Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 25
and uncertainty. This in itself was enough to
stagger us; but when we came to survey the untrodden
road and conjecture the many possible
difficulties, we were appalled, and at times, as I
have said, were upon the point of giving over the
struggle altogether. The reader can have little
idea of the phantoms which would flit in such
circumstances before the uneducated mind of the
slave. Upon either side we saw grim death, assuming
a variety of horrid shapes. Now it was
starvation, causing us, in a strange and friendless
land, to eat our own flesh. Now we were contending
with the waves and were drowned. Now
we were hunted by dogs and overtaken, and torn
to pieces by their merciless fangs. We were
stung by scorpions, chased by wild beasts, bitten
by snakes, and, worst of all, after having succeeded
in swimming rivers, encountering wild
beasts, sleeping in the woods, suffering hunger,
cold, heat, and nakedness, overtaken by hired
kidnapers, who, in the name of law and for the
thrice-cursed reward, would, perchance, fire upon
us, kill some, wound others, and capture all.
This dark picture, drawn by ignorance and fear,
at times greatly shook our determination, and not
unfrequently caused us to
"' Rather bear the ills we had,
Than flee to others which we knew not of.'"
But just as they were about to start they found