Mr. French, “and I will feed yon and take care of you.” He tried to beg off, but was too weak to resist, and French took him home. Mrs. French prepared for him an excellent supper, but he could not be induced to taste of it. The sight of food seemed to distress him; he was evidently starving, but was afraid to eat. It was a singular case; French could not understand it. He repeatedly told him that they were all abolitionists, which frightened the negro almost out of his senses. Finally, Mrs. French made the remark that the slaves were sometimes told that the abolitionists are cannibals. “Talk with him,” said she, “and find out what he is afraid of.” Mr. French talked kindly to him, telling how many fugitives he had assisted and sent them to Canada. “Dey so pore,” pleaded the negro, “dey good for nufhn! I'se pore, too—do, massa, let me go!” “Yes,” said French, “I will send you to Canada, but you must stay here till you are able to go. You are starved; eat something and go to sleep; we will talk more about it in the morning.” “No,” he replied, “I rather die than be killed and eat up.” French saw that some terrible fear was controlling the poor fellow, and determined to ascertain what it was. It required a long continued and patient effort to induce the negro to tell the cause of his fear. When he had done so his friends soon found means to dispel his fears, and he ate all that was deemed safe for him, and was put on a comfortable bed, from which he did not get up for many weeks. He was so far gone when French found him that one or two more days of starvation would have finished him. Had he not been taken in when he was, he must have died in the woods.
In Georgia, where Moses (he said they called him Mose) lived, the slaves were partially educated. Their mothers taught them a short lesson in astronomy, namely, the position of the north star and how to find it. Their
