Now, if I should leave them at their tender age, mischief might befall them.

Still, as the letter from Baltimore was from gentlemen of the best standing, it became me to give them an answer.

This I could not do, without first consulting my master.
I did so, and after giving the matter a careful consideration, he thought I had better go and see those gentlemen--he was perfectly willing to leave the matter to me.
The result was, that I accepted the offer of the brethren in Baltimore; and by them I was enabled to pay the debt I owed; and I have never had cause to repent it--though I had misgivings sometimes, when I would get into trouble.
But I have found those who were my friends at first, are my friends still.

In a few weeks after I had arrived in Baltimore, (1847,) the white Baptists who were favorable to the mission in behalf of the colored people, secured for me an appointment as missionary of the Domestic Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, in connection with the Maryland Baptist Union Association.

I now felt a debt of gratitude to these dear friends, that I could not show more acceptably to them, than by engaging heartily in the work to which I had been thus called.