"WASHINGTON, D. C., November 22, 1855.

"REV. CHAS. B. RAY,
"_Dear Sir:_

"My last letter will lead you to expect to see the boy Joe to-day
but it was afterwards calculated that he will not arrive till
sometime to-morrow. I am requested for the gratification of Joe's
mother that you will be pleased on his arrival and before he
changes his sex, to have his daguerrotype taken for her use. It
will make up a part of the Record."

Mr. Ray's narration continues thus:

"Accordingly, one afternoon upon arriving home I found, sitting
on the sofa at my home, a little boy about ten years old in
appearance and looking rather feminine. I knew at once who it
was, that it was Ann Maria. Upon her arrival I was to take her to
Mr. Tappan, in whose hands the balance of the money was placed.
This I did, and the little boy Joe was taken to her uncle or to
where he could obtain her and finally reached Canada."

The following incident has often been told in Mr. Ray's family. "One
summer morning, a loud rap with the knocker at the front door arrested
the attention and the door being opened, a man entered, who after
asking, 'Does the Rev. Mr. Ray live here?' and receiving an
affirmative answer, whistled as a signal to attract the notice of his
comrades, then cried out, 'Come on, boys!' and forthwith fourteen men
in all entered, quite alarming the inmates of the house on seeing such
a train of fugitives."

In the midst of these busy days Mr. Ray also served as a minister. For
twenty years he was the pastor of the Bethesda Congregational Church
in New York City where many learned to wait upon his ministry. He
lived until 1886, long enough to enjoy some of that liberty for which
he so patiently toiled. His more valuable services to his race,
however, were rendered during the period prior to the Civil War.
Although in the midst of this struggle of the subsequent period there
came forward men who towered higher in the public opinion than he did,
the valuable work which he did as an abolitionist, and an editor,
should not be neglected.

M. N. WORK

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A very good account of C. B. Ray's literary efforts is given in I.
Garland Penn's _The Afro-American Press_, pp. 32-47.

[2] Papers in the possession of Ray's family.

[3] For further information see manuscripts in the possession of Ray's
fa