Page:John Brown (1899).pdf/74



in Kansas in October, 1855, Brown went actively to work at breaking up the soil. All his people had fever and ague. The cold and stormy winter was spent wretchedly in a tent banked about with earth. Brown's wife and little children, for their part, were living at North Elba in a cold house, and suffering much. Brown wrote pityingly to his wife, and said, "May God abundantly reward all your sacrifices for the cause of humanity!" The patient woman was content. About him there were frequent killings of Free State men by the "Border Ruffians," and Brown was soon involved hotly in the Free State men's reprisals. The Emigrant Aid Company of New England were sending settlers into Kansas with the object of outnumbering and outvoting the Pro-slavery settlers. They also sent rifles out to help their settlers