rt, "I was hungry, and he gave me
meat; I was thirsty, and he gave me drink; I was a stranger, and he took
me in") lived in a neater house; dined at a better table; took, paid
for, and read, more newspapers; better understood the moral, religious,
and political character of the nation,--than nine tenths of the
slaveholders in Talbot county Maryland. Yet Mr. Johnson was a working
man. His hands were hardened by toil, and not his alone, but those also
of Mrs. Johnson. I found the colored people much more spirited than
I had supposed they would be. I found among them a determination to
protect each other from the blood-thirsty kidnapper, at all hazards.
Soon after my arrival, I was told of a circumstance which illustrated
their spirit. A colored man and a fugitive slave were on unfriendly
terms. The former was heard to threaten the latter with informing his
master of his whereabouts. Straightway a meeting was called among the
colored people, under the stereotyped notice, "Business of importance!"
The betrayer was invited to attend. The people came at the appointed
hour, and organized the meeting by appointing a very religious old
gentleman as president, who, I believe, made a prayer, after which he
addressed the meeting as follows: "_Friends, we have got him here, and
I would recommend that you young men just take him outside the door,
and kill him!_" With this, a number of them bolted at him; but they were
intercepted by some more timid than themselves, and the betrayer escaped
their vengeance, and has not been seen in New Bedford since. I believe
there have been no more such threats, and should there be hereafter, I
doubt not that death would be the consequence.

I found employment, the third day after my arrival, in stowing a sloop
with a load of oil. It was new, dirty, and hard work for me; but I went
at it with a glad heart and a willing hand. I was now my own master. It
was a happy moment, the rapture of which can be understood only by those
who have been slaves. It was the first work, the reward of which was to
be entirely my own. There was no Master Hugh standing ready, the moment
I earned the money, to rob me of it. I worked that day with a pleasure I
had never before experienced. I was at work for myself and newly-married
wife. It was to me the starting-point of a new existence. When I got
through with that job, I went in pursuit of a job of calking; but such
was the strength of prejudice against color, among the