woman, to whom they were
real mean and cruel, and one day they whipped her and beat her on her
feet to keep her from running away; but she made up her mind to leave,
and so she packed up her clothes to run away. But before she started, I
believe she kneeled down and prayed, and asked what she should do, and
something reasoned with her and said, 'Stand still and see what I am
going to do for you,' and so she unpacked her clothes and stayed, and
now the best part of it was this, Milly's son had been away, and he
came back and brought with him money enough to buy his mother; for he
had been out begging money to buy her, and so Milly got free, and she
was mighty glad that she had stayed, because when he'd come back, if she
had been gone, he would not have known where to find her."

"Well, it is wonderful. Somehow these people have passed through the
darkness and laid their hands on God's robe of love and light, and have
been sustained. It seems to me that some things they see clearer through
their tears."

"Mother," said Minnie, "As it is Saturday I will visit some of my
scholars."

"Well, Minnie, I would; you look troubled, and may be you'll feel
better."

"Yes, Mother, I often feel strengthened after visiting some of these
good old souls, and getting glimpses into their inner life. I sometimes
ask them, after listening to the story of their past wrongs, what has
sustained you? What has kept you up? And the almost invariable answer
has been the power of God. Some of these poor old souls, who have been
turned adrift to shift for themselves, don't live by bread alone; they
live by bread and faith in God. I asked one of them a few days since,
Are you not afraid of starving? and the answer was, Not while God
lives."

After Minnie left, she visited a number of lowly cabins. The first one
she entered was the home of an industrious couple who were just making a
start in life. The room in which Minnie was, had no window-lights, only
an aperture that supplied them with light, but also admitted the cold.

"Why don't you have window-lights?" said Minnie.

"Oh we must crawl before we walk;" and yet even in this humble home they
had taken two orphan children of their race, and were giving them food
and shelter. And this kindness to the orphans of their race Minnie
found to be a very praiseworthy practice among some of those people who
were not poorer than themselves.

The next cabin she entered was very neat, though it bore