Page 80
72
JACOB HODGES.
who had grown up in ignorance, or tnal
in any respect he was more deserving ot
attention. He was never known to com
plain of neglect, but often expressed his
surprise and gratitude that his friends
should remember "old black Jacob," as
he was accustomed to call himself.
His humility was most of all manifested
in his estimate of himself as a sinner. He
nevei alluded to the history of his early
life, or to his crimes, but with emotions the
most deep and painful, and with expres¬
sions of the greatest self-abhorrence. In
allusion to the character of the man that
was murdered, he once remarked, " His
conduct was no justification for me ;" and
though his act would not alone have
proved fatal, yet he never felt himself any¬
thing b"t a murderer, nor denied the just¬
ness of the sentence that condemned him
to the gallows.
To the chaplain of the prison, he once
said, " The man in the next cell to me
always prays with his face toward the
grate in the door, but," pointing to the re