A poor, but honest and respectable old man, whose name was Hector,
resided in Philadelphia. He and his wife lived on the scanty earnings
of their own hands, in a very small cottage. One evening, at a late
hour, a woman of their own color, with an infant, stopped at their
dwelling and asked for a night's lodging, to which his wife answered,
"We can't lodge you, we got but one bed." "Oh," said the old man,
seeing her a stranger and in difficulty, "let her tag [stay], she sleep
in de bed with you, I go make a bed on de floor--must not turn her out
o' doors."
The woman accordingly stayed; and in the night, Hector was awakened
by the cries of the child. He arose to ascertain the cause of it, and
found the mother was gone; on which he aroused his wife, saying,
"Well, Sukey, you see de woman has gone off and lef' de child for you."
"Oh," said his wife, "what shall we do now? She never come again."
"Well," returned Hector, "then you must take care of him: who knows God
Almighty send him here for something--may be to take care of us in our
old age--must not turn him out o' doors."
So they fed and nourished it with milk from the market--the old man
going regularly to procure it. No one appearing, the child became their
adopted. When he had attained the age of eight or nine years, proving
an active lad, they put him to a chimney sweeper, as the most likely
way for him to become early useful, and he soon contributed a little to
his guardian's subsistence.
They at length grew quite infirm, and the wife died. After which, the
neighbors, thinking it too much for the lad to have the whole care of
the old man, prevailed on him to go to the Bettering House. When there
the boy did not forsake but frequently visited him, and continued to
add to his support until he died; a few days after which the lad died
also, having grown up beloved and respected.