Various - The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3

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Meanwhile, events were making; the anti-slavery question was being
agitated and discussed. In February, 1831, occurred the famous debate at
Lane Seminary, near Cincinnati, presided over by Dr. Lyman Beecher. The
eloquence of that debate swept over the country; it flooded many hearts,
and set souls aflame. Sarah Grimke also thought a _little_. Under
date of "5th mo., 12th, 1835," appears the following in Angelina's
diary:--

Five months have elapsed since I wrote in this diary, since which time
I have become deeply interested in the subject of abolition. I had long
regarded this cause as utterly hopeless, but since I have examined
anti-slavery principles, I find them so full of the power of truth, that
I am confident not many years will roll by before the horrible traffic
in human beings will be destroyed in this land of Gospel privileges. My
soul has measurably stood in the stead of the poor slave, and my earnest
prayers have been poured out that the Lord would be pleased to permit me
to be instrumental of good to these degraded, oppressed, and suffering
fellow-creatures. Truly, I often feel ready to go to prison or to death
in this cause of justice, mercy, and love; and I do fully believe if I
am called to return to Carolina, it will not be long before I shall
suffer persecution of some kind or other.

When, after the Garrison riot, Mr. Garrison issued his appeal to the
citizens of Boston, Angelina's anti-slavery enthusiasm was fully
aroused. On the 30th of March of that year (1835) she wrote a letter to
Mr. Garrison,--as _brave_ a letter as was ever penned by the hand
of woman. In it occur these thrilling words:--

If, she says, persecution is the means which God has ordained for
the accomplishment of this great end, _Emancipation_, then, in
dependence upon him for strength to bear it, I feel as if I could say,
_Let It Come!_ for it is my deep, solemn, deliberate conviction
that _this is a cause worth dying for_. I say so from what I have
seen, heard, and known in a land of slavery, where rests the darkness of
Egypt, and where is found the sin of Sodom. Yes! _Let it come--let us
suffer_, rather than insurrections should arise.

Mr. Garrison published the letter in the "Liberator" to the surprise of
Angelina and the great displeasure and grief of her Quaker friends, and
of her sister, Sarah, as well. But Angelina was not dismayed. In 1836
she wrote her "Appeal to Southern Women," and sent it to New York, where
it was published as a pamphlet of thirty-six pages. Mr. Elizur Wright
spoke of it, at the time, as "a patch of blue sky breaking through the
storm-cloud of public indignation which had gathered so black over the
handful of anti-slavery workers." The praise was not exaggerated. The
pamphlet produced the most profound sensation wherever it was read.

Soon after its publication the sisters went to New York and there openly
identified themselves with the members of the American Anti-Slavery
Society; and also of the Female Anti-Slavery Society. The account of the
first assembly of women, not Quakers, in a public place in America,
addressed by American women, as given in these pages, is deeply
interesting and touching from its very simplicity. We, who are so
accustomed to hear women speak to promiscuous audiences on any and every
subject, will naturally smile at the following memoranda by Angelina:--

We went home to tea with Julia Tappan, and Brother Weld was all anxiety
to hear about the meeting. Julia undertook to give some account, and
among other things mentioned that a warm-hearted abolitionist had found
his way into the back part of the meeting, and was escorted out by Henry
Ludlow. Weld's noble countenance instantly lighted up, and he exclaimed:
"How supremely ridiculous to think of a man's being shouldered out of a
meeting for fear he should hear a woman speak!"....

In the evening a colonizationist of this city came to introduce an
abolitionist to Lewis Tappan. We women soon hedged in our expatriation
brother, and held a long and interesting argument with him until near
ten o'clock. He gave up so much that I could not see what he had to
stand on when we left him.

After closing their meetings in New York the sisters held similar ones
in New Jersey, all of which were attended only by women. From thence
they went up the North River with Gerrit Smith, holding audiences at
Hudson and Poughkeepsie. At the latter place they spoke to an assembly
of colored people of both sexes, and this was the first time Angelina
ever addressed a mixed audience.

The woman's rights agitation, while entirely separate from abolitionism,
owes its origin to the interest this subject excited in the hearts and
minds of American women; and to Sarah and Angelina Grimke must be
accorded the credit of first making the woman question one of reform.
They wrote and spoke often on the theme. Public feeling grew strong
against them, and at last the Congregational ministers of Massachusetts
saw proper to pass a resolution of censure against the sisters! This
resolution was issued as a "Pastoral Letter," which, in the light and
freedom of the present day, must be regarded as a most extraordinary
document.

Whittier's muse found the "Pastoral Letter" a fitting theme for its
vigorous, sympathetic utterances. The poem thus inspired is perhaps one
of the very best among his many songs of freedom. It will be remembered
as beginning thus:--

"So this is all! the utmost reach
Of priestly power the mind to fetter,
When laymen _think_, when women _preach_,
A war of words, a 'Pastoral Letter!'"

Up to this time nothing had been said by either of the sisters in their
lectures concerning their views about women. They had carefully confined
themselves to the subject of slavery, and the attendant topics of
immediate emancipation, abstinence from the use of slave products, the
errors of the Colonization Society, and the sin of prejudice on the
account of color. But now that they had found their own rights invaded,
they began to feel it was time to look out for the rights of their whole
sex.

In the face of all this censure and ridicule the two sisters continued
in the discharge of a duty to which they increasingly felt they were
called from on high.

One is compelled, in this brief _resume_, to hurry over much that
is interesting and important. While the good work goes on we see the
sisters everywhere faithful to their sense of duty, unflinching to all
assailants.

In February, 1838, Sarah Grimke spoke for the last time in public,
and in the month of May following, Angelina was united in marriage to
Theodore D. Weld. "No marriage," says Mrs. Birney, "could have been more
fitting in every respect. The solemn relation was never entered upon
in more holiness of purpose or in higher resolve to hold themselves
strictly to the best they were capable of. It was a rededication of
lives long consecrated to God and humanity; of souls knowing no selfish
ambition, seeking 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 companionship of more than forty years, knew no diminution,
made a family life so perfect and beautiful that it brightened and
inspired all who were favored to witness it. No one could be with them
under the most ordinary circumstances without feeling the force and
influence of their characters."

The happy couple settled down for their first house-keeping at Fort Lee,
on the Hudson. They were scarcely settled amid their new surroundings
before the sisters received a formal notice of their disownment by the
Society of Friends because of Angelina's marriage. In December, 1839,
the happiness of the little household was increased by the birth of a
son, who received the name of Charles Stuart, in loving remembrance of
the eminent English philanthropist, with whom Mr. Weld had been as a
brother, and whom he regarded as living as near the angels as mortal man
could live.

In the latter part of February, 1840, Mr. Weld, having purchased a farm
of fifty acres at Belleville, New Jersey, removed his family there.
The visitors to the Belleville farm--chiefly old and new anti-slavery
friends--were numerous, and were always received with a cordiality which
left no room to doubt its sincerity.

In many ways the members of this united household were diligent in
good works. If a neighbor required a few hundred dollars, to save the
foreclosure of a mortgage, the combined resources of the family were
taxed to aid him; if a poor student needed a helping hand in his
preparation for college, or for teaching, it was gladly extended to
him,--perhaps his board and lodging given him for six months or a
year,--with much valuable instruction thrown in. The instances of
charity of this kind were many, and were performed with such a cheerful
spirit that Sarah only incidentally alludes to the increase of their
cares and work at such times. In fact, their roof was ever a shelter for
the homeless, a home for the friendless; and it is pleasant to record
that the return of ingratitude, so often made for benevolence of this
kind, was never their portion. They always seem to have had the sweet
satisfaction of knowing, sooner or later, that their kindness was not
thrown away or under-estimated.

In 1852 the Raritan Bay Association, consisting of thirty or forty
educated and cultured families of congenial tastes, was formed at
Eagleswood, near Perth Amboy, New Jersey; and a year later Mr. and
Mrs. Weld were invited to join the Association, and take charge of its
educational department. They accepted, in the hope of finding in the
change greater social advantages for themselves and their children, with
less responsibility and less labor; for of these last the husband, wife,
and sister, in their Belleville School, had had more than they were
physically able to endure longer. Their desire and plan was to
establish, with the children of the residents at Eagleswood, a school
also for others, and to charge such a moderate remuneration only as
would enable the middle classes to profit by it. In this project, as
with every other, no selfish ambition found a place. They removed to
Eagleswood in the autumn of 1854.

In the new school Angelina taught history, for which she was admirably
qualified, while Sarah taught French, and was also book-keeper.

It is scarcely necessary to say that few schools have ever been
established upon such a basis of conscientiousness and love, and with
such adaptability in its conductors, as that at Eagleswood; few have
ever held before the pupils so high a moral standard, or urged them
on to such noble purposes in life. Children entered there spoiled by
indulgence, selfish, uncontrolled, sometimes vicious. Their teachers
studied them carefully; confidence was gained, weaknesses sounded,
elevation measured. Very slowly often, and with infinite patience and
perseverance, but successfully in nearly every case, these children were
redeemed. The idle became industrious, the selfish considerate, the
disobedient and wayward repentant and gentle. Sometimes the fruits of
all this labor and forbearance did not show themselves immediately, and,
in a few instances, the seed sown did not ripen until the boy or girl
had left school and mingled with the world. Then the contrast between
the common, every-day aims they encountered, and the teachings of their
Eagleswood mentors, was forced upon them. Forgotten lessons of truth and
honesty and purity were remembered, and the wavering resolve was stayed
and strengthened; worldly expediency gave way before the magnanimous
purpose, cringing subserviency before independent manliness.

Then came the war. In 1862 Mrs. Weld published one of the most powerful
things she ever wrote,--"A Declaration of War on Slavery." We have not
the space to follow the course of the sisters' lives farther; and, were
it otherwise, the events narrated would be all too familiar. Sarah,
after a somewhat prolonged illness, died on the 23d of December, 1873,
at Hyde Park, Mass. The funeral services were conducted by the Rev.
Francis Williams, and eloquent remarks were made also by Wm. Lloyd
Garrison. On the 26th of October, 1879, Angelina passed quietly away,
and the last services were in keeping with the record of the life then
commemorated. We close this writing with a passage from the remarks
which Wendell Phillips made on that occasion. No words could possibly
be more touching or more eloquent:--

When I think of Angelina there comes to me the picture of the spotless
dove in the tempest, as she battles with the storm, seeking for some
place to rest her foot. She reminds me of innocence personified in
Spenser's poem. In her girlhood, alone, heart-led, she comforts the
slave in his quarters, mentally struggling with the problems his
position wakes her to. Alone, not confused, but seeking something to
lean on, she grasps the Church, which proves a broken reed. No whit
disheartened, she turns from one sect to another, trying each by the
infallible touchstone of that clear, child-like conscience. The two old,
lonely Quakers rest her foot awhile. But the eager soul must work, not
rest in testimony. Coming North at last, she makes her own religion one
of sacrifice and toil. Breaking away from, rising above, all forms, the
dove floats at last in the blue sky where no clouds reach.... This is no
place for tears. Graciously, in loving kindness and tenderly, God broke
the shackles and freed her soul. It was not the dust which surrounded
her that we loved. It was not the form which encompassed her that we
revere; but it was the soul. We linger a very little while, her old
comrades. The hour comes, it is even now at the door, that God will open
our eyes to see her as she is: the white-souled child of twelve years
old ministering to want and sorrow; the ripe life, full of great
influences; the serene old age, example and inspiration whose light will
not soon go out. Farewell for a very little while. God keep us fit to
join thee in that broader service on which thou hast entered.

* * * * *

TEN DAYS IN NANTUCKET.

By Elizabeth Porter Gould.[2]

One night in the early part of July, 1883, as the successful real-estate
broker, Mr. Gordon, returned to his home from his city office, his
attention was arrested by a lively conversation between the members of
his family on the wonders of Nantucket. The sound of this old name
brought so vividly back to him his own boyish interest in the place,
that almost before he was aware of it he announced his return home to
his family by saying: "Well, supposing we go to Nantucket this summer?
It is thirty-four miles from mainland, and so free from malaria there is
no better place for fishing and sailing, and there would be a mental
interest in looking around the island which would be instructive and
delightful, and, perhaps, profitable; for me from a business point of
view."

[Illustration: EARLY MORNING, NANTUCKET.]

Mrs. Gordon, who had of late years developed a keen interest for
the historic and antique, immediately seconded her husband in his
suggestion; and before the evening closed a letter was sent to Nantucket
asking for necessary information as to a boarding-place there, for at
least ten days, for a party of five,--Mr. and Mrs. Gordon, their
daughter Bessie, twenty years of age, their son Tom, fifteen years, and
a favorite cousin of theirs, Miss Ray, who was then visiting them, and
whose purse, as Mr. Gordon had so often practically remembered, was not
equal to her desire to see and to know.

In a few days satisfactory arrangements were made, which ended in their
all leaving the Old Colony depot, Boston, in the half-past twelve train,
for Wood's Holl, where they arrived in two hours and a half. From that
place they took the steamer for a nearly three hours' sail to Nantucket,
only to stop for a few moments at Martha's Vineyard.

While they were thus ploughing their way on the mighty deep, Nantucket's
famous crier, "Billy" Clark, had climbed to his position in the tower of
the Unitarian church of the town,--as had been his daily custom for
years,--spy-glass in hand, to see the steamer when she should come in
sight. Between five and six o'clock, the repeated blowing of the horn
from the tower announced to the people his success, and became the
signal for them to make ready to receive those who should come to their
shores. Just before seven o'clock the steamer arrived. While she was
being fastened to the wharf, Tom was attracted by this same "Billy,"
who, having received the daily papers, was running up the wharf toward
the town ringing his bell and crying out the number of passengers on
board, and other important news, which Tom failed to hear in the noise
of the crowd. A few minutes' walk brought the party to their
boarding-place. When Mrs. Gordon spied the soft, crayon likeness of
Benjamin Franklin on the wall, as she stepped into the house, her
historical pulse quickened to such an extent that she then and there
determined to hunt up more about the Folgers; for was not Benjamin
Franklin's mother a Folger and born on this island? Then, as she saw
about her some old portraits and copies of the masters, and, above all,
a copy of Murillo's Immaculate Conception in the dining-room, she was
sure that the atmosphere of her new quarters would be conducive to her
happiness and growth. The others saw the pictures, but they appreciated
more fully, just then, the delicious blue-fish which was on hand to
appease their hunger.

After a night of restful sleep, such as Nantucket is noted for giving,
they all arose early to greet a beautiful morning, which they used,
partly, for a stroll around the town. Of course, they all registered at
the Registry Agency on Orange street, where Mr. Godfrey, who had
entertained them by his interesting guide-book on Nantucket, gave them a
kind welcome. Then they walked along the Main street, noticing the bank,
built in 1818, and passed some quaint old houses with their gables,
roofs, and sides, all finished alike, which Burdette has described as
"being shingled, shangled, shongled, and shungled." Tom was struck with
the little railings which crowned so many of the houses; and which,
since the old fishing days' prosperity did not call the people on the
house-tops to watch anxiously for the expected ships, were now more
ornamental than useful. They passed, at the corner of Ray's Court, a
sycamore tree, the largest and oldest on the island, and soon halted
at the neat Soldiers' Monument, so suggestive of the patriotic valor
of the island people. Later they found on Winter street the Coffin
School-house,--a brick building with two white pillars in front and a
white cupola,--which was back from the street, behind some shade trees,
and surrounded by an iron fence. As they looked at it Miss Ray read
aloud the words inscribed on the front:--

Founded 1827 by
Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, Bart.
Erected
1852.

They were also interested to see, near by, a large white building, known
as the High School-house. As they neared home Tom's eves noticed the
sign of a Nantucket birds' exhibition, and a visit to that place was
made.

During the walk Mrs. Gordon had been particularly interested in the
large cobble-stones which the uneven streets supported in addition to
the green grass, and also the peculiar Nantucket cart, with its step
behind.

On their return to their boarding-place, they joined a party that had
been formed to go to the Cliff, a sandy bluff about a mile north from
the town, where they were told was to be found the best still-water
bathing on the island. Soon they were all on the yacht "Dauntless,"
which hourly plied between the two places; in twenty minutes they were
landed at the Cliff; and fifteen minutes later they were all revelling
in the warm, refreshing water. Bessie declared that in all her large
bathing experience on the north shore she had never enjoyed anything
like this. Miss Ray felt that here in this warm, still water was her
opportunity to learn to swim; so she accepted the kind teaching of a
friend; but, alas, her efforts savored more of hard work to plough up
the Atlantic ocean than of an easy, delightful pleasure bottling up
knowledge for some possible future use. While Miss Ray was thus
straggling with the ocean, and Bessie and Tom were sporting like two
fish,--for both were at home in the water,--Mr. Gordon was looking
around the Cliff with his business eye wide open. As he walked along the
road back from the shore, and saw the fine views which it afforded him,
he admired the judgment of Eastman Johnson, the artist, in building his
summer-house and studio there. A little farther on, upon the Bluffs, the
highest point on the island, he noted the house of Charles O'Conor with
the little brick building close by for his library; he then decided that
an island which could give such physical benefit as this was said to
have given to Mr. O'Conor, would not be a bad one in which to invest. So
the value of the Cliff or Bluffs he placed in his note-book for future
use.

[Illustration: VIEWS IN NANTUCKET, MASS.]

At the same time that Mr. Gordon was exploring the land Mrs. Gordon
was in the office of two gallant young civil engineers, exploring the
harbor! In fact she was studying a map of the surroundings of the
harbor, which these young men had made to aid them in their work of
building a jetty from Brant Point to the bell-buoy. As she examined it
she found it hard to believe that Nantucket had ever stood next to
Boston and Salem, as the third commercial town in the Commonwealth. She
sympathized deeply with the people of the years gone by who had been
obliged to struggle with such a looking harbor as the map revealed, and
said that she should go home to learn more of the "Camels," which she
honored more than ever. When they told her that probably three years
more than the two that had been given to the work were needed to finish
the jetty, and that there was a slight possibility that another one
would be needed for the best improvement of the harbor, she thought her
interest in the matter could be better kept alive If she should hunt up
her old trigonometry and learn that all over again! With this idea she
left the young men, whose kindness to her she fully appreciated, and
went to find her party. She soon found, on the yacht ready to go back to
town, all but Miss Ray; she had chosen to take one of the many carriages
which she had noticed were constantly taking passengers back and forth
from the town to the Cliff, at the rate of ten cents apiece.

Later in the afternoon their attention was arrested by another one
of the town-criers,--Tom had learned that there were three in the
town,--who was crying out that a meat-auction would be held that night
at half-past six o'clock. When they were told that these meat-auctions
had been the custom of the town for years, they were anxious to attend
one; but another engagement at that hour prevented their so doing, much
to Tom's regret.

The next day was Sunday. As Bessie and Tom were anxious to see all of
the nine churches of which they had read, they were, at first, in doubt
where to go; whereas their mother had no questions whatever, since she
had settled in her own mind, after having reduced all sects to the
Episcopal and the Roman Catholic, that the Episcopal Church was the true
historic one, and, therefore, the only one for her personal interest,
that she should go to the St. Paul's on Fair street. Mr. Gordon usually
went to church with his wife, although he often felt that the simplicity
of the early apostolic days was found more in the Congregational form of
worship. This day he yielded to Tom's desire to go to the
square-steepled Congregational Church on Centre street, to hear Miss
Baker, who had been preaching to the congregation for three years. He
entered the church with some prejudice; but soon he became so much
interested in the good sermon that he really forgot that the preacher
was a woman! Miss Ray and Bessie went to the Unitarian Church on Orange
street, to which the beautiful-toned Spanish bell invited them. After an
interesting service, on their way out they met Tom, who wished to look
into the pillared church of the Methodists, near the bank, and also into
the "Ave Maria" on Federal street, where the Roman Catholics worshipped.
Miss Ray, being anxious to attend a Friends' meeting in their little
meeting-house on Fair street, decided to do so the following Sunday, if
she were in town; while Bessie said that she should hunt up then the two
Baptist churches, the one on Summer street, and the other, particularly
for the colored people, on Pleasant street. Their surprise that a town
of a little less than four thousand inhabitants should contain so many
churches was modified somewhat when they remembered that once, in 1840,
the number of inhabitants was nearly ten thousand.

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