“‘Make out your bill, madam,’ I replied, ‘and put the price of the wet sheets in it, and I will send it to the Times, and let the public know how much you charge for wet sheets.’
“I turned upon my heel, and went back to the sitting-room. A moment more, and my bill was brought in; but nothing said about the sheets, and no charge made for them. The coach came to the door; and as I passed through the hall leaving the house, the landlady met me, but with a different smile.
“‘I hope, sir,’ said she, ‘that you will never mention the little incident about the sheets. I am very sorry for it. It would ruin my house if it were known.’ Thinking that she was punished enough in the loss of her property, I promised not to mention the name of the house, if I ever did the incident.
“The following week I returned to the hotel, when I learned the fact from the waiter that they had suspected that I had stolen the sheets, and that a police officer was concealed behind the hall door, on the day that I was talking with the landlady. When I retired to bed that night, I found two jugs of hot water in the bed, and the sheets thoroughly dried and aired.
“I visited the same hotel several times afterwards, and was invariably treated with the greatest deference, which no doubt was the result of my night with the wet sheets.”
In 1852, Mr. Brown gave to the public his “Three Years in Europe,” a work which at once placed him high as an author, as will be seen by the following extracts from some of the English journals. The Eclectic Review, edited by the venerable Dr. Price, one of the best critics in the realm, said,—“Mr. Brown has produced a literary work not unworthy of a highly-cultivated gentleman.”
Rev. Dr. Campbell, in the British Banner, remarked: “We have read Mr. Brown’s book with an unusual measure of interest. Seldom, indeed, have we met with anything more captivating. A work more worthy of perusal has not, for a considerable time, come into our hands.”
“Mr. Brown writes with ease and ability,” said the Times, “and his intelligent observations upon the great question to which he has devoted and is devoting his life will command influence and respect.”
The Literary Gazette, an excellent authority, says of it, “The appearance of this book is too remarkable a literary event, to pass without a notice. At the moment when attention in this country is directed to the state of the colored people in America, the book appears with additional advantage; if nothing else were attained by its publication, it is well to have another proof of the capability of the negro intellect. Altogether, Mr. Brown has written a pleasing and amusing volume, and we are glad to bear this testimony to the literary merit of a work by a negro author.”