erance (Painter, 4).
             Harriet Beecher Stowe reconstructed conversations with her colleagues and Isabelle where Isabelle tells them of when she found Jesus. Isabelle was with her mother, and her mother was crying over her lost children who were sold to other masters. Her mother, referred to by some as Ma-Ma Betts, explained to Isabelle that one day she too would be sold away from her mother, and that if she ever needed help, to ask God. Isabelle asked her mother who God is, and her mother said to her, "Why, chile, you jes' look up dar! (referring to the stars) It's Him that made all dem!" (Stowe).
             Isabelle didn't pay much attention to God at that point in her life. Later though, when she was sold away from her mother to a harsh master, she began to pray to God. She asked for his help to escape from her master, and she claims that the Lord told her to get up two or three hours before daylight and start walking. She did as she was told, and began to ask the Lord where she was going. Isabelle claimed that He brought her to a house, late at night, to a family of Quakers (Stowe). Different books have different accounts of this experience. Jacqueline Barnard extends on this occurrence, stating that Isabelle's master, Dumont, found Isabelle here, and was ready to take her back. The Quaker's, seeing this, bought Isabelle and her daughter from Dumont. Isabelle, while turning toward her new owner and referring to him as master, was stopped in mid-sentence. This man, Isaac Van Wagenen held up his hand and stated, "There is but one Master here. He who is thy Master is my Master" (Bernard, 61).
             Isabelle stayed with the Van Wagenen's for some time, and quite quickly forgot all about God. One day, as Isabelle was leaving the house, she met God. She said that she turned right back around and had to sit down. She claimed that she felt as if she were going to burn up, "I could feel it burnin', burnin', burnin' all around me, an...