Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/111

Rh sufficient money could not be raised in Washington to furnish the sum which the master of the slave demanded for him. And the negro congregation offered to make a voluntary collection for purchasing the freedom of the slave-brother. A pewter plate was set upon a stool in the church, and one silver piece after another rang joyfully upon it.

The whole congregation was remarkable for its respectable and even wealthy appearance. All were well-dressed, and had the expression of thinking, earnest people. I missed among the women the picturesque head-gear of the South, which had here been replaced by the unbecoming, ordinary female bonnet: but those black eyes and countenances, how full they are of ardent feeling and life! And there is always life in the congregations of this people; and though the expression of it may sometimes approach the comic, still, one never gets sleepy there, as one often does in the very proper congregations and churches of the whites.

From this negro assembly, which honourably testifies of America's behaviour to Africa, I must conduct you to a dwelling which testifies also, but in an opposite way. I went thither one morning with Dr. Hebbe and my good hostess, before we went to the Capitol, because the “Slave-pen” of Washington is situated near to the Capitol of Washington, and may be seen from it, although that grey house, the prison-house of the innocent, hides itself behind leafy trees. We encountered no one within the inclosure, where little negro-children were sitting or leaping about on the green sward. At the little grated door, however, we were met by the slave-keeper, a good-tempered, talkative, but evidently a coarse man, who seemed pleased to show us his power and authority. Mrs. J. wished to have a negro-boy as a servant, and inquired if she could have such an one from this place; " No! children were not allowed to go out from here.