Page:Letters of Life.djvu/317

Rh of interest to principal during the seventeen years of her continuance with me, she accumulated an amount of more than two thousand dollars, and was enabled to take up her abode with a widowed sister, who owned a dwelling in their pleasant native township. There she still resides, in that comfort and respectability which flow from a life of industry, frugality, and piety.

Have patience with me while I trace the image of one more earnest helper, who, notwithstanding her sable brow, is fair and dear to memory.

She was a person of small size, but great activity and strength. Her hands seemed always ready for action, and, by a spirit of order and systematic arrangement, she accomplished what was required in our large family without confusion or neglect. She had no idea of working a certain portion of the time, and taking the remainder for herself, but only of working faithfully as long as there was any thing to do. With her, neither the name nor condition of servitude were accounted dishonorable. She respected those who employed and provided for her; and, having been brought up a slave until the age of eighteen, would gladly have given me the title of "Mistress," had I not refused it.

Perceiving, though a regular attendant on the