"He ought to be put in a cage and kept for a show," said Anna Brown,
daughter of the hero, John Brown, at the house of the writer, where she
happened to meet the above named Underground Rail Road passenger. He had
then just returned from Canada, after being a Refugee four years. In the
mean time through the war and the Proclamation of Father Abraham the
fetters had been torn from the limbs of the slave, and the way to
Richmond was open to all. John William on this occasion was on his way
thither to see how his brethren together with their old oppressors
looked facing each other as freemen. Miss Anna Brown was _en route_ to
Norfolk, where she designed to teach a school of the unfettered bondmen.
The return of the Refugee was as unexpected as it was gratifying.
Scarcely had the cordial greetings of the writer and his family ended
and the daughter of Brown been introduced before the writer was plying
his Refugee guest with a multiplicity of questions relative to his
sojourn in Canada, etc. "How have you been getting along in Canada? Do
you like the country?" "First-rate," said John William. "You look as
though you had neither been starved, nor frozen. Have you had plenty of
work, made some money, and taken care of yourself?" "Yes." "When you
were on the Underground Rail Road on your way to Canada you promised
that you were going to keep from all bad habits; how about the
'crittur?' do you take a little sometimes?" "No, I have not drank a drop
since I left the South" replied John William with emphasis. "Good!" "I
suppose you smoke and chew at any rate?" "No, neither. I never think of
such a thing." "Now don't you keep late hours at night and swear
occasionally?" "No, Sir. All the leisure that I have of evenings is
spent over my books as a general thing; I have not fallen into the
fashionable customs of young men." Miss Brown, who had been an attentive
listener, remarked: "HE OUGHT TO BE PUT IN A CAGE, ETC."
[Illustration: ]
He was twenty-seven years of age when he first landed in Philadelphia,
in the month of February, 1860, per steamer Pennsylvania, in which he
had been stowed away in a store-room containing a lot of rubbish and
furniture; in this way he reached City Point; here a family of Irish
emigrants, very dirty, were taken on board, and orders were given that
accommodations should be made for them in the room occupied by J.W. Here
was trouble, but only for a moment. Those into whose charge he had been
consigned on the boat knew that the kettle and pot-closet had often been
used for Underground Rail Road purposes, and he was safely conducted to
quarters among the pots. The room was exceedingly limited, but he stood
it bravely. On landing he was not able to stand. It required not only
his personal efforts but the help of friends to get him in a condition
to walk. No sooner had he stepped on shore, however, than he began to
cry aloud for joy. "Thank God!" rang out sonorously from his overflowing
soul. Alarmed at this indication of gratitude his friends immediately
told him that that would never do; that all hands would be betrayed;
that he was far from being safe in Philadelphia. He suppressed his
emotion. After being delivered into the hands of the Acting Committee,
where he was in more private quarters, he gave full vent to the joy he
experienced on reaching this city. He said that he had been trying
earnestly for five years to obtain his freedom. For this special object
he had saved up sixty-eight dollars and fifteen cents, all of which but
the fifteen cents he willingly paid for his passage on the boat. Fifteen
cents, the balance of his entire capital, was all that he had when he
landed in Philadelphia.
Before leaving the South he was hired in the family of Ex-Governor
Gregory. Of the Governor and his wife he spoke very highly,--said that
they were kind to him and would readily favor him whenever he solicited
them to do so. He stated that after making his arrangements to start, in
order that he might be away several days before being missed, he told
Mrs. Gregory that he would be glad to spend a week with his mother, (she
lived some distance in the country). As he was not feeling very well she
kindly acceded to his request, and told him to ask the Governor for a
pass and some money. The Governor was busy writing, but he at once
granted the prayer, wrote him a pass, gave John five dollars, adding
that he was sorry that he had no more in his pocket, &c. John bowed and
thanked the Governor, and soon got ready for his visit; but his route
lay in a far different direction than that contemplated by the Governor
and his lady. He was aiming for the Underground Rail Road. As has
already been intimated, he was not owned by the Governor, but by the
Ferrell heirs--five children who had moved from Virginia to Alabama
years back. "Every Ferrell that lives is down on slaves; they are very
severe," said John. Yet he had not suffered as many others had who
belonged to them, as he had been a dining-room servant. At one time they
had owned large numbers of slaves, but latterly they had been selling
them off. Contrary to John's wishes his Alabama owners had notified him
as well as the Governor, that in a short while he was to be taken to
Alabama. This induced John to act with great promptness in leaving at
the time that he did.
After passing several years in Canada as has been already noticed, he
returned to Richmond and paid a visit to his old home.
He found that the governor and his wife had both departed, but two of
the daughters (young ladies), still lived. They were both glad to see
him; the younger especially; she told him that she was glad that he
escaped, and that she "prayed for him." The elder remarked that she had
always thought that he was too "good a Christian to run away." Another
thing which she referred to, apparently with much feeling, was this: On
his way to Canada, he wrote to the governor, from Rochester, "that he
need put himself to no trouble in hunting him up, as he had made up his
mind to visit Canada." She thought that John was rather "naughty," to
write thus to her "papa," nevertheless, she was disposed to forgive him,
after she had frankly spoken her mind.
John found Richmond, which so long had held him in chains, fully
humbled, and her slave power utterly cast down. His wondering eyes gazed
until he was perfectly satisfied that it was the Lord's doings, and it
was marvellous in his eyes. He was more than ever resolved to get an
education, and go back to Virginia, to help teach his brethren who had
been so long denied the privilege. It was not long before he was at
Oberlin College, a faithful student, commanding the highest respect from
all the faculty for his good deportment and studious habits.
After advancing rapidly there, the way opened more fully to pursue his
studies with greater facilities and less expense at a college in one of
the Eastern States. He accepted the favors of friends who offered him
assistance, with a view of preparing him for a mission among the
freedmen, believing that he possessed in a high degree, the elements for
a useful worker, preacher, organizer and teacher. As the friends alluded
to, were about taking measures to start a college at Harper's Ferry,
especially for the benefit of the Freedmen, they anticipated making this
latitude the field of his future endeavors, at least for a time. Ere he
graduated in view of the fact that the harvest in the South so urgently
called for laborers, he was solicited to be an agent for the Storer
College,[A] and subsequently to enter upon a mission under the auspices
of the Free-Will Baptists, in Martinsburg, Virginia. For three or four
years he labored in this field with commendable zeal and acceptably,
gathering young and old in day and Sunday-schools, and also organizing
churches. By his constant labors his health became impaired; receiving a
call from a church in Providence, he accepted, not without knowing,
however, that his mission was to be left in faithful hands, to carry on
the good work.
[Footnote A: The appended extract from an official circular, issued by
the Board of Instruction of Storer College, will throw light upon this
Institution: STORER COLLEGE, HARPER'S FERRY, WEST VIRGINIA.
This Institution, deriving its name from John Storer, Esq., late of
Sanford, Me., who gave ten thousand dollars to aid in its establishment,
is located at Harper's Ferry, West Va., and has been chartered with full
powers by a special act of the Legislature. The Corporation has been
regularly organized, about thirty thousand dollars in money has been
obtained, a large tract of land has been purchased, ample buildings have
been secured, and a Normal School has been in successful operation
during the last eighteen months. The U.S. authorities have repeatedly
expressed their confidence in and sympathy with this undertaking, by
liberal grants of money and buildings, and the agent for the
distribution of the Peabody Fund, has pledged pecuniary aid to the best
of the pupils in attendance, who may be in need of such assistance.
REV. J. CALDER, D.D., _Pres._,
Harrisburg, Penna.
Harper's Ferry, West Va., March 1, 1869.