rely, so much so, that for days afterwards, she was physically
very much prostrated, although joy and gladness beamed from her eyes,
which bespoke inexpressible delight within.

Never can the writer forget the impression made by their arrival. Even
now, after a lapse of nearly a quarter of a century, it is easy to
picture them in a private room, surrounded by a few friends--Ellen in
her fine suit of black, with her cloak and high-heeled boots, looking,
in every respect, like a young gentleman; in an hour after having
dropped her male attire, and assumed the habiliments of her sex the
feminine only was visible in every line and feature of her structure.

Her husband, William, was thoroughly colored, but was a man of marked
natural abilities, of good manners, and full of pluck, and possessed of
perceptive faculties very large.

It was necessary, however, in those days, that they should seek a
permanent residence, where their freedom would be more secure than in
Philadelphia; therefore they were advised to go to headquarters,
directly to Boston. There they would be safe, it was supposed, as it had
then been about a generation since a fugitive had been taken back from
the old Bay State, and through the incessant labors of William Lloyd
Garrison, the great pioneer, and his faithful coadjutors, it was
conceded that another fugitive slave case could never be tolerated on
the free soil of Massachusetts. So to Boston they went.

On arriving, the warm hearts of abolitionists welcomed them heartily,
and greeted and cheered them without let or hindrance. They did not
pretend to keep their coming a secret, or hide it under a bushel; the
story of their escape was heralded broadcast over the country--North and
South, and indeed over the civilized world. For two years or more, not
the slightest fear was entertained that they were not just as safe in
Boston as if they had gone to Canada. But the day the Fugitive Bill
passed, even the bravest abolitionist began to fear that a fugitive
slave was no longer safe anywhere under the stars and stripes, North or
South, and that William and Ellen Craft were liable to be captured at
any moment by Georgia slave hunters. Many abolitionists counselled
resistance to the death at all hazards. Instead of running to Canada,
fugitives generally armed themselves and thus said, "Give me liberty or
give me death."

William and Ellen Craft believed that it was their duty, as citizens of
Massachusetts, t