good name, "does me an injury which neither industry, nor charity, nor time itself can repair.—Catholic Telegraph.
(2972)
SLAVE FOR THE GOSPEL'S SAKE
On the wall of a church in Algiers is a
memorial tablet, inscribed with the name of
Devereaux Spratt. Born in England, he, in
1641, with 119 other persons, the passengers
and crew on board an English ship, were
captured by Algerine pirates and sold into
slavery. Having tasted of the salvation of
Jesus Christ, he soon began laboring for the
salvation of others, and many were brought
to know and acknowledge the Lord. After
some time, his family, being influential, persuaded
the English Government to interfere
on behalf of these poor captives, and the
dey of Algiers granted to Mr. Spratt his
liberty. But those among whom he had
labored sorrowed so bitterly as they thought
of losing him from among them, and the
bonds which held him to them were so
strong and tender, that he actually declined
the offer of freedom, gave up home and
friends, and consented to abide in lifelong
bondage, that he, being a slave, might make
others free. Thus, for the sake of emancipating
the souls of others, he lived and died
an Algerine slave. (Text.)
(2973)
SLAVE TRADE, ATROCITIES OF
Slaves of both sexes in South Africa
were chained together in pairs, many being
mere skeletons from the misery, want, and
fatigue of their march. In some the fetters
had, by their constant action, worn through
the lacerated flesh to the bare bone, the ulcerated
wound having become the resort of
myriads of flies. One captain had thrust his
slaves between decks and closed the hatches
for the night. When morning came fifty of
the poor wretches were found to have been
suffocated. The captain swore at the untimely
loss, had the bodies thrown into the
river, and went on shore to buy more negroes
to complete his cargo.
As the summary of the facts recorded, it may be stated that:
Of 1,000 victims to the slave trade, one-half
perished in the seizure, march and
detention 500
Of 500 embarked on the transports, one-fourth,
or 25 per cent, died in the
middle passage 125
Of the remaining 375 landed, 20 per cent
died soon after 75
Of 1,000 slaves, total loss 700
So that the annual loss to South Africa in its inhabitants was 500,000.—Edward Gilliatt, "Heroes of Modern Crusades."
(2974)
Slavery Abolished—See Freedom, Gratitude for.
SLAVERY ENDED
In 1834 the children of the Jamaica slaves
were freed, but at midnight of July 31, 1838,
a general proclamation of emancipation went
into effect and every adult slave in Jamaica
became a free man. In anticipation of this
event, William Knibb, the evangelist, gathered
together the ten thousand slaves on that
island for a prayer and praise meeting, and
when the first stroke of the midnight bell
pealed out, William Knibb shouted, "The
monster is dying!" When the second stroke
came, he said "dying"—after the third stroke
he again said "dying," and when the twelfth
stroke struck he said "The monster is dead—let
us bury him." They had ready an immense
coffin, into which they cast the whips,
the branding-irons, the hand-cuffs and fetters,
the slave garments and all the memorials
of their slavery—and screwed down
the lid. They let the coffin down into a
twelve-foot deep grave, and, covering it over,
they buried out of sight all the memorials
of their past life of bondage.
(2975)
SLAVES NOT HEROES
When Louis XIV, in order to check what
he perceived to be the growing supremacy of
England upon the seas, determined to establish
a navy, he sent for his great minister
Colbert, and said to him, "I wish a navy—how
can I create it?" Colbert replied,
"Make as many galley-slaves as you can."
Thereupon every Huguenot who refused to
doff his bonnet on the street as the King
passed by, every boy of seventeen who could
give no account of himself, every vagrant
without an occupation, was seized, convicted
and sent to the galleys. Could a navy of
heroes be made of galley-slaves? The history
of the Anglo-Saxon race says "No."—Hampton
L. Carson.
(2976)
SLAVES OF PLEASURE
Philanthropists in prison cells, missionaries
to the Fiji Islanders, people doing rescue
work in the worst sections of great
cities, Livingstone in Africa, all these,
through zeal, can work till midnight to save
lost men, but the votary of pleasure will toil
on up and down a waxed floor till daylight,
until the head reels and the whole heart is
