had washed him and dressed him in clean overalls.  He bade the negro pull off his shirt so that I might see the marks of the welts made by a whipping he had got with a blacksnake whip and his master’s brand, made with a hot iron, on his right arm.  The left arm had got injured in his flight and had an unhealed wound.  The poor fellow said he came from Maryland and had known no trouble until his wife had been taken from him and sold.  His master ordered him to pick on another woman, but he loved his wife and ran away to find her; had been caught and whipped to within an inch of his life.  Hearing slaves were free in Canada, he took the first chance to slip away.  He hid during the day, and at night, guided by the plow in the sky, kept northwards.  He got some food by visiting negro huts, and at one of these he was told how a band of white people helped negroes seeking their liberty.  Finding a house he was directed to call at, he found it was true.  The man fed him and ferried him across a river and gave him the landmarks of the next house he was to call at for help, and from one to another he was passed along until he got to Oswego, where he was hid in the hold of a schooner whose captain was an Englishman.  It had taken him a long time to make the journey, he could not tell me how long, for he did not know the days of the week much less the months.  On getting to Toronto he was guided by a sailor boy to Bambray’s house, which was one of several where runaways were sure of help.  Asked Bambray what he would do with the man.  When fit for work he would be given an ax, saw, and sawhorse and was sure of earning a living.  ‘Me strong,’ said the man, standing up, ‘and me free.’  Left Bambray’s late in the afternoon and got home before sunset.

Aug. 27—­A week of steady work chopping.  We must get clearances big enough to raise crops for next year’s living no matter how hot the days are.

Aug. 28—­The Simmins family spent the day with us.  They leave for the lake Simcoe country.  All three like the free life of fishing, trapping, and hunting, and spoke as if they were going on a holiday.  If they did well and got a big pack of furs, they intend in the spring to try Illinois, so we may not meet again.  They sang and talked all day and we parted with sorrow.  The days are still hot but the nights are cool with heavy dews.

Aug. 30—­Each day hard at work felling trees.  When I first saw our lot and how thick the trees stood on it I could hardly believe it possible we could clear the land of them, yet we have been here scarce three months and there is a great slash.  Taking the trees one by one and perseverance has done it.  Burning the felled trees that cumber the ground is the next undertaking.  This cutting out a home from the bush is work that exhausts body and mind, but the reward is what makes life sweet to right-minded people—­independence.

September 1—­Had new potatoes to-day.  They are dry and mealy and abundant in yield.  I may say this is the first food the land has given us.