I decided to go to Liverpool and take ship for Boston.  I still had an uneasy feeling about returning to New York; and in a few days I found myself aboard ship headed for home.

X

Among the first of my fellow-passengers of whom I took any particular notice was a tall, broad-shouldered, almost gigantic, colored man.  His dark-brown face was clean-shaven; he was well-dressed and bore a decidedly distinguished air.  In fact, if he was not handsome, he at least compelled admiration for his fine physical proportions.  He attracted general attention as he strode the deck in a sort of majestic loneliness.  I became curious to know who he was and determined to strike up an acquaintance with him at the first opportune moment.  The chance came a day or two later.  He was sitting in the smoking-room, with a cigar, which had gone out, in his mouth, reading a novel.  I sat down beside him and, offering him a fresh cigar, said:  “You don’t mind my telling you something unpleasant, do you?” He looked at me with a smile, accepted the proffered cigar, and replied in a voice which comported perfectly with his size and appearance:  “I think my curiosity overcomes any objections I might have.”  “Well,” I said, “have you noticed that the man who sat at your right in the saloon during the first meal has not sat there since?” He frowned slightly without answering my question.  “Well,” I continued, “he asked the steward to remove him; and not only that, he attempted to persuade a number of the passengers to protest against your presence in the dining-saloon.”  The big man at my side took a long draw from his cigar, threw his head back, and slowly blew a great cloud of smoke toward the ceiling.  Then turning to me he said:  “Do you know, I don’t object to anyone’s having prejudices so long as those prejudices don’t interfere with my personal liberty.  Now, the man you are speaking of had a perfect right to change his seat if I in any way interfered with his appetite or his digestion.  I should have no reason to complain if he removed to the farthest corner of the saloon, or even if he got off the ship; but when his prejudice attempts to move me one foot, one inch, out of the place where I am comfortably located, then I object.”  On the word “object” he brought his great fist down on the table in front of us with such a crash that everyone in the room turned to look.  We both covered up the slight embarrassment with a laugh and strolled out on the deck.

We walked the deck for an hour or more, discussing different phases of the Negro question.  In referring to the race I used the personal pronoun “we”; my companion made no comment about it, nor evinced any surprise, except to raise his eyebrows slightly the first time he caught the significance of the word.  He was the broadest-minded colored man I have ever talked with on the Negro question.  He even went so far as to sympathize with and offer excuses for