them, until the keenness of their hunger was somewhat appeased. All this time the lady was employed in bathing and dressing the feet of the wayfarers which were much bruised and wounded. When the grateful meal was over, and all was done that could be done for their comfort, their benefactors retired and left them to themselves, carefully securing the door. They laid themselves down to sleep and were soon lost in forgetfulness: the first time for many weeks that they had been able to dismiss from their minds all fear of the bloodhound and the slave-hunter.

All honour to the noble-minded pair who could thus receive and succour and minister to the Son of Man in the persons of His lowly and most afflicted creatures! But at the period when the incidents occurred which have been detailed in this narrative, it was needful to conceal in profoundest obscurity the names and residences, and everything else concerning those who nobly ventured to aid the fugitive in escaping from his master and from slavery. Multitudes of slaves, especially from the border States near the line which separated them from the free States, suddenly disappeared, and not the slightest traces of them could be gained until, by some round-about way, the news reached the ears of their masters that the fugitives had got beyond the reach of the slave power, and were safely located in Canada. The planters well knew that help must have been afforded to them on their journey, by some means which they could not search out. One of these slaveholders who had lost

considerably by the stampede of some of his most valuable chattels, after a vain attempt to recover them, on which no trouble or expense was spared,-dogs and men having scoured the country in all directions for many miles around, -as he returned from his unsuccessful pursuit, said, with abundance of curses and expletives directed against the fugitives who had contrived to evade his power, "They must have got away by some underground railway." The idea was an excellent one; and the friends of the slave at once appropriated it, and gave to the extensive and wellorganized system which had been established all along the borders of the slave-land for helping and protecting runaway slaves the designation of "the Underground Railroad." When slave property was missing, and the hands on a plantation were reduced by the escape of some of their number, they were said to be off by the "Underground Railway.' The houses and farms on this route where fugitives were concealedand there were many of them-were the stations on the line. And the owners of such places were "the agents" or "station-masters of the Underground Railway." They kept horses and vehicles for this purpose always ready for service, and spared no expense in this work of faith and labour of love. But this expense did not fall entirely upon those who were most active in working the line. From all parts of the country liberal aid was sent to them by the Abolitionists, so that there was no lack of fund to keep the work in vigorous activity. In this way many thou

sands made their way to the British possessions in Canada and found there freedom and a home.

Such was the man into whose care Katy and her party had been providentially guided. He was an agent or station-master of the Underground Railroad, and one of many who devoted themselves and their time and property to this truly Christian work. But it was requisite that all should be done upon the line with the utmost care and secrecy. For if it once became known to the slaveholders, not far distant, that he was the friend and helper of fugitive slaves, he and his family would have been placed under the strictest surveillance and his usefulness in this department of Christian benevolence brought to an end; if indeed he and his property had not been subjected to violent and cruel revenge at the hands of the fierce, un-› scrupulous men who are always to be found where slavery prevails. Katy and her companions were therefore strictly enjoined to be silent as to the help they had received and the situation of the farm, while the name of the place and of their protector were carefully withheld, so that even if they were ever questioned on the subject the secret could not be betrayed.

Katy could relate, as she did with streaming face how kindly and lovingly she and her children had been aided; how bountifully their wants had been supplied, and with what tender hands their sore and blistered feet had been anointed and bound up after being carefully washed; but she could not tell who her benefactors were. She became aware that these kind

friends had grown-up sons and daughters who cheerfully aided their parents in their good work: but that was all. Their record is on high. Those names which might not be written here are doubtless recorded in the Lamb's book of life; and those good works to which they were devoted, of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and helping the friendless and down-trodden slave, will not be forgotten in the revelations and transactions of that day when the Great Master shall come, and "render to every man according as his work shall be."

All the following day after their arrival at the farm, the wayfarers, tired and weary, lay snug in the back part of the hay-mow, so carefully concealed and maintaining such unbroken silence that none who might chance to enter the barn or pass near to it would have suspected their presence. The women and children were in rags; the slight clothing they had on when they commenced their flight-which was all that they possessed-having been torn almost to shreds by the thorns and briars they had encountered in threading or forcing their way through thickets and swamps. Some of them had painful wounds upon their feet and many bruises and scratches on their limbs; but for all this their benefactors were prepared. It was what they were accustomed to. The farmer's wife and her blooming handsome daughters with all loving-kindness washed and dressed their sores, and supplied the whole party with all necessary clothing, so disposing of their dilapidated plantation garments, now reduced

to fragments, that they would never be likely to be seen or heard of again. All that was needful to the comfort of their lowly guests this Christian family supplied with ungrudging hand, and the poor creatures were abundantly refreshed and much strengthened.

But they could not long abide there with safety. For aught they knew the pursuers might be on their track; or some of those human blood-hounds, the slave-hunters, who were sanctioned and encouraged in their cruel profession by the infamous Fugitive Slave Law, then in full operation, might get some inkling of their whereabouts, and they might be seized and returned to the toil and cruelties of the plantation they had deserted. Nor was it needful for them to remain longer: for they were not further to prosecute their journey with swollen and bleeding feet. When the night was sufficiently advanced to allow of its being done with safety, they were summoned from their comfortable place of concealment and rest to proceed onward another stage. The two stalwart sons of their host, with suitable vehicles, and fleet, well-fed horses, now took them in charge, and before the morning dawned they were many miles further distant from the scene of their former bondage and sufferings, and the happy occupants of another friendly hay-mow, which, like the former one, was always kept prepared for such as they. Here also they were tended and ministered to with loving care, strangers though they were; for