ener nearer rere ccncncccnc nce TE eesti aii

NEGRO LIFE IN AMERICA. 105

when suddenly the boat stopped, and the company made the usual
steamboat rush, to see where they were landing.

“‘ Both them ar chaps parsons ?” said John to one of the men, as
they were going out.

The man nodded. ~

As the boat stopped, a black woman came running wildly up
the plank, darted into the crowd, flew up to where the slave gang
sat, and threw her arms round that unfortunate piece of mer-
chandise before enumerated, “John, aged thirty,” and with sobs
and tears bemoaned him as her husband.

But what needs tell the story, told too oft—every day told—of
heart-strings rent and broken—the weak broken and torn for the
profit and convenience of the strong? It needs not to be told ;
every day is telling it—telling it, too, in the ear of One who is
not deaf, though he be long silent.

The young man who had spoken for the cause of humanity and
God before stood with folded arms looking on this scene. Te
turned, and Haley was standing at his side. “My friend,” he
said, speaking with thick utterance, “how can you, how dare you,
carry on a trade like this? Look at those poor creatures! Here
I am, rejoicing in my heart that I am going home to my wife and
child; and the same bell which is a signal to carry me onward
towards them will part this poor man and his wife for ever
Depend upon it, God will bring you into judgment for this.”

The trader turned away in silence.

“‘T say, now,” said the drover, touching his elbow, “ there’s
differences in parsons, an’t there? ‘Cussed be Canaan’ don’t
seem to go down with this ’un, does it ?”

Haley gave an uneasy growl.

‘“‘And that ar an’t the worst on’t,” said John; “mabbe it
won't go down with the Lord, neither, when you come to settle
with Him, one o’ these days, as all on us must, I reckon.”

Haley walked reflectively to the other end of the boat.

“If T make pretty handsomely on one or two next gangs,” he
thought, “I reckon I’ll stop off this yer; it’s really getting dan-
gerous.” And he took out his pocket-book, and began adding
over his accounts ; a process which many gentlemen besides Mr.
Haley have found a specific for an uneasy conscience.

The boat swept proudly away from the shore, and all went on
merrily as before. Men talked, and loafed, and read, and
smoked. Women sewed, and children played, and the boat passed
on her way.

One day, when she lay-to for a while at a small town in Ken-
tucky, Haley went up into the place on a little matter of business.

Tom, whose fetters did not prevent him from taking a mode-
rate circuit, had drawn near the side of the boat, and stood list-
lessly gazing over the railings. After a time, he saw the trader
returning, with an alert step, in company with a coloured woman,

*
~ OO ——L——— nT et

. a
SSS