Against slavery Sharon Kirk Clifton (dressed as Abigail Gray in 1859) shows a quilt block that features the likeness of abolitionist George DeBaptiste. Comet photo by Jennifer Archibald Sharon Kirk Clifton of North Vernon set the stage for 1859 at the annual meeting of the Carroll County Wabash & Erie Canal Association.

It was the canal era in Indiana and also a volatile time in our nation's history. The slavery issue was being debated, and the Underground Railroad was going strong.

Clifton assumed the role of Abigail Gray of Jennings County. She and her husband, Milton, were free-will Baptists, and their house was a station on the Underground Railroad.

The audience had come to hear a program, but instead became part of the program. Clifton talked in first-person, and those facing her were runaway slaves.

Wearing a long dress and bonnet, and carrying a walking stick and sewing basket, she entered the room singing, "Follow the drinking gourd."

She explained that the drinking gourd is the constellation known as the Big Dipper, which points to the North Star. Escaped slaves may not know exactly where they're going, but they know they need to head north.

"I will not call you slaves, or those other names. I will call you freedom seekers," Abigail said.

She told the freedom seekers about various signs that have been used to help guide runaways on their journey. She said, for example, they might be told to look for a house with candles in all the windows or look for a white fence with a red gate.

She said there are many hiding places for a freedom seeker, such as a wagon with a false bottom, cellars, attics, and secret rooms. She described one cellar that has a tunnel leading to another county. In one house, a loom sets on a rug. Under the rug is a trap door leading to the cellar.

"I love our tricks," she said with a laugh.

Abigail mentioned a man named Israel Cooper. "We call him Copperhead Cooper," she said. "He's a slave hunter - not a slave catcher - there is a difference." She laughed again. "If he comes close, the dogs bark."

She acknowledged that the freedom seekers came from Kentucky, and crossed the Ohio River, also known as the River Jordan. She said coming into Indiana east of Madison was safer than coming through Madison.

"We're going to get you as far north as you want to go," Abigail said. She added that most freedom seekers want to go to Canada, where slavery does not exist. Just coming into the free northern states is not always safe because slave hunters can still track slaves down and return them to their owners.

"They also come into Indiana and even take free men and women," she said.

Abigail told her charges to hold on to the coin they were given, that has a hole in it. "That's your pass. Hang on to that; it's worth your life," she said. "Those who don't have that may be spies," she said.

"They won't let you read in the South," Abigail lamented. "When you get to Canada, you learn to read and write."

She said on their journey, maybe they would get to meet the well-known abolitionist, Levi Coffin, or the former slave, Frederick Douglass, who now gives eloquent anti-slavery speeches, runs a newspaper, and has published two books.

She said there is increased tension between the north and the south.

"This country is a powder keg, and the fuse has already been lit," she said.

"We'll load you in a wagon and take you to Ripley County," she said. "Get some sleep; we'll leave in the morning."

Sharon Kirk Clifton is a former teacher and newspaper writer. She now is a professional storyteller and writer of fiction.