Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/385

Rh into the town in a grand, beautiful carriage, and drove to the best house in the whole town, and that was Mrs. Scarborough's house! And when he came there he seated himself in the window. But a cord was drawn around the house, to keep us negroes and other poor folks from coming too near. We must stand outside, and only get a sight of the President as he sate at the window. But the great gentlemen and the rich folks, they went freely up the steps and in at the door, and shook hands with him. Now, did Christ come in this way? Did he come only to the rich; did he shake hands only with them? No! Blessed be the Lord! he came to the poor! He came to us, and for our sakes, my brothers and sisters!” “Yes, yes! Amen! He came to us! Blessed be His name! Amen! Hallelujah!” resounded through the chapel for a good minute or two; and the people stamped with their feet, and laughed and cried, with countenances beaming with joy. The preacher then continued to tell how Christ proved himself to be the messenger of the Highest. “Now imagine, my friends,” said he, “that we here are a plantation of negro labourers. But the owner of the plantation is away; he is a long, long way off, over the sea in England, and the negroes on the plantation have never seen his face. They have never seen the face of any man higher than the overseer. But now they hear that the owner of the plantation, their lord and master, is coming there. And they are very curious to see him, and they inquire about him every day. One day they see the overseer coming and with him another gentleman, whom they have never seen before. But his dress is not so good, and much simpler than the overseer's; the overseer has a fine, buttoned coat on, a white cravat, a handsome hat on his head, and besides that, gloves on his hands. The strange gentleman, on the contrary, has no gloves on, and is dressed in quite a simple, careless way. And if the negroes had not known the overseer, they