Such had been the state of mind of Anthony Brown.  The light had, however, been gradually let in upon him in the course of an excursion which he and his comrade Ray had made the year previous to their appearance at Whitestown Seminary.  In that excursion they had visited Chicago, Cleveland, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, New York, and Albany.  They had strayed into a court-room in the City Hall at Albany, where many people were listening to the argument of counsel who were discussing the provisions of the will of a wealthy lady, deceased.  A colored man was mixed up in the matter in some way,—­probably as executor and legatee.  Anthony heard with breathless interest the legal disabilities of colored people set forth, and their inferior social position commented upon.  He learned that the ancestral color descended to the children of a colored mother, although they might appear to be white.  These statements had impressed him deeply.  They furnished to his mind an explanation of the various evidences of the degradation of the colored people he had seen upon his journey.  Talking of these matters, he had found that Ray was much better informed than himself upon the entire subject.  Ray, in fact, frankly explained that a colored man had no chance in this country.  This was in 1859.  Anthony suggested in his letter to me that he had probably been kept from acquiring this knowledge earlier in life by his mother’s anxious care and the kindness of friends and neighbors.  He explained that he did not mean to be understood as intimating that he had not some general knowledge of the facts previously, but it was this experience which had made him feel that slavery was a reality and that all colored people belonged to a despised race.  After his return home he had carefully refrained from imparting to his mother any hint of his newly-acquired impressions in reference to the social and legal standing of the colored race.  In the enjoyment of home comforts, and in the freedom of the wild woods and waters, the shadow which had threatened in his thoughts to descend upon him passed away.  He remembered it only as a dream which might not trouble him again, and which he would not cherish.  Still, there was a lurking uneasiness and anxiety, born of the inexorable facts, which favorable circumstances and youthful vivacity could not wholly overcome.

In this state of mind Anthony, in accordance with the wish of his mother, came to Whitestown Seminary.  His description of his first impressions there was very glowing.  He wrote,—­

“I cannot hope, my dear friend, to give you any adequate idea of what I then experienced.  For the first time in my life I found kindred spirits.  Your companionship in particular threw a light upon my pathway that made the days all bright and gave me such joy as I had never before known.  And there was Ralph, so kind and true, and Henry Rose, so honest and faithful!  I cannot tell you how my heart embraced them.  It is a simple truth,