"No master! it is seed time—I will take my pleasure another time—one day only shall be a holiday in my family. Then, since you will have it so, I will accept my liberty; and my first action, as a free man, is to take your hand, my master, press it between mine, and lay it on my heart, where the attachment and gratitude of James will not cease until that ceases to beat; and until that moment be assured that no laborer in the county of Kent will be more industrious than he who henceforth shall be called Faithful James."
EZEKIEL COSTON.
Aged upwards of eighty-three years, related to Samuel Canby, of Wilmington, Delaware, in 1825, the following circumstances of his freedom from his master, the late Warner Mifflin, a Quaker: and it may be observed, that he always supported an unblemished character:
That he was born a slave in the family of Daniel Mifflin, of Accomack county, Virginia, with whom he lived until about twenty years of age; about which period Warner Mifflin (son of Daniel) married a daughter of John Kensey's, of West River, Maryland, and settled near Camden, in the State of Delaware. Ezekiel, and five other slaves, were given him by his father; there were also a number of slaves belonging to his wife brought into the family.
He lived with Warner Mifflin about eighteen months, when he put him on a plantation of his to work it, about six miles from his residence, where he continued about four years a slave. At this period Ezekiel was informed by his master that he had concluded to set his slaves free; and very soon after his master came to his residence, and calling him from the field where he was ploughing, they sat down together, when he told Ezekiel his mind had long been uneasy with holding slaves, and that he must let him go.
Ezekiel was so well satisfied with his present situation, that he told his master he could not leave him. Their conversation on the subject produced such feelings of tenderness that they both wept much. Finally, as an inducement to comply, his master told him he might remain on the farm, and they entered into a mutual engagement, which was carried into effect, and Ezekiel continued to live on the farm fourteen years, when his master gave him a piece of land, upon which he built a house, where he remained until he came into the neighborhood of Wilmington, where and in that town he has resided until the present time.
After relating the foregoing narrative, he was inquired of respecting the account entitled "The Good Master and his Faithful Slave"—a circumstance which took place about the time of his being liberated, and in the same family—to which he bore the following testimony, shedding many tears while the reader was pursuing the theme, saying, "It is just so, poor Jem and I lived together with master, and worked together in harmony. How well I remember when Jem told me that Master Mifflin had done the same by him as he had done for me.
"It is all true—mistress brought a number of slaves with her into the family, after master married her—one of them was my wife—all the rest of us, making, I suppose about thirty, were given by old master to Master Warner, who is now an angel in heaven. Oh, how it comforts me to believe that, after suffering a few more pains, I shall live with him for ever in communion sweet! We were brought up children together, slept together, eat at the same table, and never quarrelled."
The dear old man seems indeed like one waiting with Christian resignation for an entrance into the heavenly kingdom. I have no doubt of the correctness of his testimony. He appears to have as perfect a recollection of the days of his childhood as though they had just passed.