Meg Mackintosh Solves Seven American History Mysteries Read Online Free PDF

to find their way in the darkness.”
    â€œMaybe,” said Meg. “We still don’t have much information. And what is the camouflage clue ?”
    â€œI don’t know,” answered Peter. “Maybe a clue hidden on something?”
    After a while Meg and Peter both dozed off thinking about the clue.

    Gramps woke them up when they crossed the Ohio River from West Virginia into Ohio. Then he pulled into a nearby diner to feed his hungry travelers.
    â€œDo you know if Ohio was part of the Underground Railroad?” Meg asked the waitress after she’d taken their order.
    â€œAs a matter of fact, this part of Ohio was heavily traveled by escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad because it was so close to the slave state of West Virginia,” the waitress told them. “Once the runaways crossed the Ohio River, they were on their way to freedom.”
    â€œI forget, why did they call it the Underground Railroad?” Peter asked.

    Why did they call the escape route the Underground Railroad?

    â€œWell,” the waitress said, leaning on the counter. “My history teacher told us that the name came from a story about a slave who ran away from Kentucky by swimming across the Ohio River. When his owner searched all over but couldn’t find him, he was so bewildered he said that the slave must have escaped on an ‘underground road’!”

    â€œThe name fits because it was so secretive,” Peter added.
    â€œAnd they called the safe places the slaves traveled to ‘stations’ and the leaders were called ‘conductors’,” the waitress continued, “Once the slaves crossed the river and headed upstream, it was harder for the owners to follow the tracks.”
    There was map of Ohio on the placemats. Peter traced a route due north from West Virginia to Ashtabula with his finger. “Look, Meg,” he said, “If they followed the North Star directly they would arrive in Ashtabula. I wonder what’s there.”
    â€œA lot of Quakers helped to hide the escaped slaves,” said Gramps.
    â€œThere’s a Quaker Meeting house not far from here in Mount Pleasant,” the waitress told them. “You might want to visit it.”
    â€œMaybe the Quakers were the ‘friends’ — and I think we know what the ‘magic line to cross’ is,” Meg said, and Peter agreed.

    Who were the Quakers? What is the magic line to cross?

    â€œActually the Quakers do call themselves the Society of Friends. They believe in equality of all people and non violence,” Gramps told them. “They were very much opposed to slavery. I’ll take you to that meeting house first thing in the morning.”
    â€œAnd ‘crossing the magic line’ has to mean ‘crossing over into freedom’!” Meg exclaimed. “The Ohio River must be part of the magic line!”
    That night they camped out, whispering in the tent about the upcoming mystery and the mysterious artifacts. Peter stuck a flashlight in the old lantern.“Imagine carrying this light through the woods in the middle of the night trying to escape. It’s pretty scary,” he remarked.

    Before Meg snuggled into her sleeping bag, she picked up the doll that lay on the bottom of the musty old chest. Meg gazed at her sweet face and wondered whom she might have belonged to. She was made of plain coarse cotton, but her features were carefully sewn in delicate stitches. Her hair was made of black yarn. She wore a red dress with a petticoat underneath.

    â€œSomeone loved her a lot,” Meg thought to herself. “I wish she could tell us her story. I have a hunch that she’s the Ohio mystery artifact. Maybe she traveled on the Underground Railroad.”
    Meg fell asleep with the doll next to her, wondering what the doll’s name might have been and imagining the doll’s owner. “She must have been so frightened,” thought Meg as