Primus, who reverenced the Commander-in-Chief as he did no other mortal, protested against it. But Washington threw open the blanket, and said, "Come and lie down, I tell you! There is room enough for both, and I insist upon it."
The tone was too resolute to admit of further parley, and the General and his colored friend slept comfortably under the same blanket till morning.
PRAYER OF THE SLAVE.
BY BERNARD BARTON.
O Father of the human race!
The white, the black, the bond, the free,
Thanks for thy gift of heavenly grace,
Vouchsafed through Jesus Christ to me.
This, 'mid oppression's every wrong,
Has borne my sinking spirits up;
Made sorrow joyful, weakness strong,
And sweetened Slavery's bitter cup.
Hath not a Saviour's dying hour
Made e'en the yoke of thraldom light?
Hath not thy Holy Spirit's power
Made bondage freedom? darkness bright?
Thanks then, O Father! for the gift
Which through thy Gospel thou hast given,
Which thus from bonds and earth can lift
The soul to liberty and heaven.