Incidents in the life of a slave girl.: Written by herself. Edited by L. Maria Child.

The Meeting of Mother and Daughter. 251
home and ask Mrs. Hobbs to let her come and
see me. It was agreed that I should send for her the
next day. Her companion, Sarah, hastened to tell her
mother of my arrival. When I entered the house, I
found the mistress of it absent, and I waited for her
return. Before I saw her, I heard her saying, " Where
is Linda Brent? I used to know her father and
mother." Soon Sarah came with her mother. So
there was quite a company of us, all from my grandmother's neighborhood. These friends gathered round
me and questioned me eagerly. They laughed, they
cried, and they shouted. They thanked God that I
had got away from my persecutors and was safe on
Long Island. It was a day of great excitement.
How different from the silent days I had passed in
my dreary den!
The next morning was Sunday. My first waking
thoughts were occupied with the note I was to send to
Mrs. Hobbs, the lady with whom Ellen lived. That I
had recently come into that vicinity was evident;
otherwise I should have sooner inquired for my
daughter. It would not do to let them know I had
just arrived from the south, for that would involve the
suspicion of my having been harbored there, and
might bring trouble, if not ruin, on several people.
I like a straightforward course, and am always reluctant to resort to subterfuges. So far as my ways
have been crooked, I charge them all upon slavery.
It was that system of violence and wrong which now
left me no alternative but to enact a falsehood. I
began my note by stating that I had recently arrived
from Canada, and was very desirous to have my
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