CHAP. XXV.] PROGRESS OF NEGROES. 83 



less content than formerly with their lot. That men 

 of colour can sometimes make large fortunes in trade, 

 was proved to me by a fact which came accidentally 

 to my knowledge. One of them, by standing security 

 for a white man, had lately lost no less than 17,000 

 dollars, or 3400 guineas ; yet he was still prospering, 

 and kept a store, and, being a free man, would wil 

 lingly have sent his son to the college of Tuscaloosa, 

 had he not been prevented by the prejudices of a 

 white aristocracy, ostentatiously boastful of its love of 

 equality. In consequence of similar impediments, 

 many thriving artisans of the coloured race remain 

 uneducated, and are obliged to have white men to 

 write for them and collect their debts ; and I found 

 that many cabinet-makers, carpenters, builders, and 

 other mechanics earning high wages, who, in New 

 England, would send their sons to college, do not 

 contribute here even to the maintenance of common 

 schools, their children not being permitted by law to 

 learn to read and write. I cannot believe, however, 

 that this state of things can endure many years, for I 

 found that an excellent sabbath school had been 

 established by the Presbyterians in Tuscaloosa, for 

 the children of negroes. There are two coloured men 

 in this town, who, having a dash of Indian as well as 

 negro blood in their veins, have become the owners 

 of slaves. 



Frequent mention was made during our stay in 

 Alabama, of a negro named Ellis, a blacksmith, who 

 had taught himself Greek and Latin. He is now 

 acquiring Hebrew, and I was sorry to hear that the 

 Presbyterians contemplate sending him as a mission- 



E 6 



