Part 11 (1/2)
Angelina's next letter to her friend is dated, ”2d Mo 4th, 1837,” and continues the account of the s She mentions that, at the last one, they had one o out when told he must, so he was allowed to stay, and she says: ”So at all, and went on just as though he had not been there Some one said he took notes, and I think he was a Southern spy, and shall not be at all surprised if he publishes us in so for a lord of creation to intrude hioes on to res, and that if they were not opened with prayer, still more would come Also, that Friends had been very kind and attentive to the word to they, at that ti in this country, and relates an anecdote of ”Brother ”Weld,” as follows:--
”When he went to Fowler in this city, he disguised hiist was so struck with the supposed fact that an omnibus driver should have such an extraordinary head, that he preserved an account of it, and did not know until some time after that it was Weld's He says that when he first had his head exaan of color, his eyebroing it He immediately remembered that his mother often told him: 'Theodore, it is of no use to send you to ht color' When relating this, he observed a general titter in the roo the reason a candle was put near his of his pantaloons were of different shades of green Instead of a ridge all around his eyebrow, he has a little hollow in one spot”
A society for the encouragement of abstinence from the use of slave products had just been forelina desired her friend to put her nae, but not Sarah's In a postscript Sarah explains this, saying:--
”I do abstain from slave produce as much as I can, just because I feel ment is convinced; therefore, I would rather not put ment was convinced, however, very shortly afterwards, by a discussion of the subject with Weld and some others, and she then wrote to Jane Sreat cause was greatly strengthened by keeping clean hands
There is s, and their other experiences in New York, which is very interesting, and for which I regret I have not rooelina describes in particular one visit they made to a poor family, that of one of her Sunday-school pupils, where they stayed to tea, being afterwards joined by Mr Weld, who came to escort them home
She says of him:--
”I have seen him shi+ne in the Convention and in refined circles, but never did I admire him so much His perfect ease at this fireside of poverty showed that he was accustomed to be the friend and companion of the poor of this world”
The family here mentioned was doubtless a colored one, as it was in the colored Sunday school that both sisters taught They had already proved, by their friendshi+p for Sarah Douglass, the Fortens, and other colored faainst color, but the above incident proves the entire sincerity of their convictions and their desire to avail themselves of every opportunity to testify to it Still, there is no doubt that to the influence of Theodore Weld's conversations they owed htenment on this as well as on some other points of radical abolitioniselina describes the Female Anti-Slavery Society of New York as utterly inefficient, ”doing literally nothing,” and ascribes its inefficiency to the sinful prejudice existing there, which shut out colored woement to them even to become members
She adds: ”I believe it is our duty to visit the poor, white and colored, just in this way, and to receive them at our houses I think that the artificial distinctions in society, the separation between the higher and the lower orders, the aristocracy of wealth and education, are the very rock of pauperisue from our land will be to associate with the poor, and the wicked too, just as our Redeemer did To visit them as our inferiors, the recipients of our bounty, is quite a different thing fro theelina gives an interesting account of HB Stanton's great speech before the Coislature on the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia; a speech which still ranks as one of the ablest and most brilliant ever delivered in this country There is no date to this letter, but it must have been written the last of February or first of March, 1837 She begins thus:--
”I ondering, my dear Jane, what could be the reason I had not heard from thee, when brother Weld ca fro you,' he said, 'a good e;' and held them up to our view
”Brother Garrison was here last Sixth Day and spent two hours with us
He gave us a s in Boston, which I will try to tell thee of ”When the abolitionists found how their petitions were treated in Congress, they sent in, froislature, requesting it to issue a protest against such conteislature was amazed at the number and respectability of these petitions, and appointed a committee to take them under consideration
Abolitionists then asked for a hearing before that committee, not in the lobby, but in the Hall of Representatives The request was granted, and though the day was exceedingly stor lawyer of Boston first spoke an hour and a half; HB Stanton followed, and coh by dark, and asked for another reeted him; he spoke three hours, and did not yet finish Another , and he says he thinks hundreds went away because they could not get in Stanton spoke one hour and a quarter, and then broke down fro labors of the winter A profound silence reigned through the crowded hall Not one moved to depart At last a member of the committee arose, and asked if there was any other abolitionist present ished to speak Stanton said he believed not, as they now had the views of the Anti-Slavery Society The committee were not satisfied; and one of them said if there was any abolitionist ished to follow Mr Stanton, they would gladly hear all he had to say, but all declined Brother Garrison said such was the desire to hear et Weld to go and speak before them, but his throat is still so much affected that it will be i news? Here are seven hundred islature, who, if they can be s of Congress, will shake this nation to its centre, and rock it in a revolutionary stor their s in New York, the sisters held similar ones in Newark, Bloomfield, and other places in New Jersey, in all of which Sarah was as active and enthusiastic as Angelina, and froloom and despondency which had saddened so many of the best years of her life But, identified completely with her sister's work, she was busy, contented and satisfied of the Lord's goodness and s had all been quiet and undisturbed in every way, owing of course, to the fact that only women attended, but the newspapers had not spared them Ridicule, sarcasm, and pity were liberally bestowed upon the ”deluded ladies” by the press generally, and the Rich published several editorials about ”those fanatical woainst them was the extent of the opposition at that time, and this affected them very little
From New Jersey they went up the North River with Gerrit Shkeepsie At the latter place they spoke to an assembly of colored people of both sexes, and this was the first tielina ever addressed a mixed audience, and it was perhaps in accordance with the fitness of things that it should have been a colored one She often spoke of this in after years, looking back to it with pleasure Here, also, they attended aof the Anti-slavery Society of the Protestant Episcopal Methodist Church, and spoke against the sin of prejudice In a letter to Sarah Douglass, Sarah says:--
”My feelings were so overco that I sat down and wept
I feel as if I had takento share with hiain to takeHouse, it will be beside thee and thy dear s ended the labors of the sisters in New York for the time They returned to the city to take a little needed rest, and to prepare for the Female Anti-Slavery Convention, which was to meet there early in May The Society which had sent them forth had reason to be well satisfied with its experiment Not only had they awakened enthusiasm and sincere interest in abolition, but had dereat cause, and the entire propriety of their doing so One of the members, of the committee asserted that it would be as impossible to calculate the nueiven to abolitionists all over the country Men were slow to believe the reports of their wives and sisters respecting Angelina's wonderful oratory, and this incredulity produced the itching ears which soon drew to the s where the Griave them the applause and hearty support of soland
The Feates; the Misses Gri South Carolina
During this convention theywhom they particularize Lydia M Child, Mary T Parker, and Anna Weston, as sy prejudice and the province of wo been Sarah's pet probleht and study, ever since the time when she was denied participation in her brother's education because of her sex It is scarcely too much to say that to her h the word enfranchisement, as applied to woman, had not yet been uttered, the whole theory of it was in Sarah's heart, and she eagerly awaited the proper ti the saer, but for Sarah's arguainst the encourages,--that slavery was a political subject hich wo to do This objection she answered in a masterly paper, an ”Appeal to the Women of the Nominally Free States,”
which was printed in pamphlet form and sent out by the Female Anti-Slavery Convention, and attracted wide attention The chief point she took was this: ”The denial of our duty to act in this cause is a denial of our right to act; and if we have no right to act, then may ell be termed 'the white slaves of the North,' for, like our brethren in bonds, we must seal our lips in silence and despair”
The whole argues, is reic, and fervid eloquence, and ell repay perusal, even at this day About the sa ”Address to Free Colored Americans” ritten by Sarah, and likewise circulated by the Convention These two pamphlets made the sisters so widely known, and so increased the desire in other places to hear them speak, that invitations poured in upon them from different parts of the North and West, as well as froland States It was finally decided that they should go to Boston first, to aid the brave, good wo to do all that women could do for the cause in a private capacity, had not yet been persuaded to open their lips for it in any kind of a publicIt was not contemplated, however, that the sisters should address any but assereater infringement of the social proprieties
CHAPTER XIII