Finding that he could secure better
wages in Ohio, he went there. When freedom came, he was still in debt
to his master some three hundred dollars. Notwithstanding that the
Emancipation Proclamation freed him from any obligation to his master,
this black man walked the greater portion of the distance back to
where his old master lived in Virginia, and placed the last dollar,
with interest, in his hands. In talking to me about this, the man
told me that he knew that he did not have to pay the debt, but that he
had given his word to the master, and his word he had never broken.
He felt that he could not enjoy his freedom till he had fulfilled his
promise.
From some things that I have said one may get the idea that some
of the slaves did not want freedom. This is not true. I have never
seen one who did not want to be free, or one who would return to
slavery.
I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people
that is so unfortunate as to get entangled in the net of slavery. I
have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the
Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race. No
one section of our country was wholly responsible for its
introduction, and, besides, it was recognized and protected for years
by the General Government.
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