doing, and he was careful not to inform them. He wrote home to his wife a good deal of advice about the farming operations at North Elba. His son Watson, and the brothers of his son-in-law, the two young Thompsons, who were as faithful to him as sons, came on and joined him; and so did others of the "young men." They spent their time mostly in hiding about the Kennedy place. John Brown, Jr., worked hard in shipping the freight—that is, the war material—to Harper's Ferry and in doing various errands for his father in connection with the business. He went to Canada for him, and to Boston. By the end of August Brown wrote to his son, "Our freight is principally here." About that time Frederick Douglass, the most famous, intelligent, and influential colored man in America, went to Chambersburg to see Brown. This was at Brown's urgent request. In a way, Douglass held the key to the
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