become security for my appearance before the Supreme Court. “Friends!” I replied “I am my own best friend, and my daughter’s only one.” I told him to do his duty, and put me in prison at once, if he chose, for I would ask no favors at the hands of any man. On receiving this reply, he reflected for a moment and then said, “I think that I am allowed some discretion in this matter. You say, Mrs. Douglass, that you were not aware of the existing law?” I replied that I was not, and that I was not disposed to violate the laws of any people or place where I might reside. He then, being perfectly satisfied with my good intentions, frank acknowledgment, and ignorance of the law, dismissed the matter; for which I tendered him my thanks, and left the court room. Imagine my surprise, when I reached the steps of the courthouse, to find a crowd of colored men, women, and children, the parents and relatives of friends of our little scholars, waiting to learn the decision of the Mayor. They greeted myself and daughter with many blessings, and said that if we had anything to pay they had the money ready for us. I replied that such was not the case, and that there had been no harm done; and after warmly thanking them for their kindness and sympathy, we looked around for our little scholars, gathered as many of them as we could together, and took them back to the school-room, where we gave each of them their books and slates, and, with wounded hearts, took leave of them, one by one. It was a sad parting, and we grieved to think that they must henceforth grow up in darkness and ignorance. For several days it was as much as we could do to receive the visits of the parents and friends of those children, many of whom we had never seen before. They lamented over the breaking up of our little school, and many shed tears freely. They showered their blessings upon us, and prayed for our welfare, and were evidently truly grateful for all we had done for their children. It is generally thought in the Southern States that the negroes are ungrateful, but I, for one, have never found them so. From the day that I first interested myself in these unfortunate people, to the day I left the city of Norfolk, they literally showered upon us their grateful blessings. In my opinion, those who call the Southern negroes ungrateful, are only those who never do anything to call forth that emotion. I believe the oppressed to be more susceptible of gratitude than any other class. I have ever found them so. May I ask what gratitude do they owe to those who will degrade them? What gratitude does that child owe to his own father, who coldly sells him as his slave? Let us first practice justice and mercy ourselves, and then ask for the gratitude of our slaves.