the rest of
his days.

The prayer was a strange mixture of absurdity, presumption, and
profanity, and I felt relieved to hear his long 'amen,' and to see Joe
rise and again approach the pulpit.

Requesting some one present to raise a few of the windows (I took
occasion, afterward, to thank him for that very considerate thought),
Joe opened the Bible, and said: 'My friends, I am gwine to talk ter you
from de tex, 'An' dey drew an' lifted up Joseph out ob de pit, an' sold
Joseph to the Ishmaelites fur twenty pieces ob silver, an' dey brought
Joseph inter Egypt.'

'You all knows,' he continued, 'de story ob Joseph an' his bred'rin; how
dey wus raised up by dar fader Jacob in a wile country, whar dar warn't
no schools, an' no 'telligence, an' no larnin'; and how his fader lub'd
Joseph more dan all ob his bred'rin, an' make fur him a coat ob many
colors. But p'raps you don't know dat de Lord lub Joseph a great sight
better'n his fader did, an' 'case He lub him so, dat He hardened de
hearts ob his bred'rin agin him, till dey sole him to de Ishmaelites--de
slavetraders ob dem days, to be taken down inter Egypt. An' p'raps you
don't know dat Egypt wus a great country, whar dar wus schools, an'
churches, an' great libraries ob books, an' all manner ob sciences; an'
dat Joseph wus made de lord ob all dat country, an' dat finarly he got
his fader, an' his bred'rin, an' dar wifes, an' all dar little ones, to
come down dar, an' stay; whar, dough de tasks war sometimes hard, an'
dey hed to 'arn dar bred by de sweat ob dar brow, dey could git
knowledge an' larnin'. An' p'raps, too, you don't know dat de chil'ren
ob Israel, who war de chil'ren ob Joseph an' his bred'rin, when dey'd
staid down dar in Egypt de 'pointed time, war taken by de Lord inter de
lan' ob Canaan, which was a lan' 'flowin' wid milk and honey;' and dat
dey war gib'n dat lan' far dar possession. Now, my friends,' and he
paused and looked around on the congregation, 'de story ob Joseph am de
story ob de brack man; _he_ hab been taken out ob de pit; _he_ hab been
sole fur twenty pieces ob silver; _he_ hab been brought inter Egypt,
an', bless de Lord, _he_ am bound fur de lan' ob Canaan.

'He hab been taken out ob de pit. A pit, my friends, am a dark place,
whar de sun neber shine, an' de light neber come; an' Africa, de country
whar our faders an' our gran'faders come from--am a pit; fur de darkness
cobers dat lan', an' gross darkness de people dareof. Dey hab no