During all this time the lady who had been thus rudely treated was true to her noble and heroic nature; but so much outward pressure, and of such an extraordinary character, produced its consequences upon her health.  It failed, and it became necessary that she should be released from her thraldom.  Once more at liberty she visited, incognito, the town of Syracuse, where I was still tarrying.  The mobocrats would not have permitted her to have left Fulton in peace, if they had known whither she was going.

We met again:  reviewed the past and discussed the future.  As I am not detailing sentiment, but merely stating facts, suffice it to say, that we made up our minds that we would not be defeated by a mob.

But to the future.  What was to be done?  We came to the conclusion that I could no longer expect to hold my position in M’Grawville.  The college had already received a terrible shock by reason of the cry of “amalgamation” which had been raised by the mob.  And though the trustees were willing, at heart, to face the storm of prejudice, worldly wisdom, they considered, dictated that they should not incur the odium which they could not avoid bringing upon the college, if they persisted in retaining me longer as one of their professors.  The trustees thought it would be better to be cautious, and save the college for the good it might do in the future.  Such a union as ours was, in fact, but one of the logical results of the very principles on which the college was founded.  I do not profess to sit in judgment, and therefore attempt no comment.  They were now evidently anxious that I should resign, though, of course, they did not express so much to me in words.

I also came to the further conclusion that I could no longer, under the circumstances, whatever I might be able to do in future, hold my position in the country.  For, however willing I might be to endure all things in my own person, I felt that I ought not to expose to any further danger one who already suffered so much and so heroically for my sake.  I knew several of the lady’s friends who were bitterly opposed to our union, solely on account of my color, and who were prepared, if the occasion should require it, to go to desperate lengths.  They would not have hesitated to have sworn her into the lunatic asylum.  I therefore decided not only to resign my professorship in the college, but also to leave the country.

Our plans being now quietly arranged, the lady returned to Fulton, and it was then supposed that all communication between us was for ever broken off.  The mob had ordered that it should be so, and doubtless thought it was so.  The most mistaken idea they ever entertained.  The lady remained for a short time in Fulton, and then retired into the interior of the state of Pennsylvania.  I continued to remain in the town of Syracuse.

Soon a favorable opportunity presented itself, and we met in the city of New York, on the 30th March, 1853, and then and there asserted our rights in due and legal form:  after which we immediately took the train for Boston.