(And he presented it to him very
respectfully.)
_Mr. J_. The Bible!--Pray when did you get this book? And who taught
you to read it?
_Slave_. I thank God, sir, for the book. I do not know the good
gentleman who gave it to me, but I am sure God sent it to me. I was
learning to read in town at nights, and one morning a gentleman met me
in the road as I had my spelling book open in my hand: he asked me if
I could read, I told him a little, and he gave me this book and told
me to make haste and learn to read it, and to ask God to help me, and
that it would make me as happy as any body in the world.
_Mr. J_. Well did you do so?
_Slave_. I thought about it for some time, and I wondered that any
body should give me a book or care about me; and I wondered what that
could be which could make a poor slave like me so happy; and so I
thought more and more of it, and I said I would try and do as the
gentleman bid me, and blessed be God! he told me nothing but the
truth.
_Mr. J_. Who is your master?
_Slave_. Mr. Wilkins, sir, who lives in that house.
_Mr. J_. I know him; he is a very good man; but what does he say to
your leaving his work to read your book in the field?
_Slave_.
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