"  You  're  sure,  an't  you,  mother  ?  "

"  Yes,  sure  !  "  said  the  mother,  in  a  voice  that  startled  her-
self ;  for  it  seemed  to  her  to  come  from  a  spirit  within,  that
was  no  part  of  her  ;  and  the  boy  dropped  his  little  weary  head
on  her  shoulder  and  was  soon  asleep.  How  the  touch  of  those
warm  arms,  and  gentle  breathings  that  came  in  her  neck,
seemed  to  add  fire  and  spirit  to  her  movements.  It  seemed  to
her  as  if  strength  poured  into  her  in  electric  streams,  from  every
gentle  touch  and  movement  of  the  sleeping,  confiding  child.
Sublime  is  the  dominion  of  the  mind  over  the  body,  that,  for
a  time,  can  make  flesh  and  nerve  impregnable,  and  string  the
sinews  like  steel,  so  that  the  weak  become  so  mighty.
The  boundaries  of  the  farm,  the  grove,  the  wood-lot,  passet?
by  her  dizzily,  as  she  walked  on ;  and  still  she  went,  leaving
one  famiUar  object  after  another,  slacking  not,  pausing  not,  till
reddening  daylight  found  her  many  a  long  mile  from  aU  traces
of  any  familiar  objects  upon  the  open  highway.
She  had  often  been,  with  her  mistress,  to  visit  some  connec

tions,  in  the  little  village  of  T ,  not  far  from  the  Ohio  Biver,

and  knew  the  road  well.     To  go  thither,  to  escape  across  tha


LIFE  AMONG  THE  LOWLY.  57

Ohio  River,  were  the  first  hurried  outlines  of  her  plan  of  escape  i
beyond  that,  she  could  only  hope  in  God.
