Still, men who had fought so many hard battles to secure freedom to themselves were not quite comfortable at the thought of enslaving others. In the convention which prepared the Constitution for the new nation, much dissatisfaction was manifested with such a state of things; and, had not South Carolina and Georgia resisted so firmly, there is little doubt that the slave-trade would have been forbidden at that time. This would have been an easy matter then; but it was put off for "twenty years," to save trouble, when. alas it was too late.

Nobody pretended then that slavery was not wrong, but it was very profitable. Years after, John C. Calhoun, a SouthCarolinian, dared to stand up in Congress, and defend it, upon the ground that the slave himself was benefited. The South believed this doctrine already, and did not need to be persuaded. So you can easily see that the custom of slavery was an inheritance; that is, handed down from father to son, for many, many years. Indeed, it was such an old habit, that few gave it a thought. If, however, it troubled the conscience of anybody to own slaves, he felt sorry for it in a lazy sort of way, and comforted himself with the thought, "It cannot be helped now," never trying to get rid of the sin.

North of a certain limit, usually called "Mason and Dixon's line," slavery was prohibited by a law passed in 1820. This line ran across the country east and west, from the Atlantic coast to Mexico, and was so called after the men who surveyed it. This line runs on the parallel of 39° 43′ 26′′, and divides Pennsylvania from Maryland." I should like to think that all who read this story will trace this division on the map.

The States lying north of this boundary were called free States, because a slave who might happen to cross it became a free man so long as he remained beyond it. Masters did not often take the risk of bringing their slaves to the North,

unless they were very sure that their negroes had no good reason for wishing to be free.

But LIBERTY is a sweet word. It sounded so pleasant to the ears of the colored people when they heard it, that they began to think about it, and afterwards to speak of it too. It meant a great deal of which they had never dared to dream. It meant the right to read and write. It meant the right to earn one's own bread, and to eat it honestly. It meant the right to live with one's own wife and children, without the fear of being separated by the dreaded "trader."

Yet there seemed but one way to get the thing the poor slave wished for so constantly. That was to run away from his master to the free country which lay so near.

At last the loss of slave property in this way became very common, and the South grew alarmed. So a Virginian named Mason succeeded in getting Congress to pass a law which gave to the master a right to seize a runaway slave wherever he might be found. "All good citizens," so the law read, "were commanded to aid and assist " in the search and capture. This was the famous "Fugitive Slave Law," and it made a great stir. It was very natural that Northern people should not take kindly to slave-hunting; and especially did this law vex the people of Boston.

Indeed, the New-England States were so much opposed to the institution or plan of slavery, that they wished to abolish it, or to get rid of it altogether. Those who felt in this way were called "abolitionists." In Boston a newspaper which was devoted to this cause was edited by William Lloyd Garrison. In Philadelphia a society called the "American Antislavery Society" was formed, whose purpose was to destroy the system.

This association sent books and pamphlets all over the country, declaring that slavery was a sin, and which were intended to set men to thinking upon the subject.

MR. GARRISON IN THE HANDS OF THE MOB.

Well, after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, there was a great deal of trouble about catching the negroes who escaped over the line. Many refused to assist the owners, and helped the slaves to get away; while the fugitives were sometimes treated in a very cruel manner both by citizens and by officers of the law. So, after that, the runaways always tried to get over the border of the United States into Canada. The reason was plain. Canada belongs to Great Britain: therefore our laws do not hold good there. And certainly it only seemed fair that the race which Queen Anne helped to sell into bondage so many years before should find protection and freedom under Queen Victoria's happier reign.

The Northern people grew every day more indignant as time went on. Speeches were made, books were written, even novels were founded, upon the wrongs of the colored race. Newspapers were filled with the dreadful things which were done in the name of the law in order to capture these poor creatures.

At last, nearly ten years after the Fugitive Slave Law was made, the first blow for the freedom of the negroes was struck, honestly, but most unwisely. It startled the nation, and echoed throughout the world.

You have all sung about John Brown, whose "body lies a-mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on." Did you know that he was a real man, who gave his life to free the colored people? He was a hero and a Christian. Led on by the one thought which had ruled his life for many years, John Brown determined to secure the freedom of the blacks at any risk, trusting to God and his own strong right arm for the means.

When Kansas was in great danger of being made a slave State, he had gone there, taking with him his four sons, to help to make it free. Many a brave battle did these stout