Part 17 (1/2)
Soelina writes of another of the fa hi unaccustomed to a Northern climate, he should suffer by exposure to outdoor work He proved an eyesore in every way, but they retained hi as it was possible to do so, and bore with him patiently, as no one else would have him Mrs Weld frequently allowed him to hire out for four or five hours a day to husk corn, etc, and was glad to give hi extra while she did his work at home In short, wherever and whenever they could testify to their convictions of duty on this point, it was done unhesitatingly and zealously, without fear or favor of any ht consider the incidents I have related, and a dozen siive, as evidence only of a desire to perforious duty, to manifest obedience to the command to do as they would be done by, while beneath still lay the bias of early training sustained by the alro race With people of such pure religious dedication, and such exalted views, it was perhaps not difficult to treat their ex-slaves as hus, and the fact that they did so may not excite much wonder But there came a time, then far in their future, when the sincerity of their convictions upon this matter of prejudice was most triumphantly vindicated
Such a vindication even they, with all their knowledge of the hidden evils of slavery, never dreamed could ever be required of _them_, but theglory of their lives In all the biographies I have read, such a manifestation of the spirit of Jesus Christ does not appear This will be narrated in its proper place
Happy as the sisters were in their home, it must not be supposed that they had settled down to a life of ease and contented privacy, abandoning altogether the great work of their lives Far from it The time economized from household duties was devoted chiefly to private labor for the cause, from the public advocacy of which they felt they had only stepped aside for a tielina writes to her friend in England soon after her e:--
”I cannot tell thee how I love this private life--how I have thanked my heavenly Father for this respite from public labor, or how earnestly I have prayed that whilst I aet the captives of h places of the field, to coiant sin of Slavery with the smooth stones of the river of Truth, if called to do so by Him who put me forth and went before me in days that are past My dear Theodore entertains the noblest views of the rights and responsibilities of wo He has thened my hands in the work, and often tenderly adreat Leader, and o forth whenever I am called out
I humbly trust Ibefore I hear a voice saying unto me, 'This is the alk in it, and I will be thy shi+eld and thy buckler' This was the proiven me before, and how faithfully it was fulfilled, ht well”
Sarah too, writes to Sarah Douglass--
”I have thought much of my present situation, laid aside froer to go forth, and I believe the present dispensation of rest has been granted to us not only as a reward for past faithfulness, but as a means of personal advance of heart, when the soul her coain she says:--
”It is true oes forth to declare on the housetops that which I have heard in the ear, I shall not dare to hold back I conclude that whenever my Father needs my services, He will prepare me to obey the call by exercise of mind”
In the meanwhile Sarah finished and published a uhts subject This was a small volume of letters on the ”Equality of the sexes,” co tour, and addressed to Mary S Parker, president of the Boston Feentle, reverent spirit, but clothed in Sarah's usual forcible language, they not only greatly aided the cause which lay so near her heart, but relieved and strengthened uments
An extract or two froelina and Theodore early in the autu between these three, and which continued undisturbed by all the changes and trials of succeeding years
In September, Sarah went to Philadelphia to attend the Annual Anti-Slavery Convention Angelina writes to her a few days after her departure:--
”We have just coin our little study for a while before taking our ht ramble on the river bank After thou left us, I cleared up the dishes, and then swept the house; got down to the kitchen just in tih eaten alone, was, I ood appetite, thou knowest I then set , ready dressed, for the sound of the 'Echo's' piston Soon I heard it, and blehistle, which was _not_ responded to, and I began to fear lad response caht I saw hi es On Second Day the weather was allad to take a run at noon up the Palisades and sun ourselves on the rock at the first opening
Returning, we gathered so, as our fruit was nearly out In the evening it was so cool that we thought a fire would beapples, shelling beans, and talking over the Bible arguht we had better stew the apples at once This was done to save time the next day, but I burnt them sadly
However, thou knowest they were just as nice to our Theodore, who _never_ co we took a walk up the Palisades The ht all abroad over the blue arch of heaven, the gently flowing river, and the woods and vales around us I could not help thinking, if earth was so lovely and bright, what lories of that upper Teht of the sun or of the moon O sister, shall we ever wash our robes so white in the blood of the Lah to enter that pure and holy Teh? We returned to our dear little home, and went to bed by the lahtly did she shi+ne through our s We remembered thee, dear sister, in our little seasons of prayer at the opening and closing of each day We pray the Lord to bring thee back to us in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of peace, and to make our house a _horeat blessing to have thee under our roof Thy roohtly in it, I find, after all, _thou_ art the light of it”
[8] This was the arguelina heard Mr Weld make before the AS Convention in New York two years before, and which was afterwards published by the AAS Society He was now revising it for a new edition Itthem was the Rev Dr Brisbane of South Carolina, a slave-owner, who, after reading it, sat down to answer and refute it; but, before proceeding half way, he beca upon this conviction, he freed his slaves, went to Cincinnati, joined the abolition ranks, and became one of their most eloquent advocates
Theodore adds a postscript, addresses Sarah as ”My dearly loved sister,” and says, ”As dear Angy remarks, your room does look so chill and desolate, and your place at table, and your chair in our littlecircle, that we talk about it a dozen times a day
But we rejoice that the Master put it into your heart to go and give your testi under bonds, and we pray without ceasing that He who sent will teach, strengthen, and help you greatly to do for Hi by the condition of his throat, Mr Weld was aworker in the Anti-Slavery office in New York, from which he received a small salary His ti for the different anti-slavery papers, and in various editorial duties Soon after his an the preparation of a book, which, when issued, produced perhaps a greater sensation throughout the country than anything that had yet been written or spoken This was, ”American Slavery as it is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses,” a book of two hundred and ten pages, and consisting of a collection of facts relating to the actual condition and treatment of slaves; facts drawn from slaveholders then was to make the South condemn herself, and never was success more complete Of all the lists of crimes, all the records of abominations, of moral depravity, of marvellous inhumanity, of utter insensibility to the commonest instincts of nature, the civilized world has never read anything equal to it Placed by the side of Fox's ”Book of Martyrs,” it outrivals it in all its revolting characters, and calls up the burning blush of shame for our country and its boasted Christian civilization
Notwithstanding all that had been written on the subject, the public was still cos of the slaves, and the barbarities inflicted upon theht the state of the abolition cause deument that slavery and cruelty were inseparable, but which would contain a mass of incontrovertible facts, that would exhibit the horrid brutality of the system Nearly all the papers, most of them of recent date, from which the extracts were taken, were deposited at the office of the Aht the atrocities described in Weld's book were incredible, were invited to call and examine for theiven to the appeal ainst free discussion, based on the Southampton massacre It was, in fact, an offset of the horrors of that bloody affair, giving, as it did, a picture of the deeper horrors of slavery It was the first adequate disclosure of this ”bloodiest picture in the book of time,”
which had yet been inia tragedy, the systes far worse, and deation and discussion Issued in pamphlet form, the ”Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses,” was extensively circulated over the country, and eously used by anti-slavery lecturers and advocates; and it is not toothe hurace, it made much easier the formation of the anti-slavery political party
In the preparation of this work, Mr Weld received invaluable assistance from his wife and sister Not only was the testiiven over their own names, but many files of Southern papers were industriously exaed Early in January, 1839, Sarah writes:--