“Why should I not forgive thee, Jane?  I would not chide thee, for no sin is on thy garments.  Injustice gave master the right to sell thee, to make of thee what he pleased.  Heaven made thy soul purest,—­man thy body an outcast for the unrighteous to feast upon.  How could I withhold forgiveness, Jane?  I will be a father to them, a husband to thee; for what thou hast been compelled to do is right, in the land we live in.”  So saying, he again embraces her, wipes the tears from her eyes, and comforts her.  How sweet is forgiveness!  It freshens like the dew of morning on the drooping plant; it strengthens the weary spirit, it steals into the desponding soul, and wakes to life new hopes of bliss,—­to the slave it is sweet indeed!

“I will kiss them, too,” he ejaculates, taking them in his arms with the embrace of a fond father,—­which simple expression of love they return with prattling.  They know not the trials of their parents; how blessed to know them not!

And now they gather the children around them, and seat themselves on a little settee near the window, where Harry, overjoyed at meeting his dear ones once more, fondles them and listens to Jane, as with her left arm round his neck she discloses the sad tale of her tribulation.  Let us beg the reader to excuse the recital; there is nothing fascinating in it, nor would we call forth the modest blushes of our generous south.  A few words of the woman’s story, however, we cannot omit; and we trust the forgiving will pardon their insertion.  She tells Harry she was not separated from her children; but that Romescos, having well considered her worth, sold her with her “young uns” to the Rev. Peter—­, who had a small plantation down in Christ’s Parish.  The reverend gentleman, being born and educated to the degrading socialities of democratic states, always says he is not to blame for “using” the rights the law gives him; nor does he forget to express sundry regrets that he cannot see as preachers at the north see.  As for money, he thinks preachers have just as good a right to get it as gentlemen of any other honourable profession.  Now and then he preaches to niggers; and for telling them how they must live in the fear of the Lord, be obedient to their master, and pay for redemption by the sweat of their brows, he adds to his pile of coin.  But he is strongly of the opinion that niggers are inferior “brutes” of the human species, and in furtherance of this opinion (so popular in the whole south) he expects them to live a week on a peck of corn.  As for Jane-we must excuse the reverend gentleman, because of his faith in southern principles-he compelled her to live with the man Absalom ere she had been two days on his plantation, and by the same Absalom she had two children, which materially increased the cash value of the Reverend Peter—­’s slave property.  Indeed, so well is the reverend gentleman known for his foul play, that it has been thrown up to him in open court-by wicked planters