Minnie stood at the door watching him till he was out of sight, and then turning to her mother with a sigh, she said, "What a wretched state of society. When he goes I never feel easy till he returns. I do wish we had a government under which our lives would be just as safe as they were in Pennsylvania."
Ellen felt very anxious, but she tried to hide her disquietude and keep
Minnie's spirits from sinking, and so she said, "This is a hard country.
We colored people have seen our hard times here."
"But, mother, don't you sometimes feel bitter towards these people, who have treated you so unkindly?"
"No, Minnie; I used to, but I don't now. God says we must forgive, and if we don't forgive, He won't forgive."
"But, mother, how did you get to feeling so?"
"Why, honey, I used to suffer until my heart was almost ready to burst, but I learned to cast my burden on the Lord, and then my misery all passed away. My burden fell off at the foot of the cross, and I felt that my feet were planted on a rock."
"How wonderful," said Minnie, "is this faith! How real it is to them!
How near some of these suffering people have drawn to God!"
"Yes," said Ellen, "Mrs. Sumpter had a colored woman, to whom they were real mean and cruel, and one day they whipped her and beat her on her feet to keep her from running away; but she made up her mind to leave, and so she packed up her clothes to run away. But before she started, I believe she kneeled down and prayed, and asked what she should do, and something reasoned with her and said, 'Stand still and see what I am going to do for you,' and so she unpacked her clothes and stayed, and now the best part of it was this, Milly's son had been away, and he came back and brought with him money enough to buy his mother; for he had been out begging money to buy her, and so Milly got free, and she was mighty glad that she had stayed, because when he'd come back, if she had been gone, he would not have known where to find her."
"Well, it is wonderful. Somehow these people have passed through the darkness and laid their hands on God's robe of love and light, and have been sustained. It seems to me that some things they see clearer through their tears."
"Mother," said Minnie, "As it is Saturday I will visit some of my scholars."