AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 49
And now, another question suggests itself—How came I here? In answer to this, I can truly say, the hand of the Lord has led me, and His power has protected and preserved me in the midst of those perilous scenes to which voyagers are often exposed when on the briny deep in their passage to foreign lands.
I was nearly two weeks on the way from Cleveland, Ohio, to New York—traveled upwards of three hundred miles on the Erie canal. At Albany I took steamboat to New York, and the next day, after having supplied myself with what little necessary articles and comforts I needed on the voyage, went on board a ship just ready to sail, bidding good bye to New York, after a brief introduction and hasty glance at its temptations for sight-seeing; and, for the first time, turned my face from my native land.
I was forty-two days crossing the ocean, and during this time we encountered three terrible storms—storms which those accustomed to the ocean pronounced very dangerous. Unacquainted as I was with the turbulent waves, I was unable to judge comparatively, but, in a number of instances, to say the least of it, the scene was fearfully terrific. I did not feel surprised that men, women and children who had not learned to trust in God, wrung their hands in an agony of fear, and wept. My trust was in Him who created the seas and defined their bounds. I was on His errand—I knew that I was sent on this mission by the authority He recognizes, and, although the elements raged and the ship swayed and trembled amid the heaving billows, He was at the helm, and my life was safe in His keeping.
I think, aunt, that you moved from Massachusetts to Ohio by land, and that you have had no experience in ocean life; now, to realize the answer to "How came I here?" Just look at me in your lively imagination, in one of these terrific storms, seated on a large hogshead of water—holding on, with both hands, to ropes near by, in order to retain my position—
