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NEGRO LIFE IN AMERICA. 119

of her table. ‘There was so much motherliness and full-hearted-
ness even in the way she passed a plate of cakes or poured a cup
of coffee, that it seemed to put a spirit into the food and drink
she offered. :

It was the first time that ever George had sat down on equal
terms at any white man’s table; and he sat down, at first, with
some constraint and awkwardness ; but they all exhaled and went
off like a fog in the genial morning rays of this simple, overflow-
ing kindness.

This, indeed, was a home—home—a word that George had
never yet known a meaning for ; and a belief in God, and trust in
his providence, began to encircle his heart, as, with a golden
cloud of protection and confidence, dark, misanthropic, pining,
atheistic doubts, and fierce despair, melted away before the light
of a living Gospel, breathed in living faces, preached by a thou-
sand unconscious acts of love and good will, which, like the cup
of cold water given in the name of a disciple, shall never lose
their reward.

“Bather, what if thee should get found out again?” said
Simeon the second, as he buttered his cake.

«T should pay my fine,” said Simeon quietly.

« But what if they put thee in prison ?”

“Qouldn’t thee and mother manage the farm ?” said Simeon,
smiling. !

“Mother can do almost everything,” said the boy. “ But isn't
it a shame to make such laws?”

“Thee mustn't speak evil of thy rulers, Simeon,” said his
father gravely. ‘‘ The Lord only gives us our worldly goods that
we may do justice and mercy ; if our rulers require a price of us
for it, we must deliver it up.”

“ Well, I hate those old slaveholders !” said the boy, who felt as
unchristian as became any modern reformer.

“T am surprised at thee, son,’ said Simeon ; “ thy mother never
taught thee so. I would do even the same for the slaveholder as
for the slave, if the Lord brought him to my door in affliction.”

Simeon second blushed scarlet ; but his mother only smiled,
and said, ‘ Simeon is my good boy ; he will grow older by and
by, and then he will be like his father.”

“I hope, my good sir, that you are not exposed to any difficulty
on our account,” said George anxiously. 3

“Fear nothing, George; for therefore are we sent into the
world. If we would not meet trouble for a good cause, we were
not worthy of our name.”

« But for me,” said George, “I could not bear it.”

“Fear not, then, friend George ; it’s not for thee, but for God
and man, we do it,” said Simeon. “ And now thou must lie by
quietly this day, and to-night, at ten o'clock, Phineas Fletcher
will carry thee onward to the next stand—thee and-the rest

  
 
  
  
 
 
 

==, dieticians ELT