Part 10 (2/2)
”God does not willingly grieve or afflict the children ofor even my beloved sister's, which is harder to bear than hteousness, I may rejoice in that we are found worthy not only to believe on, but also to suffer for, the naed to go to Philadelphia for a week or so, to dispose of her personal effects, and asks Jane to receive her as a boarder, as she did not think it would be right to impose herself upon either her sister, Mrs Frost, or Catherine, on account of their disapproval of anti-slavery measures
”I never felt before,” she says, ”as if I had _no_ home It seems as if the Lord had completely broken up my rest and driven me out to labor for the poor slave It is _His_ work--I blaain in New York, the guests of that staunch abolitionist, Dr cox, and his good wife, Abby, as earnest a worker in the cause as her husband An anti-slavery convention had been called for the first week in the month of November, and met soon after their arrival It was at this convention that Angelina first saw and listened to Theodore D Weld Writing to her friend Jane, she says:--
”The , and to-day (11th) we enjoyed a moral and intellectual feast in a most noble speech from TD
Weld, of more than two hours, on the question, 'What is slavery?' I never heard so grand and beautiful an exposition of the dignity and nobility of ive a synopsis of the entire speech, and by her frequent enthusiastic comments reveals how much it and the speaker i was over, WL Garrison introduced Weld to us He greeted me with the appellation of 'h he was a brother indeed in the holy cause of suffering humanity; a man raised up by God and wonderfully qualified to plead the cause of the oppressed Perhaps now thou ant to kno this lion of the tribe of abolition _looks_ Well, at first sight, there was nothing remarkable to me in his appearance, and I wondered whether he was really as great as I had heard But as soon as his countenance beca, I found it was one which portrayed the noblest qualities of the heart and head beaence, benevolence, and frankness”
On the last page of her letter she says: ”It is truly co to me to find that sister is so es the spirit of brotherly love and condescension manifest there, and that earnest desire after truth which characterizes the addresses We have been introduced to a nuhs, Wright, Pritchard, Thome, etc, and Amos Dresser, as lovely a specireat Master as I ever saw His countenance betrayeth that he has been with Jesus, and it was truly affecting to hear hie to a very large colored school[5]
”The FAS Society is to have its first publicthis week, at which we hope to hear Weld, but fear he will not have tio home to ht since he ca to do but to attend the Convention at present I aht place, and sister seeh neither of us sees much ahead”
[5] Amos Dresser was one of the Lane Se that institution, in order to raise funds to continue his studies, he accepted an agency for the sale of the ”Cottage Bible”
While peacefully prosecuting his business in Nashville, in 1834, it becah He was arrested, his trunk broken open, and its contents searched and scattered He was then taken before a vigilance coe, except that of his anti-slavery principles, being brought against him, was condemned to receive twenty lashes, ”well laid on,” on the bare back, and then to be driven from the town The sentence was carried out by the votes and in the presence of thousands of people, and was presided over by the mayor and the elders of the Presbyterian Church from whose hands Mr Dresser had, the Sunday before, received the Holy Co interest of the Convention, and Sarah's increasing unity with its members
”We sit,” she says, ”from 9 to 1, 3 to 5, and 7 to 9, and never feel weary at all It is better, _far_ better than any Yearly Meeting I ever attended It is still uncertain e shall adjourn, and it is so good to be here that I don't kno to look forward to the end of such a feast TD Weld is to begin his Bible argument to-morrow It will occupy, he says, four days”
The Convention adjourned the latter part of Noves had proved to Sarah Grian the preparation of an ”Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States,” which, printed in pamphlet foruainst the stand on the subject of slavery taken by theit, one would little suspect how recent had been the author's opposition to just such protests as this, calculated to stir up bitter feelings and create discussion and exciteentleness and persuasion, but also of firm admonition, and evidently under a deep sense of individual responsibility It shows, too, that Sarah had reached full accord with Angelina in her views of immediate emancipation
By the time the Convention was over, the sisters, and portions of their history, had become so well known to abolitionists, that the leaders felt they had secured invaluable chaical, brilliant, and persuasive; the other so intelligent, earnest, and conscientious; and both distinguished by their ability to testify as eye-witnesses against the monstrous evils of slavery
It was proposed that they should begin to hold a series of parlor s, for women only, of course But it was soon found that they had, in private conversations, h to accoth Upon learning this, the Rev Mr Dunbar, a Baptist clergyman, offered them the use of his Session room, and the Female Anti-Slavery Society eular quarterly , notice of it was given out in four churches, without however, na the proposed speakers But it became known in so, and a shock went through the whole community Not a ould have been said if they had restricted the, but that it should be transferred to such a public place as the parlor of a church made quite a different affair of it Friends were of course as loud as Friends could properly be in their expressions of disapproval, while other denoave Mr Dunbar, the abolitionists, and the ”two bold Southern women” an unmistakable piece of their randest cha it would be pronounced a fanny Wright affair, and do elina were appalled, the latter especially, feeling almost as if she was the bold creature she was represented to be She declared her utter inability, in the face of such antagoniso on with the work she had undertaken, and the more she looked at it, the more unnatural and unwise it seemed to her; and when printed hand-bills were scattered about, calling attention in a slighting manner to their names, both felt as if it were humanly i had been called, and as there was no business to come before it, they did not knohat to do
”In this eelina writes, ”I called upon Hith and confidence were renewed, my burden slipped off, and from that time I felt sure of God's help in the hour of need, and that He would be ue and utterance to us both”
”Yesterday,” she continues, ”TD Weld cae our hearts He is a precious Christian, and bade us not to fear, but to trust in God In a previous conversation on our holdingso, and grieved over that factitious state of society which bound up the energies of wolory of God and the good of her fellow creatures
His visit was really a strength to us, and I felt noat three o'clock, and found about three hundred women there It was opened with prayer by Henry Ludloere warmly welcomed by brother Dunbar, and then these two left us After a , I think, entirely unembarrassed Then dear sister did her part better than I did We then read some extracts from papers and letters, and answered a few questions, when at five theclosed; after the question had been put whether our sisters wished another ood et his session room for us”
This account of the first assembly of women, not Quakers, in a public place in A, and touching from its very simplicity
We who are so accustomed to hear women speak to promiscuous audiences on any and every subject, and to hear them applauded too, can scarcely realize the prejudice which, half a century back, sought to close the lips of two refined Christian ladies, desirous only of adding their testie or country But those who denounced and ridiculed them builded better than they knew, for then and there was laid the corner-stone of that tehts for women, which has been built upon by so ht to the front such staunch supporters and brilliant advocates as now adorn every convention of the Wo so was over, Angelina adds:--
”We went home to tea with Julia Tappan, and Brother Weld was all anxiety to hear about theother things mentioned that a warm-hearted abolitionist had found his way into the back part of the , and was escorted out by Henry Ludlow Weld's noble countenance instantly lighted up, and he exclai shouldered out of a , for fear he should hear a wo a colonizationist of this city came to introduce an abolitionist to Lewis Tappan We wo and interesting arguave up so much that I could not see what he had to stand on e left hi, similar to the first, was held the next week, when so much interest was s every week until further notice By the middle of January they had become so crowded, and were attended by such an influential class of women, that Mr Ludlow concluded to offer his church to thes with prayer, and then retired The addresses made by the sisters were called ”lectures,” but they were rather familiar talks, occasionally a discussion, while elina's confidence in herself increased rapidly, until she no longer felt the least eh she alludes to the exhausting effect of theto Jane Shtful to see dear sister so happy in this work
Some Friends come to hear us, but I do not knohat they think of the s--or of us How little, how very little I supposed, when I used so often to say 'I wish I were a o forth and lecture, that I ever would do such a thing The idea never crossed ned to me”
To this letter there is a postscript froive upI know They are intertwined withtosweet and hallowed enjoyments”