She lived only a few miles from her old home; but her new master was an uncommonly hard man, and would not permit her to go and see her children.  He said it would only make her worse, and his slaves should learn that they were not to put on airs and have whims.  It was their business to live for him.  Didn’t he pay enough for them, and see that they were well fed and clothed, and what more did they want?  This he called kind treatment.  Very kind, indeed, not to allow a mother to go and see her own children!  But when she was taken with those insane spells, and would go on so about her children that she was not fit to work, indeed could not be made to work, it was finally suggested to him that a visit to her children would do her good.

This was the occasion of her present visit, and it was because she was insane that she attempted to take her own life.  The wound, however, was not very deep, and Nancy did not die at this time.  After the doctor had been there and dressed her wound, and affairs had become quiet, Lewis stole to the door of the cabin.  He was afraid to go in.  He hardly knew, any of the time, whether that strange wild woman could be his mother, only they told him she was.  There was blood spattered here and there on the bare earth that served as a floor to the cabin, and on a straw mattress at one side lay the strange woman.  Her eyes were shut, and now that she was more composed, he saw in the lineaments of that pale face the features of his mother; But her once glossy black hair had turned almost white since she had been away, and altogether there was such a wild expression that he was afraid, and crept quietly away again.

He then went to find his brother, who, of course, did not remember so much about her.  But it was touching to see the two little lone brothers stand peeping in wonderingly at their own mother, who was so changed that they hardly knew her.  Then they went off behind the kitchen to talk about it, and cry over it.

The strange big negro was Jerry, who belonged to the same master with Nancy, and he had come to bring her down.  He was afraid that his master would be very angry if he should go back without her; but the doctor said the woman must not be moved for a week, and he wrote a letter for Jerry to carry borne to his master, while Nancy remained.

The next day, as they gained a little more courage, the brothers crept inside of the cabin.  Their mother saw them, and beckoned them to her bed-side.  She could scarcely speak a word distinctly, but taking first one and then the other by the hand, she said inquiringly:  “Lewis?” “Lewis?” “Ned?”

They sat there at the bed-side by the hour that day.  Sometimes she would hold their hands lovingly in hers; then again she would lay her hand gently on the heads of one and the other, and her eyes would wander lovingly over their faces, and then fill with tears.

After a day or two little restless, fun-loving Ned grew tired of this, and ran out to play; but Lewis stayed by his mother, and she was soon able to talk with him.