boat into the water. And this man, the member of a doomed, a fated race,
who had been trodden down for ages, comprehending the danger, said,
"Some one must die to get us out of this, and it mout's well be me as
anybody; you are soldiers, and you can fight. If they kill me it is
nothing."

And with these words he arose, gave the boat a push, received a number
of bullets, and died within two days after.

Louis acquitted himself bravely, and rapidly rose in favor with his
superior officers. To him the place of danger was the post of duty. He
often received letters from Minnie, but they were always hopeful; for
she had learned to look on the bright side of everything.

She tried to beguile him with the news of the neighborhood, and to
inspire him with bright hopes for the future; that future in which they
should clasp hands again and find their duty and their pleasure in
living for the welfare and happiness of _our_ race, as Minnie would
often say.

A race upon whose brows God had poured the chrism of a new era--a race
newly anointed with freedom.

Oh, how the enthusiasm of her young soul gathered around that work! She
felt it was no mean nor common privilege to be the pioneer of a new
civilization. If he who makes two blades of grass grow where only one
flourished before is a benefactor of the human race, how much higher
and holier must his or her work be who dispenses light, instead of
darkness, knowledge, instead of ignorance, and over the ruins of the
slave-pen and auction-block erects institutions of learning.