Page:The Under-Ground Railroad.djvu/88

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68

now were their desires realized, though not under the most favorable circumstances.

As soon as her purchaser learned the fact of her successful escape, he started men, in haste, to pursue her, who tracked her, even into the city where she was. The Abolitionists gave her instant notice of their presence, and she immediately left for Canada. Touching that land, sacred to Freedom! her soul, like the eagle unfettered, walked abroad in its own majesty, on the flowery plains of liberty, fearless of chains. Though as white as an English lady; though legally married to a white gentleman, whose rights and privileges the Americans profess to acknowledge and protect, yet, while Americans cannot live with a legally married wife, even in a Free State, she was liable, and would have been torn from his embraces, if her pursuers could have ascertained her whereabouts. He might, but from the circumstances that caused their flight, lived with her illegally in the Slave States, but could not live with her legally in a Free State, because she was a Slave; and, under the Fugitive Bill, might be handcuffed in her own dwelling, and driven away, like an ox to the slaughterhouse. She now lives in Toronto, C. W., and I have the pleasure of her acquaintance.

Thomas Brown was arrested in Philadelphia, and rendered up to the Slave-claimants. The Northern