The Underground Railroad eBook

William Still
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,446 pages of information about The Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad eBook

William Still
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,446 pages of information about The Underground Railroad.
of those around her.  We well remember how her soul was fired with a righteous indignation when upwards of thirty innocent persons, most of them colored people, were thrown into prison at Philadelphia, upon a charge of treason, for their alleged participation in the tragedy at Christiana.  Day after day did she visit the prisoners in their cells, to minister to their wants, and cheer them in their sorrow; and during the progress of Hanway’s trial, her constant presence in the court-room, and her frequent interviews with the District Attorney, attested her deep anxiety as to the result of the impending struggle.  When we last saw her, about a month since, she was engaged in collecting a large sum of money to ransom a family of slaves, whose peculiar condition had enlisted her deepest sympathy.  Notwithstanding her age and infirmities, she had enlisted in this work with a zeal which, even in a younger person, would have been remarkable.  For many days, perhaps for many weeks, she went from door to door, asking for the means whereby to secure the freedom and the happiness of an enslaved and plundered household.
As a member of the Society of Friends, she lamented the guilty supineness of that body, in regard to the question of Slavery, and often, in its meetings, as well as in private intercourse, felt herself constrained to utter the language of expostulation and rebuke.  In this, as in other relations of life, she was obedient to the revelation of God in her own soul, and a worthy example of fidelity to her convictions of duty.  Her step-son, J. Wilson Moore, in a letter to us announcing her decease, says: 
Among the last injunctions she gave, was, “Write to Oliver Johnson, and tell him I die firm in the faith!  MIND THE SLAVE!” She had enjoyed excellent health the last few years, and continued actively engaged in works of benevolence.  During the last few weeks, she had devoted much time and labor to the collection of funds for the liberation of ten slaves in North Carolina, who had been promised their freedom at a comparatively small amount.  Notwithstanding her great bodily suffering, her mind was clear to the last, expressing her full assurance of Divine approbation in the course she had taken.
This is all that we can now say of the life of our revered and never-to-be-forgotten friend.  Perhaps some one who knew her more intimately than we did, and who is better acquainted with the history of her life and labors, will furnish us with a more complete sketch.  If so, we shall publish it with great satisfaction.

    Happy! ay, happy! let her ashes rest; Her heart was honest, and
    she did her best; In storm and darkness, evil and dismay, The
    star of duty was her guiding ray.

Her injunction to “MIND THE SLAVE,” comes to us as the dying admonition of one, whose life was a beautiful exemplification of the duty and the privilege thus enjoined.  It imposes, indeed, no new obligation; but coming from such a source, it will linger in our memory while life and its scenes shall last, inspiring in us, we hope, a purer and a more ardent devotion to the cause of freedom and humanity.  And may we not hope that others also, will catch a new inspiration from the dying message of our departed friend:  “MIND THE SLAVE!”

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Project Gutenberg
The Underground Railroad from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.