Fact stranger than fiction; seventy-five years of a busy life, with reminiscences, of many great and good men and women

Front matter

NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES

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Foreword

If gauged by the hosts of friends who recognize me, and the high esteem and kindly consideration manifested for me by my fellow citizens, of all classes and station* in life, then I feel that, I have not "strutted and fretted" my hour of life in vain.

From this point of view, I have written the following story of my life, for two principal reasons'. First, because I, alone, can certify to the truthfulness of all the statements — to the minutest details; and secondly, for the reason that, I have been well nigh importuned, by many of my personal acquaintances to write it; and because I am hoping and praying that, by the reading of it, a stimulus and inspiration may be imparted to ambitious — struggling youths of both races — especially the colored race, to put forth renewed efforts for success,

I, myself, by the reading of the auto-biographies of such colored men as Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, have derived great encouragement, which has, persistently, sustained me in my life efforts along that "road so narrow where one but goes abreast/'

I desire, herein, to place before the colored youth, of my class, another concrete proof of the fact that, even in the United States, where the handicap of color and former restrictions are so much in evidence, ambition, united with initiative and reasonable endeavor, will surely win success, along some worthy, honorable line.

In the preparation of the type-written copy of this narrative, I have been placed under lasting obligations to Miss Harriet J. Willis — competent and popular court stenographer, and attorney and counsellor at law; who has, gi-atuitously and beautifully, prepared the same.

JOHN P. GREEN.

Chapter I

ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY, GREEN— "THE SHORT AND SIMPLE ANNALS OF THE POOR."

Revolutionary Times — 1793 — John Wright Stanly- William Gaston — General Nathaniel Greene — Governor Richard Dobbs Speight — Sarah Rice — John Rice Green — John Patterson Green — Edward Stanly, M. C. — Temperance Durden Green — Granny Bede and the steer — ^White-colored people— From ignorance to learning — From poverty to affluence — Misfortunes and fall — Death of John R. Green ------ i-22

Chapter II Childhood Days

The cottage behind the "grave-yard'* — Sad social environment — Hunger and cold — Superstitions "ghosts" defied — The red rooster — A big-hearted white woman — Little Auntie and Aunt Hannah- Sawing and splitting cords of wood to buy skates — Uncle Balaam Jones and the grind-stone — ^Torturing a slave man — The Bragg boys persecute the writer — Opening Court — Old common-law punishments — Branding-iron and gibbett — ^The scaffold-rope and stocks — Hounded by both white and black — At bay — What constitutes a bad boy? — Celebrating the Fourth of July — Slave man's visit at night to his wife — John Stuart Stanley — Colored teacher — Signs of Civil War — Hegira of colored people to the North — The patrols — Packing up 23-50

"My native land— good night!"

Chapter III Bitter-sweet

Crossing the Bar — Ossa and Pelion — The captain's stentorian voice — New York City — 1857 — ^The half-dollar— Fourth of July in New York— 63 years ago — ^My first Sunday School — Colored tyler of a white Masonic Lodge — The Erie Railroad— 1857— -Cleveland, Ohio — First Impressions — Oberlin, Ohio— 1857— * Treat 'em rough!"— Nostalgia and seeing mother — A second trip — Supping sorrow — ^Third attempt — The pursuit — Capture — Stripped and flogged in the woods — ^My vow to be free — Daring death twice in ten minutes—Free! - - - - - - - 52-73

Chapter IV Mayflower Common And Sunday Schools

Severe discipline — Good order maintained — My Southern "patois" — Supt. Andrew Freeze — Old Central High — Playing truant — Newburgh chair factory — Eight miles from Cleveland — The stage €oach — First sight of John D. Rockefeller, 1858 — Other worthy Cleveland men — Experience with the Shakers, on Shaker Heights — Their customs — ^Dances — Songs — ^A "tramp" in 1860 — Mr. James M. Hoyt and our home — Asking work at Post Office door — Rev. Mr. Bittinger — A steady job at $4.00 per month — Hardest work ever — Walking ten miles to witness minstrel show — •First acquaintance with great Hanna family — Troy Hill — ^Pittsburgh — Kind friends give encouragement and inspire in writer desire for :] earning -_____-_ 74-92

Chapter V, Home Again

Currying street-car horses, 1862 — Apprenticed to a tailor — ^The Angler House — ^The Civil War — Return of dead, wounded and sarved from Confederate prison pens — ^Wheeler and Russell's Dining Room — Studying "between meals" — Lincoln's remains, lying in state — Rev. John R. Warren — Joseph H. Ricks — Captain Joe Richards and the cocktail — J. H. DeWitt & Co. — His prophecy fulfilled—Back to Pittsburgh— Dr. John Wesley Sykes — Sleeping car porter and Big *'4" storekeeper— Mr. Truman P. Handy — Mayflower Sunday school — Rev. James Eells and Dan P. Eells — My volume of essays — Rev. B. T. Tanner — Philadelphia— Rev. Dr. Hawes — Mr. Theodore Bliss —Entering the old Central High School, 1866 — Dr. Theodore Sterling and others — Sleeping in attic — Studying Greek at 3 A. M. by tallow "dip" — Waiting on table and parties - - _ 93-115

Chapter VI Sojourning In Dixie Land

"After graduation what?" — Humorous incident in Akron, 1867 — Andrew J. Rickoff and Judge Jesse P. Bishop — ^The Union Law College — General John Crowell — W. G. McFarland — Getting married— Going to South Carolina — Enroute — Professors Robert and Cicero Harris — Fayetteville, N. C. — William R. Brewington — Bennettsville, S. C. — In dire straits — ^'Hitting the trail" — Do or lie — John G. Grant — A "politician" — Wilmington, N. C. — Adrian & Vollers — Ed. Roper — My grocery— ^The hanging — Admitted to the S. C. Bar, Sept. 20, 1870 — Remarkable cases — Political experiences— Addressed state convention, 1872, in Hall of Representatives, Columbia, S. C. — Elected alternate to Philadelphia National Convention, 1872 — Jeopardie in Southern politics - 116-146

CHAPTER Vn BACK TO CLEVELAND.

^ack to Cleveland — In the grip of winter — Bread without butter — Trying to borrow $5.00 — J. R. Hawkins — My first Cleveland client — Nominated and elected Justice of the Peace three times, 9 years — Better times — Elected to the General Assembly, 1877 — "Counted out" — Defending many alleged murderers — Governor *'Biir' (Fog Horn) Allen — Frank G. Carpenter and other distinguished editors — W. S. Kerruish and Frederick Douglass — Fighting color handicap — George P. Phibbs— De Scott Evans - - - 147-170

CHAPTER VHI MAKING AND PRACTICING LAW

Ib the Ohio General Assembly — Langston's treatment prior thereto — In the chair — Selected by the speaker to explain causes of Cleveland's growth — Not invited to share in the "Giteau" junket — The Weitzel Bill and Tom L. Johnson— Also, Newi:on D. Baker— The "Black Laws"— Senator George H. Ely — The writer would not yield to 4 street railway presidents — Defeated of re-election by them — Professional life for 7 more years —Resurrected by popular-vote plan— Crying and praying in arguments in court — Opinions — My seven years' case wone - - . _ 171-185

CHAPTER JX

SECOND TERM IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY—

"DADDY OF LAi^OR DAY."

Second term in General Assembly — Defeat of McDermot Bill to have separate schools — Fight for Wilberforce University — Sixteen thousand dollars won for her — Degree of LL.D. conferred on me for successful fight — ^Wrote and fathered Ohio Labor Day law — Feted thiee times by Amalgamated organizations of Labor in Cincinnati, and proclaimed "Daddy of the Day" — The day afterwards made national holiday, by Congress — Refused the dining-room at Gibson house — Entertained at the Burnett House — Called on by both McKinley and Foraker — Addresses great meeting of railway trainmen at Goodale Park, Columbus, with Governor Campbell of Ohio — Turns a *'joke*' by the Governor on himself — Secures passage of law protecting poor widows _ . - 186-192

CHAPTER X

IN THE SENATE— SUNSHINE AND SHADOW.

Sworn in as a Senator of the 25th District of Ohio — Colored vote at that time, in Cleveland small — Presided over the Senate, once — Def acto Lieutenant Governor of Ohio — Resurrected and secured passage of street-car vestibule law — Fought for Anti-Screen Law — "Thereby hangs a tale" — "Dug up" and secured passage of bill to enable financing of our parks and boulevards — Championed House Bill to allow firemen, in Cleveland, some time for recreation — ^Prevented change of the Smith Civil Rights law — Aided in passage of Senate Bill No. 50 — Mr. Spencer — Confronted meetin gof angry citizens, and gained applause from them — Guest at banquet of Protective Tariff League of Canton, Ohio — Responded to toast — Visited Col. Elliott F. Shepherd of New York, at his home — Wrote letters for the Mail and Express— His treatment of me — His death - 193-209

CHAPTER XI JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER

Observations on the personal grandeur of Mr. Rockefeller— From every point of view — He promoted those whom he conquered in the business arena — First meeting — ^Tvliss Laura C. Spellman in our schools — Mr. Rockefeller a Sunday School teacher — ^Wordy arraignment of his business methods, by a legislator — Reply by this writer — Invited to his home, three times — Extraordinary courtesies extended to me and family — His genosity to me — He pilots the carriage containing Mrs. Rockefeller and guests — Gives this writer carte blanche to drive in his grand and beautiful grounds — His father — At a loss to account for his remarkable social condescension and kindnesses— How he signed my petition for a federal office, under McKinley — Mrs. Rockefeller's sympathy for and kindnesses to the poor — Alwnys the friend of the "under dog" — Letters to this writer — A benediction on Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller ------- 210-222

CHAPTER Xn

GREAT BRITAIN

Some data — On the ocean wave — In Liveii>ool — In London — Some men of renown — Objects of interest— ^Two letters — Rt. Honorable A. F. Winnington — Ingram — Lord Bishop of London — Frederick William Farrar — Canon of Westminster Abbey— Ex-Pre§ident Fairchild of Oberlin College —Rev. John Clifford, D. D., LLD.— Rev. Joseph Parker, D. D. — Werner of St. Martin's Tower — In the Tov>^er of London — S. Coleridge Taylor— S. J. Celestin Edwards — Scotland — Switzerland — Senator Roscoe Conkling — The native African — Some great Scotsmen — Mrs. F. M. Saleeby and her sons — Carrubber's Close — "Drawing Rooms" Mrs. Elizabeth Pease Nicholl — Miss Eliza Wigham, — John Box Brown — Sir William Simpson — Old St. Giles Church— Edinburgh Castle and the Grass market — Holyrood Palace — Calton Hill — Arthur's Seat— The fish-wife— The Forth bridge — Kirkliston— John Knox Bokwe - - 222-247

CHAPTER Xm

DUNDEE— ABERDEEN— HUNTLEY— GLASGOW

James Thompson, Esq., LL. B., solicitor — ^Mrs. Thompson— The Firth of Tay— The City of Dundee— James Thompson, Jr. — Patriot — "Oh darkdark, dark, amid the blaze of noon!" — ^The whole Thomson family — Aberdeen — Oats vs. Macaroni —Mrs. Isabella Fyvie Mayo (Edward Garrett) — Dr. George Ferdinands— John Leith — Scottish

xii stories — ^The P. S. A. — '^Twilight and evening star" — Mr. Leith's legend — Huntley — Gordon Castle — Bag pipes — Miss Annie Bennett — Mr. William Simpson — Rev. Mr. Templeton — Old "storm king," Benachie — In Glasgow — Mr, William G. Smeal— "The deaf hear"— The famous Cathedral, where Rob Roy concealed himself 248-259

CHAPTER XIV.

WILLIAM McKINLEY

McKinley Governor — Some of his generous characteristics— Politeness, like George Washington — At the Tod House — In the rink — At the Congregational Church, in Washington — Dr. J. E, Rakin — Compels Speaker's Committee to put me on the "stump" — ^Wires Chairman William Hahn — I discuss and defend his protective tariff i)olicy with M. Testolin, in the Piazza St. Marco, Venice, also with the London Daily News, which is cabled to the U. S. — He orders the P. M. General to place me at head of a bureau — Gives Senator Pritchard of N. C. place promised to me, to save G. 0. P. in N. C. — Was assailed in convention of colored men — Supportel by me — Conference with him in White House, before it was opened to the public — Was true friend of the colored people — Interview with him, as to lynching in Lake City, S. C. — Remarkable illustration of his^ policy as to lynching — "You shant be shocked!" Roosevelt—Geo. B. Cortelyou — "Bully for you!'* Bully for you!" — Arch Bishop Ireland — Booker T. Washington — Hon. M. A. Hanna — Samuel Coleridge Taylor — Dr. George H. Richardson — Some prominent colored citizens of W^ashington, D. C— Confirmed with wife anl daughter in St. Luke's P. E. Church— On the Vestry - 260-278

CHAPTER XV

CLEVELAND— EUROPE

Old friends at home — At my law practice — The Wade Leigh case — Horace Neff, Esq. — Case of Dr. John

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L. Hoyer A mooted \ega\ question — Dr. Harris R. Cooley — Honorable Newton D. Baker — Opinion of the Law Depai tment of Cleveland— My dissatisfaction — My Writ of Mandamus gains my point, before Judge Charles J. Estep — Elected by colored people of Cleveland, in mass meeting assembled, to go to Conofress — My service successful— Congressman (Judge) Burnett of Alabama— Isaac Watt — Off arrain. for Europe — The Azores — The Madeiras — The Rock of Gibraltar — The Gulf of Lyons— Genoa— The U. S. Men of War— The Campo Santo— Naples and "Nick'*— Vesuvius and Pompeii — * 'Mounting" Vesuvius — "Nica Italian lady" — "In tlie jaws of death — Into the mouth of hell!" — Down again — The lovely Bay of Naples — The remains of Pompeii— Enroute for Rome 279-295

CHAPTER XVI

ROME— FLORENCE— VENICE— VIENNA

The Campagna di Roma — Romulus and Remus — ^The Corso — The Coliseum — Madam de Stael — ^The Appian Way — The Via Sacra — The Roman Forum — The Catacombs — The Pantheon — Trajan^s Column— St. Peter's Church — Church of Saint John Lateran — Mount Pincio — Meeting the Pope- Bishop John P. Farrelly — Rev. Fr. William Mc- Mahon — Monseignor Bisletti — Scala Pia and Cortile S. Damasco — The Swiss guards — Gorgeous tapestries— The reception — Pope Pius X — Mother Bolden — Rev. Fr. MaHoy — In beautiful Florence — A narrow escape — The river Arno — Picture (art) galleries — Bennett, Jr., of the New York Herald — In Venice — ^The gondoliers — The Grand Canal — Palaces bordering on the same — Piazza Saint Marco — Doges Palace — Wonderful paintings — Bridge of Sighs — The Rialto — St. Marcs Cathedral — Campanile tower — Vienna "the beautiful" — Recognized, in a crowd — Chas. F. Brush's opinion of her beauty — Gothic architecture and wonderful art galleries — The beautiful

xiv blue Danube — Grand Duke Maximilian and our Monroe Doctrine — A few of numerous canvases, and groups of stauary - - - - 296-314

CHAPTER XVII

THE TYROL— PARIS— IRELAND

The Alps and Appenines — Long tunnels — Removing: Mountains — About "cow-catchers" — Beautiful Switzerland— The writer grows poetic (?) — Zurich and her lake — Paris — The Latin Quarter — Trilbyland — Dance hall and brasseries — Grisettes et al — Notre Dame and the Hotel Dieu — ^The Morgue — No "trickle, trickle, trickle,'* now— Bells and gargoyles of Notre Dame — Notable objects of interest — Ireland — The "Emerald Isle" — Some of her great men — Blarney and her Castle — ^The Lakes of Killarney — ^Tipperary — Leaving for the U. S. — Dublin— Some innocent Irish virrns ----- _ _ 815-332

CHAPTER XVIII

HOME AGAIN

A confession — Politics on the ocean — Kier Hardie, M. P., and the writer — What Judge Burke said — Mr. Theodore Bliss— The Rt. Reverend W. A. Leonard, Bishop of Ohio — Rev. Fr. Southern — Poetry — "An Evening Prnyer" — Letters to me, from distinguished men — J. A. Garfield — Hon, John Sherman — Hon. Myron T. Herrick — Booker T. Washington, LL. D. — Daniel Murray, Esq. — Congressional Library — Chas. F. Thwing, LL. D. — Mayor Robert Blee, of Cleveland, Ohio — Judge Thomas M. Kennedv^ — Frederick Douglass, John Clifl:ord, D. D. LL. D., of London, England and Senator Warren G. Harding — In "Tom" Johnson's tent — The patriotic Perkins family — Edwin R., Joseph, Henry B., Jacob B., Captain Ralph and Old Simon Perkms — Some family reminiscences of a domestic nature - - 333-358

XV

Chapter I

ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY GREEN— "THE SHORT AND SIMPLE ANNALS OF THE POOR."

John p. Green, the subject of this sketch, was bom in the old town of Newberne, North CaroHna, on the second day of April, 1845. His parents were John R. Green and Temperance Green, both of whom w^ere free colored people of mixed blood, and highly respected by the peop*e of both races in that community.

John R. Green, the father, w'as the reputed son of John Stanley (spelled by him, Stanly) of North Carolina, who was the son of John Wright Stanley, of the same place, and who, during our Revolutionary War, for a long period of time, maintained a fleet of fourteen privateers, in the vicinity of the West India Islands, which preyed upon British Commerce, quite successfully, until, being attacked in its West Indian harbor of refuge, by a portion of the British Navy, it was thoroughly destroyed, and Stanley betook himself to commerce and merchandise, m the old North Carolina town, at that time, the capital cf the state.

This is the same John Wright Stanley upon whose head, with that of William Gaston, — a great Revolutionary patriot of the same state and community, — was placed a premium, by the British military authorities, during that war, and who, in the darkest days of the War of Independence, loaned General Nathaniel Greene the sum of forty thousand pounds, which' I may say, was never repaid to him, and when we consider the scarcity of money at that time, and that forty thousand pounds was as valuable then, as two hundred thousand pounds is now, we can form a correct estimate of the patiiotism of that "Son of the Revolution."

It may interest the reader, in passing, to know that, Gaston was murdered, by British spies, for the bounty which was offered for his head; but Stanley lived to see the end of the war and enjoy the blessings of Liberty, for many years, under our glorious Stars and Stripes.

John Stanley, my reputed grand-father, was widely noted for his legal lore and successful practice at the Bar of North Carolina. It was said of him that, he "never lost a case," but. as to the truthfulness of this statement, I am somewhat incredulous; unless it be a fact that, he had very few cases, or that, he was so uniformly successful in practice that, it became a proverb, that, he lost no cases.

That he was a great orator, politician and statesman, was well known, — he was, for seven consecutive sessions of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, was in Congress once, and followed and sustained that great party of which Henry Clay was the famous leader, known as the Whig party, and stood for ''America for Americans," and the protection of American industries.

This John Stanley, in the early part of the last century became involved in a quarrel with Governor Richard Dobbs Speight, of North Carolina, one of the original signers of our National Constitution, and, accepting a challenge sent to him by Governor Speight, they fought a duel, in which the Governor was killed. This was a social and political calamity in the "Old North State," for a long time deplored, and did much to bring into hatred, scorn and contempt, a system of so-called "honor," which was finally outlawed, under a heavy penalty.

Herein, peculiarly enough, lies the explanation of this writer's name being John Green, rather than John Stanley.

My father's mother, Sarah Rice, a woman of African descent, had, for years, been a "good and faithful maid servant" in the home of the unfortunate Governor Speight, and had exercised over the little girls and maidens of that august southern family almost maternal care. A condition of affairs which, I suspect, few persons, in the North, East and West, can adequately conceive of, unless they lived in the South, during the slavery era, and became familiar with it, so close was the association between the Negro and mulatto nurses and their little wards, that, even down to the present day, we often hear the scions of old southern families and some of the elderly ladies, from the same section, refer to their "Old Black Mammies," with accents of love and affection. Such was the love and affection for Sarah Rice, on the part of the Speight family, that, they "set her free," manumitted — emancipated her, — giving her, at the same time, the sum of two hundred dollars, as required by the law of the State, at that time.

Previous to this important event in the life of this favored nurse, she had been delivered of a wee boy baby, whom she had named for herself only, — Johnnie Rice, not daring to disclose his true paternity ; but, subsequently, having attained her freedom, she called him Johnnie Green, for a little boy whom she had nursed ; for, Johnnie, having been born when his mother was still in the bonds of slavery, followed his mother's slave condition ; and, not having been manumitted with her, he was still the slave of the Speight estate ; and to let it be known that he was the "natural" son of John Stanley, the fatal ball from whose pistol had killed the Governor, would, in all probability, have sealed his fate, adversely.

So, Johnnie Green became, in later days, John R. (Rice) Green; and this writer, his son, has flaunted the green flag, as John P. (Patterson) Green, ever since. Sometimes, really, ''fact is stranger than fiction."

Having stated it as matter of fact that, my father, John R. Green, was the reputed son of John Stanley, a "son of the Revolution," the skeptical may demand the proof of this fact ; if so, I submit the following data :

a — Sarah Rice, John R. Green's mother, declared that Stanley was his father;

b — John Stanley, on his "dying" bed, sent for my father and to him in person, acknowledged his paternity, giving him at the same time, a steel engraved likeness of himself, — which we still have, in our family ;

c — My father, it was generally conceded, bore a more striking resemblance to Stanley, than any other of his sons, — except that, he was a shade darker.

d — It was common rumor, in that community, that, Stanley was his lather.

To the best of my knowledge, the most illustrious son of my grandfather John Stanley, was the Honorable Edward Stanley, M. C., who was leader of the Whig party, in Congress, in the "Forties."

This gentleman and scholar was, later on, the first nominee of the Republican party for governor of California; and afterwards, during the reconstruction period, subsequent to our Civil War, was appointed by President Andrew Johnson "provisional governor" of North Carolina.

I have gone into this matter somewhat minutely, because I am proud of the fact that I can trace my descent from a family so distinguished, in both "camp and state;" and, also, because it furnishes to the student of society and social standards, in these United States, a concrete example of how "fearfully and wonderfully" a large percentage of the colored people here are made.

I shall end any further consideration of the Stanley family, by submitting the following epitaph, from the pen of the late William Gaston, of North Carolina, who was the son of that William Gaston, the friend and associate of John Wright Stanley, who died a martyr in the cause of American liberty. This William Gaston, who wrote the epitaph, was noted in his day, — and down to the present, as having been one of nature's noblemen and the greatset Chief Justice and jurist his state ever produced. He was, from the first, John Stanley's close personal friend (both at the Bar and in the political arena), and well knew whereof he spoke.

The following is the epitaph: "John Stanley, eldest son of John Wright-Stanley and Ann, his wife, born 1774, died August 2d, 1833. Few persons in any community have occupied a more prominent station; few have exercised a more powerful influence than this distinguished individual for many years held and exercised in our town and throughout our state. Long in the affectionate and grateful remembrance, of all, will live his genius, his learning, his courtesy, his eloquence, his virtues, his personal characteristics and his pubHc services." GASTON.

My mother, Mrs. Temperance Durden Green, was a quadroon, by blood, and was a direct descendent, on both her father's and her mother's side, from those Scottish and Yorkshire Englishmen w^ho followed the flag and fortunes of the last "Pretender," — descendant of the unfortunate James II, of England, in 1745 ; and after having met disastrous defeat, at Derby, almost at the gates of London, were expatriated and in large numbers, found asylum in North Carolina, — notably, in the counties of Cumberland and Sampson, where, by thrift and economy, they left a numerous and wealthy progeny, as may be seen by tourists and others today.

In the latter part of the eighteenth century, 1792, to be specific, there resided near the town of Clinton, in Sampson county. North Carolina, — about thirty miles from the city (then town) of Fayettsville, in the same state, a family, containing two beautiful daughters, of which a man, Chesnut (or Chestnutt) by name, was the head. This pater famihas was a well-to-do farmer; and, with his wife and daughters, was known and respected, far and wide, by persons of his class ; moreover, since his daughters were young and comely, they were, frequently favored by the calls of young gentlemen, in the vicinage, who, socially and financially, deemed themselves their superiors.

In the course of time, the young ladies became greatly enamored of two of these young men; but, since they did not hasten to make to them proposals of marriage, they had recourse to the advice and services of a *iikely" young colored man (the slave of their father), who advised them, in the premises, with the result that, ere long, each became the mother of a little colored girl; one of these baby girls was named Obedience, which was transformed to "Bede;" this one was my grand-mother, born in the same year as my father, 1793 ; the child of the other girl, sister of this first mother, was name Alice, but, invariably, as long as she lived, called "A-lice."

A glance will suggest that these two babies, being the offspring of one father by two sisters, were, at once, sisters and cousins!! This condition during the womanhood of these two colored girls was doubly compUcated, when each girl presented to two white brothers, severally, a child, one of whom was my mother.

If the foregoing is proof of a low moral status amongst both white and colored persons in that portion of these United States, at that time, place the odium where it belongs, not at door of the poor slaves; Hor should we forget that, as far back as the time of Homer, when bondsmen were of every nationality and race, it became a maxim that,

"Jove made it certain that, whatever day "

Makes man a slave, takes half his woilh i.way."

Moreover, it seems to be a natural inclinatiicii governing dominant and oppressing men, to take unjust advantages of unprotected females and others; as, — witness the Romans, under Romulus, taking, by force, the Sabine virgins and carrying them into captivity ; and a more recent proof of my contention may be found in the conduct *of the German warriors and the "Reds" of Russia, who have disregarded every sacred right of conjugal, maternal and virginal purity; under such conditions those damnat)le doctrines, — ''Might makes right," and, ''To the victoi* belong! the spoils," are an unspeakable cuiEe.

It may interest the reader to know that, both those colored girls lived to a ''ripe old age." Bede, my grand-mother, lived to be nearly ninety-seven years of a^e, and, had she not yielded to dread pneumonia, she would, probably, have rounded out a century; Alice v^as alntost ninety years of age, when she died. Both :eft behind them a numerous projeny, thus proving the fallacy \of that "scientific" dogma — that Mulattoes c^iwnct reproduce their species; for both were mulattoes, — having \^ite mothers and a Negro father.

"Granny Bede," was, in her youth and yoiwig womanhood, a very strong and active woman, as the two anecdotes which follow, concerning her, will abundajptly ptove.

When she was between eighteen and t^.venly yeafS of age, she had, to some extent, the care of the cows and other cattle belonging to the farm on which she Ivas reared. On one occasion, it became necessary to pit a