Quietly and alone, my daughter and myself sat up, night after night, with the suffering child, and endeavored to smooth her pathway to the grave. She seemed far more happy and contented when we were beside her, and we therefore gave to her all the time we could possibly spare. On the night that she died we sat with her until a late hour, and, as we were leaving her, she said, in broken accents;--“I thank you, Mrs. Douglass and Miss Rosa, for all you have done for me: you have taught me to pray and to read my Bible, but I shall never read it again; you must pray for me before you go.” We did so, and left her in a quiet slumber, from which she awoke only, as we trust, in heaven. We took charge of the funeral arrangements, had her poor corpse neatly attired for its last repose, and saw that every thing was done decently and in order. Six of her school mates, selected previously by herself, dressed in white, acted as pall bearers at the funeral, and were followed by the rest of the school, I in a close carriage bringing up the rear of the procession. Yes, I followed to the grave the remains of a poor little negro child, and as this was a stretch of humanity that the good people of Norfolk could neither appreciate nor understand, I suppose I may trace to it the beginning of their future persecutions, which resulted finally in the descent upon my establishment by the officers of the law. The descent was made on my school on the 9th day of May, 1853, between eight and nine o’clock in the morning, when the children had nearly all assembled. No note of warning had been given of this movement, and it was as unexpected as the sudden upheavings of an earthquake. Our school-room was situated in the second story back room. My daughter had but a few moments before taken her seat at her humble pine table, and was surrounded by her little sable scholars. Sable, did I say? No, not all; for in many cases the difference could scarcely be perceived between them and white children. Yes, Mrs. Douglass “condescended” to teach free black men’s children, and free white men’s children--some of the latter being, very probably, among her real persecutors! It was a horrible crime, was it not?