Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-07-10
Miscfllanfons.
TRUE L0yE'S DEy0rI0N-A ROMANCE OF
TIE ANTI-SLtvERY DAYS.


A correspondent of the Cincinnati Com
mercial has been delving in the records of
the underground railroad in the early alb
clifton days. and an interesting story is
the result. Calvin Fairbanks is its hero,
and the heroine, his wife. Massachusetts
woman, who for fifteen years proved 10y
| al to her betrothal while he served out
State prison sentence for helping slaves to
| escape. Fairbanks first offence was
in 1874. when he successfully helped
off a family of Lexington negroes
but failed to escape himself He was sem
fenced to fifteen years imprisonment for
this, but after four years the great efforts
in his behalf by parents and friends Sc
cured his release. In 1851 business drew
Young Fairbanks from his New York
home to the Kentucky border once more,
| and his anti-slavery sympathies again get
| ting the better of him, he ran off to Cana
| da and to freedom a young slave woman,
and then by a perversitg of luck he was
again arrested and the old sentence of if
teen years in the Frankp0rt prison reaf-
| tirmed. This was a severe blow, for the
| young abolitionist was on the point Of
marrying Miss Tileston, Of Williams
burgh. Mass, who had already been true
to him through the period of his former
Imprisonment.
| 1t also came like a blight upon his
sweeheart's hopes and dreams of hapi-
ness, but her affection only increased with
the new demand made upon it. The pros
pect of such long and dreary separation
would have chilled the ardor of any but
the purest and most unselfi,h love. There
was little hope for pardon as this was his
second otfense; there was nothing t, do
hut await The expiration of the fifteen
Years. With many this would have
amount ID to a REIMBURSEMENT of the mar
| riage engagemeDt-perhap in time, to
the forming of new ties by the lady. But
Miss Tileston never entertained such
thought; she fulfilled the highest ideal of
womanly constancy, with that uncon-
sciousness Of doing anything praisewor-
thy which always accompanies noble ac-
tons.
Sne left her home and her friends in
Massachusetts for the purpose of being
near her betr othed. and devo,ing herself
to him. She came to OHIO, established
herself at Hamilton, and began to teach
school. 1t was no slight thing to leave
the shelter and support of home and
earn her bread among strangers, but
thoughts of her lover, and how she could
sustain and cheer him. were uppermost
in her mind. She planned constantly how
she could alleviate his hardships, and
comfort and sustain him in distress. He
had need of her utmost sympathy and
affection His life at best was dreary,
brutal, monotonous. and, at times, his
sufferings were great. His keepers dis
liked him on account of his anti-slavery
I ~ niallt
him because this was his second offrnse.
He was kept at work in the hemp factory,
where the air was filled with dust and
floating brown lint, and this so aggra-
va;ed the lung disease with which he at
times suffered, that his health and strength
failed. and he could not always fulfill his
daily task, When he failed he was bound
over chair and whipped on bis bare
back with strips of raw-hide until he
tainted. He says: II have counted the
blows ND to sixty; | could count no more.
After the whipping little particles Of flesh
would be found on the walls several feet
away"
But this part OF his sufferings he kept
from his dear one Watching over the
border" as he called her. He desired to
spare her fond and faithful heart all the
pangs he could. Often, he says, when
the wears bet ween him and freedom rose
before him like an iron wall, which no
human energy could surmount, and the
cruelty and horror and dreary monOtony
of his lot came keenly to his mind, and
he realized afresh that he was shut from
all improving influences, the faces Of
friends, the delights OF social life. the
common Joys OF existence-the dark
thought of suicide presented itself t) him,
but he thrust it aside for his loved ones
sake, and summoned again all his cour-
age and endurance. Thus each lived for
the other, and found higher joy in low
ing than in being loved. The faithful.
loving woman spent her daily life and
fulfilled her daily duties at Hamilton. but
her heart was at Frankfort.
She was watchful of every need, and OF
every opportunity to relieve and cheer the
prisoner. She sent him warm, comiorta-
BILE bedding and underclolhlng, boxes OF
supplies, canned fruit, preserved meats
and other delicacies, which were in ri AS
ant contrast to the coarse prison iare. She
sent him books and papars. and money
with which to purchase llttle comforts and
Injuries. She wrote TO him often. long.
loving letters. which assured him OF her
Iunwavering affection, and cheered and
| II led HIM WITH ht Pc. She encouraged ano
sustained him, aud enabled him i endure
his hard aud dreary lot She visited him
as often as the PRISON authorities would
lallow. and her visits brought sunshine
whose radiance Lasted Tor weeks. She
pet toned the Governor tor his pardon.
and she appealed to influential men in
Frankfort and Lexington in his behalf.
Her efforts in this direction. however.
/ hnh tsall a fad
1.-The laws of the State a second time, and
though efforts were made at various times
by his friends to obtain his release, they
availed nothing. And more than all else
this brave and loving woman did, she
learned the 'long. dull anguish of pa
iience," which is infinitely harder than to
do or dare. Miss Tilestou endured Tor her
lovers sake the slow years OF waiting, the
long separation from home and friends,
the round of daily toll among comparative
strangers, and did it all because IL seemed