colored
people cannot take care of themselves, but I assure thee I had
hard work to make these people move a step, till a safe plan was
arranged for their absent children.

"When I went to pay the captain my fare, he asked whether the
colored woman and girls were my property. I answered yes; but
explained to him my peculiar situation, and I told him I
detested the very name of slavery. He said they usually asked
for a reference, but he felt sure that a person of my appearance
would not tell him a falsehood. I told him I would show him my
bill of sale, as soon as the hurry had subsided; not because I
acknowledged his right to demand it, but because he was civil
and polite, and I was willing to satisfy him. When I showed him
the bill, he knew both the seller and the witness, as I had
expected. I asked him whether, if I had brought a barrel of lard
on board, he would have troubled me to prove property? He
apologized by saying, that they had been imposed on by white
men, who put slaves on board, under the pretence that they were
free; and that the owners of the line had been obliged to pay
six thousand dollars for fugitive slaves. I noticed there were
no colored hands on board.

"On arriving at Buffalo, we put up at the Mansion House; and the
first object that caught my eye was an advertisement, dated
LIBERTY, in Missouri, offering three hundred dollars reward for
three fugitive slaves. This is a free state with a vengeance! No
stage riding for colored people here; moreover, it was with
great difficulty I could obtain breakfast for my companions,
though I had paid for it. I hope abolitionists will keep clear
of such a pro-slavery atmosphere as surrounds the Mansion House.

"On board the cars, Colorophobia again began to rage; but the
agent soon quelled it, by finding other seats for two persons,
who thought better of themselves than others did of them. In the
stage to Auburn, difficulty again occurred, and the driver
wanted to return my money, when some of the passengers objected
to the complexion of some of my companions. I told him the stage
was too crowded to hold us at any event; but unless he sent us
on to Auburn in good season, I should teach the company a lesson
they would not soon forget. He did so; and I arrived safely at
my own house, after an absence of twent