Androcles and the Lion (play) run from his Roman persecutors. While hiding in the forest he comes upon a wild lion who approaches him with a wounded paw. His wife runs off. Androcles sees that the cause of the animal's distress is a large thorn embedded in its paw, which he draws out while soothing the lion in baby language. Androcles is captured and is sent to the Colosseum to be executed with other Christians in gladiatorial combat. They are joined by a new Christian convert called Ferrovius, who struggles to reconcile his Christian principles with his violent inclinations. The Roman captain guarding them is
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl to appeal to abolitionists and particularly to gain the support of white affluent middle-class women on behalf of female slaves. Her book also addresses the influence of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 on people in the North as well as the South. This act required law enforcement and private citizens in free states to cooperate in the capture and return of fugitive slaves to their masters, increasing penalties for interference. It made it a felony for anybody who found a refugee slave not to return the slave to his or her owner, but abolitionists and activists on the Underground