The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-06-09

| myself dead many time, If 1t hadn't been tor
the anguish and gnashing of teeth
And if / can show youa better and happier
way, which you might safely have taken, shall
you not repent that you took the one you did?"
Bless your heart, sir, so could. Show me-
for PHYS sake, now. Show me !"
| al think you seem to have been somewhat
in the situation Of the young man whom our
Lord loved when he ran to him to ask what he
should do to inherit eternal life. You kept the
commandments, did you not? Honored your
parents ?"
| 81 did. They sot store by me. j was
mothers cosset. She died after they put me in
here" The tears rolled down his cheeks.
That was good but it was not enough.
You were not perfect. At least one thing more
was required of ypu. God seems to have called
upon you, if you had only understood it so, to
run the risk Of 4 possible evil to yourself, rather
then do certain mischief to your neighbor !;
just as Christ called on the young jew to leave
all his great possessions and follow him. If he
promised that young man treasures in heaven
in return for the sacrifice of his wealth, think
that he would have given you treasure there,
too, for the sacrifice of your young life, laid
down in his spirit, however imperfect your life
may have been. And so all these miserable
years, which you have spent in prison and in
despair, might have been passed blessedly with
him in paradise while your murderer, it may
be, touched by your example, was repenting in
this world. Kane, you can repent of that rash
action now?"
81 can! l do! Hallelujah! I've got dug
out! Hurrayl I've got deliveraneel Saliva
| Hush, my dearest fellow hush! You'll
disturb the other men! Now, advise you to
think henceforward as little as you can about
the past. Mental troubles like yours are apt to
return by force of habit and association, if one
looks back to their causes. Take care of the
present Serve God cheerfully and diligently
with work and worship, and don't scare other
people away from His service with your gloomy
face. AS soon as this sickness is over, must
give you little medicine. Men don't get the
clearest or brightest views of this life or the
other with the whites of their eyes as yellow as
yours are. Now lie down, and get little sleep,
while watch; and, when you wake up, III fol-
low your example"
| The third week passed. The bottles and
| bathing-tubs were cleared away. The sick
were recovering the dead, buried. Within
the penitentiary, many ''places were empty y
Wellbeloveds among them-or "fed already
| by strangers" never long wanting there. With
out, st. Dominique had died.
A neighbor on the plantation nearest to his,
man also of desperate character, had several
the terrier Faust. His negroes reported that
the dog came every night, stole cock or hen
from the roost and then ran away. This neigh
| Dor watched for it with his gun, and shot it.
| Wounded, but not killed. it started for home.
| He pursued, without getting fair chance to
take aim at it again, meaning to dispatch it, if
necessary, i'll its masters presence 1t ran
through st. Dominique's quarter. This was
still, and seemed empty. The cabin-doors hung
open. The broad moon shone on two or three
black corpses, putrefying on the ground. A
living skeleton of a blood hound chained to a
kennel crawled up on its thread-like quivering
legs, and strove to bay at him with the very
| ghost of howl. The wounded dog limped ON,
now but a few Yards before him: but he no
longer cared y Shoot, anti TUHowcu It, as n
through bad dream, unhindered and alone,
even to the open door of the chamber of st.
Dominique, where the bleeding dog--the only
thing that he ever seemed to love, the only
thing that loved him--with one last effort,
sprang upon his bed, and, staining it with its
gore, licked the blue, fixed, hideous features of
his corpse, and so died.
1t was supposed, though never clearly known,
that, he and his driver having been among the
first seized by the cholera, the other slaves had
run away, and left them to their fate and that
even his favorite,'in its starvation had feared
his savage temper too much to help itself to
anything of his for food, though it loved him
too we'll to forsake him. Poor dog Poor
man Since be had not fallen too low for one
creature still to love him, let hope that his
Creator may have mercy on him, if only for
that loving creatures sake.
Edward and his charges returned to Bos
ton, ON the first news of the danger, deter
mined to see Herman again, at all hazards, if
he still lived. They were met at the dock by
| the faithful Patrick, with face and letters
which told them that the danger was over.
Herman wrote in spirit of thankfulness al
most too deep to be otherwise than solemn !;
though in postscript, with playfulness intend
ed completely to reassure them, he said that he
was too mach ashamed to acknowledge what a
coward he had 70 nd himself; but that he be
lieved his terrors must have been more than
half owing to the melancholy influence exerted
upon his mind by a certain Sister of Charity.
He had still before him some laborious weeks,
though infinitely less so than those which were
behind The chief physician of the town had
died, and there was still good deal Of sickness
in it. Herman had much ability in his profess
sion for SO young o practitioner, and having had
more than ordinary success there in the treat
ment of the cholera, was reputed to have much
more skill than lie had. The aid of the East
ern fanatic was eagerly sought, in their ex-
tremity, by many who had been among the first
to Witty him in their prosperity. 1t was never
refused. Worn as he was, he went from house
to house, in his prison dress, with a guard at his
heels, as willingly as YEARLY, shared the anxees
and did his best to relieve the sufferings of his
enemies and very often turned them into friends.
True to rule which he had long ago laid down
for himself, he never forced his views of Slavery
upon them but when they showed their grow
ing interest in him, by trying to make him a
convert to theirs, he was always ready to dis
cuss the matter with them as temporarily as
firmly and frequently, after half an hour of
his emnently agreeable conversation, they
would find new ideas in their heads, which they
could never afterwards get out again. They
paid him liberal fees. These, the wardens, of
course, pOcketed He was not very sorry for
this for two or three reasons, one of which was,
that it enabled him the better to enter into the
feelings of an intelligent slave, at being obliged
TO give into the hands of others all the wages
of his lifetime Presents of delieacies also
were lavished upon him. These were left at
his disposal, and were most welcome for his
convict patients sake; for since Mrs. Rodrick
had fallen i'll, exhausted by her exertions the
hospital table was but i'll supplied with light
and tempting food.
Towards the end of the autumn, he wrote to
the girls that, finding himself little run do,cn,
which was not very extraordinary under the
circumstances, he was going to take care of
himself, and avail himself of a permission,
which he had obtained, to take walk into the
country every day on parole, with no other
guard than his little May who marched him
out with comical gravity, with wooden gum
which he had made for her. He soon took a
heavy cold, however, which, together with the
unusually wet and stormy weather, kept him