A VISIT TO THE WORLD OUTSIDE. 195 



society, and so many rude receptions in our endeavors 

 to maintain ourselves as corporate members of the 

 body politic, that no amount of persuasion could in- 

 duce us to enter it again. Waifs from the outer edge 

 of the world, we had been cast into an eddy of cahn 

 by the very currents that threatened our destruction, 

 and we saw in this the hand of an overruling Provi- 

 dence. 



My companion was truly alarmed when he found 

 that I even gave heed to the thought of an experi- 

 mental visit to the confines of the outer world. 

 "Wha' fo' yo' done wan' fool wiv dose people, 

 massa ? Ain' yo' see da fingah ob de good Gora- 

 mighty in all dis yar ? Ain' he done gib yo' all yo' 

 want, mo' dan yo' need, an' powerful sight mo' dan 

 yo' desarve ? " His lip quivered, his whole frame 

 shook with emotion, and I could understand and 

 sympathize with him. For more than fifty years he 

 had been the sport of adverse circumstances ; he had 

 been every man's slave and no man's care. Accept- 

 ing his lot, as he had, with all the dumb forbearance 

 belonging to his race, yet he had felt the cruelty, the 

 unfairness of it all ! 



After those weary years of slavery, after the last 

 hope had been drowned in despair, unexpectedly there 

 had come to him this deliverance from servitude. 

 His soul was glad with the assurance that his declin- 

 ing years might be passed in a haven of rest, and his 

 one desire was that nothing should occur to interrupt 

 this serenity. But he was deeply grateful to me for 

 having given him even these few months' surcease 



