ficiently serious to be even alarming. Thus a contemporary writer
says:--

"Such sudden emancipation, on so vast a scale, is unequalled in the
annals of history. The nearest parallel to it is the deliverance of the
Israelites from Egyptian bondage. A nation, numbering about two
millions, was then suddenly emancipated. But as for their sustenance and
preservation a succession of miracles took place, it is not necessary
for our present purpose to pursue the parallel. No instance in secular
history equals the present position of the freed negroes of North
America. The crisis has come in a manner and at a time that could hardly
have been anticipated by the wisest forecaster of political events."

Great as was the need for earnest effort after hostilities ceased,
however, the want and suffering had been far more acute in days that had
gone before. The contemporary writer just quoted adds:--

"From the very beginning of the war hundreds have suddenly poured in, as
at an hour's notice, upon the cities of the Northern States. One of the
camps was inundated by a thousand of these naked and starving fugitives
in a single day, and this whilst the snow was coldly and silently
covering the surrounding landscape. After the Federals had gained
possession of Memphis, there speedily turned into it a long train of
negroes, so miserably destitute that, having nothing whatever with them
of food or clothing but the rags of two or three years' wear, and only
the clouds and the trees to shelter them, these human multitudes were
far worse off than the comfortably-kennelled dogs of their white
brethren. When General Sherman passed through Georgia, he was asked how
many negroes had followed his army. The reply was, 'Ten miles of them.'"

Charitable and Christian people were moved to do what lay in their power
not only to relieve present sufferings, but to enable the coloured folk
to make a new start in the world. Associations were formed, money was
collected, even the Government took care that rations should be
distributed. The result was that the outlook soon showed signs of
improvement. At one time Levi Coffin of Cincinnati reported that there
were thirty-five camps in the Mississippi Valley which contained about
650,000 coloured fugitives, but these camps soon became self-supporting.
The more acute want and suffering were soon relieved, but it soon became
more and more apparent that service of a more permanent kind would have
to be underta