256 LIGHT DAWNED ON THE DARKNESS.

ness. Nor were we mistaken; for, during the next six months, she conveyed more than two thousand soldiers from this camp, whose discharges she had obtained, and turned them over to the Soldiers' Home in Washington. Most of them were incurably ill, and would have perished but for her divine ministrations. In four months she had relieved "one hundred and thirty patients in her little hospital, fifteen of whom died." To the friends of the dead she sent full accounts of the last hours of their lost ones. Before the close of six months she had procured the re-instatement of one hundred and fifty soldiers, who had been dropped from the muster rolls unjustly as "deserters," had secured their back pay to them, amounting in all to eight thousand dollars.

There seemed to be no limit to this little woman's capacity for helpfulness. She was as cheery as a sunbeam, and infused health, hope, and courage into all with whom she came in contact. When, at last, the convalescent camp was broken up, and its inmates transferred to the "Rendezvous of Distribution" in Washington, she located herself among them there. She established a weekly paper at their headquarters, called the "Soldiers' Journal," a quarto sheet of eight pages, which was edited with remarkable ability, until the breaking up of the Rendezvous and disbanding of the hospital at the end of the war. "The profits of the paper were twenty-two hundred dollars, besides the value of the printing-press and materials. This amount was expended for the benefit of orphans, whose fathers had been connected with the camp, and was increased by generous contributions from other sources."

CHAPTER XI.

LIFE IN A CONTRABAND CAMP-WASHINGTON IN 1865 - A CONTRABAND PRAYER MEETING-MY INTERVIEW WITH SECRETARY STANTON - THE DRUMMER-BOY OF THE EIGHTH MICHIGAN.

Fugitive Slaves rejoicing in Freedom -Prayer-meeting in Camp - Meet old “Aunt Aggy” — An Episode of Slavery —“Thar's a Day a-comin'!” -Lively Praying-Tempestuous Singing - Intense Sectarians A Boy Philosopher Visit Washington in 1865-Great Changes Deserters from the Enemy-Runaway Negro with a Six-Mule Team Courtesy and Kindness of Secretary Stanton-Meet Admiral and Mrs. Farragut Their Simplicity and Geniality-Lieutenant Cushing, the Hero of the Ram Albemarle - Other Eminent Notabilities- The Drummer Boy of the Eighth Michigan - Enlists with his Teacher Charlie petted by all - His Teacher and Captain Shot at James Island - Fierce Life of the Eighth Michigan-Charlie Shares it All-Struck by a Chance Shot - Fatal Result.

CONTRABAND camp had been established at Washington, made up principally of fugitives from Maryland and Virginia, though we found numerous representatives of the "patriarchal institution" from North and South Carolina, and Georgia. There were three thousand of them in camp at the time of our visit, but the number varied from week to week. Rev. D. B. Nichols, a former superintendent of the Chicago Reform School, was in charge of this motley company of escaped slaves, and although there was evidence of a lack of administrative talent, the poor refugees from bondage had certainly, for the time, a happy home in their miserable quarters.

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A CONTRABAND CAMP.

All ages, both sexes, every shade of complexion, and every variety of character, were found here. I had lived on a Southern plantation for two years, in my early life, and the people and scenes were not as novel to me as to my companions. They were overwhelmed with astonishment at the intelligence, good sense, and decorum manifested by all. They had expected to see a gathering of half-humanized baboons or gorillas, and were not certain that they ought not take with them an interpreter. All with whom we conversed gave an intelligent and graphic account of their escape from slavery, and their descriptions of "massa" and "missus" revealed a clear insight into character. They admitted that they were not in as good condition now as they had been "at home," but they expected to have better days by and by, and to earn money, and to keep house, and to "live like white folks." Not one regretted their change of circumstances.

66

'Why, missus," said a very intelligent mulatto woman, with considerable pretensions to beauty, who had come from Point Lookout, laying her right forefinger in the broad palm of her left hand to give emphasis to her speech, "we'd ruther be jes' as po' as we can be, if we's only free, than ter b'long to anybody, an' hab all de money ole massa's got, or is eber gwine ter hab."

Compared with white people at the North they were not industrious, but they compared favorably with the humbler classes of whites at the South, and were even ahead of them in intellect and industry. Every morning the men of the camp went into the city to get work for the day. So did the women who had not young children to care for. Few of

A PRAYER-MEETING.

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them failed to find employment. Government employed the men - and the women found chance jobs of house-cleaning, washing, etc., for which they asked and received moderate compensation. Many had thriven so well that they had commenced housekeeping by themselves, an event to which all were aspiring. The contraband camp at Washington was therefore very nearly a self-sustaining institution.

Our first visit to the contrabands proved so interesting that we accepted an invitation from Mr. Nichols to attend their evening prayer-meeting. The prayer-meetings were held every evening as soon as supper was ended, and were the great staple of their enjoyment. In them they found never-failing satisfaction. They had all assembled when we arrived, but the advent of so large a company of white people had the effect to disband several minor meetings in the various huts, and to augment the larger one in Mr. Nichols' quarters. Room was

made for us by the dense crowd with great courtesy. The utmost decorum prevailed, seriousness sat on all faces, and a hush settled over the sable assembly. The oppressive stillness was broken by a comely mulatto woman, far advanced in years, who rose, and came towards me.

"I 'clar to goodness," she said, in a subdued undertone, respectfully extending her hand, "you're Miss Lucy's and Miss Mary's and Massa Robert's teacher, down on de ole plantation! I knowed yer de minit I seed yer a-comin' in, a-walkin' so straight and so tall! I allers knowed yer on de ole place, 'clar way off furder'n I could see yer face, cos yer allers walked so oncommon straight."

It was "Aunt Aggy," the housekeeper on the

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"AUNT AGGY."

plantation where I had been governess in my early womanhood. She was the nurse of my pupils, and the foster-mother of two or three of them. A slave, she was entirely trusted, and was always respectful and obedient. Never garrulous, always grave and taciturn, she carried herself in those days with a rare dignity, and never became obsequious, as did the other house-servants. I instantly recalled a drama of those long gone years, in which she was both spectator and actor.

Her daughter "Car'line" (Caroline), a pretty and graceful mulatto, was a servant in the dining-room. One morning when passing a cup of coffee to Mr.

her master and owner, by an unlucky movement of his hand he knocked it from the tray on which she served it, to his knees. It was warm weather; he was attired in linen, and the hot coffee scalded him. Jumping up with an oath, he raised his chair, and felled the girl to the floor, striking her two or three times after she had fallen. She was carried to the cottage of "Aunt Aggy," her mother, who had witnessed the scene from an adjoining room, - stunned, bruised, bleeding, and unconscious. left the table and withdrew to my own apartment, shocked beyond expression at the brutal outrage of the passionate master.

I

Later in the day "Aunt Aggy" came to my room on some household errand, when I expressed my indignation at the brutal treatment her daughter had received, uttering myself with the frankness of a New England girl of nineteen who had been trained to be true to her convictions. I was astonished at the change that came over the taciturn and dignified woman. Turning squarely about and facing me,