best they could supplied their wants, and conducted them to St. Louis. There the doors of a Christian home opened to them. No longer slaves, they were happy. Those who employed them spoke to them kindly. The lash was never again to lacerate their quivering flesh. They were justly paid for their toil. They owned themselves. They had no words to express the joy of it all. But the bitter was mingled with the sweet. That perilous flight from bondage with the chilling winds and snows beating upon them proved fatal to the child that they so tenderly loved. From exposure during that long winter journey on foot consumption fastened itself upon her. She was happy, however, even in her extreme sickness. The children in the household loved and petted her. Little children have no prejudice against color. But she grew weaker day by day. She had some notion that God loved her, and that Jesus would come and take her to heaven. And on her cot, with her face turned upward, she sank as gently to her long slumber as the infant falls asleep in its mother’s arms. At this time, when ruthless war, without respect to slave laws, was breaking the chains of bondmen, two contrabands became servants under my own roof. One of them was a black man about twenty-five years old. He said his name was Jim, and so we called him, though his full name was James Jackson. He did the rougher work required by the household, split the wood, brought in the coal, kept the yard in trim, ran errands, and cared for the horse and carriage. He proved to be teachable and trustworthy. According to his light, he was a good man. One day when he was splitting wood, I said to him: “Jim, they say that if you negroes are set free you will not be able to take care of yourselves, to earn your own living. What do you say to that?” He left his axe sticking in the log that he was splitting and fell into a brown study, but soon replied: “I’se can’t see that. We’se took care of them and us too for a long time, and can’t we’se take care of ourselves?” That seemed to be good reasoning, and I felt sure that Jim could earn his own way.