“‘Well, he watches for this slave ship that stole me, and one day he come in and said he had taken it, and had five men imprisoned; and the next court had them all imprisoned for life, and there they be yit. And now there’s no man, gentle or simple, that gits me to do an arrant out of sight of the house. _Bought_ wit is the best, but I bought mine dreadful dear. When I got back the whole family cried, and Mistress Macy says,
“‘Let us rejoice! for the dead is alive, and the lost is found.”’
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Kidnappin’ in New York—Peter spends three years in Hartford—couldn’t help thinkin’ of Solena—Hartford Convention—stays a year in Middletown—hires to a man in West Springfield—makes thirty-five dollars fishin’ nights—great revival in Springfield—twenty immersed—sexton of church in Old Springfield—religious sentiments—returns to New York—_Solena again_—Susan Macy married—pulls up for the Bay State again—lives eighteen months in Westfield—six months in Sharon—Joshua Nichols leaves his wife—Peter goes after him and finds him in Spencertown, New York—takes money back to Mrs. Nichols—returns to Spencertown—lives at Esq. Pratt’s—Works next summer for old Captain Beale—his character—falls in love—married—loses his only child—wife helpless eight months—great revival of 1827—feels more like gittin’ religion—“One sabba’day when the minister preached at me”—a resolution to get religion—how to become a christian—evening prayer-meeting—Peter’s convictions deep and distressing—going home he kneels on a rock and prayed—his prayer—the joy of a redeemed soul—his family rejoice with him.
_Peter._ “Well, I sot a hearin’ Susan’s story till midnight, and that brought back old scenes agin, and there I sot and listened to her story till I had enemost cried my eyes out of my head, and I have only gin you the outline. And that kidnappin’ used to be carried on that way in New York year after year, and it’s carried on yit. ☜ [15] Why, they used to steal away any and every colored person they could steal, and this is all carried on by northern folks tu, and it’s fifty times worse than Louisiana slavery.
It became so common in New York that there was no safety for a colored person there, and philanthropy and religion demanded some protection for them against such a shocking system.—At last there was a vigilance committee organized for the purpose of ascertaining the names and residences of every colored person in the city; and this committee used regularly to visit all on the roll, and almost every day some one was missing. The result has been that several hundreds of innocent men and women and children have been retaken from their bondage, from the holds of respectable merchantmen in New York, to the parlours of southern gentry in New-Orleans. The facts which have been brought out by this committee are awful beyond description.—It is one of the noblest, and most patriotic and efficient organization on the globe. But their design expands itself beyond the protection and recovery of kidnapped friends;—it also lifts a star of guidance and promise upon the path of the fugitive slave; it helps him on his way to freedom, and not one week passes by without witnessing the glorious results of this humane and benevolent institution, in the protection of the free or the redemption of the enslaved. The Humane Society, whose object is to recover to life those who have been drowned, enlists the patronage and encomiums of the great and good, and yet this Vigilance Committee are insulted and abused by many of the public presses in New York, and most of the city authorities.—Why? Slavery has infused its deadly poison into the heart of the North.