It seem'd, as she grew weaker, The threads the oftener broke, The rapid wheels ran quicker, And heavier fell the stroke. The sun had long descended, But night brought no repose: _Her_ day began and ended As her task-masters chose. Then to her little neighbour Her only cent she paid, To take her last hour's labour, While by her frame she laid. At last, the engine ceasing, The captives homeward flee, One thought her strength increasing— Her parent soon to see. She left, but oft she tarried, She fell, and rose no more, But by her comrades carried, She reach'd her father's door. All night with tortured feeling, He watch'd his speechless child; While close beside her kneeling, She knew him not, nor smiled. Again the loud bell's ringing, Her last perceptions tried, When, from her straw bed springing, "'Tis time!" she shriek'd, and—died. That night a chariot pass'd her, While on the ground she lay, The daughters of her master An evening visit pay; Their tender hearts were sighing, As negro wrongs were told, While the white slave was dying, Who gain'd their father's gold! CHAPTER IV. SLAVERY IN THE BRITISH WORKSHOPS. When Captain Hugh Clapperton, the celebrated English traveller, visited Bello, the sultan of the Felatahs, at Sackatoo, he made the monarch some presents, in the name of his majesty the king of England. These were—two new blunderbusses, a pair of double-barrelled pistols, a pocket compass, an embroidered jacket, a scarlet bornonse, a pair of scarlet breeches, thirty-four yards of silk, two turban shawls, four pounds of cloves, four pounds of cinnamon, three cases of gunpowder with shot and balls, three razors, three clasp-knives, three looking-glasses, six snuff-boxes, a spy-glass, and a large tea-tray. The sultan said—"Every thing is wonderful, but you are the greatest curiosity of all!" and then added, "What can I give that is most acceptable to the king of England?" Clapperton replied—"The most acceptable service you can render to the king of England is to co-operate with his majesty in putting a stop to the slave-trade on the coast, as the king of England sends large ships to cruise there, for the sole purpose of seizing all vessels engaged in this trade, whose crews are thrown into prison, and of liberating the unfortunate slaves, on whom lands and houses are conferred, at one of our settlements in Africa." "What!" exclaimed the sultan, "have you no slaves in England?" "No: whenever a slave sets his foot in England, he is from that moment free," replied Clapperton. "What do you then do for servants?" inquired the sultan. "We hire them for a stated period, and give them regular wages; nor is any person in England allowed to strike another; and the very soldiers are fed, clothed, and paid by the government," replied the English captain.