consecrated with the blood of the martyrs to the cause of free Soil
and unrestricted liberty. It was grandly strange that these poor
people, persecuted, beaten with many stripes, hungry, friendless, and
without clothing or shelter, should instinctively seek a home in
Kansas where John Brown had fought the first battle for liberty and
the restriction of slavery! Some journeyed all the way from Texas to
Kansas in teams, with great horned oxen, and little steers in front no
larger than calves, bowing eagerly to the weary load. Worn and weary
with a nine weeks' journey, the travellers strained their eyes toward
the land of hope, blindly yet beautifully "trustin' de good Lord."
Often they buried their dead as soon as they arrived, many dying on
the hard floor of the hastily-built wooden barracks before beds could
be provided, but praying all night long and saying touchingly: "Come,
Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Come with dyin' grace in one hand and savin'
love in the other."[136]

A relief association was organized at once. A dear, good, old Quaker
lady, in her sixty-fourth year, a quarter of a century of which had
been spent in relieving suffering humanity, came forward and offered
her services free of charge. The association was organized as _The
Kansas Freedmen's Relief Association_. Mrs. Comstock was just the
person to manage the matter of raising funds and securing clothing. In
Gov. J. P. St. John, Mrs. Comstock and the association found a
warm-hearted Christian friend.

Notwithstanding the plain, world-known causes, the Hon. D. W.
Voorhees, United States Senator from Indiana, introduced a resolution
providing for the investigation of "_the causes of the migration of
the Colored people from the Southern to the Northern States_." It cost
the Government thousands of dollars, but developed nothing save what
the country had known for years, that the political cruelties and
systematic robbery practised upon the Colored people in the South had
forced them into a free country.

In one year those who had taken up a residence in Kansas had become
self-sustaining. They took hold of the work with enthusiasm; they
proved themselves industrious and frugal.

The Relief Association at first supplied them with stoves, teams, and
seed. In round numbers, in a little more than a year, $40,000 was
used, and 500,000 pounds of clothing, bedding, etc. England
contributed 50,000 pounds of goods and $8,000 in money; the chief
givers being Mrs