I became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1855; was elected President of the first colored society, called the “Female Union,” which was the first ever organized exclusively for women; was elected President of a society known as the “Daughters of Zion”; was matron of “Siloam Court,” No. 2, three years in succession; was Most Ancient Matron of the “Grand Court of Missouri,” of which only the wives of Masons are allowed to become members.  I am at present, Past Grand Chief Preceptress of the “Daughters of the Tabernacle and Knights of Tabor,” and also was Secretary, and am still a member, of Col.  Shaw Woman’s Relief Corps, No. 34, auxiliary to the Col.  Shaw Post, 343, Grand Army of the Republic.

Considering the limited advantages offered me, I have made the best use of my time, and what few talents the Lord has bestowed on me I have not “hidden in a napkin,” but used them for His glory and to benefit those for whom I live.  And what better can we do than to live for others?

Except the deceitfulness of riches, nothing is so illusory as the supposition of interest we assume that our readers may feel in our affairs; but if this sketch is taken up for just a moment of your life, it may settle the problem in your mind, if not in others, “Can the negro race succeed, proportionately, as well as the whites, if given the same chance and an equal start?”

    “The hours are growing shorter for the millions who are toiling;
    And the homes are growing better for the millions yet to be;
    And we all shall learn the lesson, how that waste and sin are spoiling
    The fairest and the finest of a grand humanity.

    It is coming! it is coming! and men’s thoughts are growing deeper;
    They are giving of their millions as they never gave before;
    They are learning the new Gospel; man must be his brother’s keeper,
    And right, not might, shall triumph, and the selfish rule no more.”

Finis.

* * * * *

=Transcriber’s Notes=

Spelling variations have been retained for: 

Chapter I, Page 10:  Polly Crocket (Living with Mrs. Posey was a little negro girl, named Polly Crocket, who had made it her home there, in peace and happiness, for five years.)

Chapter IV, Page 43:  Polly Crockett Berry (The testimony of Judge Wash is alone sufficient to substantiate the claim of Polly Crockett Berry to the defendant as being her own child.)

Other minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected from the original to reflect the author’s intent.