The Last Runaway (35 page)

Thee will be pleased to hear that for the first time I spoke at Meeting, the last I attended in Faithwell. I have always felt that words cannot truly capture what I feel inside. But I found the urgency of the Spirit pushing me to open my mouth to explain, even imperfectly, what I feel about helping runaways until that day arrives when slavery is finally ended in this country. For I do believe it will end. It must. When I sat down, the air felt thick with thoughts, and afterwards the blacksmith commended me for finding my voice.

I am not sorry to leave Ohio and go west, except that it is taking me farther from thee, Biddy. I will write again once we have found a place to settle. Because thee remains there, it is easier for me to go, for thee can be the shore I look back on, the star that remains fixed. After the voyage across the ocean, I had not thought I would ever have the spirit to move again, but now that I have chosen to go, I am glad.

I am anxious, of course. I expect I shall not sleep tonight for thinking about what lies ahead. But I feel different from when I left Bridport with Grace. Then I was running away, and it was as if my eyes were shut and there was nothing to hold on to. Now my eyes are open, and I can walk forward, holding on to Jack and Comfort. It is what Americans do. Perhaps that is what I am becoming, at last. I am learning the difference between running from and running towards.

Always with thee in spirit,

Thy faithful friend,

Honor Haymaker

Acknowledgments

I have used many resources to create this book, but here are a few for those who want to pursue some of its subjects.

On the Underground Railroad and abolition:
The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom
by Wilbur H. Siebert (1898) is the classic from which all the others draw their material;
Let My People Go: The Story of the Underground Railroad and the Growth of the Abolition Movement
by Henrietta Buckmaster (1941);
Freedom’s Struggle: A Response to Slavery from the Ohio Borderlands
by Gary L. Knepp (2008).

On Quakers:
The Quaker Reader
, edited by Jessamyn West (1962);
An Introduction to Quakerism
by Pink Dandelion (2007);
Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the Reputed President of the Underground Railroad
, edited by Ben Richmond (1991);
Slavery and the Meetinghouse: The Quakers and the Abolitionist Dilemma, 1820-1865
by Ryan P. Jordan (2007);
A Fine Meeting There Is There: 300 Years of Bridport’s Quaker History
by Suzanne Finch (2000; thank you, Marian Vincent, for finding this for me).

On Oberlin and its surrounds:
Oberlin: The Colony and the College
by James H. Fairchild (1883);
The Town that Started the Civil War
by Nat Brandt (1990);
A Place on the Glacial Till: Time, Land, and Nature Within an American Town
by Thomas Fairchild Sherman (1997).

Quilts: There are many books on quilts and their fascinating history, but those most useful to Honor’s quilting were
Quilts in Community: Ohio’s Traditions
, edited by Ricky Clark (1991),
Classic Quilts from the American Museum in Britain
by Laura Beresford and Katherine Hebert (2009), and
Philena’s Friendship Quilt: A Quaker Farewell to Ohio
by Lynda Salter Chenoweth (2009).

Writing from the period:
Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping
(1877; thanks to Carole DeSanti for lending me this treasure);
Our Cousins in Ohio
by Mary Botham Howitt (1849)—less a novel, more a year in the life of an Ohio farm; and, of course,
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852). For nineteenth-century English views on Americans, you can’t do better than
Domestic Manners of the Americans
by Frances Trollope (1832) and
American Notes
by Charles Dickens (1842); although both were highly critical of the United States, many of their observations still hold true today.

I am grateful to many people for their help with this book.

In Ohio: Gwen Mayer, Hudson’s most passionate archivist, and Sue Flechner, for her generous hospitality. I am sorry that Hudson did not figure larger; however, it did provide me with a name and profession: Belle Mills the milliner, for which I owe Hudson a great debt. Tim Simonson on Wellington history; Bob Gordon on farming; and a special thank-you to Maddie Shetler for twice showing me around her family farm. Various unsung helpers at the Oberlin Heritage Center and Oberlin College Archives. Finally, my biggest thanks are to Kathie Linehan and Glenn Loafmann for many and varied services on the ground (and, with Glenn, up in the air!), from sending maps to finding answers to big and small questions, connecting me with knowledgeable people, flying me over the landscape of the novel, putting me up and up with me, and taking such an active interest in my Ohio research that they became a part of the process itself. Oberlin is a special place, and Kathie and Glenn are head of the class of its finest inhabitants.

Hats: Rose Cory and her millinery class in Woolwich, and Shelley Zetuni for introducing me; Oriole Cullen at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Quilts: Of course I had to learn to make them myself. Thanks to Fiona Fletcher for teaching me the basics; and to the Flying Geese quilting group in north London, who have been so helpful and supportive through every step of making my first quilt. May your stitches always be even.

Quakers: Christopher Densmore at Swarthmore College for answering my varied queries; Hampstead Meeting for shared hours of waiting in expectation.

I would like to thank John Wieland for buying the privilege of having a wood named after him, in an auction to raise funds for the Woodland Trust, a UK charity devoted to woodland conservation.

For wordsmithery, thanks to Richenda Todd and Rick Ball.

Finally, thanks as ever to my handholders: Clare Ferraro and Denise Roy at Dutton, Katie Espiner at HarperCollins, Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown and Deborah Schneider at Gelfman Schneider.

About the Author

Tracy Chevalier is the
New York Times
bestselling author of six previous novels, including
Girl with a Pearl Earring
, which has been translated into thirty-nine languages and made into an Oscar-nominated film. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., she lives in London with her husband and son.

ALSO BY TRACY CHEVALIER

The Virgin Blue

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Falling Angels

The Lady and the Unicorn

Burning Bright

Remarkable Creatures