The next morning, she and her uncle started on their journey to the village in New York, where she was to be placed at school.  It seemed as if all the sunshine had gone away.  My little room was dreadfully lonely.  I was thankful when a message came from a lady, accustomed to employ me, requesting me to come and sew in her family for several weeks.  On my return, I found a letter from brother William.  He thought of opening an anti-slavery reading room in Rochester, and combining with it the sale of some books and stationery; and he wanted me to unite with him.  We tried it, but it was not successful.  We found warm anti-slavery friends there, but the feeling was not general enough to support such an establishment.  I passed nearly a year in the family of Isaac and Amy Post, practical believers in the Christian doctrine of human brotherhood.  They measure a man’s worth by his character, not by his complexion.  The memory of those beloved and honored friends will remain with me to my latest hour.

XL.  The Fugitive Slave Law.

My brother, being disappointed in his project, concluded to go to California; and it was agreed that Benjamin should go with him.  Ellen liked her school, and was a great favorite there.  They did not know her history, and she did not tell it, because she had no desire to make capital out of their sympathy.  But when it was accidentally discovered that her mother was a fugitive slave, every method was used to increase her advantages and diminish her expenses.

I was alone again.  It was necessary for me to be earning money, and I preferred that it should be among those who knew me.  On my return from Rochester, I called at the house of Mr. Bruce, to see Mary, the darling little babe that had thawed my heart, when it was freezing into a cheerless distrust of all my fellow-beings.  She was growing a tall girl now, but I loved her always.  Mr. Bruce had married again, and it was proposed that I should become nurse to a new infant.  I had but one hesitation, and that was feeling of insecurity in New York, now greatly increased by the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law.  However, I resolved to try the experiment.  I was again fortunate in my employer.  The new Mrs. Bruce was an American, brought up under aristocratic influences, and still living in the midst of them; but if she had any prejudice against color, I was never made aware of it; and as for the system of slavery, she had a most hearty dislike of it.  No sophistry of Southerners could blind her to its enormity.  She was a person of excellent principles and a noble heart.  To me, from that hour to the present, she has been a true and sympathizing friend.  Blessings be with her and hers!