roken, and that they were
to sleep no more.... I am glad that the colored man gets his
freedom and suffrage together; that he is not forced to go
through the same condition of things here, that has inclined him
so much to apathy, isolation, and indifference, in the North.
You, perhaps, wonder why I have been so slow in writing to you,
but if you knew how busy I am, just working up to or past the
limit of my strength. Traveling, conversing, addressing day and
Sunday-schools (picking up scraps of information, takes up a
large portion of my time), besides what I give to reading. For
my audiences I have both white and colored. On the cars, some
find out that I am a lecturer, and then, again, I am drawn into
conversation. 'What are you lecturing about?' the question comes
up, and if I say, among other topics politics, then I may look
for an onset. There is a sensitiveness on this subject, a dread,
it may be, that some one will 'put the devil in the nigger's
head,' or exert some influence inimical to them; still, I get
along somewhat pleasantly. Last week I had a small congregation
of listeners in the cars, where I sat. I got in conversation
with a former slave dealer, and we had rather an exciting time.
I was traveling alone, but it is not worth while to show any
signs of fear. * * *Last Saturday I spoke in Sumter; a number
of white persons were present, and I had been invited to speak
there by the Mayor and editor of the paper. There had been some
violence in the district, and some of my friends did not wish me
to go, but I had promised, and, of course, I went. * * * *
I am in Darlington, and spoke yesterday, but my congregation was
so large, that I stood near the door of the church, so that I
might be heard both inside and out, for a large portion, perhaps
nearly half my congregation were on the outside; and this, in
Darlington, where, about two years ago, a girl was hung for
making a childish and indiscreet speech. Victory was perched on
our banners. Our army had been through, and this poor, ill-fated
girl, almost a child in years, about seventeen years of age,
rejoiced over the event, and said that she was going to marry a
Yankee and set up housekeeping. She was reported as having made
an incendiary speech and arrested, cruelly scourged, and then
brutally hung. Poor ch