"A New York lady stopping at the hotel taught me."
"Did you ever hear of Old John Brown?"
"Hear of him! Lord bless you, yes; I've his life now in my trunk in Charleston. I've read it to heaps of colored folks. They think John Brown was almost a god. Just say you are a friend of his, and any slave will kiss your feet, if you will let him. They think, if he was only alive now, he would be king. How he did frighten the white folks! It was Sunday morning. I was waiter at the Mills House, in Charleston. A lady from Massachusetts breakfasted at my table. 'John,' she says, 'I want to see a negro church. Where is the best one?' 'Not any open to-day, Missus,' I told her. 'Why not?' 'Because a Mr. John Brown has raised an insurrection in Virginny, and they don't let the negroes go into the street to-day.' 'Well,' she says, 'they had better look out, or they will get their white churches shut up, too, one of these days.'"
"The Lord Bless You, General!"
This truly intelligent contraband, being taken to McClellan, replied very modestly and intelligently to questions about the numbers and organization of the Rebel army. At the close of the interview, he asked anxiously:
"General, you won't send me back, will you?"
"Yes," replied McClellan, with a smile, "I believe I will."
"I hope you won't, General" (with great earnestness). "I come to you'se all for protection, and I hope you won't."
"Well, then, John, you are at liberty to stay with the army, if you like, or to go where you please. No one can ever make you a slave again."
"May the Lord bless you, General! I thought you wouldn't drive me out. You'se the best friend I ever had. I shall never forget you till I die."