Part 15 (1/2)
She describes very graphically going two ht, when Sarah was obliged to remain at home on account of a cold, and Abby Kelly drove her in a chaise, and how nearly they ca the road, all going to theShe says:--
”It see to hearI ever attended without dear sister, and I wonder I did not feel desolate, for I knew not a creature there
Nevertheless, the Lord strengthened me, and I spoke with ease for an hour and a quarter”
But the incessant strain upon her nervous systeue and exposure of alan to tell seriously on her health In October she frequently speaks of being ”so tired,” of being ”so glad to rest a day,” etc, until, all these warnings being unheeded, nature pere of Nove lectured six tiha with a cold, begged to lecture in her sister's place, but Angelina had been announced, and she knew the people would be disappointed if she failed to appear
When they entered the crowded hall, a lady seeing hoell Angelina looked, seized both her hands and exclaiht, I will nurse you for a week!”
She did hold out for an hour and a half, and then sank back exhausted, and was obliged to leave the lecture unfinished This was the beginning of an illness which lasted, with its subsequent convalescence, through the reood friends, Saht the sisters to their beautiful home in Brookline, and surrounded theest Sarah then found how very weary she was also, and how opportune was this enforced rest
”Thus,” wrote Angelina some weeks afterwards to Jane Shtful it was to stretch my weary limbs on a bed of ease, and roll off fro pressed upon it, and, above all, to feel in e, 'Well done' It was luxury indeed, orth the toil ofback upon the labors of the sus of unmixed satisfaction
That the leaven prepared in Sarah Gri to as evidenced by a public discussion on wohts which took place at the Boston Lyceu of Dec 4, 1837 The amount of interest this first public debate on the subject excited was shown by the fact that an audience of fifteen hundred of the ent and respectable people of Boston crowded the hall and listened attentively to the end Sarah and Angelina, the latter now almost entirely recovered, were present, accohout,” says Angelina, and adds: ”The discussion has raised my hopes of the wonity, and h I ainst us by acclaes It was like athat the slaves are happier in their present condition than they would be freed”
Soon after this, Angelina writes that so Maria Chaphts paper, and she adds: ”We greatly hope dear Maria Chap, and that the spark we have been permitted to kindle on the wo of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was held the latter part of January, 1838, and was notable in several respects
On the second day, the ”great Texas ,” as it was called, was held in Faneuil Hall, and the fact that this Cradle of Liberty was loaned to the abolitionists was bitterly commented upon by their opponents, while abolitionists theress their cause had raphic account of the speakers and speeches at this , but especially mentions Henry B Stanton, who made the most powerful speech of the whole session, and was so severe on Congress, that a representative as present arose to object to the ”hot thunderbolts and burning lava” that had been let loose on the heads of ”the powers that be, of those ere commanded to honor and obey” These rehter, and the ureat orator was obliged to _insist_ upon silence
At this est ever held in Boston, several hundred won to Sarah Gri, the hall of the House of Representatives was granted the Society for their res, and here Quincy, Colver, Phelps, and Wendell Phillips spoke and made a deep impression, so deep that a committee was appointed to take into consideration the petitions on the subject of slavery
Stanton, half in jest, asked Angelina if she would not like to speak before that committee, as the naners of petitions She had never thought of such a thing, but, after reflecting upon it a day, sent Stanton word that if the friends of the cause thought well of it, she _would_ speak as he had proposed He was surprised and troubled, for, though he was all right in the abstract on the woman question, he feared the consequences of such a elina writes, ”even the stout-hearted tremble when the woman question is to be acted out in full Jackson, Fuller, Phelps, and Quincy were consulted The first is sound to the core, and went right up to the State House to inquire of the chairman of the committee whether I could be heard Wonderful to tell, he said Yes, without the least hesitation, and actually helped to remove the scruples of some of the timid-hearted abolitionists Perhaps it is best I should bear the responsibility _wholly_more about it, but just let Birney and Stanton make the speeches they expect to before the committee this week, and when they have done, make an independent application to the chair I feel that this is the most important step I have ever been called to take: important to woman, to the slave, to my country, and to the world”
This plan was carried out, thanks to James C Alvord, the chairislature were opened for the first tiave Miss Grimke the opportunity to speak to the best culture and character of Massachusetts; and the profound impression then s was never wholly lost It was not only the testimony of one ious experience of one who had broken out of the charmed circle, and whose intense earnestness melted all opposition The converts sheIt hen you saw she was opening some secret record of her own experience that the painful silence and breathless interest told the deep effect and lasting ielina's account of this lass, she says: ”My heart never quailed before, but it almost died withindid not satisfy her, and the corant her another At the second , the hall was literally packed, and hundreds went away unable to obtain seats When she arose to speak, there was so froh the croithin Angelina first stood in front of the Speaker's desk, then she was requested to occupy the Secretary's desk on one side, and soon after, that she ht be seen as well as heard, she was invited to stand in the Speaker's place And from that conspicuous position she spoke over two hours without the least interruption She says to Sarah Douglass:--
”What the effect of these s is to be, I know not, nor do I feel that _I_ have anything to do with it This I know, that the chair,” and she adds: ”We abolition wo the wholethere was sister seated up in the Speaker's chair of state”
Theselectures at the Odeon, to which reference has already beenfor her subject the history of the country in reference to slavery She spoke for two hours, fearlessly, as she always did, and though she says Garrison told her he trembled with apprehension, the audience of fifteen hundred people listened respectfully and attentively, frequently applauding the utterance of so no excitement even under the rebukes she administered to Edward Everett, then Governor of Massachusetts, for his speech in Congress in 1826, and to ex-Governor Lincoln for his in 1831 Both these worthies had declared their willingness to go down South to suppress servile insurrection
This was the last ti troubled her, was now seriously affected, and entire rest was prescribed She did notwas more effective than hers, and now she believed the Lord was showing her that this part of the work ladly yielded to her the task of delivering the five succeeding lectures In relation to these lectures, the son of Sa extract from a diary kept by his father Under date of April 23, 1838, he says:--
”In February Angelina addressed the coislature on the subject of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Colu three sittings of two hours each, in the Representatives' Hall in Boston, before a crowded audience, stowed as close as they could stand in every aisle and corner Her addresses were listened to with profound attention and respect, without interruption to the last More than five hundred people could not get seats, but stood quietly during two full hours, in profound silence
”During the last feeeks she has delivered five lectures, and Sarah one at the Odeon, before an assembly of men and wo was crowded, every aisle filled Esti There was great attention and silence, and the addresses were intensely interesting”
These over, the sisters bade farewell to their most excellent Brookline friends, in whose family they had so peacefully rested for sixa teelina went to stay with Mrs Frost, at whose house teeks later, that is on the 14th of May, she was united in e could have beenin every respect
The solemn relation was never entered upon in her resolve to hold themselves strictly to the best they were capable of It was a rededication of lives long consecrated to God and hu before all things the glory of their Creator in the elevation of His creatures everywhere The entire unity of spirit in which they afterwards lived and labored, the tender affection which, through a companionshi+p of more than forty years, knew no diminution, htened and inspired all ere favored to witness it No one could be with the the force and influence of their characters
Invitations were sent to about eighty persons, mostly abolitionists, of all colors, so Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts Ah, Williaht, Maria and Mary Chaplass of course, and Mr Weld's older brother, the president of the asylu, written to a friend in England, is ; and one cannot but wonder if another like it ever took place The letter ritten while the then and ever after inseparable trio was at Manlius, New York, visiting Mr