and he told me to say to you, that you might in perfect safety come home
in a quiet manner, and remain twenty days without being interrupted. I
also consulted Mr. Manly [a lawyer] and he told me the same thing. * * *
_Surely you need not fear any thing under these circumstances. You had
therefore better come on just as soon as possible._"

* * * * *

I need not say, what the reader has already seen, that my life so far had
been one of joy succeeding sorrow, and sorrow following joy; of hope, of
despair; of bright prospects, of gloom; and of as many hues as ever appear
on the varied sky, from the black of midnight, or the deep brown of a
tempest, to the bright warm glow of a clear noon day. On the 11th of
April it was noon with me; I left Boston on my way for Raleigh with high
hopes, intending to pay over the money for my family and return with them
to Boston, which I intended should be my future home; for there I had
found friends and there I would find a grave. The visit I was making to
the South was to be a farewell one; and I did not dream that my old
cradle, hard as it once had jostled me, would refuse to rock me a
pleasant, or even an affectionate good bye. I thought, too, that the
assurances I had received from the Governor, through Mr. Smith, and the
assurances of other friends, were a sufficient guaranty that I might visit
the home of my boyhood, of my youth, of my manhood, in peace, especially
as I was to stay but for a few days and then to return. With these
thoughts, and with the thoughts of my family and freedom, I pursued my way
to Raleigh, and arrived there on the 23d of the month. It was Saturday
about four o'clock, P.M. when I found myself once more in the midst of my
family. With them I remained over the Sabbath, as it was sweet to spend a
little time with them after so long an absence, an absence filled with so
much of interest to us, and as I could not do any business until the