A TEACHER: A STUDENT OF LAW, AND TUTOR. 57 



" But who is this, sullen and sad amid 

 The joyful crowd, with downcast eyes, slow step, 

 And face of grief? While all around is life, 

 And ev'ry foot trips gayly on the ground, 

 He only drags a cumbrous weight of woe. 

 Ah ! 't is the hapless African. No more 

 His sorrows wake surprise. Not for himself 

 He toils ; nor for himself he lives. His life, 

 His labors, are another's wealth. For him 

 Life has no joys. The rising sun but brings 

 Another day of pain; and all the gay 

 Enchanting scenes of nature only serve 

 To mind him of his woe. Columbians brave ! 

 While to your list'ning sons ye tell the deeds 

 Your sires achieved in freedom's cause, and teach 

 Their tongues to lisp the name of Washington, 

 While in their tender minds ye plant the seeds 

 Of true, unblemished liberty, and teach 

 The feeling heart to mourn for all the ills 

 Which tyranny has brought on man, then turn 

 Your eyes, behold the hapless negro toil, 

 And, moved by shame and pity, set him free ! " 



That he took a genuine interest in the theme of 

 this passage is shown by another poem which he 

 wrote not long after, and which appeared, after an 

 interval of several years, in the " Commercial Adver 

 tiser." It is entitled " The Negro," and embodies an 

 imaginary lament of a slave on the banks of the Po 

 tomac. The author explains in a prefatory note that 

 no imputation upon Washington is implied, since he 

 had given proof of his hostility to slavery ; and he 

 appends to his verses the following remarks : 



" If the purchasers and holders of African slaves would 

 suffer their minds seriously to contemplate the miseries 

 produced by this accursed traffic, their hearts would cer 

 tainly rise up in rebellion against a practice which outrages 

 every principle of natural right and of common humanity. 

 The wars, the carnage and desolation which this trade pro 

 duces among the negro tribes of Africa ; the tearing asun- 



