will perhaps never be permitted to suffer while any remain on the
place who knew directly or indirectly of "old Mars' Tom."

I have said that there are few instances of a member of my race
betraying a specific trust. One of the best illustrations of this
which I know of is in the case of an ex-slave from Virginia whom
I met not long ago in a little town in the state of Ohio. I found
that this man had made a contract with his master, two or three
years previous to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the effect
that the slave was to be permitted to buy himself, by paying so
much per year for his body; and while he was paying for himself,
he was to be permitted to labour where and for whom he pleased.
Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went there.
When freedom came, he was still in debt to his master some three
hundred dollars. Notwithstanding that the Emancipation
Proclamation freed him from any obligation to his master, this
black man walked the greater portion of the distance back to
where his old master lived in Virginia, and placed the last
dollar, with interest, in his hands. In talking to me about this,
the man told me that he knew that he did not have to pay the
debt, but that he had given his word to the master, and his word
he had never broken. He felt that he could not enjoy his freedom
till he had fulfilled his promise.

From some things that I have said one may get the idea that some
of the slaves did not want freedom. This is not true. I have
never seen one who did not want to be free, or one who would
return to slavery.

I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people