e of Mr. Smith for a year; when, feeling
unsafe in that relation, I accompanied him to New York whither he was
going to purchase goods, and was there regularly and formally made a
freeman, and there my manumission was recorded. I returned to my family in
Raleigh and endeavored to do by them as a freeman should. I had known what
it was to be a slave, and I knew what it was to be free.

[Footnote A: _Legally_, my money belonged to my mistress; and she could
have taken it and refused to grant me my freedom. But she was a very kind
woman for a slave owner; and she would under the circumstances, scorn to
do such a thing. I have known of slaves, however, served in this way.]

But I am going too rapidly over my story. When the money was paid to my
mistress and the conveyance fairly made to Mr. Smith, I felt that I was
free. And a queer and a joyous feeling it is to one who has been a slave.
I cannot describe it, only it seemed as though I was in heaven. I used to
lie awake whole nights thinking of it. And oh, the strange thoughts that
passed through my soul, like so many rivers of light; deep and rich were
their waves as they rolled;--these were more to me than sleep, more than
soft slumber after long months of watching over the decaying, fading frame
of a friend, and the loved one laid to rest in the dust. But I cannot
describe my feelings to those who have never been slaves; then why should
I attempt it? He who has passed from spiritual death to life, and received
the witness within his soul that his sins are forgiven, may possibly form
some distant idea, like the ray of the setting sun from the far off
mountain top, of the emotions of an emancipated slave. That opens heaven.
To break the bonds of slavery, opens up at once both earth and heaven.
Neither can be truly seen by us while we are slaves.

And now will the reader take with me a brief review of the road I had
trodden. I cannot here dwell upon its dark shades, though some of these
were black as the pencillings of midnight, but upon the light that had
followed my path from my infancy up, and had at length conducted me quite
out of the deep abyss of bondage. There is a hymn opening with the
following stanza, which very much expresses my feelings:

"When all thy mercies, Oh my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I'm lost
In wonder, love, and praise."

I had endured what a freeman would indeed call hard fare; but my lot, on
the