ized could be trained in agriculture, mechanical
arts and even in the professions. Among the first to qualify in the
field of medicine was Charles H. Webb. In his examinations he
exhibited evidences of ripe scholarship and much proficiency in his
chosen field. He set sail for Liberia in 1834, after having completed
his medical studies, which he had pursued under the direction of the
American Colonization Society for a number of years. In the following
autumn, however, he fell a victim to the local fever aggravated by
some imprudence on his part and died before he could render his people
much service.[2]

* * * * *

A SHREWD NEGRO.--A Kentucky slave, named Jim, with the humiliation of
slavery rankling in his breast, resolved to make an effort to gain
freedom. At last the opportunity came and he started for the Ohio
River. There he told his story to a sympathetic member of his race,
offering him a part of his money, if he would row him across to the
Indiana shore. He was directed to George De Baptist, a free man of
color, who was then living in Madison but removed soon afterwards to
Detroit, Michigan. The master of the slave arrived in town with a
posse and diligently searched it for the Negro. His sympathizers
contrived, however, to avoid the slave hunters and the fugitive was
conducted through the corn fields and byways to a depot of the
Underground Railroad. He rested a few days at the station kept by
William Byrd, of Union County, Indiana. From that point he was
speedily forwarded northward until he reached Canada.

Appreciating as he had never done before the real value of freedom, he
longed to do something to confer this great boon upon his wife and
children whom he left behind him in Kentucky. He soon found a way to
solve this problem. He said to himself, "I'll go to old Massa's
plantation, and I'll make believe I am tired of freedom. I'll tell
old Massa a story that will please him; then I will go to work hard
and watch for a chance to slip away my wife and children."

His master was greatly surprised one morning to see Jim return home.
In answer to the many questions propounded to him, he gave the
explanation which he had planned. He told his master that he found
that Canada was no place for Negroes, and that it was too cold and
that they could not earn any money there. He spoke of how the Negroes
were cheated by the whites and subjected to other humiliations, which
made him ti