hath been, and still is, the true support of
the righteous. Yet, I am sometimes favored to hope that in the
Lord's time an advancement will be known, and a more full
establishment in the most holy faith. 'For then shall we know, if
we follow on to know the Lord, that His going forth is prepared as
the morning, and He will come unto us as the rain, as the latter
and the former rain upon the earth.' May we, from time to time, be
favored to feel his animating presence, to comfort and strengthen
our enfeebled minds, that so we may patiently abide in our
allotments, and look forward with a cheering hope, that, whatever
trials and besetments may await us, they may tend to our further
refinement, and more close union in the heavenly covenant. And when
the end comes, may we be found among those who through many
tribulations have washed their garments white in the blood of the
Lamb, and be found worthy to stand with him upon Mount Zion.

"So wisheth and prayeth thy affectionate friend,

"JOSEPH WHITALL."

The letters which passed between him and his betrothed partake of the
same sedate character; but through the unimpassioned Quaker style gleams
the steady warmth of sincere affection. There is something pleasant in
the simplicity with which he usually closed his epistles to her: "I am,
dear Sally, thy real friend, Isaac."

They were married on the eighteenth of the Ninth Month, [September,]
1795; he being nearly twenty-four years of age, and she about three
years younger. The worldly comforts which a kind Providence bestowed on
Isaac and his bride, were freely imparted to others. The resolution
formed after listening to the history of old Mingo's wrongs was pretty
severely tested by a residence in Philadelphia. There were numerous
kidnappers prowling about the city, and many outrages were committed,
which would not have been tolerated for a moment toward any but a
despised race. Pennsylvania being on the frontier of the slave states,
runaways were often passing through; and the laws on that subject were
little understood, and less attended to. If a colored man was arrested
as a fugitive slave, and discharged for want of proof, the magistrate
received no fee; but if he was adjudged a slave, and surrendered to his
claimant, the magistrate received from five to twenty dollars for his
trouble; of course, there was a natural tendency to make the most of
evidence in favor of slavery.

Under these