“Well, then, in absence of any better one, say that,” said Brown. And the doctor actually repeated before black and white of the camp that night, the very familiar nursery invocation of “Now I lay me down to sleep7 etc., to the great amusement of his fellow prisoners and all others present.
On his return home he related all the circumstances, and many others of an interesting nature now forgotten. He stated in his usual strong language that John Brown was the best man that he had ever known, and knew more about religion than any one he had ever seen. When asked if Brown had ever used him badly, or used any harsh language toward them while they were with him, he said “No;” that they were all treated like gentlemen; had the same fare as the others, “but it did go a little hard and against the grain to eat with and be guarded by the d——d niggers.”
After detaining his prisoners for several days, during which he taught them some lessons in morals, he was about to send them home on foot and claim their horses as articles contraband of war, but on the fact being made known that the animals upon which they had ridden were not their own, but belonged to other parties in Atchison, Brown gave them their horses and dismissed them with the sage admonition that they should never undertake to do anything until they first learned how to do it, and never try to perform an action without calculating the exact amount of opposition to be overcome.
