Mr. and Mrs. Lee, by some untoward accident, found out what was
going on, and at once expounded the law and the necessities
of the case to their children, forbidding them in the most
peremptory manner, and on penalty of the severest chastisement,
ever to attempt again to give Tidy or any other slave a lesson.
What the punishment was with which they were threatened she never knew,
for the little girls never dared even to speak upon the subject;
but she knew it must be something very dreadful, and though this
was a most cruel blow to her expectations, she loved them too
well to bring them into the slightest danger on her own account.
So she never afterwards alluded to the subject.

Her first impulse was to give up all for lost, and to sit down and weep
despairingly over her disappointment; but she was of too hopeful
a disposition to do so.

"I knows the letters," said she to herself, "and I specs I can
learn myself. I can SCRAMBLE ALONG, some way."

Scrambling indeed! I wonder if any of you, little folks, would be
willing to undertake it.

In her trouble she did not forget the strong hold to which she
had learned to resort in trouble. She PRAYED about it every day,
morning, noon, and night. Indeed the words "Lord, help me learn
to read," were seldom out of her heart. Even when she did not
dare to utter them with her lips, they were mentally ejaculated.
Hers was indeed an unceasing prayer.

"Come chile," said Mammy Grace, one evening in the cool,