Any man that prefers slavery to freedom deserves to
be a slave--you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Go out of the room, sir,
as quick as possible!"
"Phew!" said the astonished and chagrined Ben, as he descended the stairs;
"that was certainly a great miss," continued he, talking as correct
English, and with as pure Northern an accent as any one could boast.
"We have made a great mistake this time; a very queer kind of Southerner
that is. I'm afraid we took the wrong pig by the ear;" and as he concluded,
he betook himself to the group of white-aproned gentlemen before mentioned,
to whom he related the incident that had just occurred.
"Quite a severe fall that, I should say," remarked Mr. Allen. "Perhaps we
have made a mistake and he is not a Southerner after all. Well he is
registered from New Orleans, and I thought he was a good one to try it on."
"It's a clear case we've missed it this time," exclaimed one of the party,
"and I hope, Ben, when you found he was on the other side of the fence, you
did not say too much."
"Laws, no!" rejoined Ben, "do you think I'm a fool? As soon as I heard him
say what he did, I was glad to get off--I felt cheap enough, now mind, I
tell you any one could have bought me for a shilling."
Now it must be here related that most of the waiters employed in this hotel
were also connected with the Vigilance Committee of the Under-ground
Railroad Company--a society formed for the assistance of fugitive slaves;
by their efforts, and by the timely information it was often in their power
to give, many a poor slave was enabled to escape from the clutches of his
pursuers.
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