wed the earth, we started again on our gloomy way, having no
guide but the north star. We continued to travel by night, and
secrete ourselves in woods by day; and every night, before emerging
from our hiding-place, we would anxiously look for our friend and
leader,--the NORTH STAR.

CHAPTER IX.

As we travelled towards a land of liberty, my heart would at times leap
for joy. At other times, being, as I was, almost constantly on my feet,
I felt as though I could travel no further. But when I thought of
slavery with its Democratic whips--its Republican chains--its
evangelical blood-hounds, and its religious slave-holders--when I
thought of all this paraphernalia of American Democracy and Religion
behind me, and the prospect of liberty before me, I was encouraged to
press forward, my heart was strengthened, and I forgot that I was tired
or hungry.

On the eighth day of our journey, we had a very heavy rain, and in a few
hours after it commenced, we had not a dry thread upon our bodies. This
made our journey still more unpleasant. On the tenth day, we found
ourselves entirely destitute of provisions, and how to obtain any we
could not tell. We finally resolved to stop at some farmhouse, and try
to get something to eat. We had no sooner determined to do this, than we
went to a house, and asked them for some food. We were treated with
great kindness, and they not only gave us something to eat, but gave us
provisions to carry with us. They advised us to travel by day, and lye
by at night. Finding ourselves about one hundred and fifty miles from
St. Louis, we concluded that it would be safe to travel by daylight, and
did not leave the house until the next morning. We travelled on that day
through a thickly settled country, and through one small village. Though
we were fleeing from a land of oppression, our hearts were still there.
My dear sister and two beloved brothers were behind us, and the idea of
giving them up, and leaving them forever, made us feel sad. But with all
this depression of heart, the thought that I should one day be free, and
call my body my own, buoyed me up, and made my heart leap for joy. I had
just been telling mother how I should try to get employment as soon as
we reached Canada, and how I intended to purchase us a little farm, and
how I would earn money enough to buy sister and brothers, and how happy
we would be in our own Free Home,--when three men came up on
horseback, and ordered us to s