Martin Luther King Jr. Day Anthology | Page 8

babby. An' I
watched by her, an' took care on her all through her sickness after that,
an' she died in my arms, poor thing!" "Well, Sojourner, did you always
go by this name?" "No, 'deed! My name was Isabella; but when I left
the house of bondage, I left everything behind. I wa'n't goin' to keep
nothin' of Egypt on me, an' so I went to the Lord an' asked Him to give
me a new name. And the Lord gave me Sojourner, because I was to
travel up an' down the land, showin' the people their sins, an' bein' a
sign unto them. Afterwards I told the Lord I wanted another name,
'cause everybody else had two names; and the Lord gave me Truth,
because I was to declare the truth to the people. "Ye see some ladies
have given me a white satin banner," she said, pulling out of her pocket
and unfolding a white banner, printed with many texts, such as,
"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof," and others of like nature. "Well," she said, "I journeys round
to camp-meetins, an' wherever folks is, an' I sets up my banner, an' then
I sings, an' then folks always comes up round me, an' then I preaches to

'em. I tells 'em about Jesus, an' I tells 'em about the sins of this people.
A great many always comes to hear me; an' they're right good to me,
too, an' say they want to hear me agin." We all thought it likely; and as
the company left her, they shook hands with her, and thanked her for
her very original sermon; and one of the ministers was overheard to say
to another, "There's more of the gospel in that story than in most
sermons." Sojourner stayed several days with us, a welcome guest. Her
conversation was so strong, simple, shrewd, and with such a droll
flavoring of humor, that the Professor was wont to say of an evening,
"Come, I am dull, can't you get Sojourner up here to talk a little?" She
would come up into the parlor, and sit among pictures and ornaments,
in her simple stuff gown, with her heavy travelling-shoes, the central
object of attention both to parents and children, always ready to talk or
to sing, and putting into the common flow of conversation the keen
edge of some shrewd remark. "Sojourner, what do you think of
Women's Rights?" "Well, honey, I's ben to der meetins, an' harked a
good deal. Dey wanted me for to speak. So I got up. Says I,--'Sisters, I
a'n't clear what you'd be after. Ef women want any rights more 'n dey's
got, why don't dey jes' TAKE 'EM, an' not be talkin' about it?' Some on
'em came round me, an' asked why I didn't wear Bloomers. An' I told
'em I had Bloomers enough when I was in bondage. You see," she said,
"dey used to weave what dey called nigger-cloth, an' each one of us got
jes' sech a strip, an' had to wear it width-wise. Them that was short got
along pretty well, but as for me"--She gave an indescribably droll
glance at her long limbs and then at us, and added,--"Tell YOU, I had
enough of Bloomers in them days." Sojourner then proceeded to give
her views of the relative capacity of the sexes, in her own way. "S'pose
a man's mind holds a quart, an' a woman's don't hold but a pint; ef her
pint is FULL, it's as good as his quart." Sojourner was fond of singing
an extraordinary lyric, commencing,-- "I'm on my way to Canada, That
cold, but happy land; The dire effects of Slavery I can no longer stand.
O righteous Father, Do look down on me, And help me on to Canada,
Where colored folks are free!" The lyric ran on to state, that, when the
fugitive crosses the Canada line, "The Queen comes down unto the
shore, With arms extended wide, To welcome the poor fugitive Safe
onto Freedom's side." In the truth thus set forth she seemed to have the
most simple faith. But her chief delight was to talk of "glory," and to

sing hymns whose burden was,-- "O glory, glory, glory, Won't you
come along with me?" and when left to herself, she would often hum
these with great delight, nodding her head. On one occasion, I
remember her sitting at a window singing and fervently keeping time
with her head, the little black Puck of a grandson meanwhile amusing
himself with ornamenting her red-and- yellow turban with green
dandelion-curls, which shook and trembled with her emotions, causing
him perfect convulsions of delight. "Sojourner," said the Professor to
her, one day, when he heard her singing, "you seem