"I came from Louisiana. Oh, I can't be mistaken. I have longed for you,
and prayed for you, and now I have found you."

Just then, Carrie, who had finished speaking with her friend, seeing
Minnie and the strange woman talking together, exclaimed, "What is the
matter?"

Noticing the agitation of her friend, "Who is this woman, and what has
she said to you?"

"She says that she is my mother, my long-lost mother."

"Why, Minnie, what nonsense! She can't be your mother. Why don't you see
she is colored?"

"Where do you live?" said Minnie, without appearing to notice the words
of Carrie.

"I don't live anywhere. I just came here yesterday with some of the
Union soldiers."

"Come with me then, and I will show you a place to stop."

"Why, Minnie, you are not going to walk down the street with that
Nig--colored woman; if you are, please excuse me. My business calls me
another way."

And without any more ceremony Carrie and Minnie parted. Silently she
walked by the side of the stranger, a thousand thoughts revolving in her