Part 16 (1/2)
Sarah Grimke thus wrote of Mrs Chapman's appearance on that occasion: ”She is the most beautiful woence being blended in her speaking countenance
She arose amid the yells and shouts of the infuriatedof stones She looked todescended anity of conscious superiority”
Then Angelina Weld, the bride of three days, careat was the effect of her pure, beautiful presence and quiet, graceful manner, that in a few moments the confusion within the hall had subsided With deep soleave her testiainst the aickedness of an institution which had no secrets from her She was frequently interrupted by the mob, but their yells and shouts only furnished her withpower More stones were thrown at the s, lass crashed, but she only paused to ask:--
”What is aof everybe? Any evidence that we are wrong, or that slavery is a good and wholesome institution? What if that , and co compared hat the slaves endure? No, no: and we do not remember them 'as bound with the to sacrifice ourselves, if need be, for their sake
I thank the Lord that there is yet life enough left to feel the truth, even though it rages at it--that conscience is not so co God”
Here a shower of stones was thrown through the s, and there was soain restored, and Angelina proceeded, and spoke for over an hour,no further reference to the noise without, and only showing that she noticed it by raising her own voice so that it could be heard throughout the hall
Not once was a treh the h the broken sashes, and the hootings and yellings increased outside, so powerfully did her words and tones hold that vast audience, that, imminent as seemed their peril, scarcely a man or woman moved to depart She sat down amid applause that drowned all the noise outside
Abby Kelly, then quite a young woman, next arose and said a feords, her first public utterances She was followed by gentle Lucretia Mott in a short but , the first of the kind where s, closed
There was a dense crowd in the streets around the hall as the ih screa noises were made, no violence was offered, and all reached their homes in safety
But the ht, assaulting every belated colored s of the populace, and soain asses were held, and even the convention of women assembled in the lecture roo was to have been occupied by a publicof the Wesleyan Anti-Slavery Society of Philadelphia, but as the day waned to its close, the indications of approaching disturbance beca increased, and the secret agents of slavery were busy inflaainst the abolitionists, and inciting it to outrage Seeing this, and realizing the danger which threatened, theover to the protection of the mayor of the city, _at his request_ Of course the proposedwas postponed All the mayor did was to appear in front of the hall, and, in a friendly tone, express to thethat he relied upon the men he saw before hi!” The ave ”three cheers for the uished the gas lights in front of the building The rest is soon told Doors and ere broken through, and ild yells the reckless horde dashed in, plundered the Repository, scattering the books in every direction, and,the beautiful hall, piled combustibles on the Speaker's foru like demons,--as they were, for the tih the building, and though it was estih the fire companies were early on the scene, not one effort was reat cost, and consecrated to such Christian uses In a few hours the sain appeared in public An accident soon after her e caused an injury of such a nature that her nervous systeed to avoid all excitement or over-exertion The period of her public labors was short, but how fruitful, how full of blessings to the cause of the slave and to the h her powerful appeals!
Great was her grief; for, knowing now her capabilities, she had looked forward to renewed and still more successful work; but she accepted with sweet submission the cross laid upon her Not a murmur arose to her lips She was content to leave all to the Lord He could find some neork for her to do She would trust Him, and patiently wait
The loss of the services of one so richly endowed, so devoted, and so successful, was deeply felt by the friends of emancipation, and especially as at this important epoch efficient speakers were sorely needed, and two of the h, were already, froh denied the privilege of again raising her voice in behalf of the oppressed, Angelina continued to plead for theet the cause that could never forget her, and to her writings was transferred
Immediately after the destruction of Pennsylvania Hall, Mr and Mrs
Weld, accompanied by Sarah Grimke, paid a visit to Mr Weld's parents in Manlius, fro to Jane Sreat a blessing for us three to be together in solory of God, and pro the happiness of those around us; to be spiritually united, and to be pursuing with increasing zeal the great work of the abolition of slavery”
The ”quiet, humble habitation” was found at Fort Lee, on the Hudson, and there the happy trio settled down for their first housekeeping
CHAPTER XVI
They were scarcely settled as before the sisters received a formal notice of their disowne The notification, signed by two proret that Sarah and Angelina had not ht of ht come to a sense of their real state, and manifest a disposition to condeelina replied without delay that they wished the discipline of the Society to have free course with regard to them ”It is our joy,” she wrote, ”that we have committed no offence for which Christ Jesus will disown us as ret that we have valued our right of ret that our Society should have adopted a discipline which has no foundation in the Bible or in reason; and we earnestly hope the tie, 'Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers,' will be as conscientiously enforced as that sectarian one which prohibits the union of the Lord's own people if their shi+bboleth be not exactly the same
”We are very respectfully, in that love which knows no distinction in color, clime, or creed, your friends,
”AEG WELD
”SARAH M GRIMKe”
It will be noticed that in this reply Angelina avoids the Quaker phraseology, and neither she nor Sarah ever after used it, except occasionally in correspondence with a Quaker friend
Thus ended their connection with the Society of Friends Froious organization, but rested contentedly in the si by every act of their daily lives how near they were to the heart of all true religion