His effects were likely to be sold by the sheriff, and it was reported he had no legal title to Harriet.  Under these circumstances, Gabriel Jackson prevailed on him to transfer Sam, his wife, and first-born child, to him, in payment of his debt.  This man afterwards sold them to Samuel Worthington, a cotton planter of Mississippi; whose letter, in reply to Gerrit Smith, arrived the day we were at his house; and he being in doubt how to effect the redemption of the family, and their safe transportation, thou wilt remember that I agreed to effect both, to what I shall call the Elysian Fields, or, more properly, Eden.  I started on the 26th of Seventh Month, via Lake Erie and the Erie Canal, which extends from north to south three hundred and nine miles through the State of Ohio.  From the canal I took steam-boat down the Ohio, to Maysville, Kentucky.  The mistress of the Eagle Hotel sat at her table as a queen, surrounded by many slaves.  There seemed to be twice as many hands to do the work as were needful.

“From Maysville to Lexington (sixty-five miles) is the best road I ever travelled, not excepting the English roads.  It is made and repaired with whitish limestone, from beginning to end.  They told me the repairs were principally made by Irishmen, as slaves were not to be trusted to do the work.  At starting, I observed that the mail bags were nearly empty; and the driver being questioned, informed me, that I could carry the whole mail in my coat pockets.  When he told me he was a Pennsylvanian, I asked whether he could not earn as much in a free, as in a slave State.  He said that eighteen dollars a month was the most he ever received for driving a team in a free State, and that now he received thirty dollars a month.  This opened the way for a little anti-slavery talk.  ‘Last Sunday night,’ said he, ’I saw a big black man making the best of his way for Canada; I might have stopped him, and had the reward of two hundred dollars, which was offered.’

“I asked him whether it was best to have God’s blessing, with the fruits of his honest industry, or his curse, with two hundred dollars blood money.  He answered, with moistened eyes, ‘I wish all the slaves were free,’ to which I responded, ‘Amen.’

“Some incidents connected with the escape of this negro, go to prove that slaves can ‘take care of themselves,’ by a little ingenuity, when occasion requires.  Thinking it would be more expeditious, as well as more agreeable, to ride from slavery than to run from it, he took a horse; whether his master’s or not, I did not ascertain.  The turnpike gates were a great hindrance, and greatly increased the risk of apprehension.  To avoid this, just before reaching a turnpike gate, he let down a fence, carefully put it up again, to avoid pursuit, passed round the back of the keeper’s house, and came out through the fence beyond.  As he was remounting his horse on one of these occasions,