Page:John Brown (1899).pdf/59

 the negro. But up to this time we do not see him preparing or threatening an armed conflict. And the very first plain reference in his correspondence to the great movement which had for years engrossed many great minds occurs in a letter from Springfield, Massachusetts, to his wife at North Elba, dated Nov. 28, 1850. It is important as marking a turning-point in Brown's life, and it is also so curiously like him in its diction and matter that it is worth quoting:—

"Dear Wife,—. . . Since leaving home I have thought that, under all the circumstances of doubt attending the time of our removal, and the possibility that we may not remove at all, I had perhaps encouraged the boys to feed out the potatoes too freely. . . . I want to have them very careful to have no hay or straw wasted, but I would have them use enough straw in bedding the cattle to keep them from lying in the mire. I heard from Ohio a few days since;