Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Chapter 25 Summary

Competition in Cunning

• Linda decides to write Dr. Flint a letter from New York, in order to convince him that she is living up north.
• She really does her research, asking her friend Peter for a New York newspaper to get the names of New York streets.
• Using the paper, Linda writes two letters, one to Dr. Flint and one to Aunt Martha. She claims that she lives in Boston but often visits New York.
• A sailor friend of Peter’s takes the letters to New York and mails them back to Edenton.
• Dr. Flint falls for the trick. He writes to the mayor of Boston to ask if he has seen anyone who meets Linda’s description.
• Since obviously the mayor of Boston has nothing more important to do than wander the streets looking for an escaped slave.
• Since the trick seems to have worked, Aunt Martha allows Linda out of the crawlspace every once in a while.
• Linda worries that she's going to be permanently crippled from her teeny living quarters.