Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-11-29

This was The time | had calculated on and as l
could do no more than step to the coneuls office,
state the case, and get something that would de-
priye him of the power to refuse taking her, | felt
entirely safe in leaving the ship for the time II
would take me to accomplish this.
"But rs / was going over the side of the vessel
the former mate who had left her there, and whose
goodnature and kindness to the passengers espec-
tally to the females and children, had caused him
much difficulty with the ca rtain, came up accom-
panied by one Of the English gentleman whom
we had met at st. Catharine's, to pay our passen-
gers q farewell visit.
"Ou seeing me bonneted and shawled, Lieut.. f.
asked, in some surprise, where | was going, and
when had stated the case in half a dozen hur.
ried words, he said Surely the man cannot per-
sist in such a thing. Pray stay a moment, ma'am
and let me speak to him. | feared his interyen-
ton would be of no avail but as his position in
the English navy assured me OF his full acquaint
ance with life at sea, and as | knew lie went in
the most conciliatory spirit, | did wait, %notwith-
standing my haste, till | heard loud oaths and cur
SOS in reply to what he said, and saw him turn to-
wards US.
"He is a madmau.' said he. He will hear moth
ing. But pray command me ma'am, Will you
come with the girl in our boat, and wait on your
consul at once p
81 passed hastily down the ships side, and we
pulled ashore. We stopped but a moment at the
consulate, but long enough to get a note to the In
tendente and learn that the miscreant had no au-
thorlty Whatever To demand any paper, ana tnat
the very moment before going into the boat to go
off, he had promised Mr.. Samuels faithfully to do
noting to annoy us in regard to this matter.
"At the Intendente's Office, which was directly
in our way back, we were told that the captain
had said that he hated me, and meant to play this
trick upon me and although the gentlemanly Off
cial assured me, in broken English, that l bad no
business with a passport for the woman, he gave
me a slip of paper written hastily upon, which
procured it for me at an Office two or three doors
from his own and when | had paid all and Dor
rowed three or four dollars from the gentleman
who accompanied me, | had q single shilling left
in my pocket.
I'm twenty-five minutes from the time we land
ed we were again on the mole, with all that was
required. In an hour and fifteen minutes from
the time we LETT the ships side we were well out in
the harbor in a four-oared boat, pulling around
the point, whittier, the men at the water side in
formed us, the ship had proceeded. | could not
altogether suppress a certain heart-chill when | saw
she had left her moorings in that short space of
time; but Lieut.. E-was so firm in the belief
that he had only showed out of sight to startle and
annoy me, and | felt the dread that struck me &c
be so nearly an impossibility, that until we clear
ed the point, and looked full out to sea / did not
really doubt that n few minutes more would place
me beside my children.
"At this moment 1 can see that vessel as she
looked in the distance, as plainly as these black
lines on the white page before me-her grey sails
and ropes, her paler spars and yards, her black
hull, already partially hidden from view, are all
fixed forever in my memory. She stood before
my straining sight, a phantom vanishing so swiftly
and surely. with the fresh, steady breeze filling
her hallowed sails, that the hope with which l
) first caught sight of her died out of my heart in a
sickening, terrible conviction that she was gone,
settled down upon me like the chill of death.
beside that dreadful vision, l only remember
catching the blank look Of those about me, until
we were again on the mole. l did not faint, for
) 7 n =, ctrono aud rasolute nv naturn hut m " fanu1-
ties seemed stunned and scattered, and only when
| found myself again on my feet, destitute, in q city
= Of strangers, did they ~regather to my aid. 1t
. seems now like a horrible dream, that return to
~ the shore ; and the landing and meeting the PEG
pie face to face, like awakening to q worse
reality.
81 had advanced but a few steps on the mole
10 when we were met by an elderly gentleman of tn
same party to which Lieut., E., belonged. W
y had experienced his kind regard for our comfort
both at St. GATHERINGS and when looking into m,
y blanched face, he gathered from that gentleman
= in half a dozen words, the fact that the ship ha
~ sailed with my children, his quickly -suffused eye
and cordial grasp of the hand removed in a me
- ment the sufocating restraint upon my feelings
and as he drew my hand into his ARM, and sale
you must go down and see our consul he is
d very kind considerate person, and yours is al
sent" the sitting sensation about the heart lei
me, and tears came to my relief. | found th
," English consul all that Mr.. T, had assure
Q q me that he w~as-sympathetic, manly, practical
He told him where he would find a quiet hous
az for me to stop in put an ounce into my hand
provide for my immediate wants, and assured m
II that, although l was among a people who woal
-: ~ not only not let me suffer. but would spare me eve
~ the apprehension of it. | never saw this good gel
n a tleman after but his name, face, and manner al
%. preserved in my memory, and will never be forgo
% ten. His reception of a strang ger jim any conditio
" could not have been kinder or more judicious.
But l was not left to the painful dessolation
a hotel. In less than an hour | was under Il
mi hospitable roof Of the excellent clergyman whom
i'm have before named, and by noon of the next d.
20. | was furnished with a wardrobe, bountiful enoue
I'D to have supplied me for q six months voyage. Sur
ly the prompt literally Of those generous peop
es. could not have been excelled. Houses were ope
ed to ne and money supplied for my wants, and
+ho was assured that my passage should be secured
.e the first vessel in which | could be comfortab
~. M accommodated, if the ship which left me did N
iIne put back-a belief which several persons lid n
lay abandon till the third day. l never entertainI
it, and yet when they talked of its being SO cru
oa' and extraordinary a step, and said, again al
again, that surely he never would go. on, carryil
little children away from their only parent to
ii' country like California. l could not help hoping
=. little, and my eyes were often searching the di
i ant waters for the gladdening sight. But she d
IKE not return, and l thank heaven that | knew t
~ well the hard nature which commanded her to
disappointed thereat.
20 / grew calmer after a few days, and very soc
Ia the suffering and anguish of some of the truest al
TO- kindest hearts that my hard fortune had ma
,sn known to me, occupied me too much to permit I
. n remembrance of my own griefs. How ceaselei
The now much keener must nave peen my distress,h
l not been providentially cast where there "
he such q work of mercy for me to perform. This
he not the time nor the occasion to narrate those s
,eir ferings. They were the result Of one of thC
hat terrible trlais which, tnahKs De 10 him VINO q
poses all events, are seldom inflicted on the he
nv Of man or woman. Peace BE to the surviving spi
which was stricken by them.
"For a whole month ! was compelled to aw
5ed an opportunity to follow my poor children. Met
time, how, | continually questioned, were tn
=, faring? | knew there were feeling hearts
it'll Vs. ' - -. ,ha, abono al ~ Ill :
ia ra' friend, Miss Sampson, would devote to them t
l III whole of her little strength; but she was an