o speak, she
frantically waved her handkerchief and cried "Farewell, old home! Dear
as thou hast been to me, I must leave thee for ever; for thou art in the
possession of the wicked. The spoiler is in thy borders. The blood of
innocents has flowed freely in thy highways, and the murderer and the
assassin stalk abroad in thy streets. But it matters not where I go, thy
days of equity, when every citizen, it mattered not how humble, was
free, shall ever live with me. Days of childhood innocence, the shouts
of the children, the clang of the school bell, the rippling of the
rills, the hum of bees will be the means of helping me to forget thy
latter days of turmoil and strife. Good-bye, old home! Good-bye!"

CHAPTER XXIII.

Bill Sikes in New York.

It was near the Christmas holidays, a genuine Northern winter day, cold
and piercing, going to the marrow in spite of heavy clothing. Francis
Lewis, contractor and builder, sat in his comfortable office in West
Forty-seventh street, New York city, when the door was pushed open and a
light-skinned colored man entered. His face was thin and pinched, his
hair and beard slightly mixed with gray, and he dragged one foot as he
walked.

"Well, what can I do for you, my good man?" said Mr. Lewis, rising.
"Take a seat; you don't look as though you are very well," pointing to a
chair near by. "I'm jes' lookin' aroun'," answered the man, lowering
himself into the chair with difficulty. "I'm er carp'nter maself." "Yes?
Where are you from?" asked Mr. Lewis. "From the South--Wilmington," was
the reply. "Oh, that's the scene of recent riots. What's the matter with
those people down there--crazy?" "No, but that was the only way they
could git er hol' er the gov-nment," answered the colored man. "The
colored people bein' in the majority of course had controlin' power, but
they were always willin' fer the whites ter rule, an' they did rule. But
there wasn't offices ernough to go 'round to all the bankrup' whites who
wanted political jobs, and give the Negro er repersentation too, so they
concluded ter wipe the Negro off the earth." "Shame! shame!" exclaimed
Mr. Lewis. "Then the colored people were gittin' er lon too well; they
had considerable property, and was well up in the trades an'
professions. I owned er whole block maself, an' was perpared to spen'
ther balance of ma days at ease, but had ter sell ma house an' git out."
"You say you are a carpenter--house builder?" "Yes, sir." "Yo