thirty-seven years of age, dark, tall, and rather of a slender
stature, possessing very large hopes. He charged Dr. Josiah Harding of
Rockville, Montgomery county, with having enslaved him contrary to his
wish or will.

As a slave, David had been required at one time to work on a farm, and
at another time to drive carriage, of course, without pay. Again he had
been bound as a waiter on the no pay system, and again he had been
called into the kitchen to cook, all for the benefit of the Doctor--the
hire going into the Dr.'s pocket. This business David protested against
in secret, but when on the Underground Rail Road his protestations were
"over and above board."

Of the Doctor, David said, that "he was clever, but a Catholic;" he also
said, that he thought his wife was "tolerable clever," although he had
never been placed under her where he would have had an opportunity of
learning her bad traits if she had any.

The Doctor had generously bargained with David, that he could have
himself by paying $1000; he had likewise figured up how the money might
be paid, and intimated what a nice thing it would be for "Dave" to wake
up some morning and find himself his own man. This was how it was to be
accomplished: Dave was to pay eighty-five dollars annually, and in about
twelve years he would have the thousand, and a little over, all made up.
On this principle and suggestion Dave had been digging faithfully and
hard, and with the aid of friends he had nearly succeeded. Just when he
was within sight of the grand prize, and just as the last payment was
about to be made, to Dave's utter surprise the Doctor got very angry one
day about some trifling matter (all pretension) and in his pretended
rage he said there were too many "free niggers" going about, and he
thought that Dave would do better as a slave, etc.

After that, all the satisfaction that he was able to get out of the
Doctor, was simply to the effect, that he had hired him to Mr. Morrison
for one hundred and fifty dollars a year. After his "lying and cheating"
in this way, David resolved that he would take his chances on the
Underground Rail Road. Not a spark of faith did he have in the Doctor.
For a time, however, before the opportunity to escape offered, he went
to Mr. Morrison as a waiter, where it was his province to wait on six of
the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. In the meantime
his party matured arrangements for their trip, so Dave "took out"