* * * * *
AN AUTHENTIC RECORD OF THE WONDERFUL HARDSHIPS, HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES, AND
DEATH STRUGGLES WHICH MARK THE TRACK FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM IN THE
UNITED STATES.
* * * * *
This is one of the most remarkable volumes of the century. Its
publication has only been made possible by a combination of
circumstances which seldom attend the birth of a book. Before
emancipation, and while the bane of slavery was on the country, the
thrilling facts of this volume could not have been made public. Peace
and the blessing of freedom permit their publication, free circulation
and unmolested reading.
Of all the thousands who favored freedom for the slaves, who gloried in
the odium attached to anti-slaveryism, who witnessed the frequent
efforts of the bondsmen to escape, who aided them in their quest for
liberty, few dared to take notes of what they witnessed, and fewer still
dared to preserve them, lest they should be turned into witnesses
against them.
But one man, and that the author of this book, is known to have
succeeded in preserving anything like a full account of the workings of
the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, as it was called before emancipation. These
records grew on his hands during the years he acted as Chairman of the
Philadelphia Branch of that celebrated corporation, until they reached
the extent of the present volume. They are made up of letters received,
of interviews held, of narratives taken down at the time, of real
reminiscence and authentic biography. Nothing imaginative enters into
the composition of the volume. It is simply succinct history, always
startling, sometimes bloody. The annals of no time since the Inquisition
are so full of daring ventures for life and liberty or heroic endurance
under most trying circumstances.
As a history of the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, the work is most curious and
valuable. It tells of an ingenuity and faithfulness on the part of the
officials of the road which seems well-nigh marvellous. As its pages
reveal the methods by which aid was given to the escaping slave, one is
compelled to wonder almost as if he were facing a revelation. The
secrets of Masonry are not more mysterious than were the ways of these
officials who clothed, fed and comforted the fugitive, while they
apparently never knew his name or whereabouts. Even those who never
believed in the existence of an UNDERGROUND RAILWAY, or who, believing,
cursed its existence, will read its history, at this time, with the
relish of astonishment and the zest of discoverers.
But the book has a higher meaning and use. It is curious and hitherto
unprinted history to the white race. To the black race, and especially
that part of it once slave, it is more than a history of a time of
peril. It is for them what Exodus was to the fugitives from Egypt, a
history and an inspiration as well. They may learn from it of their
heroes and how deeply the love of liberty was implanted in their bosoms.
The Swiss never tire of the story of their Tell, nor the Welsh of that
of their Glendower. Every nation has its exemplar, whose bravery and
virtues are a perpetual lesson and source of admiration. The colored
race may now read of its real heroes, its Joshuas, Spartacuses, Tells
and Glendowers, among the list of those who silently broke their chains
and dared everything in order to breathe the sweet air of liberty. They
are not blazoned heroes, full of loud deeds and great names, but quiet
examples of what fortitude can achieve where freedom is the goal.
It is time now that the colored race should know something of the steps
which led from Egypt to Canaan, something of their own contributions to
the grand march of the tribes across and beyond the Red Sea. There are
no slaves beneath the starry flag. All may read who will, and what they
will. For the colored man no history can be more instructive and
inspiring than this, of his own making, and written by one of his own
race. The generations are growing in light. Not to know of those who
were stronger than shackles, who were pioneers in the grand advance
toward freedom; not to know of what characters the race could produce
when straightened by circumstances, nor of those small beginnings which
ended in triumphant emancipation, will, in a short time, be a reproach.
This History of the hardships and struggles of those of their own race
is more for them than for mankind at large. It furnishes the world proof
that, though slaves, they were nevertheless men. It furnishes them proof
that the heroic abounds in their race as in others, and that achievement
follows persistent effort, as well with them as with others. The volume
will be not only their admiration but constant encouragement. In its
pages one is not invited to hard, dry reading. It is narrative in style,
simple in language, and possesses the thrill and pathos of a novel. In
all its parts it is an evidence of the saying that "Truth is stranger
than fiction."
The author scarcely needs an introduction to the public. He is a
scholarly, successful business man of Philadelphia, who has long been
identified with churches, charities and every project for ameliorating
the condition of his race. His word in all things is as good as his
bond. An ardent member of the Anti-Slavery Society, and an active
officer of the Underground Railroad Company, he made his book as a
business man makes his ledger, viz.: by noting daily the transactions of
the day. How he preserved them does not matter much now, but if a
certain loft in the chapel of an old cemetery could speak, it might a
tale unfold.
The volume is quite large and commanding in appearance. It consists of
about 800 pages, clearly printed on beautiful white paper, making the
largest book ever written by a colored person in this country.
An attractive feature of the book, one which has added largely to its
cost, and one which greatly enhances its value to the reader, is its
illustrations. These are over seventy in number, and they are made to
illustrate the most striking portions of the work. They represent night
escapes and day encounters, on land and river, receptions on the soil of
freedom, characters of note among the fugitives, and many of those among
the anti-slavery people whose names have become historic. It is seldom a
volume is seen which so abounds in apt and striking illustration.
The field for the sale of this volume is immense. It will prove
desirable as a curious contribution to the literature of the times, and
will be bought in every home North and South, East and West, where
reading is cherished. It is pre-eminently the book for the colored race.
There is not a colored man or woman in the whole land who will not want
to possess it. Even if he cannot read, he will want it for his children.
It will be their history and their story for generations.
We have fixed the price at a very low figure, so as to completely answer
all pleas of poverty or hard times.
The whole book of _800 SUPER-ROYAL OCTAVO PAGES_ is filled with the
thrilling History of the Secret work of the U.G.R.R., giving an
authentic account of the wonderful Escapes and Daring Deeds, the
Endurance and Sacrifice of men and women in their efforts for freedom.
It is BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED and substantially bound, and furnished at
the following _VERY LOW PRICES:_
IN FINE ENGLISH CLOTH, PANNELLED,............... $3.00 IN BEAUTIFUL
EMBOSSED MOROCCO, GILT CENTRE, ... 4.00
Every book corresponds with above description or the subscriber is not
bound to take it.