Part 2 (1/2)

CHAPTER VI

THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY

We now find John Brown busy for a while in the Northern States addressing Abolitionistwith the Anti-slavery Committees, of which there were several thousands In many houest, not least welcomed by the children, who always seemed to refresh his weary heart 'Out of theto one version), 'God gives strength to trueup a little two-year-old child, saying, 'When John Brown is hanged as a traitor she can say she used to stand on John Brown's hand' He was no false prophet!

Now also he was able to revisit, after two years' absence, the old ho him, down to the little one whoe father to the little prattler, 'I have sung it to all of the it to you'

Blow ye the truladly solemn sound: Let all the nations know To earth's remotest bound

The year of Jubilee is come, Return, ye ransoave enchant of Moses and the La of the Jewish charter of Liberty to which Christ in His turn gave larger ured face which they re the tru the same hymn as they laid hi could he stay at home The year of Jubilee for all these bondarded him as a tried man and were prepared to trust hiave hiave him help financial to the extent of many thousand dollars, and were content to know that John Brown, however he spent it (and concerning his plans he was always reticent), would have but one object--liberty to the captive

One way in which it was spent was in the working of as then known as the underground railway The opportunist statesman--Henry Clay--had led itive Slave Law, under which the Federal Governitive slaves found in free states to the plantations of the South And the Abolitionists in the North, as a set-off against this detested legislation, gave themselves with much zest to aid the runaway slave If a slave could escape to the swamps or the forest and elude the bloodhounds on his track, he knew that at certain points he would find those ere prepared to house hi him on secretly from station to station, ensure his arrival at a terminus where he would be safe for life That was Canada, the country where the Union Jack waves--the flag of 'Britons' who 'never shall be slaves' and are prepared to grant to all the priceless boon they clai the paw of the lion' May that British lion never be transforer; may his paw ever be outreached to a runaway slave, and his roar be a terror to all ould market in human flesh and blood!

This chain of well-known houses and locations was called the underground railway; and, spite of penalties of iuards; and if the trains did not always run to tiainst accident Soers were probably conveyed on this line

You will not be surprised to find John Brown an active 'guard,' and under the naood service there See hiitive slaves froh Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan to Canada It is the dead of winter, and the rough wagons travel heavily and slowly along the drifted roads There is a price on his head in these Southern States--3,250 dollars offered conjointly by the Governor of Missouri and President Pierce--and the stations are sometimes thirty miles apart They co theood force, as he heard it was John Brown he ht encounter John puts his host of twenty-three ives the laconic order, 'Now go straight at 'ee--but the baptish; there is no baptise, and filled with vague terror at that irrepressible John Brown, the Marshal springs upon his horse and skedaddles His men scramble to their horses Soh; several animals carry two men, and, to coht be too late, grips fast the tail of the steed to which the proper rider has just set spurs, and, vainly trying to spring on behind, is seen with his feet off the ground, being whirled through the air A few prisoners are speedily added to Brown's little co it is perhaps prudent to keep ht, orders theh old warrior, and says he means them no unkindness and ith them Such a favourable opportunity ives the and the , which discourse, let us hope, is not wholly unfruitful

When he has held theh from their haunts to prevent further ht spent with hiet He would not soof God's naain nothing, and if there is none you are fools indeed' Such is the oldphysician, is taken specially under charge by John Brown Before retiring Brown desires him to pray 'I can't pray,' he says, with an oath 'What, did your mother never teach you?' asks Brown 'Oh yes,' he replies; 'but that was a long tiht you?' continued Brown 'Yes,' is the answer 'Say that for want of a better,' is the order Then, to the amusement of all, the poor doctor repeats the rhyme:

And now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lorddoctor after he was released, 'John Brown knows ion than any e; ere treated like gentlerain to be guarded by niggers'

Thus the journey proceeds As they get farther north there is more bark than bite about the opposition they encounter In the street at one tohere they are sheltered, Brown strolls alone and finds a cha Brown as a reckless, bloody outlaw, a coho skulked and would never fight in the open Warht of hiive him a chance to steal anycountryman--no other than John Brown hi, 'you talk very brave; and as you will never have a better opportunity to shoot old Brown than right here and now, you can have a chance' But his poas dae!

Now the journey is over The twelve fugitives have become thirteen, for a little infant has been born on the march, never to know, thank God, the horrors the mother has left behind The child is named after his deliverer 'John Broho conducts them safely across the ferry and places them under the shelter of the Union Jack on the Canadian shore Then the old man reverently pronounces his 'Nunc dimittis,'

'Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation' 'I could not brook the thought that any ill should befall them, least of all that they should be taken back to slavery The arm of Jehovah has protected us' Beforeat the news that John Broas conde 'Would that we could die instead'

CHAPTER VII

HARPER'S FERRY

John Bro prepared for his final effort, for the enterprise he had espoused and the sacrifice he had sworn to make for it were to be completed by his death 'There is no way of deliverance but by blood,'

had become his settled conviction upon this slavery question And truly it see fiercer in their unholy enterprise The reopening of the market for freshly imported slaves from Africa was openly advocated--indeed, prices were offered for the best speciroes just landed,' was placarded in Southern streets; and to corim situation a prize was proposed for the best serave not 'the word,' but 'great was the company of the preachers' ere prepared to publish it

John Brown felt that the fullness of time was come for a desperate stroke Desperate indeed it was From a military point of vieas reat arinia, and there diligently and silently to store arms Then with a s possessed himself of its stores, he would retreat to theto his standard Holding his own amid mountain fastnesses of which he had acquired an inti enough to make ter as Isaac Shbours as a demure, somewhat eccentric, son of the soil Three of his sons, true to the voith hiht the farmers around that hard by that farmhouse a few thousand weapons were stored and that a little band ofthere, but so it was To the last there was much opposition to Brown's ined leadershi+p, but the little group passed a horrible five minutes of bereavement and then re-elected him with many promises of support Sublime old madman!--if mad indeed he was! Had he not made them all feel like himself, 'that they have but one life and once to die; and if they lose their lives perchance it will do more for the cause than their lives would be worth in any other way?'

One reluctant darkie, rescued by hied to say what he would do He hesitated--looked at his shaggy old benefactor, and then, with heart surcharged with gratitude, said, 'I believe I'll go wid de ole man'

Ah! the oldon' In the dark, wet night of October 16, 1859, they mustered quietly The captain addressed them, and he was no reckless destroyer of human life who thus spake: 'Gentle on your minds You all kno dear life is to you, and how dear your lives are to your friends; and in re that, consider that the lives of others are as dear Do not therefore take the life of any one if you can possibly avoid it, but if it is necessary to take life in order to save your own, then make sure work of it'

Two of them were deputed to hasten, when the toas in their hands, to Colonel Washi+ngton's house, four miles distant--to seize him, free his slaves, and take the relic of the house, the faton, that with this in hand John Brown n That feat they actually performed, and for one brief day their leader bore that sword