Part 1

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NARRATIVES

OF

COLORED AMERICANS.

God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."--ACTS xvii., 26.

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE RESIDUARY ESTATE OF LINDLEY MURRAY.

NEW YORK:

WILLIAM WOOD & CO., 27 GREAT JONES STREET. 1875.

Lindley Murray, the Grammarian, and author of several excellent School and Reading books, in his last Will bequeathed certain funds to Trustees in America, his native country, for several benevolent objects, including the gratuitous distribution of "books calculated to promote piety and virtue, and the truth of Christianity."

The Trustees have had "The Power of Religion on the Mind, in Retirement, Affliction, and at the approach of Death," stereotyped, and several thousand copies printed and distributed.

They also publish the following Narratives compiled by A. Mott, and M. S. Wood, believing they will prove acceptable reading to our Colored Americans.

JOHN F. TROW & SON, PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS, _205-213 East 12th St._, NEW YORK.

CONTENTS. PAGE AFRICAN SERVANT, THE 88 AFRICAN PRINCE, THE 212 AFRICAN SCHOOLS IN NEW YORK 242 AFRICANS, THE INJURED 245 ANCASS 74 ANECDOTE 101 ANECDOTE 205 AN INCIDENT 62

BANNEKER, BENJAMIN 60 BAYLEY, SOLOMON 133 BELL, LET ME RING THE 53 BENEZET, ANTHONY 230 BIBLE, LOVE FOR THE 272 BILLY AND JENNY 182 BOWEN, WILLIAM 229 BOYD, HENRY 251 BUCCAN, QUAMINO 257

CAREY, LOTT 191 CHRISTIAN, AN AGED 45 CHRISTIAN KINDNESS 48 CLARINDA, A PIOUS COLORED WOMAN 143 COFFIN 210 COSTON, EZEKIEL 203 CUFFEE, CAPTAIN PAUL 126 CHRISTMAS HYMN AT ST. HELENA'S ISLAND 273

DADDY DAVY 37 DERHAM, JAMES 211

EMANCIPATION IN NEW YORK 263

FAITH OF A POOR BLIND WOMAN 241 FERGUSON, KATY 69 FOUNDLING, THE COLORED 206 FREEDMEN OF AMERICA 264

GOOD MASTER AND HIS FAITHFUL SLAVE, THE 200 GRATITUDE IN A LIBERATED SLAVE 225

HAM, FALLACIES RESPECTING THE RACE OF 14 HARDY, GEORGE 186 HOSPITABLE NEGRO WOMAN 222 HYMN SUNG AT ST. HELENA'S ISLAND 272

INDIAN, THE GOOD OLD 238

KINDNESS, A LITTLE ACT OF 102

LETTERS FROM A LADY IN RICHMOND, VA. 270 LIBERTY, EXTRAORDINARY EXERTIONS TO OBTAIN 228 LIE, HE NEVER TOLD A 37 LION, DELIVERANCE FROM 9 LITTLE WA 83 LUCAS, BELINDA 164 LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVE 276

MISSIONARY BOX, THE 35 MONTJOY, ZILPAH 160 MORRIS, AGNES 226 MUNIFICENCE, EXTRAORDINARY 234

NAIMBANNA 150 NEGRO, THE GENEROUS 123 NEGRO, THE GRATEFUL 208 NO-ACCOUNT JOHNNY 18 NURSE, THE FAITHFUL 209

OLD DINAH 16 OLD SUSAN 103

POOR POMPEY 74 POOR SARAH 111 PRAYER, ANSWER TO 12 PRAYER, THE AFRICAN SERVANT'S 100 PROVIDENCE, TRUST IN 23

REPENTANCE AND AMENDMENT IN A COLORED SCHOOL 62

SAAT 30 SACRIFICE, THE LIVING 27 SLAVE, THE BLIND, IN THE MINES 97 SLAVE, FLIGHT OF A 55 SLAVE, THE PSALM OF THE 34 SLAVE SHOEMAKER, THE 51 SLAVES, GRATITUDE OF 50 STORM AT SEA, A 81

TEACHERS, A HOTTENTOT'S LOVE FOR HER 26 TEMPTATION RESISTED AND HONESTY REWARDED 236 TRUTH, SOJOURNER 65 TEMPERANCE MEETING IN AFRICA 274

UNCLE HARRY 213 UNCLE JACK 46

VASSA, GUSTAVUS 169

WHEATLEY, PHILLIS 5 WIFE, THE 24

ZACHARY AND THE BOY 21

PHILLIS WHEATLEY.

In 1761 John Wheatley's wife went to the slave market in Boston, for a girl whom she might train to wait upon her in her old age. At that time ships were sent from Boston to Africa after cargoes of slaves, which were sold to the people of Massachusetts. Among a group of more robust and healthy children just imported from Africa, the lady observed one of slender form, suffering from change of climate and the miseries of the voyage. She was interested in the poor little girl, bought her, and took her home. The child, who was named Phillis, was almost naked, her only covering being a strip of dirty carpet; but in a short time the effects of comfortable clothing and food were visible in her returning health.

Phillis at the time of her purchase was between seven and eight years of age, and the intention of her mistress was to train her as a servant; but the intelligence which the young girl soon exhibited, induced her mistress's daughter to teach her to read. Such was the rapidity with which she learned, that in sixteen months from the time of her arriving in the family, the African child had so mastered the English language, to which she was an utter stranger before, that she could read with ease the most difficult parts of the Bible. Her uncommon intellect altered the intentions of the family regarding Phillis, and she was kept about the person of her mistress, whose affection she won by her amiable disposition and pleasing manners. All her knowledge was obtained without any instruction, except what was given her in the family; and in four years from the time she was stolen from Africa, and when only twelve years of age, she was capable of writing letters to her friends on various subjects.

The young colored girl became an object of very general attention and astonishment; and in a few years she corresponded with several persons in high stations. As she grew up to womanhood, her attainments kept pace with the promise of her earlier years; the literary people of Boston supplied her with books and encouraged her intellectual powers. This was greatly assisted by her mistress, who treated her like a child of the family, admitted her to her own table, and introduced her as an equal to the best society; but Phillis never departed from the humble and unassuming deportment which distinguished her when she stood a little trembling child for sale in the slave market. She respected the prejudice against her color, and, when invited to the tables of the great or wealthy, she chose a place apart for herself, that none might be offended at a thing so unusual as sitting at table with a woman of color.

Such was the modest and amiable disposition of Phillis Wheatley. She studied Latin, and her translations show that she made considerable progress in it; and she wrote poetry. At the age of fourteen she appears to have first attempted literary composition, and by the time she was nineteen the whole of her printed poems appear to have been written. They were published in London in 1773 in a small volume of above 120 pages, containing thirty-nine pieces, which she dedicated to the Countess of Huntington. This work has gone through several editions in England and America.

Most of her poetry has a religious or moral bearing; all breathes a soft and sentimental feeling; many pieces were written on the death of friends. In a poem addressed to a clergyman on the death of his wife, some beautiful lines occur:

"O come away," her longing spirit cries, "And share with me the rapture of the skies. Our bliss divine to mortals is unknown, Immortal life and glory are our own. Here too may the dear pledges of our love Arrive, and taste with us the joys above; Attune the harp to more than mortal lays, And join with us the tribute of their praise To Him who died stern justice to atone, And make eternal glory all our own."

A poem on the Providence of God contains the following:

"All-wise, Almighty Providence, we trace In trees, and plants, and all the flowery race, As clear as in the nobler frame of man, All lovely ensigns of the Maker's plan. The power the same that forms a ray of light, That called creation from eternal night."

From a beautiful address and prayer to the Deity:

"Great God, incomprehensible, unknown To sense, we bow at thine exalted throne. O while we crave thine excellence to feel, Thy sacred presence to our hearts reveal, And give us of that mercy to partake, Which Thou hast promised for the Saviour's sake."

About the twenty-first year of her age Phillis was liberated; but she continued in her master's family, where she was much respected. Her health was delicate, and her physician having recommended a sea-voyage, it was arranged that she should visit England. She had not before been parted from her adopted mother, and the separation was painful to both of them.

Phillis was received and admired in the first circles of English society, her poems published, and her portrait engraved. Her countenance appears to have been pleasing, and her head highly intellectual. The health of Mrs. Wheatley declined, and she longed for her beloved companion. On the first notice of her benefactress's desire to see her, Phillis, whose humility was not shaken by flattery and attention, re-embarked for Boston. Within a short time after her return she stood by the dying bed of her mistress, mother, and friend, and Phillis Wheatley found herself alone.

Shortly after the death of her friend she married a respectable man of her own color, named Peters. He was a remarkable person--of good character, a fluent writer, a ready speaker, and altogether an intelligent, educated man. He was a grocer by trade, and, as a lawyer, pleaded the cause of his brethren, the Africans, before the courts. Phillis was twenty-three at the time of her marriage. The connection did not prove a happy one, and she being of a susceptible mind and delicate constitution, fell into a decline, and died in 1780, about the twenty-sixth year of her age.

DELIVERANCE OF A HOTTENTOT FROM A LION.

A Methodist missionary named Kay, relates the following occurrence:

I visited a poor sick Hottentot in the south of Africa, who recently experienced one of the most remarkable and providential deliverances I ever heard of. I found him in great pain, from the wounds he had received on that occasion. He gave me a description of his escape from the jaws of a lion, which he ascribes wholly to the gracious interposition of the Father of mercies.

About a month ago he went on a hunting excursion, accompanied by several other natives. On an extensive plain they found an abundance of game, and discovered a number of lions, who appeared to be disturbed by their approach. A very large male lion began slowly to advance towards the party, many of whom were young and unaccustomed to such formidable animals. They all dismounted and prepared to fire, and, according to custom, began to tie their horses together by the bridles, with a view to keep them between themselves and the lion until they were able to take deliberate aim.

Before the horses were properly fastened, the monster made a tremendous bound or two, and suddenly pounced upon the hind part of one of the horses, which plunged forward and knocked down the poor Hottentot. His comrades took flight, and ran off with all speed. He rose as quickly as possible to follow them; but no sooner had he regained his feet than the majestic beast stretched forth his paw, and, striking him behind the neck, brought him to the ground again. He then rolled on his back, and the lion set his foot upon his breast, and lay down upon him. The poor man now became almost breathless, partly from fear, but principally from the pressure of his terrific load. He moved a little to gain air, but, feeling this, the lion seized his left arm, close to the elbow, and amused himself with the limb for some time, biting it in different places, down to the hand.

All this time the lion did not seem to be angry, but merely caught at the arm as a cat sports with a mouse that is not quite dead, so that there was not a single bone broken, as there would have been if the lion had been hungry or irritated. While in great agony, and expecting every moment to be torn limb from limb, the sufferer cried to his companions for assistance, but cried in vain. On raising his head a little, the beast opened his dreadful jaws to receive it, but his hat only was rent, and points of the teeth only grazed his skull. The lion set his foot on the arm from which the blood was freely flowing, his paw was soon covered therewith, and he again and again licked it clean, and, with flaming eyes, appeared half inclined to devour the man.

"At this critical moment," said the poor victim, "I recollected having heard that there is a God in heaven who is able to deliver at the last extremity, and I began to pray that He would save me, and not allow the lion to eat my flesh." While the Hottentot was thus engaged in calling on God, the animal turned himself completely round. On perceiving this, the man attempted to get from under him, but the lion became aware of his intention, and laid terrible hold of his right thigh, which gave excruciating pain. He again sent up his cry to God for help, nor were his prayers in vain. The huge creature rose from his seat, and walked majestically off about thirty or forty paces, and then lay down on the grass as if to watch his victim, who ventured to sit up, which attracted the lion's attention; he made no attack, but rose, took his departure, and was seen no more. The man soon arose, took up his gun, and hastened to his terrified companions, who had given him up for dead. He was set upon a horse, and taken to the place where I found him.

Dr. Gambier hastened to his relief, and thought the appearance of the wounds so alarming that amputation of the arm was absolutely necessary. To this, however, the man would not consent, as he had a number of young children, whose subsistence depended on his labor. "As the Almighty has delivered me," said he, "from that horrid death, surely He is able to save my arm also." Astonishing to relate, his wounds are healed, and there is now hope of his ultimate recovery.

ANSWER TO PRAYER.

"I well remember," said the son of a Christian missionary, "hearing my mother speak in touching terms of the narrow escapes my father had during our sojourn in Jamaica. He endured five attacks of yellow fever, and on one occasion suffered so much that the medical attendant gave up all hopes of his recovery. For sometime he lingered in a state of insensibility hardly to be described. My mother watched and wept; friends did the same; the faithful Christian colored people also wept as they saw life ebbing away. Death seemed just about to seize his prey.

"Prayer-meetings were held, and at last some hundreds of negroes were assembled, earnestly beseeching Almighty God with tears to spare the life of their beloved missionary. Often had he stood up before judges in their defence. Often had he been cast into prison for protecting them from their tyrannical oppressors; and now, with a warmth of affection and intensity of feeling unknown amongst Christians in England, they cried mightily to God. Hour after hour passed by; messengers were passing from the chapel to the mission-house to obtain tidings of the sick man. At length, when his spirit appeared about to depart and to leave all earthly scenes, the pious negroes agreed to unite _silently_ in one heartfelt petition to Him 'in whose hand our breath is;' and believing that 'man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord,' they thus silently, unitedly prayed. The multitude joined in one petition, ascending from their inmost souls; and at that very hour the shadow of death was removed at the rebuke of the Lord!

"A change took place, signs of health appeared, and he for whom so many supplicants prayed was raised up from his bed of languishing, and that chapel did indeed become filled with songs of joy, praise, and thanksgiving. 'He lives! he lives!' was the joyful exclamation that ran from one to another through that congregation."

FALLACIES RESPECTING THE RACE OF HAM.

It is thought by some that the race of Ham, one of the sons of Noah, had a curse pronounced upon it at the beginning, whereby through all time this particular branch of the human family was to be kept in an inferior and servile condition. This is not correct. No curse stands recorded in the Bible against the race of Ham. The curse in question was pronounced upon Canaan, one of the four sons of Ham, whose descendants settled in the hill country, called after his name, along the east end of the Mediterranean Sea. There they dwelt for several centuries, and built up a corrupt and idolatrous nation, until they were dispossessed of their inheritance by the invading hosts of the Jews. By this invasion vast numbers of this Canaanitish race perished, and those who survived were brought into an abject, dependant, and servile condition.

The perversion of the passage is the more noteworthy from the fact, that while Ham was the offender, on account of whose conduct the curse was pronounced--so that the reader is naturally looking for some manifestation towards him personally--his name does not appear. The curse, though three times repeated, falls steadily upon Canaan, one of the four sons. When the three sons of Noah came forth with their father out of the ark, the historian simply says, "And Ham is the father of Canaan." True, so he was, and was also the father of Misraim, and Cush, and Phut. Shem, too, was the father of five sons, and Japheth of seven; but nothing is said at that time about all these, only, "Ham is the father of Canaan." And so also when Ham's irreverent wickedness is mentioned, it is "Ham the father of Canaan."

What is perhaps still more noticeable, when the curse is passed, and the historian in the next chapter takes up the genealogy of the race after the flood, and shows us the first founders of kingdoms and nations, the only instance in all that long list, when he stops to give us the boundaries of any people, is in this case of Canaan. It seems as if God took especial pains to set the people who were to be cursed, apart from the rest, that there need be no doubt who they were, and where they lived.

But if we take the race of Ham generally, we shall find that for two thousand years after the flood it continued by far the most noticeable and conspicuous of the three branches. For some reason the early developments of civilization were almost entirely in this race. Egypt and Assyria, by far the grandest empires of antiquity, were both of this Hametic order. Misraim, the son of Ham, is the reputed father of the one, and Nimrod, the grandson, of the other. So obvious was this fact, at least as respects Egypt, that it is familiarly called in the Scriptures "the land of Ham." "Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham." And again, "He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen. They showed His signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham."

OLD DINAH.

Dinah was a slave. Her mistress was an Indian woman, into whose dark mind not a single ray of gospel light had ever penetrated. She lived among a small tribe on the borders of Tennessee, and although at the age of forty, or a little over, she was called Old Dinah. The Indian mistress and all her servants had been baptized by a Roman priest; but why, or wherefore, none of them knew. Dinah said, in relating the circumstance, "I allers thought the white folks had something to tell that we did not know about, and I used to think what could it be. When the missionaries come here with the Bible, then I know what it is."

Her veneration for the "Good Book," as she always called it, was remarkable. Getting on a stool in her little cabin one day, I noticed on a shelf, far above the reach of her little ones, a pile of torn, dingy bits of paper. I said, "What have you here, Dinah?"

"Oh, missus, don't mind _them_ now. I picks 'em up when I come from the meeting. I spose the children throws 'em out of the school-house, but I thinks it may be they are pieces of the Good Book, and when I learns to read I can find 'em out."

Dinah did learn to read. She had a family to provide for, and Saturday was the only day in the week allotted to her in which to look after her little patch of corn and potatoes, cook their food, and prepare her children for the Sabbath. The morning she gave to her farming in summer, then the washing and mending, and at night after the children were washed and stowed away for sleep, she would take the youngest on her back, and, tired as she often was, trudge away two miles to the mission station; and favored indeed was the teacher who could get rid of the earnest appeal, "Let me learn just a little more," before the morning dawned. Every Sabbath morning a little time was spent in imparting to her Daniel the lesson of the previous evening--his master living in a village some miles distant, so that he could not secure any other instruction; but Daniel soon outran his teacher, and having a warm Christian heart, learned to expound as well as read the Good Book, much to the edification of his colored friends. This was also an unfailing source of comfort and grateful recollection to Dinah. Once when listening to his fervent appeals, she said to me, while the big tears chased each other joyously down her cheeks, "Oh, missus, look at Daniel! I taught that man his a, b, c, and now he knows so much, and I can only pick out a little of the Good Book yet."