Entertaining that feeling very sincerely, and permitting its control, perhaps, quite unreasonably, I have often refused to narrate my personal experience in public anti-slavery meetings, and in sympathizing circles, when urged to do so by friends, with whose views and wishes, ordinarily, it were a pleasure to comply. (Three voices at the same time.) Behind this. It was now my turn to speak. . . He was very much pleased; he took the money, commended me, and told me I might have done the same thing the week before. It was given out in the clear, ringing tones, wherewith the hall of shields was wont to resound of old, yet neither Garrison, nor Phillips, nor May, nor Remond, nor Foster, nor Burleigh, with his subtle steel of "the ice brook's temper," ventured to break a lance upon it! Absolute and arbitrary power can never be maintained by one man over the body and soul of another man, without brutal chastisment and enormous cruelty. The heart of my once almost over-kind mistress, Sophia, was again melted in pity toward me. What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? . When the movement was younger and weaker--when it wrought in a Boston garret to human apprehension, it might have been silently put out of the way. Had any one asked a religious white man, in St. Michael's, twenty years ago, the names of three men in that town, whose lives were most after the pattern of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, the first three would have been as follows: And yet, these were the men who ferociously rushed in upon my Sabbath school, at St. Michael's, armed with mob-like missiles, and forbade our meeting again, on pain of having our backs made bloody by the lash. Another fact, somewhat curious, is, that though sold to the remorseless Woldfolk, taken in irons to Baltimore and cast into prison, with a view to being driven to the south, William, by some means--always a mystery to me--outbid all his purchasers. Every time the abolitionist speaks in honor of human liberty, he touches a chord in the heart of the anti-abolitionist, which responds in harmonious vibrations. Mine host, unwilling to have another of his own name added to the community in this unauthorized way, after I spent a night and a day at his house, gave me my present name. My attachments were now outside of our family. After this, Miss Lucretia was my friend. I dreaded. . I instantly turned to Sandy Jenkins, who was near me, and said to him, "Sandy, we are betrayed; something has just told me so." I visited and lectured in nearly all the large towns and cities in the United Kingdom, and enjoyed many favorable opportunities for observation and information. The physical cruelties are indeed sufficiently harassing and revolting; but they are as a few grains of sand on the sea shore, or a few drops of water in the great ocean, compared with the stupendous wrongs which it inflicts upon the mental, moral, and religious nature, of its hapless victims. This, however, was not sufficient to please the old gentleman. Silver grays and hunkers all understand this. In search of health, he became a physician. When my mistress left me in charge of the house, I had a grand time; I got Master Tommy's copy books and a pen and ink, and, in the ample spaces between the lines, I wrote other lines, as nearly like his as possible. The freedom from bodily torture and unceasing labor, had given my mind an increased sensibility, and imparted to it greater activity. Mr. Nathan Johnson, to whom we had a line from Mr. Ruggles, not only received us kindly and hospitably, but, on being informed about our baggage, promptly loaned me two dollars with which to redeem my little property. He owned about thirty "head" of slaves, and three farms in Tuckahoe. It has been said in this Introduction, that Mr. Douglass had raised himself by his own efforts to the highest position in society. But people said, "Capt. Just here arose some embarrassment. As soon as they saw them, her pursuers called out, "Stop her!" There is no attempt at display, but the events are so graphically portrayed, that the interest in the perusal is deep and unabated to the last. Evidently, this society looks upon our "extremity as its opportunity," and we may expect that it will use the occasion well. The word of the slave, against this presumption, is generally treated as impudence, worthy of punishment. . In his inaugural address, he reassures the south on this point. But, whatever may have been its origin--and about this I will not be positive--that name has stuck to the district in question; and it is seldom mentioned but with contempt and derision, on account of the barrenness of its soil, and the ignorance, indolence, and poverty of its people. He said he had carried it for years, and that he had fully tested its virtues. My puffed-out eye, and my scarred and blood-covered face, moved the dear lady to tears. They are on intimate terms, and their interests and tastes are identical. It did seem that he watched us more narrowly, after the plan of escape had been conceived and discussed amongst us. . I was victorious, and well off for the moment; prouder, on my mother's knee, than a king upon his throne. ", Believing that one of the best means of emancipating the slaves of the south is to improve and elevate the character of the free colored people of the north. This dark picture, drawn by ignorance and fear, at times greatly shook our determination, and not unfrequently caused us to, "Rather bear those ills we had