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John, being of good behavior and industrious habits, was favored by his master, a Massachusetts man, and allowed to work for his freedom.

2. This he accomplished at length, and was also able to purchase a farm of one hundred acres near New Bedford, on which he settled and brought up a family of ten children. His land, however, proved unproductive; and when he died, Paul and his brothers found it hard to provide comfortably for

their mother and sisters.

3: Paul was the youngest, having been born in 1762, and being only fourteen when his father died. He lamented the want of a good education, but was resolved to do what he could towards improving and cultivating his mind. With a very little assistance, he soon learned to read and write, and obtained a knowledge of arithmetic.

4. Paul's brothers having settled down to farming, he thought it best for himself and the family that he should engage, if possible, in commerce. In two weeks he acquired such a knowledge of navigation as made him very useful in a successful whaling expedition with which he embarked at the age of six

teen.

5. At the end of the year, Paul Cuffe's voyages were suspended in consequence of the American war with Great Britain, and he spent two years upon the farm with his mother and brothers. It was then that he saw and felt the injustice under which the free people of color in Massachusetts labored, and resolved to make an effort in behalf of his race.

6. He did not think it right that the negroes who bore a full share of the burdens of the State should be excluded from the privileges of citizenship. Though not yet twenty years of age, with the assistance of his brother, Paul drew up a respectful petition to the legislature of Massachusetts, asking for the rights of his class.

7. It was an honorable day both to that body and their petitioners when, in accordance with what each of the parties saw to be just and proper, an act was passed granting to free negroes throughout the State of Massachusetts all the privileges of white citizens. Paul Cuffe should always be remembered for this.

8. But the young man's influence was felt beyond his own State, for other States followed the just and humane example of Massachusetts; so that the exertions of Paul and his brother affected the welfare of the colored people all over the country, and are helping, this day, to solve the question of the rights of

man as man.

9. As soon as the state of things permitted, Paul Cuffe returned to his seafaring life. By prudence and industry, he was in a few years enabled to purchase a schooner; and at length he became the owner of a ship, two brigs, and several small vessels. besides considerable property in houses and lands.

commerce, trade between dif- | brig, a vessel with two masts. ferent countries. schooner, a smaller vessel with two masts.

ship, a large vessel with three

masts.

navigation, the art of sailing. solve, to make plain. purchase, to buy.

LESSON XXVII.

charm ex-pense rec-om-mend mourn voy-age trans-ac-tion Chris-tian in-ju-ri-ous

own

would liq-uor ex-hor-ta-tion

af-fec-tion-ate dif-fi-cul-ty neigh-bor-hood dis-ad-van-tage

LIFE OF PAUL CUFFE.

PART SECOND.

IN

N the neighborhood where Paul's family and relatives lived, there was neither school nor schoolhouse, though many were desirous that there should be. Paul remembered the disadvantages of his own childhood, and did not wish that his children, or those of others, should labor under such difficulties.

2. So, as soon as he was able, he had a schoolhouse built on his own ground, at his own expense, and then made it free to the public. He also employed his winters, while prevented by the weather from making his trading-voyages, in teaching navigation not only to his own sons, but to the young men of the neighborhood.

3. Paul Cuffe also became a Christian; and this lent the brightest charm to his manhood, and became the most important feature of his character. He was not only upright in all his transactions in trade, but he would not follow any business, however legal, which he believed injurious to his fellow-men.

4. Thus holding himself accountable to God for the mode of acquiring property as well as spending it, he would not deal in intoxicating liquors, or in

slaves; though he could then have done both without violating the laws of his country, and could, by those means, have added largely to his wealth.

This led

5. Paul had by nature a tender heart. him to mourn over the condition of his brethren in slavery, and to exert himself for their welfare. He made several voyages to Africa in his own ships, and at his own expense, to assist in colonizing some of his people there.

6. Having spent out of his private funds nearly four thousand dollars, to support the destitute colonists whom he had taken to Africa, and having stayed with them two months, he took leave of them in an affectionate and pious exhortation, of which the following is an extract:

7. "I earnestly recommend to you to assemble yourselves together to worship the Lord your God. He is a spirit; and they that worship him acceptably must worship him in spirit and in truth. Come, my African brethren, let us walk in the light of the Lord, in that pure light which bringeth salvation."

8. His whole life may be said to have been spent in the service of his race, since he gave to their welfare the wealth acquired in his youth, the time and wisdom of his riper years, and at last the thoughts of his dying pillow. He ended his days in 1817, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, his last words being, "It is all well, it is all well!"

transactions, doings. legal, according to law. disadvantage, difficulty.

accountable, having to answer for.

acquire, to get.

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THE SNOW.

THE

1. HE earth is all covered to-day
With a mantle of radiant show;
And it sparkles and shines in the ray
In crystals of glittering snow.
Snow, snow, snow!

The sparkling and glittering snow!

2. From my window the snow-birds I see;
They hop and they flit as they go:
And they speak of a lesson to me
While they feed in the beautiful snow.
Snow, snow, snow!

Happy birds, that delight in the snow!

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