In the Midst of Thousands
by Frederick Douglass

There I was in the midst of thousands, and yet a perfect stranger;
without home and without friends, in the midst of thousands of my own brethren —
children of a common Father,
and yet I dared not to unfold to any one of them my sad condition.
I was afraid to speak to any one for fear of speaking to the wrong one,
and thereby falling into the hands of money-loving kidnappers,
whose business it was to lie in wait for the panting fugitive,
as the ferocious beasts of the forest lie in wait for their prey.