In presenting these pages to the public, but little explanation need be made, for they contain only the story of a slave, told as nearly as possible in his own words. One-third of a century has passed since slavery ceased forever in our land, and to the generation that has grown up in that time, it hardly seems possible that such an institution as slavery could have existed in this free land; but he who in these pages tells his simple story was only one of three millions of human beings who were bought and sold, kept in subjection and forced to labor without pay in order that their more fortunate white brethren and sisters might live in ease and luxury, and though he only saw slavery in its mildest form no one can read his story without a feeling of indignation that slavery should ever have been tolerated much less sanctioned by law.