PHILADELPHIA, Fourth Mo., 26th. MOTHER DEAR: Thy presence has been roundabout me throughout the day, and I cannot sleep until I have availed myself of this poor medium, my pen, to convey to thee some of the thoughts that fill my mind. Cousin Henry went with me to attend the morning meeting at Race Street, where we listened to words of warning and words of comfort from the lips of Friend B. and Friend T., and I was quite lost in meditation following the discourse of the latter, whose fine voice I ofttimes fear has an influence over me that should only be the result of his spiritual teaching. Then Lucretia Mott arose and spoke very acceptably, as she has ever done, to me. Yet it was not the words that fell from her lips that so greatly affected me, it was the memory of a strange scene that I have recently witnessed that endeared her to me, and it is of this that I am anxious thee should know. On Second day, while we were awaiting Cousin Henry at the customary dinner hour, a lad brought in a note asking aunt to excuse his non-appearance and begging her to bring some friends and join him at the office of the U. S. Commissioner on Fourth Street as soon after two o’clock as possible. It seems that a colored man had been claimed as a fugitive slave by a Southerner staying in the city, and this reaching the ears of a prominent Abolitionist, a few persons resolved to make a strenuous effort to have the case publicly tried. Such, as thee knows, is not the usual proceeding, for the poor creatures are generally given over to the hands of their taskmasters with very little noise or show of justice. The watchword was quickly passed, and when the case was opened the small room was densely packed and it was made evident to the commissioner that considerable excitement prevailed. He therefore judged it best to delay further trial until 2 P. M., at which hour the court would sit in the large hall just around the corner, by Independence Square, and it was there that aunt took me. Friend J. and his wife, Elizabeth C. and two sons, and four or five other “plain bonnets and broad brims,” entered the room about the same time that we did. A. L., whom thee remembers, was present and arranged comfortable seats for us, some having benches, others chairs, while a large table in the middle of the hall was surrounded with the roughest looking men I ever saw! They were armed with pistols and bowie knives and handled their weapons too freely to make me comfortable. And yet how cowardly I felt when I glanced at the poor slave face so full of terrible anticipation!