The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-11-24
THE DYING SLAVE.
was in the right mood for it, and SO gave
Full scope to nv Imagination"

/ ia SNSPS ~ my luAdS lIldtioH
He lay upon straw couch, with his face
half turned towards the sinking sun. The
skin was drawn tightly over his forehead,
as though it was parched and shrunken by
extreme age; but the restlessness and unea-
sy wanderings of his eye told that ne still
claimed some companionship with earthly
feelings.
4 He was a slave and for more than an
hundred years he had gone forth to the
daily toll of a bondman. 1t was said that in
the father land" from which he had been
torn by unprincipled violence, he had been
Prince among his people. In the first
days of his slavery he had been fierce and
ungovernable, nor could his naughty spirit
ever be tanned into subsection until he had
been subdued by gratitude. The father OF
his present master had in his childhood, by
interfering to save him from punishment,
received on his. body the blows intended
for the slave; and from that moment he be-
came TO his youthful master devoted SER
want The child had grown up to manhood,
fiourished throughout his term of years, and
faded away into the grave, but still the
aged African fingered upon earth; and it
was for the son of that man that he now
waited, and, to use his own expression,
" held back his BREATH" until he should
behold him.
At length the light of The low cabin door
was darkened, as the master stopped his
tall form to enter the dwelling of his slave.
have come, said he, as he approached,
what would you with me?
The negro raised himself up with a sud-
den energy, and stretched out his withered
hand. Have l not borne you in my arms
in your helpless infancy, said he, and should
not once more behold you before die
Heed me, master, ere yon sun shall set, the
last breath will have passed my lips-its
beams are fast growing more faint and vel
lower-tell me, before die, if | have moi
served you faithfully?
You have!
have been. honest and true-T have
never spoken to you falsehood-I have
never deserved the lash?
To my knowledge, never! said his mas
| ter.
Then there is but one more boon that
would crave of you'll am going home
to revisit the scenes of my youth-to mingle
with the spirits of my friends My fathers
were proud chieftains among their native
wilds-they sought ought out the lion in
the midst of his secret recesses-they SUBJ
dued the strength of the savage tiger
they were conquerors in battle-they never
bowed to man-they would spurn a bond
man from their hall! Oh tell me, exclaimed
he, selling his masters hand in the rising
S T9 Of his is # feellpgsSdmHQh lep Pil
once more free?
Your wish is granted, said his master;
you are freeman.
froprnoni I'D 81 NIB
ing back upon his couch, and clasping his
hands above his head with all his remaining
energy-write it for me master!
The gentleman tore leaf from his pocket
book, and penciling a hasty certificate of
his freedom handed it to the slave. The
| old man lifted up his head once more as he
received it, and the last ray of sunlight
streamed across his countenance, as with a
strange smile he gazed upon the paper:
then falling suddenly back, he once more
repeated the name of freedom and expired.
Genius Of Universal Emancipation.
| HINTS TO THE PRoFUsE. These are
hard times, and none other occur to the
careless and profuse. Advice as we'll as
money may be thrown away upon such, but
we had rather lose our counsel than our
cash. The counsel is for such as act with
out reflection. Many of these have SO much
feeling and charity that they would not in
a time of famine, pass through suffering
country, throwing into fire and water the
bread that would relieve many of the suf-
ferers. Yet in another shape they do this
every day. Because there is not label at
tached to every dollar they throw away,
they do not reflect how much misery j: will
relieve or how much happiness it will create.
When there are every where other men sui-
fering from want, it is no part Of religion or
humanity to pass by them like the Priest
and Levite. 1t is better to have prudence
that we may not only relieve them but after
the scriptural example give them q penny
at parting.
There are few for whose benefit this is
written, who are or ever will be rich; yet
all of them can remember so much mis-
spent money, as would, with moderate care,
have been the foundation of fortune. Pow
erty, though not absolutely incompatible
with honesty, is yet very dangerous
neighbor, and some Of the virtues cannot
live under its shade. Hopeless poverty has
a tendency to make good man bad, and a
bad man worse; this is not always, but of.
ten the case. Want is a great orator, and
persuades to evil things. 1t leads to fiat
terry ofthose on whom we depend; prevarica-
} tion and falsehood to those we owe envy to
the rich; dissatisfaction with ourselves, and
distrust of the Justice of Providence. The
greatest jewel of man is sincerity it is
: the foundation of all that is good, and with
ont it there is an influx of all that is evil
} The same jewel is too liable to become
dimmed or destroyed by contact with pow
erty.
You have been led perhaps to believe
that care for money is the part of mis-
erin the abstract it SHE that loves
money for itself, has, like the Incorporate
man, formed destructive Artificial passion,
/ for nature never created it. But reflect.
;..c. 1919. ...o...u al r,rradonca 10 49,