While wandering about the streets of New York, and lodging at least one night among the barrels on one of the wharves, I was indeed free--from slavery, but free from food and shelter as well.
Douglass vividly describes the stark reality of his early days of freedom in New York, highlighting the absence of basic necessities.
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The friendless and hungry boy, in his extremest need, found himself in the strong protecting arms of his mother.
Treason had shot its poisonous roots deeper, and had spread its death-dealing branches further than any northern calculation had covered.
I wished it was possible I could remain small all my life, knowing that the sooner I grew large the shorter would be my time to remain with them.
It was perhaps better for the country and for mankind that the good man could not know the end from the beginning.