All efforts, before, to separate myself from the hateful encumbrance, had only seemed to rivet me the more firmly to it.

Baffled and discouraged at times, I had asked myself the question, May not this, after all, be God's work?
May He not, for wise ends, have doomed me to this lot?
A contest had been going on in my mind for years, between the clear consciousness of right and the plausible errors of superstition; between the wisdom of manly courage, and the foolish weakness of timidity.

The contest was now ended; the chain was severed; God and right stood vindicated.

I was A FREEMAN, and the voice of peace and joy thrilled my heart.
Free and joyous, however, as I was, joy was not the only sensation I experienced.

It was like the quick blaze, beautiful at the first, but which subsiding, leaves the building charred and desolate.