Page:Father Henson's story of his own life.djvu/19

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FATHER HENSON'S STORY

OF

HIS OWN LIFE.


CHAPTER I.

MY BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD.

EARLIEST MEMORIES.—BORN IN MARYLAND.—MY FATHER'S FIRST APPEARANCE.—ATTEMPTED OUTRAGE ON MY MOTHER.—MY FATHER'S FIGHT WITH AN OVERSEER. ONE HUNDRED STRIPES AND HIS EAR CUT OFF. THROWS AWAY HIS BANJO AND BECOMES MOROSE.— SOLD SOUTH.

The story of my life, which I am about to record, is one full of striking incident. Keener pangs, deeper joys, more singular vicissitudes, few have been led in God's providence to experience. As I look back on it through the vista of more than sixty years, and scene on scene it rises before me, an ever fresh wonder

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