AN ANECDOTE,
Communicated to a Friend on the way from Charleston to Savannah by a Fellow-Passenger.
A slave belonging to his grandmother was carried off when a boy by the British, in the time of the revolutionary war, to Nova Scotia, where he lived several years; but he did not forget his old home and friends, and he returned to his mistress, giving himself up as a slave. But she, not having employment for him, talked of selling him. He told her if she did, he was determined to destroy himself, for that it was nothing but his attachment to the family that brought him back. He was then suffered to work out, paying a certain part of his wages to his owner.
The family soon after became embarrassed; and one of the grandsons was sent to the West Indies to a relation. Just as he was embarking, the faithful black put into his hand a purse containing all his little earnings, and insisted upon his young master's taking it, saying he had no use for the money himself, and his master might want it in a strange country, away from his friends. The slave, still living in Charleston, was suffered to work for himself. He has had repeated offers of his liberty, but he prefers living in the family that brought him up.
THE COLORED FOUNDLING.
A poor, but honest and respectable old man, whose name was Hector, resided in Philadelphia. He and his wife lived on the scanty earnings of their own hands, in a very small cottage. One evening, at a late hour, a woman of their own color, with an infant, stopped at their dwelling and asked for a night's lodging, to which his wife answered, "We can't lodge you, we got but one bed." "Oh," said the old man, seeing her a stranger and in difficulty, "let her tag [stay], she sleep in de bed with you, I go make a bed on de floor—must not turn her out o' doors."
The woman accordingly stayed; and in the night, Hector was awakened by the cries of the child. He arose to ascertain the cause of it, and found the mother was gone; on which he aroused his wife, saying, "Well, Sukey, you see de woman has gone off and lef' de child for you." "Oh," said his wife, "what shall we do now? She never come again." "Well," returned Hector, "then you must take care of him: who knows God Almighty send him here for something—may be to take care of us in our old age—must not turn him out o' doors."