Escape Into the Night (24 page)

As I returned to this series to write study guides I was struck by the similarities between then and now
. Though we are a vital part of the electronic age with its countless breakthroughs, some things have not changed—the need to value and uphold our American freedoms. The need to cherish human life. The need to stand for what we believe.
Even as we had overcomers then, we have Freedom Seekers now
.

The Freedom Seekers series also offers tools for teaching topics that help our growth as individuals. Libby, Captain
Norstad, Caleb, Jordan, and their friends face questions still crucial today:

• Who can I trust?
  

• What do I
  really
  care about?
  

• What does it mean to be a never-give-up family?
  

• How can I live out my belief in the freedoms sought in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights?
  

• In what ways do I need to recognize the Lord’s leading in both daily and life-or-death situations?
  

• What practical skills should I develop?
  

• Why do I need to put my faith in God?
  

• How can I live with biblical principles and values?
  

• How can I make choices based on those principles and values?
  

• And how can I encourage others to do the same?
  

The Freedom Seekers series weaves together fictional characters with carefully researched people who lived or were known in 1857. Each novel stands alone but is best read in sequence to see the growth of characters and relationships. A new character, Peter, who is deaf, joins the
Christina
family in the fourth book.

Prepare students for reading a novel by talking about the cover. Who are the characters? What do you think they’re doing? Where are they? How do they feel about what’s happening? Then encourage your students to just enjoy reading the story. If needed, they can take random notes to help them find details for later use, but ask them to wait with answering questions or doing activities. After reading a book through, students
can return to it and glean added information to answer study questions or do other activities.

Each study guide gives you the ability to move through the questions and activities at a pace that is right for your students. Topics are organized in sections such as talking about the story, making choices, being a never-give-up family, following God’s leading, discussing ideas about freedom, ideas for written or oral responses, and a digging deeper section for students who want to study further.

Your own love of reading may be one of your strongest motivators for encouraging others to read. That love and the discernment that follows will become an important gift you offer the children and young people you influence.

Whether you read these novels aloud as a group or your students read them individually, I hope that all of you enjoy them. May each of you also be blessed by growing deeper in your walk as a Freedom Seeker.

L
IBBY NORSTAD
: Tall and slender, 13 years old. Turns 14 in book #4. Just one inch shorter than Caleb who is not short. Brown eyes like her mother’s, long, deep red hair with gold highlights. At beginning of first novel wears in long curls. Before time of second cover, she brushed it out with front drawn up and held by ribbon at top of head and rest of hair with slight curls at end falling down her back. Hair is wispy in front, wavy in back. First book wears full dresses and crinolines. Changes to simpler dress partway through book. Spiritually doesn’t know what she believes until near the end of second book. Wants a never-give-up family. Libby’s mother died 4 years before.

CAPTAIN NATHANIEL NORSTAD, LIBBY’S FATHER, PA
:
Captain and owner of the
Christina
. Tall, slender, brown eyes, black hair with a touch of white above the ears. Athletic movements, strong Christian, stands firm on what he believes, runs a tight ship, homeschools Libby and Caleb, then Jordan and Elsa. Norwegian. When his first wife, Christina, died, Libby was 9.

CALEB WHITNEY
:
Biblically, he stood in the right place, took the hill country even when an old man. 14 years old, almost 15. Blue eyes, blond hair falls down over his forehead, slender, but not as tall as Jordan. One inch taller than Libby. Cabin boy on
Christina
. Underground Railroad conductor since age of 9. Ardent abolitionist, wants to be a newspaper editor, strong Christian.

RACHEL (GRANNY OR GRAN) WHITNEY
:
Caleb’s grandmother who has cared for him since the death of his parents from cholera. Gran is a widow and the chief pastry cook on board. Strongly antislavery, Caleb’s sidekick when it comes to hiding people and she does hide them in the ship’s galley when needed. Also supplies food for the hidden fugitives. Spunky, small, gray-white hair that falls out of the bun at the back of her neck. Rosy, flushed cheeks when galley hot from cooking.

JORDAN PARKER
: African American,
Black, doesn’t know his birthday, about 15 or 16. Wants his birthday to be when he knows his daddy is free. Sold at estate auction in St. Louis. Muscular, strong, about 6 feet tall. Strong Christian walk, forgiving spirit, hears the Lord extraordinarily well. Singer. Good mechanic.

Father: Micah Parker

Mother: Hattie

  11-year-old sister: Serena

     8-year-old brother: Zack

     3-year-old sister: Rose

EMMA
:
slave at same location in Missouri as Jordan’s family, then sold farther north, along with Jordan’s Momma, his brother, and two sisters. Emma’s baby’s name is Little Henry (rescued by Deacon Trowbridge).

AUNTIE VI THORNTON
:
Sister of Libby’s mother, took care of Libby for four years until Libby came to live with her father. Vi lives in a mansion in Chicago.

UNCLE ALEXANDER THORNTON
:
Husband of Vi. Wealthy businessman.

MR. BATES
:
First mate, Southern sympathizer. Presses thin lips together. Thin. Almost as tall as Libby’s father.

OSBORNE
:
Chief engineer, kind, welcoming, abolitionist

FLETCHER
:
Christina’s
pilot

MARTIN
:
young mud clerk

MR. RIGGS
:
Cruel slave trader, short in height, slender around waist, wiry, wears three-piece suit that finest money can buy, carries cane with gold head that is not needed for walking. Cold blue eyes. Cruelest man Libby has ever seen. Lines between nose and outside corners of lips as though always frowning. Robert Ralph Riggs.

SLAVE CATCHERS
:
No name given. One blond, other light brown hair. Both tall.

HISTORIC CHARACTERS
:

HARRIET TUBMAN
:
Moses to her people.

DR. and MRS. WILLIAM SALTER
, Congregational pastor and wife in Burlington, IA.

HENDERSON LEWELLING, Amos and Ellen Kimberly and their son, Samuel:
Society of Friends, owners of house in Salem, IA.

REVEREND ASA TURNER
, along with Dr. Salter, part of Iowa Band that settled in southeaster corner of Iowa.

DEACON and MRS. THERON TROWBRIDGE
, sheltered fugitives in their home, Deacon rescued Emma’s baby.

ELIJAH LOVEJOY
:
First martyr for freedom of press in U. S. Killed while editor of newspaper, the
Observer
, in Alton, IL. Took anti-slavery stands.

ALL BOATS NAMED ARE HISTORIC
except for the
Christina
.

CHRISTINA
:
Name of the sidewheeler owned and operated by Libby’s father. Steamboat is named after Libby’s mother.

SAMSON
:
Libby’s dog, a Newfoundland, better known today as a Newfie. Housebroken, but frisky when Libby gets him. Black coat with white patches on nose, muzzle, chest and tips of toes.

O
ften people ask me, “Lois, how can I tell who is real, and who isn’t?” By that they mean, “What characters truly lived? Which characters are imaginary?” If you wonder the same thing, turn to
page 6
. You’ll find a paragraph naming the real-life people who lived or were known during the time of this series. With each historic person I did my best to describe them as they were and according to what they did and said.

Take, for instance, Father Asa Turner, pastor of the first Congregational church in Iowa. When he saw the need for more churches, he wrote to Andover Seminary in Massachusetts and asked students to consider coming to the Iowa Territory. In response several young men gathered in the library at night, meeting in the dark to avoid the risk of fire, and praying about what they should do.

Pastor William Salter, later known as Dr. Salter, was one of those who became part of the Iowa Band. Both Father Turner and Dr. Salter provided strong spiritual and antislavery leadership during crucial years of Iowa’s history.

A member of Father Turner’s church, Deacon Trowbrige truly did rescue a baby from a slave owner in northeastern Missouri. The Trowbridge house still stands in Denmark,
Iowa, as a private residence. I’m grateful to Gayla Young and her daughter Stacy for showing me the secret room discovered by Gayla’s grandparents, Robert and Ethel Riddle.

The Quaker community of Salem, Iowa, was a major center for the work of the Underground Railroad. Ten routes led in or out of the town. Henderson Lewelling, who built the house where the Kimberly family lived during this story, was a nurseryman who transported about 700 trees and shrubs by oxcart to Milwaukie, Oregon. There he became known as the father of the West Coast fruit industry. His brother, Seth, developed the Bing cherry.

Henderson Lewelling’s home in Salem is now a museum that honors the important stand taken by members of the Society of Friends in that area. Thanks to Marcia Cammack for giving us a great tour!

And what about Elijah Lovejoy, the newspaper editor admired by Caleb? Today Mr. Lovejoy is known as the first martyr for freedom of the press in the United States. If you visit the city of Alton, Illinois, you’ll find a monument to this courageous man.

The building now known as the Old Courthouse in Saint Louis has had a long and painful history. From a courtroom within those walls, Dred Scott made his first attempts to free himself from slavery.

For many years slave auctions were held on the east steps of the Old Courthouse. Then on January 1, 1861, two thousand young men gathered for the widely advertised sale of seven slaves. When the auctioneer asked for bids on the first slave, the audience roared “Three dollars!” After two hours the bidding reached eight dollars. The exhausted auctioneer finally
led the slaves back to jail. Never again did someone try to sell human beings in a St. Louis auction.