them in their studies.

On the table in the cabin was a large English Bible, with which I spent
many happy hours, and by which I learned the English language. At first
I used to pick out chapters of the New Testament, which I knew almost by
heart, so that I could understand them without a dictionary or an
interpreter. After my first conversation with the captain I did not
speak another word in the Swedish language during the voyage, and when I
returned to Boston, three months afterwards, it seemed to me that I
could talk and read English about as well as Swedish.

I made two trips with the captain from New York to Charleston and back
again. At the wharf of Charleston, I was, for the first time in my life,
brought face to face with American Negro slavery in its most odious
aspect. Crowds of Negroes were running along the pier pulling long
ropes, by means of which the ships were loaded and unloaded. Each gang
of Negroes was under the charge of a brutal overseer, riding on a mule,
and brandishing a long cowhide whip, which he applied vigorously to the
backs of the half-naked Negroes. During the night they were kept penned
up in sheds, which had been erected for that purpose near the wharf.
They were treated like cattle, in every respect. This sight influenced
me in later life to become a Republican in politics.

After our second return to New York, Capt. Wilson assumed the command of
one of the first clipper ships which carried passengers to California in
those days. This was at the most stirring time of the gold fever, and
the captain kindly offered to take me along and let me stay out there,
an offer which thousands would have accepted. But I was never smitten
with the gold fever, and, having a distaste for the sea, I said good-bye
to the kind captain, never to see him again. My wages were to have been
only five dollars a month, but he generously paid me eight dollars, so
that I had earned enough money to pay my way to Boston, whence my friend
Eustrom had written me and urged me to come.

I arrived in Boston about the middle of December, and, when I returned
to the old boarding house, I spoke English so well that my acquaintances
hardly believed it possible that I could be the same person. Mr. Eustrom
was now working as wood polisher. He had made many friends and lived
happily and contented on $4 a week. By strict economy these wages
sufficed for board, lodging, and clothes. It happened to be an
unfavorable time of t