er of
description, and her ready flow of language, when "exhorting."

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote of her, in an article published in the
Atlantic Monthly, as early as 1863:

"I do not recollect ever to have been conversant with any one who had more
of that silent and subtle power which we call personal presence, than this
woman. In the modern spiritualistic phraseology, she would be described as
having a 'strong sphere.'"

The wonderful mental endowment which seems to follow as a complement to the
experience of Illumination, when not already present, as in the case of
Whitman, for example, is characteristic of "Sojourner Truth," or Isabella,
as she was baptized.

Naturally, this mental power, seemingly inconsistent with her humble
origin, and her unlettered condition, is evidenced along those lines which
made up the sum and substance of her life. Judging her from the broader
concept of philosophy, Isabella appears somewhat fanatical, but the
influence of her life and work was so great, that Wendell Phillips wrote of
her:

"I once heard her describe the captain of a slave ship going up to
judgment, followed by his victims as they gathered from the depths of the
sea, in a strain that reminded me of Clarence's dream in Shakespeare, and
equalled it. The anecdotes of her ready wit and quick striking replies are
numberless. But the whole together give little idea of the rich, quaint,
poetic and often profound speech of a most remarkable person, who used to
say to us: 'You read books; God Himself talks to me.'"

Isabella's conviction that she had "talked to God," was unshakable, and
was, indeed, the dynamic force which moved her. She was accustomed to tell
of the strange and startling experience in which she met God face to face,
and in which she said to Him: "Oh, God, I didn't know as you was so big."
In the New England Magazine for March, 1901, there was given a full account
of the work of this noted negro woman. Commenting on her sense of awe of
the immensity of God "when she met him," the writer says:

"The consciousness of God's presence was like a fire around her and she was
afraid, till she began to feel that somebody stood between her and this
brilliant presence; and after a while she knew that this somebody loved
her. At first, she thought it must be Cato, a preacher whom she knew or
Deencia or Sally--people who had been her friends.

"We are not told whether these persons were living or dead, or whether