"Here is a man, setting his fate aside, Of comely virtues."

SHAKSPEARE

"Is this the daughter of a slave?"

KNOWLES.






INTRODUCTION.


In the summer of 1848 the author of the following tale was a passenger
on board a steamboat from New Orleans to Cincinnati. During the
passage--one of the most prolonged and uncomfortable in the annals of
western river navigation--the plot of this story was arranged. Many of
its incidents, and all its descriptions of steamboat life, will be
recognized by the voyager of the Mississippi.

The tale was written before the appearance of "Uncle Tom's
Cabin,"--before negro literature had become a mania in the community. It
was not designed to illustrate the evils or the blessings of slavery. It
is, as its title-page imports, a _tale_; and the author has not stepped
out of his path to moralize upon Southern institutions, or any other
extraneous topic. But, as its _locale_ is the South, and its principal
character a slave, the story incidentally portrays some features of