day in their lives. My friend got a little put out, and so walking off
said that his son could write as well as any white man.--Most of the
coloured people, when they speak of the education of one among us who
can write a neat hand, and who perhaps knows nothing but to scribble
and puff pretty fair on a small scrap of paper, immaterial whether his
words are grammatical, or spelt correctly, or not; if it only looks
beautiful, they say he has as good an education as any white man--he
can write as well as any white man, etc. The poor, ignorant creature,
hearing this, he is ashamed, forever after, to let any person see him
humbling himself to another for knowledge but going about trying to
deceive those who are more ignorant than himself, he at last falls an
ignorant victim to death in wretchedness. I pray that the Lord may
undeceive my ignorant brethren, and permit them to throw away
pretensions, and seek after the substance of learning. I would crawl
on my hands and knees through mud and mire, to the feet of a learned
man, where I would sit and humbly supplicate him to instil into me,
that which neither devils nor tyrants could remove, only with my
life--for the Africans to acquire learning in this country, makes
tyrants quake and tremble on their sandy foundation. Why what is the
matter? Why, they know that their infernal deeds of cruelty will be
made known to the world. Do you suppose one man of good sense and
learning would submit himself, his father, mother, wife and children,
to be slaves to a wretched man like himself, who, instead of
compensating him for his labours, chains, handcuffs and beats him and
family almost to death, leaving life enough in them, however, to work
for, and call him master? No! no! he would cut his devilish throat
from ear to ear, and well do slaveholders know it. The bare name of
educating the coloured people, scares our cruel oppressors almost to
death. But if they do not have enough to be frightened for yet, it
will be, because they can always keep us ignorant, and because God