“No, sir, I cannot; my duties as a blacksmith have made me acquainted with the figures on the common mechanics’ square.  There was a day-book kept in the shop, in which the overseer usually charged the smithwork we did for the neighbours.  I have spent entire Sabbaths looking over the pages of that book; knowing the names of persons to whom certain pieces of work were charged, together with their prices, I strove anxiously to learn to write in this way.  I got paper, and picked up feathers about the yard, and made ink of ——­ berries.  My quills being too soft, and my skill in making a pen so poor, that I undertook some years ago to make a steel pen.[A] In this way I have learnt to make a few of the letters, but I cannot write my own name, nor do I know the letters of the alphabet.”

[Footnote A:  This attempt was as early as 1822.]

W.W., (handing a slate and pencil.)—­“Let me see how thee makes letters; try such as thou hast been able to make easily.”

A.B.C.L.G.

P.W., (wife of W.W.)—­“Why, those are better than I can make.”

W.W.—­“Oh, we can soon get thee in the way, James.”

Arithmetic and astronomy became my favourite studies.  W.W. was an accomplished scholar; he had been a teacher for some years, and was cultivating a small farm on account of ill-health, which had compelled him to leave teaching.  He is one of the most far-sighted and practical men I ever met with.  He taught me by familiar conversations, illustrating his themes by diagrams on the slate, so that I caught his ideas with ease and rapidity.

I now began to see, for the first time, the extent of the mischief slavery had done to me.  Twenty-one years of my life were gone, never again to return, and I was as profoundly ignorant, comparatively, as a child five years old.  This was painful, annoying, and humiliating in the extreme.  Up to this time, I recollected to have seen one copy of the New Testament, but the entire Bible I had never seen, and had never heard of the Patriarchs, or of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I recollected to have heard two sermons, but had heard no mention in them of Christ, or the way of life by Him.  It is quite easy to imagine, then, what was the state of my mind, having been reared in total moral midnight; it was a sad picture of mental and spiritual darkness.

As my friend poured light into my mind, I saw the darkness; it amazed and grieved me beyond description.  Sometimes I sank down under the load, and became discouraged, and dared not hope that I could ever succeed in acquiring knowledge enough, to make me happy, or useful to my fellow-beings.

My dear friend, W.W., however, had a happy tact to inspire me with confidence; and he, perceiving my state of mind, exerted himself, not without success, to encourage me.  He cited to me various instances of coloured persons, of whom I had not heard before, and who had distinguished themselves for learning, such as Bannicker, Wheatley, and Francis Williams.