sound of freedom was music in our ears; the air was pure and fragrant; the genial rays of the glorious sun burst forth with a new lustre upon us, and all creation resounded in responses of praise to the author and creator of him who proclaimed life and freedom to the slave.  I was overjoyed with my personal freedom, but the joy at my mother’s escape was greater than anything I had ever known.  It was a joy that reaches beyond the tide and anchors in the harbor of eternal rest.  While in oppression, this eternal life-preserver had continually wafted her toward the land of freedom, which she was confident of gaining, whatever might betide.  Our joy that we were permitted to mingle together our earthly bliss in glorious strains of freedom was indescribable.  My mother responded with the children of Israel,—­“The Lord is my strength and my song.  The Lord is a man of war, and the Lord is his name.”  We left Indianapolis the day after my mother arrived, and took the cars at eleven o’clock the following evening for St. Louis, my native State.  We were then free, and instead of being hurried along, bare headed and half naked, through cars and boats, by a brutal master with a bill of sale in his pocket, we were our own, comfortably clothed, and having the true emblems of freedom.

MOTHER’S MARRIAGE

It appeared to me that the city presented an entirely new aspect.  The reader will remember that my mother was engaged to be married on the evening after we were kidnapped, and that Mr. Adams, her intended, had prepared the house for the occasion.  We now went in search of him.  He had moved about five miles into the country.  He had carefully preserved his furniture and was patiently awaiting our return.  We were gone two years and four months.  The clothing and furniture which we had collected were all destroyed.  It was over a year after we left St. Louis before we heard from there.  We went immediately from the cars to my aunt’s, and from there went to Mr. Adams’ residence and took him by surprise.  They were married in a week after our return.  My mother is comfortably situated on a small farm with a kind and affectionate companion, with whom she had formed an early acquaintance, and from whom she had been severed by the ruthless hand of Wrong; but by the divine hand of Justice they were now reunited forever.

MATTIE MEETS HER OLD MASTER—­GOES TO SERVICE—­IS SENT FOR BY HER STEP-FATHER IN LAWRENCE, MASS.

In a short time I had selected a place of service, and was improving my studies in a small way.  The place I engaged was in the family where I was born, where my mother lived when my father Jackson made his escape.  Although Mr. Canory’s family were always kind to us, I felt a great difference between freedom and slavery.  After I had been there a short time my step-father sent for me and my half brother to come to Lawrence.  He had been