of such a thing, for there never was a time that
I have read of since the time of Peter that any one
was called to walk on the water. The Lord was
there Himself to show Peter how small his strength
was when he trusted in his own strength, and Peter
would have failed entirely if his Lord and Master
had not been there.
And so it would have been with my dear brother.
He would have been taken by the Southerners, and
that would have been his last trial on this side of
the grave.
My sister Frances was hired out and we did riot
see her from one Christmas to the other, for she was
a good way off where she could not get home. She
was treated very badly by some of those where she
lived and her limbs had been sprained so that she
could hardly move on them. When later on the
Lord had it so arranged that she was taken home
to live, where she could be cared for, she soon got
better and was able to go about helping mother,

34

with the rest of the children, for my brother who
had to help her to care for the children was gone,
and she was all the help that my mother had, lor I
was not large enough to do much and had not been
put to mind the children.
The gentleman that my dear brother belonged to
was a Methodist and a minister. He did not want
to go to the war and so he sent my poor brother to
defend what belonged to him, nnd he did not get
the good of it after all. for my brother wns deter
mined that he would gain his freedom if he could
and he tried and did not, get, tired of trying.
Then my sister Annie was given to the gentle
man's married son and she was not with us, and
sister Tempy Green was with the minister, and she
was one of the dead ones that mother had a time to
get. Maggie, Susie, Martha and Mary were at the
same place where mother was sold from, and she
went and got them at, once. It was like a dream to
them to see how far she had been sold and to see
her back there again.
Sister Lavinia was at the same place where I was
and she was treated very badly by the man's own
daughter, for she would whip her without cause.
Sister Rosa was at the same place and she was
three and a half years on mother's return. As I told
you, she was six weeks old when mother was sold
' nnd that made it three years and three months that
mother was gone from her own native home to a
a part of the country where she did not know
any one. not even the great God who had been so
good to her all of those years when she was gone ;
and nil of her whole life God wns watching over
her nnd giving to the world one child who was to
help to educate the down-trodden race which was,
through Abraham Lincoln, to be God's leader for
the children that were in Egypt in the South, and
God with this leader and the race, they came
through fire and smoke, and now they can see the

35
light of another day. Some of the race sav that
they are sometimes, in their thoughts, ashamed
that they belong to a race that has been in bondage,
but I have never felt that way, for I am glad that
things have been as they were, for God has moved
in a way that is unknown lo men and His wonders
Be has performed, and has planted His footsteps in
the South, the West, th - East and in the North,
and is watching the people and asking Ihem what
doors are they opening for the Ethiopian.
Father Abraham is calling to the Ethiopians to
know what has been the result of the great emanci
pation, and can we not send the echo back with a
jublilee, that we are marching on in education in
double file, and longing to see the day that not one
of your sons and daughters of this broad earth but
what shall learn to read and write ; though it may
bless the earth with a tenfold blessing that they
will not forget to bless God with a hundred fold.
Three cheers for this great Emancipator!
And while he may sleep yonder, forgotten may
be by some, his name has a green spot in my heart
and shall ever keep green while on this side I stay.
And there is another one who sleeps yonder
whom I shall not forget and that is Father John
Brown, whose ashes are as dear to me as the apple
of mine eye ; and how can I forget him after four
years of study at the dear old place where he was
taken from and hanged, because he saw the wrath
of God upon the nation and came forth to save his
people'. Another one who will ever be shining bright in
the hearts and minds of the whole negro race, and
what shall I say of him who led ns to the greatest
victory the world has ever known— Ulysses S.
Grant, the loved of all nations and the pride of all
lands ; he whom the world admires, to call the
blessed, who mourned for this land to see the end,
and God did help him in ways that man knew not,
save himself and his God.

36

And there is another dear one that God will help
me to remember with all of the love and gratitude,
and it. makes me feel sad as I have to speak of her
once more and it may be that I shall have to speak
of her many times, as she was the one that brought
me on to this lovely city, and that is my mother,
who has gone to that land of song where there is no
more of sickness or sorrow and where God will dry
every tear.
There is an another I remember and that is
Father Charles Sumner, who for years wrote and
also fought and spoke, as never man spoke, for the
race and the Civil Rights Bill, that it might notdie,
but it should be a rock for the defence of the race.
And there is another that I shall not leave out of
this book, for if I did the book would be incom
plete, and that is Frederick Douglass, the greatest
of men among the negro race of this country or of
any land on the globe. He wrote and spoke and
went all over to try to do all hecould for his race, and
who could forget such men as these? I would say in
true lines, may the earth fail to move sooner than
I forget those noble lives. Honored be their mem
ories and honored be their ashes, for their lives
shall live in the memories of all coming generations
and their ashes will make rich the soil whereon
they lie. .
May God give ns some more of such men ns these
for they are few, and we need so many now to go
forth and speak the truth.
And there is denr Doctor David Moore, thnt my
pen, I fear, would fall to move, if I did not do him
honor. He was beloved and honored to the last
dny of his stay in the Washington Avenue Baptist
Church, and it was on nccount of sickness that he
had to leave this city and go up in the northern part
of this State that he might be able to preach the
Word, and God did make him well nfter he had
left Brooklyn ; and bis work has been crowned with
great success.

37

God did use him in this city to His own glory in
saving men, women and children from the very door
of sin and the dread of the life which is to come.
And may the God of Heaven and the Ruler of this
earth be with him ns he comes near the Jordan to
make its waters calm, and enter in the gate and
hear the blessed " Well done, good and faithful
servant, enter thou in the joys of thy Lord."
J. D. Fulton is one that will have oneof the high
est places at God's right hand, for he started out to
look after the Ethiopian's rights when he was only
seventeen years of age. What can be said of a long
life like his, that has written and traveled and
spoke to such large crowds of hearers in the inter
est of the race which I represent. How I have seen
those silvery locks fly as his warm heart melted to
tears as he pleaded for the downtrodden of the
Ethiopians ; and if God has ever heard a prayer I
know that He hears the prayer of this dear good
man, for I have seen the answer come in mighty
power, in m;iny ways, to the saving of precious
souls, and the way that he wrote about the negro
in this country and its problem.
He wns called to the Hanson Place Church to
preach and he worked hard, with God's help, and
improved the church and many were brought to the
Saviour through the Word, such as the Lord will
own nnd bless at the last day.
Doctor Fulton is one of the best men on this
broad earth to love and labor for Immunity and I
do not think thnt my race, the noble Ethiopians,
should ever forget him as long as God shall spare
his life. When the time shall come when the denr
blessed one shall be cnlled to the world above, nnd
that active form is stilled in death and when that
silvery voice is no longer heard in the defence of
the downtrodden Ethiopians and the oppressed of
any land, that he will near the " Well done, good
and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord."

38

And to think of one who has written so long
never more to wield the pen in the cause of the
church nnd God's children is n sad thought to the
writer, for she has loved him as a lather and he shall
ever have a green spot in my heart, for 1 shall never
forget his kind words tome in my lonely hours.
Dr. J. D. Fulton's first wife was one of the love
liest women that ever lived, for I have been to their
house to dine with the family and I found that Mrs.
Sarah Fulton and family were the same that they
were in the church. There was the sweetest home
that I ever saw in all my life, for the father and Hie
mother were all love, and then take Miss Jennie,
the eldest child, and she was a lovely girl, and there
was Miss Nellie, another lovely girl, and Sadie,
the youngest girl, nnd she was her father nil the
way, and the boy Justin, who came to the family
while I was away. I ihink he has a large heart like
his denr father, nnd I do know that if he only is a
good man like his father God will own and bless
him. Dr. Fulton's second wife. Aunt Laura, wns a
lovely woman, for we all learned to love her when
her first husband wns living.
Miss L. A. Ponsland was one of the best Indies I
have seen in this city, for it wns from her house that
I went to the Wnylnnd Seminary in 1875, nnd to
her love I owe a love of gratitude, and to all that
may come to me as worldly goods I shall always
think of Miss L. A. Ponsland and of her love to me
when I was getting ready for school nnd the letters
full of love to me all the time while I was prosecu
ting my studies. Oh, how she longed to see me out
in the world doing my Master's will and helping to
teach, for she is a Boston lady, and they are a
learned people and like to. see all others learn, and
that is the way, like the old Pilgrim Fathers
were, that there should be a grand common level
for all after them.

39

To my story of child in House's family :
This Mr. John House had the largest sum offered
to him for a girl as I wns that wns ever offered for
nny one and he would not accept the whole world
of money, on account of the one thnt had loved me
and cared for me, for he well knew that nfter all of
those prayers that he would be sinning ; nnd
he would not have had my mother sold away
from her children if his brother would have let
him know it in time. He went away to attend
court and to his surprise found that my mother was
sold. He ca..ie home at once to let us know of it,
and he was the one that called in my sister Frances
nnd sister Annie and sister Rosa, for the two oldest
that I speak of fell to a dead brother who had drank
himself to death, and these were sold to pay for his
drink. He had been dead for some time and those
that he owed now came in to get their pay, which
was their only chance; and the money that they
f;ot did not do them much good, thanks to God, for
f. was in the time of the war and the money was of
the Confederate money, nnd it wns during the great
struggle when this money wns called In never more
to be the money of these United States, for this
Union needs the kind of money thnt will be good in
all lands, nnd I am glad that the people can see it
now ns they never snw it before.

-?!=»«=#?-

40

CHAPTER V.

|8M| AM glad thnt the dear Lord has laid it in my
f III heart at this time in lire to let the world hear
|? O something of a life that they will all be filled
*$Sj#f with a love for one whom it has been a de
light to meet at any and nil times.
Mrs. Sarah Potter, who is a beloved and dear lady,
who is the bright morning star of the Washington
Avenue Baptist Church, and who is one of the
brightest lights that this city has or ever will have,
for she is all over this city looking after the needy
ones, comes from a noble family and all of Hie fam
ily have been foreign missionaries. She has been a
home missionary for many years and God has
blessed her and her labors, and her dear father was
doing missionary work in India for fifty years, and
God" blessed his work there. Now that his dear
work has been finished in (his woild and he has
gone to his reward, his works do follow him, for
the number that have been saved through his
preaching eternity will tell.
His form will no more walk out on the field of
battle for the Lord, and who can fill the place of
such a life-work as this child of the King has
filled ? And to go home to his beloved and blessed
Master with his arms full of blessed sheaves; and
ns we think of him, how we wonder in our daily
walks if we shall go to the Saviour with onr hands
full or shall we go empty-handed and thus to meet
onr Saviour so ; not one soul with which to greet
Him, must we empty-banded gof

41

I have heard of Mr. Mason ns one of the first to
go among the Coivaus. and I have seen some of
them, that have taken the Lord for their nil and in
all, come to this Inud of ours to fit themselves for
the blessed work among their own people. God be
praised for such a man as Dr. Mason and all of his
loving children, who have had the same spirit that
their father had, and he was filled with the Holy
Ghost and with the power of Hie Lord.
Mrs. Sarah W. Potter was the beloved wife of a
sea captain, Mr. William Potter, and he owned a
ship that sailed the Indian Ocean, and he was
washed overboard one night while his wife, Mrs.
Potter, was sick, and she did not know that he had
a watery grave until the next day. They had
one son, who is now married, by the name of Frank,
whom I held as an idol, as he always called to me
when in trouble, for his denr mother taught him the
love of the Bible, and he would not fight any boy,
let them do him as they would. He knew that I
would go after the boys for blocks, ns I was one of
those soldiers that was not afraid to fight. As he
grew older I told him that he had to go out into
the world to fight his way and I wanted him_ to
begin it at once, nnd he did learn to battle for him
self. He married a lovely girl by the name of Miss
Katie Harvey and they have two children, the eldest
a girl and the youngest a boy, which is the lovely
little man of the home.
I have seen that mother sit np at nights waiting
for her son lo come that she might ask a blessing on
him before he should sleep, and how could that boy
fo astray after all these prayers and entreaties ?
fay he lead his lambs to the blessed Master, and
have the " Well done, good and faithful servant,
enter thou into the joys of thy Lord."
To my story or work in the City of Brooklyn :
The lady, Miss L. A. Ponsland, whom I spoke of
In the preceding pages, is the place where I found

42

myself living in 1875. after twelve or thirteen
years of service. It was there that I met Mrs.
Sarah Potter. She has been all of a mother to me
to give me all the encouragement she could bestow
on me. For all of this kindness I am more than
grateful to my Heavenly Father, for 1 know that
all goodness comes from Him. He surely has
shown His love to her in sparing her to see me go
from her home to Washington to school and spend
three years and then go to Harper's Ferry and
spend four years, and to see me out in the world
teaching for eleven years, and to break down while
at my post and now at home to serve in another
way. Is not this not God's love to me, as n poor,
humble servant of His? I should never forget to
give the love and honor due Him.
God knows my heart and lie will bless the work
in my hands, as the writer of this book.
When I found that I could get through school in
a given time as I had studied hard, if I had the
money, I told Miss L. A. Ponsland, that I would
not be there to work any more, as I had a place in
Saratoga Springs for the Summer. She felt bad to
lose me, but as she knew that I could make more
money for three months at the Springs she wanted
me to have my heart's desire, so I came on from
school nnd went, to see her and then made ready for
the Springs, getting one of my sisters to eo with
me and taking such things ns we could. We were
there too soon nnd we had to wait for work, and I
went around nnd made myself known to the white
people. They soon called on me to come nnd do
work for them, nnd the first wns n Mrs. Cnr-
penter, a good lady. She then got her mnrried
daughter to have me to work for her family nnd
they were a fine family. Her daughter's husbnnd
wns n grand studio mnn on Broadway, doingagood
business. Then she sent me to another friend of
hers, and my sister and I conld live for a while.

43

When the rush came I did not forget the one who
had helped me, but went to her two days out of
a week, for she had her house filled with boarders,
and the Summer was all a blessing to her and her
family. There was Mrs. Purdy, who was another one of
my friends, for I did work for her laundry for three
years, and she said whenever I came to the Springs
and wanted work to come to her; if the house
was filled there was room for me. So yon see how
God did open the way for me in that strange and
lonely place, where there are so many that go there
for the Summer looking for work. I went out of
the house where we were stopping and got the
washing and brought it home to my sister, for she
would not go out of the honse as she had not been
from the place where she lived before. I got her to
go with me to help me with the work, and it was
coming in so fast I had to get a white lady to help
us to get. through, for the colored people said that
we would not get work as the laws were passed to
keep the New York workers out, and I told them
that they would have to pass laws to keep the rich
people of New York from coming there to board if
they should keep the workers out ; so I did not
hear to that, and found the way for I had the will,
and where there is a will there is always a way. So
much for the first Summer.
AVell, the second time I went np alone. I say
alone, I mean that my sister did not go. but the
Lord did go with me that Summer, for I did not
go to the house where my sister nnd I was for they
tried to discourage ns the first time. I always
mark one that is an enemy to me nnd shake the
dust off of my feet and let the Lord do for that one
wbnt He thinks is best.
Well, for the third year I was there with the Lord
and He was surely there with me. I did not do any
work on the Lord's Day, hnt tried to tench them.

44

When they made me an offer of larger pay for the
work done on the Lord's Day, I told them that in
six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth
and lie rested on the seventh day, and I felt that if
He needed rest on that day I was sure that I must
have rest. So the Sunday work was not carried on
any more in that laundry. He said that the Lord
had sent me to that laundry for the bettering of all
in it. The gentleman was from Philadelphia and
his name was Mr. Cheek.
So you see how the Lord preached His word
through me, a feeble one of the dust, and what can
not the Lord help us to do if we only trust in Him
and if we strive to live for His honor and glory
while on this side of Jordan ?
Mrs. Ptirdy had one daughter, and a lovely girl
in music, and her name was Kittie Purdy. She was
sought to play everywhere as she was a fine player,
and everyone thinks her a very pretty girl. Her
mother is a perfect lady, for she used to be 60 kind
to her help. She never was late in any of her meals
for the help and she always sat down with ns and
eat with us. She was as jolly as nny one at the
table and she always called me her bird, for I was
on the wing of song from the time I begnn my work
until my work was finished, nnd then I would stnrt
home as happy as any one could be. Then 1 would
be the first to greet her in the mornings always and
she used to say that I brought to her a great deal
of comfort each hour and drove all of her business
cares away. I nsed to feel glad that I, although
a working girl, could be of some love and comfort
to some one, and it makes me feel glad to-day that
God in His love to me and for me can own such n
feeble one.
My next start was for Asbnry Park to do work
for Mrs. Haseltine, another lovely lady, who was a
Boston lady and whom I learned to love as a
mother. I worked for her two years and was to

45

have worked for her the third year if she had not
taken Sick at the time she did. A gentleman came
on from Philadelphia and she got me lo work for
him and I found him n line gentleman. I praise
God for all that came to me while I wns pursuing
my studies, and to-day I do feel like saying,
" Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine,
Oh ! what a foretaste of glory divine ;
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long,
This is my story, thiB is my song.
Praising my Saviour all the day long."
To my story : Mrs. Haseltine, I said, had to go to
the Saratoga Springs for the Summer and she used
to let me hear from her, but my work in school was
so great that I lost sight of her and I do not know
if she is in Florida or not. Wherever she is I love
her and she has my heart. She did all that she
could all the time that I worked for her to let me
do extra work for the boarders so that I might
earn money outside of what she paid me, and the
ladies used to come to the lanndry and talk to me,
for some of these ladies went to school as I did and
some of them waited at the large hotels in the
Summer time to pay their board. The gentleman
that had Mrs. Haseltine'6 house took me in at eve
ning time to entertain the guests, and they all
helped me. When I came home to make ready for
school I was at our own church one evening when dear
Dr. J. D. Fulton was giving ns one of his grand lec
tures, and he gave me time to sing, read and speak.
The church took a grand collection for me, which
amounted to seventeen dollars and seventy-three
cents. I was better fixed that year than I had been
at any year since I had been going to school, for I
had worked all of the Summer and would not spend
any of my money as I wanted it all for school, but
the evil one came and stole it from me and I was

40

left without a dollar, and I had the heavy heart
one is sure to have when they need money as I did.
Then I had to borrow money to leave for the school,
and you may think how one feels after a Summer's
work, and to have some one else to use the money
that has not been gotten with their own labor.
Well, I did not know what I should do, so I
made up my mind that I had done all that lay in my
power— that is, I had earned the money, and some
one had taken it, from me and I was left to go with
out. So I took the Lord for it, and could not board
as I had done, but I bought some little things to
use and boarded myself, and I was up sometimes nt
the late hours of night, when nil of the people were
asleep, cooking for the next day, that I might not
be late at school. So you can see how loving God
was to me.
My life in school was one of joy to me and to my
mother and sisters and brother and brothers-in-law,
nnd all of the time that I was in school they were
sending me their mites to help me along. My sister,
Mrs. E. F. Rodwell and Mr. G. W. Rodwell. and
my sister. Mrs. Annie Lindsey and Mr. F. P. Lind-
sey, were the ones that never for once forgot me,
and at, Christmas time I wns like a child looking
for something. Everybody was good to me. Prnise
the Lord for all of the love that came to me in the
time of need.
Well, my work ended in 1886. though I taught
in 1885, and had the blessing of God with me in this
school. There were twenty-five out of the school
brought to the knowledge of the truth, such as the
Lord will own and bless at the last day. God be
the glory. Amen and Amen.
The place was Woodstock, Shenandoah County,
Va., and I was called from that school to go West
where they needed me to teach in a place where the
teachers had made the pupils almost hate to go to
a school. My heart was in that work, which no one

47

liked, so I went there trusting in the Lord. I lost
that place, but they got me another one where they
built me a new house, and the Lord did bless me
in this place, although I was not able to go to the
Baptist Church only once a month, for there was
not any nearer than ten or fourteen miles. When
the next year came I helped the people build a
church and it was all paid for before 1 left there.
How God did pour out His spirit there in the salva
tion of souls, and He did add unto the dear church
such as will be saved at the day when He shall come
to make up his jewels ; and I can praise His name
for such a Saviour.
Well, to my story: As a teacher in the same
place for eleven years, or I should say I was con
nected with the same school for that length of time,
and all the way the Saviour led me. Sometimes it
was not all flowers and sweetness, but in it all 1 can
see the hand of the Blessed One, and it used to
make me say to myself, Praise the Lord, Oh, my
soul, and all that is within me praise His holy
name !
After being there for sometime I was taken sick
and was there sick and could not teach my school
for that Winter. It made me feel very bad, but
my good Dr. Ford said that he thought all of the
county were sorry to learn of my illness and all
were losing a good teacher. I would not be able to
do any school work for sometime to come ns the
nerves were all overwoiked, and that had brought
on other troubles which were of a dangerous nature.
So my heart was heavy indeed, and if I had not had
my hope built in Jesus Christ I would not have
stood, for I felt (hat all other ground was to me a
sinking sand. I stayed there all of the Winter and
then came on home to Brooklyn, and the Lord was
so good to make me well ; I went back to my work
and taught all that Winter, and when my school
was out I then went down to the connty seat, which

48

is ten miles from the station and is about fourteen
from my school, where I spoke of.
Hinton is a lovely little town on the Chesapeake
and Ohio Railroad and in the Bine Ridge and Al
leghany Mountains, and is one of the greatest places
on the road, as all of the trains from the West,
East, South and North stop there. It is a lovely
town and they have a roundhouse there where they
build locomotives. They have a fine Y. M. C.
there. There are a number of men employed at this
place. They have two nice Baptist Churches and a
Baptist Mission, two Methodist Churches, one Epis
copalian, one Congregational, one Presbyterian and
one Roman Catholic and one college, a number of
private schools and a number of public schools and
the county is doing a good work in education, and
to the Lord be all the praise for all of this good
'work. Hintoh I said was a lovely place. Like Harper's
Ferry, that I spoke of in the preceding chapter, it
is situated on Camp Hill in a lovely place, between
the Potomac River on one side and the Shenandoah
River on the other, nnd it has two of the most beau
tiful bridges I ever saw. When you see the trains
coming and going it looks lovely.
The Wayland Seminary is in a lovely spot on
Meredian Hill, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth
streets, and you can see all over the Cily of Wash
ington. It is lovely to behold with all of its fine
buildings and art galleries, though I do not like it
as well as Harper's Ferry, for I was not well the
whole time I was there and I had so much better
health at the Ferry. I bless God that I made the
change when I did or I might have been gone to my
long home before I had the time to see so much of
God's love to me in the way He has led me through
paths that I did not see then. lean truly say nnfo
Him, Lord, Thou hast been my dwelling place in
all of these years of trial and has been my rook in a

49
weary land nnd my shelter in the times of storm.
AVell, I came home last October a year ago, 1895,
and made up my mind to stay for the time being.
Some of the people found out that I was here nnd
they sent for me to come to see them. I went lo
Mrs. Murphy's the next week and I was there near
ly a year and found that I could not do much lift
ing, so I did not feel well for quite a while, and I
had a heavy day of it the last time that I was there.
So I told her daughter I should not come any more
as I had gone early that I should get home early.
It was nealy six o'clock when I stopped. They are
a lovely family of four men and four girls, all of
whom are are very fine indeed ; two sons married,
and children, and one daughter married and she has
two little ones. Miss Josephine is a school teacher.
Miss Alice is the housekeeper, as the mother is not
very well at times. One of the lovely girls is a
Sister in a convent.
I also did work for her daughter, Mrs. Nellie
Chester, nnd she is a lovely woman. I had to lose
her work as she had to get her a girl.
I also worked for fine families by the names of
Mrs. Handford and Mrs. Taylor, bnt they went
away from this city.

50

CHAPTER VI.

inj| AM now doing work for a lovely family by
•Al| the name of Mrs. Coddinglon, as her bus-
ffY band has died not long since, and he was a
%/Y' nice man and they have two lovely girls that
teach school. I also work for Mrs. White, who is
a lovely lady, and all of her family.
At the Pells and the Powells. Mrs. Pell is a
lovely woman, with two children, one a lovely
young lady and full of the sweetest music the ear
ever heard, for I do not think that there ever was
any one that could play sweeter music than her.
The other is a boy, a nice youngster of promise.
Mrs. Powell is the sister of the first Mrs. Pell and
she has one daughter, who is a Mrs. Pell, whom I
have to call Mrs. E. Pell to let each one know which
one I mean. There are other ladies in the mansion
that are very nice to me. Mrs. Pell No. 1 is the
head of the house and is a fine lady, and in telling
yon of those that I have worked for and I am doing
work for I mean to tell that it is by the day that I
work for some of them ; as you will see as you read
this that I have had very few places where I lived
out by the month, and staying n good while in a
pi nee. I did work for Mrs. Johnson, but ns her business
is not so good at times she has me whenever she can
feel as if she can spare the money. So this little
life of mine has been almost locked up in a nut
shell, and Jesus has come to me in the spirit's
power that I should tell the world of His wonderful

51
love to men poor sinner of the dust. And what
can not the Lord do for those who put their trust
m Him ? We feel like saying to the blessed One,
how amiable are all of Thy works, oh Lord, and our
eyes are seeing Thy salvation in many parts of the
earth. I can remember the first time that it was my
pleasure to hear denr Dr. J. D. Fulton. It was on
Thanksgiving Day when he first came to this city
to preach at the Hanson Place Church, as their
p.a8t,V,y- T,,e Rev- David Moore ,,a<* "<m to preach
the lhanksgivmg sermon at the Washington Ave
nue Baptist Church, and we were all delighted at
hearing him on that day. I loved him on hearing
that sermon, for I felt the spirit power on that day
through his preaching. I shall always think of the
Doctor and his loving family, for we, ns the ne«ro
race, have not such a friend on earth as Dr. Fulton.
I am not, afraid to say it to his dear honor is he is
not dead, nnd I wish every negro knew him as I do
for then they would all feel toward him as I feel I
hope that he will long live to tell the truth as he
has in days gone by ; and if he was in this city
where the evil is so strong, we should hear him
sounding the watchword, and that is the reason that
those that loved the ways of sin did not like him,
for they felt that he had cause to trouble them
while they were yet in their sins.
But I hope that the day will come when I shall
hear him again in this city, and I hope that God
will give him long life and that he may see the
travel of his soul and be satisfied, for I know that
he tries to do God's will in this love thnt he has for
humanity and thnt is why the Lord will bless him
in all the work that his hands find to do.
I was not at home when he left this city nnd Ifelt
sad when I found that he was gone, for we shall
ever miss him. My prayer is to God that he may
live to a good old age and that when he shall be

52

called to come up higher that he may be caught up
in the air to meet his Lord and Master and all of
those that, have gone on before, and be ready to
Crown Him King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Progkess of Ciiuiicii Wokk.
A speech to a crowded church, in the year of our
Lord 1888, inTalcott, Summers Co., AV. V. I was
asked to have this published out there, but I
wanted to have it brought to my home in Brooklyn.
I was into so much work out there, and my people
were not there to see what the Lord did help me to
do: Dear friends, we are here to-night to commem
orate this grand occasion, and our watchword is
Onward and Upward to the Prize !
This is a time that we should all shout the Jubi
lee and to send the glad tidings to all the world and
to let all the nations know that we are on our march
to that happy land of song.
Dear friends, let us look for a few moments and
think of the time when you had not a church where
yon could worship God. I told you that God
would give you this lovely place, where no one
could drive you out, and to see what great things
He has done for you in a little time, and how great
things can He not do if we will only trust Him ?
We have those of our race that have held places of
greatest trust and God bless them in those places.
Why should we give up the fight and lay our armor
by when there is so much for us to do? No, no,
we can not and we will not lay the grand old armor
down, for the Lord is on our side and we shall sure
ly conquer if we look to Him whose arm is so large
and strong. Then let us take fresh courage and
march on until we reach the goal, and then we shall
be glad and rejoice for the Lord has spoken good to
His people, the Ethiopians.
Oh, ye colored people, why not take this as yours

63

and begin now to rejoice ye in your own race and
feel proud of the race, but not ones that can dance
the best on the ball-room floor, for there is very lit
tle in that when it is all summed up in a whole.
Let us thank all the good people who have shown
any love to us while we have been in this work of
building and may they all find favor in the sight of
God. You have a dear good pastor who is willing
to give his life to the Lord and the church. Let us
take fresh courage and march into His service, for
we shall gain if we only trust in God and do the
right He will help us to persevere.
Time would fail me and my pen would fail to
move if I should try to enumerate all of the bles
sings that have come to us as a race. I hope that
we, as the hated negro race, will make a fresh start
from this night and do all that, we can to forward
the work in this church, and God will send us a
blessing. Etiquette of Youno Men.
I was wondering a few days since if the men of
the present day had lost the respect that men used
to have for the women. I was carried back to the
year of 1884 while in school with so many of the
young men of my own race, when I saw so much of
the respect that they showed to us girls and that
was what caused me to write this to their honor. I
think that, true etiquette is one of the greatest
blessings that young men. cnn have for the women,
for it is to them that we look to for the protection
and love, and if we fail to find it in them where
shall we look ? This is one of the greatest fortunes
that one can have, and it is that which makes a
young man what he ought to be. We, as the
women, need so many of snch ones and the world
needs them fnlly as much, and the God who made
them looks for more and when he does not find it in

54

the dear creatures that He has made it makes Him
feel sad.
I found a number of young men that used to
attend the Wnyland Seminary that had the great
est regard for the girls, and 1 could not but notice
them in this respect and their kind acts while there,
although I was not in the same classes with them,
but I never saw them make any difference while I
was in school. I always found good friends among
them and I never saw a young man meet one of the
young ladies but, they lifted their hats, and that
made the people of Washington, D. C-, always
speak of it in the kindest terms. One never loses
anything in this way, and their virtues are greater
than gold.
When the weather was very bad one day and I
was coming from school and a young man saw
me fall down, he came to help me home nnd I
felt very grntefnl, nnd I feel that wherever thnt
young man shall go he will have favor in the eyes of
all, and God will, be his leader for he has made a
good beginning. School Like.
While at the Harper's Ferry school I found the
loveliest teachers that ever were in a school. Pro
fessor Brackett, the head of the school, is a fine
gentleman, and his wife, Mrs. W. Brackett, is a
lovely lady and she is one of the finest teachers
that ever lived. She has three nice children, two
of I hem are girls and one boy, who is a young man
by this time, for I have not seen him since he went
to Maine lo attend school, which is the Bales'. It
is a fine school of Latin, and a number of the stu
dents went to that same school.
Mr. W. P. Curtis was one of the professors. He
was my Sunday-school teacher and he was fine.
Mr. D. M. Wilson was a dear professor, whom we
loved. Miss Caroline Franklin was a lovely teaoher

55

and we all loved her. Miss C. Brackett was one of
the lovely teachers, and one whom every one of the
other teachers loved, for she was one of the finest
readers that ever lived, let it be man or woman.
Tliey used to have her read nearly every afternoon
when the school was out, and sometimes they
would call to Professor Curtis to read to the school.
He was a very good reader, but Miss C. L. Franklin ,
was the grand trainer of the whole school. They /
had a grand reading circle there at. nights for the >
rich of the Ferry, and she was. the one to do the
tine reading. All of the noble people of the place
loved her and she will ever be loved and remem
bered by all who knew her. She is now in Wash
ington, D. C, teaching, and the people have learned
to love her as we did. I do not think thnt any one
could help loving her for her love and fidelity to
the race which she represents.
Miss C. L. Franklin's mother, who is a lovely
woman whom we all love as a mother, for she
had many of the students at her house to board.
like Mrs. William Lovett, and she was so very kind
to all of them that she will be remembered by us
all, for we love those in our school life that
would say a kind word to us. It was to help us
along in our daily toil.
Mrs. Julia Robinson was one of the lovely ladies
at the Ferry, also, and all of the teachers boarded
there. She" has a number of the students that
board with her and she is much beloved.
Mrs. Bell was one of the ladies that kept board
ers and she is much beloved. Mr. W. M. Bell is
one of the teachers and all love him as a teacher.
Mr. J. Trinkle, who keeps one of the hnlls in the
Summer time has a nnmber of bonrders, nnd does
well all of the Summer months and in the Winter
he teaches in or near the Ferry. With it all they
are all doing what they can to help to forward the
interest or nn education in all of that section, and

56
I really think that part of the country will show a
larger percentage of those that have been educated
through the churches than could have been taught
in the public schools, for the terms are so very
short that it is hard for the people to gel a start
But God has wonderfully blessed the teachers
that have been sent on there from the North to look
after the interests of the negroes. They love the
work of the school-room, and it is their meat and
their drink daily to give away what they have re
ceived lhe Word says that it is more blessed to
give than to receive, and we are always ready to re
ceive from the hands of our earthly friends, and it
is much greater to receive from God.
Mr. Thomas Lovett has two lovely little girls
named, respectively, Florence, the eldest, nnd the
other bhoelett, and they are very smart. Mr
Lovett has built a hilltop house in n. lovely place.
It is filled in the Summer time, while he has music
for the boarders. That makes it, pleasant during
the warm weather of the Summer months, nnd it is
one of the loveliest, places that can be found on the
«. * U Railroad, and the white people go their
from all parts.
I had the pleasure of stopping there on my wnv
home in 1895, and it did my soul good to find such
a line house built by one of the colored gentlemen
and one that I had known, for I was at his mother's
boarding house for the whole time that I was at the
ferry. He was teaching school then in the Winter
time and looking after his mother's business in the
bummer time. So I am glad that some of my people
are trying to make an honest living. He js one
among the many at the Ferry that are keepine
boarding houses ; and I am thankful for all that
comes to us as a race. I hope, as I have often
?£« dear,Dr- F»ltf'n say that he wanted to see
£?mXL2? ^"n 8n.d lpr?y t,,ot the time is »«*
far distant when all of the friends of the negroes

57
shall see them making men and women of them
selves, and then the grand problem will be solved.
Then we shall be glad, for I am grieved night and
day for my own people, and I feel so grateful to
God for letting me see and to know that I have
such a good friend as Dr. Fulton is. He shall be
loved by me as long as I live, and I hope that he
will ever be loved by all that shall read this life of
mine, for he has been a father to me and I am one
that always remembers a kindness as long as any
one will do one for me. God will bless those that
will think of me in love.
As this day has been one of quiet to me I have
wondered what it would be to me if I could look
into those bright mansions above and see my two
mother's faces. What a joy there would be at the
sight of them seeing me and of me seeing them,
nnd we all singing,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.
Karly In the morning our songs shall rise to Thee ;
Holy, holy, mprclfui and mighty,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.
And what a glory it will be for all that have
washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lnmb ; and I know that two darling
mothers have washed their robes and made them
white, and to God be all the praise for the great
love that He has shown to poor me, who feels so
lonely on this lovely Lord's day. How much have
I found in His service, too, and if I conld be able to
go there to-night I feel that I should be blessed,
but I have to stay at home to-night as I have not
been well for a month or more. I feel grateful as
can be that I could be out this morning, and I will
pay vows unto my God as long as I shall live, for
He is my rock and my hiding place in the time of
trouble. I have had a storm of them and it is to
Him I fly to shield my sonl from the evil one, and
knowing ns do how many hard spells I have had, it

58

is right for me to be as careful as I can, taking the
Lord for my healer. How He has blessed me so
many times when there were no other hopes for me
to build on, I have found that I could trust in
His almighty power.
I shall not forget the kind care of Dr. Matthews,
of this lovely city, whom God gave to me when I was
very low and the three times a day that he paid his
visits to see how I was I getting along. He was so
kind in his words to comfort me and to give my
mother cheer I shall always think of him kindly,
for the snow was so deep tha t a hoi se could not ti avel
very well and he had to walk it three times a day.
I had not my white mother then to care for me, but
my own mother did what she could for me and I
know that she has her reward in heaven for all that
she has ever done for me in the times when I needed
the most care.
There is good Dr. Reeves, a good Quaker doctor,
and I had to have him to attend me. He was very
kind and gentle in his treatment of me and I am
very glad that I found such a friend in him, for lie
was like a father to me? I shall not overlook dear
Dr. Warmsley, who was a good doctor to me and
he was kind as he could be, and I shall not forget
him. although I have not seen hiin for a long time.
What shall I say of the last doctor that I was un
der out West, and that is Dr. J. W. Ford,
who was so kind to me as a stranger. He would
come when he was sent for. It made no difference
what time of day or night. It might be yon would
find him on his way where he was sent for and
sometimes he would be on the road all night long,
for he is the best doctor in the county, and I was
going to say the best in the State of West Virginia.
They all send for him, far and near, where they
have any fever, and he is so good in fevers, through
the Lord, he is sure to bring them out of If they do
ns be tells them. May the Lord give him a good

59

long life to do the will of Him who is the greatest
doctor after all. And if we only put our trust in
Him we shall find that He will make our sick bed
easy for us and He will carry us all I he way while
we are sick, for He has borne our sorrows and sick
ness. To my story as a school girl : It was full of sweet
love and regard, for I gained favor with all of the
teachers and professors and all of the pupils. The
Lord be praised for all of this love and joy that
came to me in my school days. Then the love that
came from the Washington Avenue Baptist Church
of sending trie the sum of twenty or thirty dollars
to help me in paying my expenses was of the great
est love for one in a school, as I wanted to pay as
I went, and then the Sunday-school would send me
their money, one of the dear, loving favors of God's
love, and naming each time from which the money
came and sending it through the Board at Chicago.
Then Mrs. Conley or Mrs. Connell sent it to me and
the Board sent the same way when my own beloved
church sent me money. It was in the time of Mrs.
Sarah Fulton and she did not forget me when I was
in school.. The Mission Band of our church sent
me some money every year after the first year that
I went to school. Sometimes it was to the answer
of my prayers that the money came at the time I
needed it to pay my board and God be praised
for those who from the bottom of their hearts
contributed in the grand and good work of education.
For all that I shall do in this life to help some one
that needs help, I shall think of the Lord's love to
me and try and do what I can to bring them to the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the
world, and to God I owe my. life and my all, and if
I should fail to love and honor Him I know that
He will not remember me before His dear Father In
heaven. Mr. William Lovett, the father of a large family,

60

is one of the finest gentlemen anywhere around the
whole country, and is much beloved by all who
know him. The white people who board with him
in the Summer time all liked him, for he was so
nice and quiet. He has a large family of girls and
boys and all are smart. He sent two of them to
the Hillsdale College when they had finished nt the
Ferry, and one was John Lovett, who studied law,
and the other one, Miss Etta Lovett, was a fine
school teacher and a music teacher.
I have just learned thnt the last one of the
girls has married, and that is the youngest of the
family. They nil have good pnrtners for life,
which does not come to all large families. God
bless such a father and mother, who have taken
such good care of Hie training of their children .
Mr. John Lovett wsis one of the teachers of whom
I shall speak of, as 1 boarded in their house for
four years. A more lovely woman never lived than
his mother. She is known far nnd wide ns one of
the best ladies to keep boarders and she has a lovely
family of girls and boys. Mr. Thomas Lovett is a
school teacher and much beloved. He married a
doctress, who is one of the finest Indies Hint lives,
She is from the North nnd she hns some of the best
people of the Northern cities Hint she waited on,
and they love her to-day for the kind onre that she
had for them.
Miss Emma Cnrter is one of the teachers, and
Miss Lizzie Sims, Miss Frances Sims, Mr. Burrell
and Mr. C. II. Plummer; nnd of Inter years Miss
Mnry Brackett has gone there nsone of its tenchers
nnd there nre others that hnve gone there ns teach
ers. The denr good work is going on In the
strength of the Lord and I hope that He will still
bless his work. The same Hint I said of Miss 0. L.
Frnnklln I will say of Miss Lnlia Braokett, who is
married now and is still one of Its beloved tench
ers. She loves the work of teaching the negroes

61

better than her own life and all that she has in
Maine. God bless those dear teachers, as they
labor there for my own dear people whom God has
blessed in getting nn education.
Miss Lulia Brackett married a Mr. Loughtner,
who is a schoolmaster for the whites at the Ferry,
nnd who is a line school teacher nnd whom the
people like very much. It is a joy to meet him on
his way to his school-house.
Mr. William Bell is one of the the teachers
whom wo all love dearly, and he taught school out
side for a while before he came to teach at the col
lege. He had the greatest success ns a teacher.
May God bless those faithful ones ns they nre far
from their homes, family, friends and loving ones.
I had the pleasure of working for a fine family in
Brooklyn by the name of Dnvis, and I found them
nil n lovely family. I had the pleasure of going
away in the country one Summer to a plnce called
Flemington, N. J,, nnd we had a fine time ns it was
his father nnd mother's home, and they had a
dairy farm and all of the nice things that one finds
in the country. I wns not well while there ns it
was low land, nnd one of their daughters was not
well, so I feeling that I would be better to come
home they got ready nnd come on home, nnd I left
them and went to my home where I could rest. In
the Fall I was so much better that I was able to go
back out West and take up my work again. When
I had finished my public school I taught a pay
school for the Summer and had a large nnmber of
scholars, and they progressed well. Borne of them
would go without their food all day to study extra
lessons. It wonld be nil of a joy to the whole world to
hnve seen how well all of the girls, boys, young
men nnd young Indies did In all of the schools
where I have had the pleasure of teaohtng.
I have never taught in any school with any other

62
teacher or teachers, and I was so much more
blessed, for all teachers have a way of their own.
The new teticher always makes so much change in
a school and in the pupils, I found that to do good
work in school I should stay long in one place, that
I might bring the scholar near to me. Sometimes
I have had it rough, but in it, all I can see the hand
of God leading me lo do all that I could to help for
ward the, great cause of education in those parts
where there was so much need.
I have just learned that the Rev. J. D. Fulton
has had a stroke and I cannot tell how he is at this
time, but I can not do nny work until I hear from
him, as I have hud my mind on him for some time,
as he was somewhere in Massachusetts and I had
not heard from him for some time. The last time
that I heard from him lie was not well, and I knew
that he was so great for working that I feared he
would break down.
So I wrote to Mrs. Wamsley, his daughter, and
shall wait to hear how he is, for I know she will let
me know at once ns she is there with her father.
I have heard from her and he is better, thank
God, and not dead, as so many thought, for he does
so much work that no one thought thnt he could
get over it.
And here on this 20th day of January I fell sick
myself and have not been able to take up my work
until the 4th day of March, and once more in the
strength of the Lord I have taken up this work and
hope to push it as fast I can, and I hope to finish it
in the near future if the Lord wills. I hope that all
who will may have the pleasure of knowing of some
thing of the joys and of the sorrows that have
crowned this little life of mine, but in and through
it all I have seen the blessed hand of Him who is
wisft * ~
March 4th, 1897.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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