to take my bed, and lay sick for several days.  By the assiduous attention and kindness of my friends, I was supplied with every thing which was necessary during my sickness.  I was detained in Richmond nearly a month.  As soon as I had sufficiently recovered to be able to proceed on my journey, I bade my kind host and his wife an affectionate farewell, and set forward once more towards a land of freedom.  I longed to visit my wife and children in Powhatan county, but the dread of being discovered prevented me from attempting it.  I had learned from my friends in Richmond that they were living and in good health, but greatly distressed on my account.

My friends had provided me with a fur cap, and with as much lean ham, cake and biscuit, as I could conveniently carry.  I proceeded in the same way as before, travelling by night and lying close and sleeping by day.  About the last of November I reached the Shenandoah river.  It was very cold; ice had already formed along the margin, and in swimming the river I was chilled through; and my clothes froze about me soon after I had reached the opposite side.  I passed into Maryland, and on the 5th of December, stepped across the line which divided the free state of Pennsylvania from the land of slavery.

I had a few shillings in money which were given me at Richmond, and after travelling nearly twenty-four hours from the time I crossed the line, I ventured to call at a tavern, and buy a dinner.  On reaching Carlisle, I enquired of the ostler in a stable if he knew of any one who wished to hire a house servant or coachman.  He said he did not.  Some more colored people came in, and taking me aside told me that they knew that I was from Virginia, by my pronunciation of certain words—­that I was probably a runaway slave—­but that I need not be alarmed, as they were friends, and would do all in their power to protect me.  I was taken home by one of them, and treated with the utmost kindness; and at night he took me in a wagon, and carried me some distance on my way to Harrisburg, where he said I should meet with friends.

He told me that I had better go directly to Philadelphia, as there would be less danger of my being discovered and retaken there than in the country, and there were a great many persons there who would exert themselves to secure me from the slaveholders.  In parting he cautioned me against conversing or stopping with any man on the road, unless he wore a plain, straight collar on a round coat, and said, “thee,” and “thou.”  By following his directions I arrived safely in Philadelphia, having been kindly entertained and assisted on my journey, by several benevolent gentlemen and ladies, whose compassion for the wayworn and hunted stranger I shall never forget, and whose names will always be dear to me.  On reaching Philadelphia, I was visited by a large number of the Abolitionists, and friends of the colored people, who, after hearing my story, thought it would not