Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Library of Congress) NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC. The object of the writer, in preparing this account of himself, is to RAISE SUFFICIENT MEANS TO FREE HIS LAST TWO CHILDREN FROM SLAVERY. Having already, within twelve years past, purchased himself, his wife, and five of his children, at a cost, altogether, of over _four thousand dollars_, he now earnestly desires a humane and christian public to AID HIM IN THE SALE OF THIS BOOK, for the purpose of finishing the task in which he has so long and anxiously labored. God has blessed him in an extraordinary manner, not only by granting freedom to him and so large a portion of his family, but by giving him the hope of the gospel, and permitting him to preach that gospel among his own people--in which calling he has been engaged for about twenty-five years. [Illustration: THE SARATOGA STREET AFRICAN BAPTIST CHAPEL.] The building, of which the above cut is an imperfect representation, fronts as above 100 feet on Saratoga street, and 46 feet on Calvert street. The house is of brick, and cost over $18,000.--(See page 45.) A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF REV. NOAH DAVIS, _A COLORED MAN._ WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, AT THE AGE OF FIFTY-FOUR. PRINTED SOLELY FOR THE AUTHOR'S BENEFIT. Baltimore: PUBLISHED BY JOHN F. WEISHAMPEL, JR., No. 484 West Baltimore St. ENTERED according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by NOAH DAVIS, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Maryland. STEREOTYPED BY JOHN F. WEISHAMPEL, JR., BOOKSELLER AND PUBLISHER, BALTIMORE. Contents. CHAPTER I. Early Life in Virginia--Example of Pious Parents. CHAPTER II. Apprenticed to the Shoe-making--Learns housework--Intemperance--"A negro can't be trusted"--Learning how to write and cipher. CHAPTER III. Religious Experience--Conviction and Conversion. CHAPTER IV. Marriage--License to Preach--Purchase of Freedom--Call to Baltimore. CHAPTER V. Experience in Baltimore--Education--Purchase of a Wife and two Children--Great Distress of Mind--Generous Assistance--Church Matters. CHAPTER VI. A New Movement in Baltimore--Erection of a Meeting House for the African Baptist Church--Heavy Indebtedness--Account of the Enterprise. CHAPTER VII. Account of a Visit to the northern Cities--True Friends. CHAPTER VIII. Conclusion--Object of this Book. NARRATIVE. CHAPTER I. Early Life in Virginia--Example of Pious Parents.