“His name was Frederick—the same color, the same powerful shoulders and the same big head.”
“But this man—he looked older—he’s educated! If you had heard him!” Jack could not believe this thing.
Amelia only smiled.
“I found out afterward that even then he could read and write. Mr. Covey had him help with the accounts.”
“It’s just too incredible. That man from the Eastern Shore!”
Mrs. Royall spoke precisely. “Young man, when you’re my age you’ll know that it’s the incredible things which make life wonderful.”
And Amelia added, “There couldn’t be two Fredericks—turned from the same mold!”
Chapter Eight
On two sides of the Atlantic
Many people would have shared Jack’s reluctance to believe Amelia’s story. As time passed the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society found itself caught in a dilemma. The committee knew all the facts of Frederick’s case; but for his protection the members took every precaution, withholding the name of the state and county from which he had come, his master’s name and any other detail which might lead to his capture. Even so they realized that they must be constantly on guard. But the audiences began to murmur that this Frederick Douglass could not be a “fugitive from slavery.”