There was a slave named James Hay, who belonged to a neighbor of
master's; he was punished a great many times because he could not get
his task done. The other slaves pitied him because he seemed unable to
perform his task. One evening he got a severe whipping; the next morning
as the slaves were having their tasks assigned them, an old lady by the
name of Aunt Patience went by, and said, "Never mind, Jim, my son, the
Lord will help you with your task today;" he answered, "Yes, ma'am." He
began his work very faithfully and continued until it was half done,
then he lay down under a tree; the others, not understanding his motive,
thought he was tired and was taking a rest, but he did not return to his
task until the overseer called him and asked him why he did not have his
work nearer done. He said, "Aunt Patience told me dis morning that the
Lord would help me today, and I thought as I did half of the task, the
Lord might have finished the other half if he intended to help me at
all." The overseer said "You see that the Lord did not come to help you
and we shall not wait for him, but we will help you;" so Jim got a
severe punishment. Sometime after this, Jim Hay was called upon by some
professors of religion; they asked him if he was not tired of serving
the devil, and told him that the Lord was good and had helped many of
his people, and would help all who asked him and then take them home to
heaven. Jim said that if the Lord would not do half an acre of his task
for him when he depended on him, he did not think he could trust him,
and Jim never became a Christian to my knowledge.


THE STORY OF MR. USOM AND JACK.

One Sunday when the boys were at the overseer's, Mr. Usom's house, as we
generally were, he said to one, "Jack, don't you think that hell is a
very hot place, if it is as they describe it?" Jack said, "Yes, massa."