Even if my mother had no qualms of conscience concerning ownership of negroes, her sense of duty carried her far beyond the mere supplying of their physical needs, or requiring that they render faithful service.

In the year 1857, passing through Washington on our return from the annual visit to Philadelphia, I had the distinguished honor of visiting a President for the first time.

However the Southern man may have been master of the negro, there were compensatory processes whereby certain negroes were masters of their masters' children.

As early as the autumn of 1862, I was made very happy by being sent to school.

THE autumn of 1850 brought an event freighted with deep significance to me. My mother died.

My mother was a Northern woman, daughter of Hon. John Sergeant, a distinguished lawyer, and for many years representative in Congress from Philadelphia.

In those days, slavery was not looked upon, even in Quaker Philadelphia, with the shudder and abhorrence one feels towards it now.