tood some time in the companion-way before
I could gain strength to move forward. As soon as he discovered me,
a bright gleam passed over his countenance, and he instantly held
out to me that famished hand. My feelings could no longer be
controlled. There stood before me a child, not more than eleven or
twelve years of age, of yellow complexion, and a sad countenance. He
was nearly naked; his back was _seared with scars_, and his flesh
was wasted to the bone. I burst into tears, and the jeers of others
were for a moment changed into sympathies. It began, however, to be
suspected that I had brought the boy away; and in that case, the
vessel must put back, in order to give me up also. But I related the
circumstances, and all seemed satisfied with the truth of my
statement.

"I asked to be allowed to feed the boy, and the request was granted.
He ate voraciously, and, as I stood beside him, he looked into my
face at every mouthful. There was something confiding in his look.
When he had finished his meal, as I took the plate, he rubbed his
fingers softly on my hand, and leaned his head toward me, like a
weary child. O that I could have offered him a place of rest! that I
could have comforted and protected him! a helpless _child_! a
feeble, emaciated, suffering, innocent _child_, reserved for bondage
and torture!

"The captain informed us that the vessel had been forbidden to enter
the port with a fugitive slave on board. He must discharge her
cargo where she lay, and return, with all possible dispatch, to
Norfolk. Accordingly, we came to anchor below the city, and the
passengers were sent up in a boat, I said to the captain, 'There is
a great ado about a poor helpless child.' He replied, 'The laws must
be obeyed.' I could not help exclaiming, 'Is this the land of
boasted freedom?' Here was an innocent child treated like a felon;
manacled, and sent back to slavery and the lash; deprived of the
fostering care which even the brute is allowed to exercise toward
its young. The slender boy was seeking the protection of a father.
Did humanity aid him? No. Humanity was prevented by the law, which
consigns one portion of the people to the control and brutality of
the other. Humanity can only look on and weep. 'The laws must be
obeyed.'"

Legislators of Massachusetts! suppose for one moment that poor
abused boy was your own little Johnny or Charley, what would you say
of the law _then_? Truly, if we have no feeling for the childr