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diff --git a/old/12044.txt b/old/12044.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a22cb28 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12044.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9775 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Grimke Sisters, by Catherine H. Birney + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Grimke Sisters + Sarah and Angelina Grimke: The First American Women Advocates of + Abolition and Woman's Rights + + +Author: Catherine H. Birney + +Release Date: April 15, 2004 [EBook #12044] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GRIMKE SISTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +THE GRIMKE SISTERS + +SARAH AND ANGELINA GRIMKE + + +_THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMEN ADVOCATES +OF ABOLITION AND WOMAN'S RIGHTS_ + + +By CATHERINE H. BIRNEY + +"The glory of all glories is the glory of self-sacrifice." + + +1885 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +It was with great diffidence, from inexperience in literary work of +such length, that I engaged to write the biography which I now present +to the public. But the diaries and letters placed in my hands lightened +the work of composition, and it has been a labor of affection as well +as of duty to pay what tribute I might to the memory of two of the +noblest women of the country, whom I learned to love and venerate +during a residence of nearly two years under the same roof, and who, +to the end of their lives, honored me with their friendship. + +C.H.B. + +Washington City, Sept., 1885. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +Childhood of Sarah, 7. Practical teachings, 9. Teaching slaves, 11. +Sarah a godmother, 13. Their mother, 15. + + +CHAPTER II. + +Thirst for knowledge, 17. Religious impressions, 19. Providence +interposes, 21. Their father's death-bed, 23. Sarah and slavery, 25. +Salvation by works, 27. The Friends, 29. Sarah resists the call, 31. +Sarah leaves Charleston, 33. + + +CHAPTER III. + +Sarah a Quaker, 35. Visit to Charleston, 37. Angelina, 39. Angelina's +slave, 41. Angelina converted, 43. Sarah's heart trial, 45. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Contrasts, 47. Spiritual change, 49. Novels and finery, 51. Plain +dress, 53. + + +CHAPTER V. + +Angelina's progress, 55. Abandons Presbyterianism, 57. Adopts +Quakerism, 59. A Quaker quarrel, 61. Angelina goes north, 63. Trimming +a cap, 65. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Christian frugality, 67. Christian reproofs, 69. Faithful testimony, +71. Sitting in silence, 73. Sympathy with slaves, 75. Intercedes for a +slave, 77. A sin to joke, 79. Introspection, 81. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Intellectual power, 83. Anti-slavery in 1829, 85. Bane of slavery, 87. +Longs to leave home, 89. Narrow life, 91. Farewell to home, 93. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Not in favor, 95. Doubts, 97. Benevolent activities, 99. Nullification, +101. Thomas Grimke, 103. Quaker time-serving, 105. Separation, 107. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Visits Catherine Beecher, 109. Morbid feelings, 111. Growing out of +Quakerism, 113. Lane Seminary debate, 115. Death of Thomas Grimke, 117. +The cause of peace, 119. + + +CHAPTER X. + +Sarah Douglass, 121. The fire kindled, 123. Letter to Garrison, 125. +Apology for letter, 127. Publication of letter, 129. Sarah disapproves, +131. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Practical efforts, 133. Visit to Providence, 135. The sisters differ, +137. Elizur Wright's invitation, 139. Asking advice of Sarah, 141. The +last straw, 143. Sarah resolves to leave Philadelphia, 145. Angelina's +A.S. feelings, 147. Her clear convictions, 149. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The sisters together, 151. A rebellious Quaker, 153. Removal to New +York, 155. The anti-slavery leaders, 157. T.D. Weld, 159. Epistle to +the clergy, 161. First speeches to women, 163. Lectures, 165. Disregard +of the color line, 167. Henry B. Stanton, 169. Success on the platform, +171. They go to Boston, 173. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Woman's rights, 175. Sentiment at Boston, 177. Speaking to men, 179. +Women's preaching, 181. Opposition, 183. The pastoral letter, 185. +Mixed audiences, 187. Hardships--eloquence, 189. Sarah prefers the pen, +191. A public debate, 193. Sarah's impulsiveness, 195. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Catherine Beecher, 197-99. Woman and abolition, 201. Whittier's letter, +203. Weld's letter, 205. Weld's third letter, 207. How reforms fail, +209. Friendly criticism, 211. No human government-ism, 213. The sisters +desist, 215. Weld on dress, 217. Henry C. Wright, 219. Friendship +renewed, 221. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Crowded audiences, 223. Sickness, 225. The Massachusetts legislature, +Speeches in Boston, 229. Angelina's marriage, 231. The ceremony, 233. +Pennsylvania Hall, 235. The mob, 237. Last public speech, 239. Burning +the hall, 241. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Disownment, 243. The home, 245. Self-denial, 247. Sarah Douglass, 249. +An ex-slave, 251. Uses of retirement, 253. Mutual love, 255. "Slavery +as it is," 257. Going to church, 259. The baby, 261. Life at +Belleville, 263-5. Educators, 267. Piety, 269. Christianity, 271. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Eagleswood, 273. Sarah as teacher, 265. Sarah at sixty-two, 277. Love +of children, 279. Success of the school, 281. Affliction, 283. War to +end in freedom, 285. Sisterly affection, 287. The colored nephews, 289. +The discovery, 291. A visit to nephews, 293. Nephews educated, 295. +Voting petitions, 297. Work for charities, 299. Contented old age, 301. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Sarah's sickness, 303. Death of Sarah, 305. Eulogies, 307. Paralysis, +309. Sublime patience, 311. Death of Angelina, 313. Elizur Wright, 315. +Wendell Phillips, 317. The lesson of two lives, 319. + + + + +THE SISTERS GRIMKE. + +CHAPTER I. + + +Sarah and Angelina Grimke were born in Charleston, South Carolina; +Sarah, Nov. 26, 1792; Angelina, Feb. 20, 1805. They were the daughters +of the Hon. John Fauchereau Grimke, a colonel in the revolutionary war, +and judge of the Supreme Court of South Carolina. His ancestors were +German on the father's side, French on the mother's; the Fauchereau +family having left France in consequence of the revocation of the Edict +of Nantes in 1685. + +From his German father and Huguenot mother, Judge Grimke inherited not +only intellectual qualities of a high order, but an abiding consciousness +of his right to think for himself, a spirit of hostility to the Roman +Catholic priesthood and church, and faith in the Calvinistic theology. +Though he exhibited, during the course of his life, a freedom from +certain social prejudices general among people of his class at +Charleston, he seems to have never wavered in his adhesion to the +tenets of his forefathers. That they were ever questioned in his +household is not probable. + +From a diary kept by him, it appears that his favorite subject of +thought for many years was moral discipline, and he was fond of +searching out and transcribing the opinions of various authors on this +subject. + +His family was wealthy and influential, and he received all the +advantages which such circumstances could give. As was the custom among +people of means in those days, he was sent to England for his collegiate +course, and, after being graduated at Oxford, he studied law and +practised for a while in London, having his rooms in the Temple. With a +fine person, a cultivated mind and a generous allowance, he became a +favorite in the fashionable and aristocratic society of Great Britain; +nevertheless, he did not hesitate to quit the pleasant life he was +leading and return home as soon as his native country seemed to need +him. He speedily raised a company of cavalry in Charleston, and cast his +lot with the patriots whom he found in arms against the mother-country. +We have no record of his deeds, but we know that he distinguished himself +at Eutaw Springs and at Yorktown, where he was attached to Lafayette's +brigade. + +When the war was over, Col. Grimke began the practice of law in +Charleston, and rose in a few years to the front rank at the bar. He +held various honorable offices before he was appointed judge of the +Supreme Court of the State. + +Early in life Judge Grimke married Mary Smith of Irish and +English-Puritan stock. She was the great granddaughter of the second +Landgrave of South Carolina, and descended on her mother's side from +that famous rebel chieftain, Sir Roger Moore, of Kildare, who would +have stormed Dublin Castle with his handful of men, and whose handsome +person, gallant manners, and chivalric courage made him the idol of his +party and the hero of song and story. Fourteen children were born to +this couple, all of whom were more or less remarkable for the traits +which would naturally be expected from such ancestry, while in several +of them the old Huguenot-Puritan infusion colored every mental and +moral quality. This was especially notable in Sarah Moore Grimke, the +sixth child, who even in her childhood continually surprised her family +by her independence, her sturdy love of truth, and her clear sense of +justice. Her conscientiousness was such that she never sought to +conceal or even excuse anything wrong she did, but accepted +submissively whatever punishment or reprimand was inflicted upon her. + +Between Sarah and her brother Thomas, six years her senior, an early +friendship was formed, which was ever a source of gratification to both, +and which continued without a break until his death. To the influence +of his high, strong nature she attributed to a great extent her early +tendency to think and reason upon subjects much beyond her age. Until +she was twelve years old, a great deal of her time was passed in study +with this brother, her bright, active mind eagerly reaching after the +kind of knowledge which in those days was considered food too strong +for the intellect of a girl. She begged hard to be permitted to study +Latin, and began to do so in private, but her parents, and even her +brother, discouraged this, and she reluctantly gave it up. + +Judge Grimke's position, character, and wealth placed his family among +the leaders of the very exclusive society of Charleston. His children +were accustomed to luxury and display, to the service of slaves, and to +the indulgence of every selfish whim, although the father's practical +common sense led him to protest against the habits to which such +indulgences naturally led. He was necessarily much from home, but, when +leisure permitted, his great pleasure was teaching his children and +discussing various topics with them. To Sarah he paid particular +attention, her superior mental qualities exciting his admiration and +pride. He is said to have frequently declared that if she had been of +the other sex she would have made the greatest jurist in the land. + +In his own habits, Judge Grimke was prudent and singularly economical, +and, in spite of discouraging surroundings, endeavored to instil +lessons of simplicity into his children. An extract from one of Sarah's +letters will illustrate this. Referring in 1863 to her early life, she +thus writes to a friend:-- + +"Father was pre-eminently a man of common sense, and economy was one of +his darling virtues. I suppose I inherited some of the latter quality, +for from early life I have been renowned for gathering up the fragments +that nothing be lost, so that it was quite a common saying in the +family: 'Oh, give it to Sally; she'll find use for it,' when anything +was to be thrown away. Only once within my memory did I depart from +this law of my nature. I went to our country residence to pass the +summer with father. He had deposited a number of useful odds and ends +in a drawer. Now little miss, being installed as housekeeper to papa, +and for the first time in her life being queen--at least so she +fancied--of all she surveyed, went to work searching every cranny, and +prying into every drawer, and woe betide anything which did not come up +to my idea of neat housekeeping. When I chanced across the drawer of +scraps I at once condemned them to the flames. Such a place of disorder +could not be tolerated in my dominions. I never thought of the +contingency of papa's shirts, etc., wanting mending; my oversight, +however, did not prevent the natural catastrophe of clothes wearing +out, and one day papa brought me a garment to mend, 'Oh,' said I, +tossing it carelessly aside, 'that hole is too big to darn.' + +"'Certainly, my dear,' he replied, 'but you can put a piece in. Look in +such a drawer, and you will find plenty to patch with.' + +"But behold the drawer was empty. Happily, I had commuted the sentence +of burning to that of distribution to the slaves, one of whom furnished +me the piece, and mended the garment ten times better than I could have +done. So I was let to go unwhipped of justice for that misdemeanor, and +perhaps that was the lesson which burnt into my soul. My story doesn't +sound Southerny, does it? Well, here is something more. During that +summer, father had me taught to spin and weave negro cloth. Don't +suppose I ever did anything worth while; only it was one of his maxims: +'Never lose an opportunity of learning what is useful. If you never +need the knowledge, it will be no burden to have it; and if you should, +you will be thankful to have it.' So I had to use my delicate fingers +now and then to shell corn, a process which sometimes blistered them, +and was sent into the field to pick cotton occasionally. Perhaps I am +indebted partially to this for my life-long detestation of slavery, as +it brought me in close contact with these unpaid toilers." + +Doubtless she had many a talk with these "unpaid toilers," and learned +from them the inner workings of a system which her friends would fain +have taught her to view as fair and merciful. + +Children are born without prejudice, and the young children of Southern +planters never felt or made any difference between their white and +colored playmates. The instances are many of their revolt and +indignation when first informed that there must be a difference. So +that there is nothing singular in the fact that Sarah Grimke, to use +her own words, early felt such an abhorrence of the whole institution +of slavery, that she was sure it was born in her. Several of her +brothers and sisters felt the same. But she differed from other +children in the respect that her sensibilities were so acute, her heart +so tender, that she made the trials of the slaves her own, and grieved +that she could neither share nor mitigate them. So deeply did she feel +for them that she was frequently found in some retired spot weeping, +after one of the slaves had been punished. She remembered that once, +when she was not more than four or five years old, she accidentally +witnessed the terrible whipping of a servant woman. As soon as she +could escape from the house, she rushed out sobbing, and half an hour +afterwards her nurse found her on the wharf, begging a sea captain to +take her away to some place where such things were not done. + +She told me once that often, when she knew one of the servants was to +be punished, she would shut herself up and pray earnestly that the +whipping might be averted; "and sometimes," she added, "my prayers were +answered in very unexpected ways." + +Writing to a young friend, a few years before her death, she says: +"When I was about your age, we spent six months of the year in the back +country, two hundred miles from Charleston, where we would live for +months without seeing a white face outside of the home circle. It was +often lonely, but we had many out-door enjoyments, and were very happy. +I, however, always had one terrible drawback. Slavery was a millstone +about my neck, and marred my comfort from the time I can remember +myself. My chief pleasure was riding on horseback daily. 'Hiram' was a +gentle, spirited, beautiful creature. He was neither slave nor slave +owner, and I loved and enjoyed him thoroughly." + +When she was quite young her father gave her a little African girl to +wait on her. To this child, the only slave she ever owned, she became +much attached, treating her as an equal, and sharing all her privileges +with her. But the little girl died after a few years, and though her +youthful mistress was urged to take another, she refused, saying she +had no use for her, and preferred to wait on herself. It was not until +she was more than twelve years old that, at her mother's urgent +request, she consented to have a dressing-maid. + +Judge Grimke, his family and connections, were all High-Church +Episcopalians, tenacious of every dogma, and severe upon any neglect of +the religious forms of church or household worship. Nothing but +sickness excused any member of the family, servants included, from +attending morning prayers, and every Sunday the well-appointed carriage +bore those who wished to attend church to the most fashionable one in +the city. The children attended Sabbath-school regularly, and in the +afternoon the girls who were old enough taught classes in the colored +school. Here, Sarah was the only one who ever caused any trouble. She +could never be made to understand the wisdom which included the +spelling-book, in the hands of slaves, among the dangerous weapons, and +she constantly fretted because she could only give her pupils oral +instruction. She longed to teach them to read, for many of them were +pining for the knowledge which the "poor white trash" rejected; but the +laws of the State not only prohibited the teaching of slaves, but +provided fines and imprisonment for those who ventured to indulge their +fancy in that way. So that, argue as she might, and as she did, the +privilege of opening the storehouse of learning to those thirsty souls +was denied her. "But," she writes, "my great desire in this matter +would not be totally suppressed, and I took an almost malicious +satisfaction in teaching my little waiting-maid at night, when she was +supposed to be occupied in combing and brushing my long locks. The +light was put out, the keyhole screened, and flat on our stomachs +before the fire, with the spelling-book under our eyes, we defied the +laws of South Carolina." + +But this dreadful crime was finally discovered, and poor Hetty barely +escaped a whipping; and her bold young mistress had to listen to a +severe lecture on the enormity of her conduct. + +When Sarah was about twelve years old, two important events occurred to +interrupt the even tenor of her life. Her brother Thomas was sent off +to Yale College, leaving her companionless and inconsolable, until, a +few weeks later, the birth of a little sister brought comfort and joy +to her heart. This sister was Angelina Emily, the last child of her +parents, and the pet and darling of Sarah from the moment the light +dawned upon her blue eyes. + +Sarah seems to have felt for this new baby not only more than the +ordinary affection of a sister, but the yearning tenderness of a +mother, and a mysterious affinity which foreshadowed the heart and soul +sympathy which, notwithstanding the twelve years' difference in their +ages, made them as one through life. She at once begged that she might +stand godmother for her sister; but her parents, thinking this desire +only a childish whim, refused. She was seriously in earnest, however, +and day after day renewed her entreaties, answering her father's +arguments that she was too young for such a responsibility by saying +that she would be old enough when it became necessary to exercise any +of the responsibility. + +Seeing finally that her heart was so set upon it, her parents +consented; and joyfully she stood at the baptismal font, and promised +to train this baby sister in the way she should go. Many years +afterwards, in describing her feelings on this occasion, she said: "I +had been taught to believe in the efficacy of prayer, and I well +remember, after the ceremony was over, slipping out and shutting myself +up in my own room, where, with tears streaming down my cheeks, I prayed +that God would make me worthy of the task I had assumed, and help me to +guide and direct my precious child. Oh, how good I resolved to be, how +careful in all my conduct, that my life might be blessed to her!" + +Entering in such a spirit upon the duties she had taken upon herself, +we cannot over estimate her influence in forming the character and +training the mind of this "precious Nina," as she so often called her. +And, as we shall see, for very many years Angelina followed closely +where Sarah led, treading almost in her footsteps, until the seed sown +by the older sister, ripening, bore its fruit in a power and strength +and individuality which gave her the leadership, and caused Sarah to +fall back and gaze with wonder upon development so much beyond her +thoughts or hopes. + +From the first, Sarah took almost entire charge of her little +god-daughter; and, as "Nina" grew out of her babyhood, Sarah continued +to exercise such general supervision over her that the child learned to +look up to her as to a mother, and frequently when together, and in her +correspondence for many years, addressed her as "Mother." + +It does not appear that Judge Grimke entertained any views differing +greatly from those of intelligent men in the society about him. He was +a man of wide culture, varied experience of life, and a diligent +student. Therefore, as he made a companion of his bright and promising +daughter, he doubtless did much to sharpen her intellect, as well as to +deepen her conscientiousness and sense of religious obligation. Her +brother Thomas, too, added another strong influence to her mental +development. She was nearly fifteen when he returned from college, +bringing with him many new ideas, most of them quite original, and +which he at once set to work to study more closely, with a view to +putting them into practical operation. Sarah was his confidante and his +amanuensis; and, looking up to him almost as to a demi-god, she readily +fell in with his opinions, and made many of them her own. + +Of her mother there is little mention in the early part of her life. +Mrs. Grimke appears to have been a very devout woman, of rather narrow +views, and undemonstrative in her affections. She was, however, +intelligent, and had a taste for reading, especially theological works. +Her son Thomas speaks of her as having read Stratton's book on the +priesthood, and inferring from its implications the sect to which the +author belonged. The oldest of her children was only nineteen when +Angelina was born. The burdens laid upon her were many and great; and +we cannot wonder that she was nervous, exhausted, and irritable. The +house was large, and kept in the style common in that day among wealthy +Southern people. The servants were numerous, and had, no doubt, the +usual idle, pilfering habits of slaves. All provisions were kept under +lock and key, and given out with scrupulous exactitude, and incessant +watchfulness as to details was a necessity. + +As children multiplied, Mrs. Grimke appears to have lost all power of +controlling either them or her servants. She was impatient with the +former, and resorted with the latter to the punishments commonly +inflicted by slaveowners. These severities alienated her children still +more from her, and they showed her little respect or affection. It +never appears to have occurred to any of them to try to relieve her of +her cares; and it is probable she was more sinned against than +sinning,--a sadly burdened and much-tried woman. From numerous +allusions to her in the diaries and letters, the evidence of an +ill-regulated household is plain, as also the feelings of the children +towards her. From Angelina's diary we copy the following:-- + +"On 2d day I had some conversation with sister Mary on the deplorable +state of our family, and to-day with Eliza. They complain very much of +the servants being so rude, and doing so much as they please. But I +tried to convince them that the servants were just what the family was, +that they were not at all more rude and selfish and disobliging than +they themselves were. I gave one or two instances of the manner in +which they treated mother and each other, and asked how they could +expect the servants to behave in any other way when they had such +examples continually before them, and queried in which such conduct was +most culpable. Eliza always admits what I say to be true, but, as I +tell her, never profits by it.... Sister Mary is somewhat different; +she will not condemn herself.... She will acknowledge the sad state of +the family, but seems to think mother is altogether to blame. And dear +mother seems to resist all I say: she will neither acknowledge the +state of the family nor her own faults, and always is angry when I +speak to her.... Sometimes when I look back to the first years of my +religious life, and remember how unremittingly I labored with mother, +though in a very wrong spirit, being alienated from her and destitute +of the spirit of love and forbearance, my heart is very sore." + +This unfortunate state of things prevailed until the children were +grown, and with more or less amelioration after that time. Sarah's +natural tenderness, and the sense of justice which, as she grew to +womanhood, was so conspicuous in Angelina, drew their mother nearer to +them than to her other children, though Thomas always wrote of her +affectionately and respectfully. She, however, with her rigid orthodox +beliefs, could never understand her "alien daughters," as she called +them; and she never ceased to wonder how such strange fledglings could +have come from her nest. It was only when they had proved by years of +self-sacrifice the earnestness of their peculiar views that she learned +to respect them; and, though they never succeeded in converting her +from her inherited opinions, she was towards the last years of her life +brought into something like affectionate sympathy with them. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +It was quite the custom in the last century and the beginning of the +present one for cultivated people to keep diaries, in which the +incidents of each day were jotted down, accompanied by the expression +of private opinions and feelings. Women, especially, found this diary a +pleasant sort of confessional, a confidante to whose pages they could +entrust their most secret thoughts without fear of rebuke or betrayal. +Sarah Grimke's diary, covering over five hundred pages of closely +written manuscript, though not begun until 1821, gives many reminiscences +of her youth, and describes with painful conscientiousness her +religious experiences. She also repeatedly regrets the fact that her +education, though what was considered at that time a good one, was +entirely superficial, embracing only that kind of knowledge which is +acquired for display. What useful information she received she owed to +the conversations of her father and her brother Thomas, her "beloved +companion and friend." + +There is no doubt that this want of proper training was to her a cause +of regret during her whole life. With her, learning was always a +passion; and, in passing, I may say she never thought herself too old +for study and the acquisition of knowledge. As she grew up, and saw the +very different education her brothers were receiving, her ambition and +independence were fired, and she longed to share their advantages. But +in vain she entreated permission to do so. The only answer she received +was: "You are a girl; what do you want of Latin and Greek and +philosophy? You can never use them." And when it was discovered that +she was secretly studying law, and was ambitious to stand side by side +with her brother at the bar, smiles and sneers rebuked her "unwomanly" +aspirations. And though she argued the point with much spirit, unable +to see why the mere fact of being a girl should confine her to the +necessity of being a "doll, a coquette, a fashionable fool," she failed +to secure a single adherent to her strong-minded ideas. Her nature thus +denied its proper nutriment, and her most earnest desires crushed, she +sought relief in another direction. Painting, poetry, general reading +occupied her leisure time, while she was receiving private tuition from +the best masters in Charleston. + +At sixteen she was introduced into society, or, as she phrases it, +"initiated into the circles of dissipation and folly." In her account +of the life she led in those circles she does not spare herself. + +"I believe," she writes, "for the short space I was exhibited on this +theatre, few have exceeded me in extravagance of every kind, and in the +sinful indulgence of pride and vanity, sentiments which, however, were +strongly mingled with a sense of their insufficiency to produce even +earthly happiness, with an eager desire for intellectual pursuits, and +a thorough contempt for the trifles I was engaged in. Often during this +period have I returned home, sick of the frivolous beings I had been +with, mortified at my own folly, and weary of the ball-room and its +gilded toys. Night after night, as I glittered now in this gay scene, +now in that, my soul has been disturbed by the query, 'Where are the +talents committed to thy charge?' But the intrusive thought would be +silenced by the approach of some companion, or a call to join the +dance, or by the presentation of the stimulating cordial, and my +remorse and my hopeless desires would be drowned for the time being. +Once, in utter disgust, I made a resolution to abstain from such +amusements; but it was made in self-will, and did not stand long, +though I was so earnest that I gave away much of my finery. I cannot +look back to those years without a blush of shame, a feeling of anguish +at the utter perversion of the ends of my being. But for my tutelary +god, my idolized brother, my young, passionate nature, stimulated by +that love of admiration which carries many a high and noble soul down +the stream of folly to the whirlpool of an unhallowed marriage, I had +rushed into this lifelong misery. Happily for me, this butterfly life +did not last long. My ardent nature had another channel opened for it, +through which it rushed with its usual impetuosity. I was converted, +and turned over to doing good." + +Up to this time she was a communicant in the Episcopal church, and a +regular attendant on its various services. But, as she records, her +heart was never touched, her soul never stirred. She heard the same +things preached week after week,--the necessity of coming to Christ and +the danger of delay,--and she wondered at her insensibility. She joined +in family worship, and was scrupulously exact in her private devotions; +but all was done mechanically, from habit, and no quickening sense of +her "awful condition" came to her until she went one night, on the +invitation of a friend, to hear a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Henry +Kolloch, celebrated for his eloquence. He preached a thrilling sermon, +and Sarah was deeply moved. But the impression soon wore off, and she +returned to her gay life with renewed ardor. A year after, the same +minister revisited Charleston; and again she went to hear him, and +again felt the "arrows of conscience," and again disregarded the solemn +warning. The journal continues:-- + +"After this he came no more; and in the winter of 1813-14 I was led in +an unusual degree into scenes of dissipation and frivolity. It seemed +as if my cup of worldly pleasure was filled to the brim; and after +enjoying all the city afforded, I went into the country in the spring +with a fashionable acquaintance, designing to finish my wild career +there." + +While on this visit, she accidentally met the Rev. Dr. Kolloch, and +became acquainted with him. He seems to have taken a warm interest in +her spiritual welfare, and his conversations made a serious impression +on her which her gay friends tried to remove. But her sensitive spirit +was so affected by his admonitions, and warnings of the awful +consequences of persisting in a course of conduct which must eventually +lead to everlasting punishment, that she was made very miserable. She +trembled as he portrayed her doom, and wept bitterly; but, though she +assented to the truth of his declarations, she did not feel quite +prepared to give up the pomps and vanities of her life, unsatisfactory +as they were. A sore conflict began in her mind, and she could take no +pleasure in anything. Dr. Kolloch's parting question to her, spoken in +the most solemn tones, "Can you, then, dare to hesitate?" rang +continually in her ears; and the next few days and nights were passed +in a turmoil of various feelings, until, exhausted, she gave up the +struggle, and acknowledged herself sensible of the emptiness of worldly +gratifications, and thought she was willing to resign all for Christ. +She returned home sorrowful and heavy-hearted. The glory of the world +was stained, and she no longer dared to participate in its vain +pleasures. She felt "loaded down with iniquity," and, almost sinking +under a sense of her guilt and her danger, she secluded herself from +society, and put away her ornaments, "determined to purchase Heaven at +any price." But she found no relief in these sacrifices; and, after +enduring much trial at her ill success, she wrote to Dr. Kolloch, +informing him of her state of mind. + +"Over his answer," she writes, "I shed many tears; but, instead of +prostrating myself in deep abasement before the Lord, and craving his +pardon, I was desirous of doing something which might claim his +approbation and disperse the thick cloud which seemed to hide him from +me. I therefore set earnestly to work to do good according to my +capacity. I fed the hungry and clothed the naked, I visited the sick +and afflicted, and vainly hoped these outside works would purify a +heart defiled with the pride of life, still the seat of carnal +propensities and evil passions; but here, too, I failed. I went +mourning on my way under the curse of a broken law; and, though I often +watered my couch with my tears, and pleaded with my Maker, yet I knew +nothing of the sanctifying influence of his holy spirit, and, not +finding that happiness in religion I anticipated, I, by degrees, +through the persuasions of companions and the inclination of my +depraved heart, began to go a little more into society, and to resume +my former style of dressing, though in comparative moderation." + +She then states how, some time after she had thus departed from her +Christian profession. Dr. Kolloch came once more, and his sad and +earnest rebukes made her unutterably wretched. But she tried to stifle +the voice of conscience by entering more and more into worldly +amusements, until she had lost nearly all spiritual sense. Her +disposition became soured by incessantly yielding to temptation, and +she adds:-- + +"I know not where I might have been landed, had not the merciful +interposition of Providence stopped my progress." + +This "merciful interposition of Providence" was nothing less than the +declining health of her father; and it affords, indeed, a curious +comment on the old Orthodox teachings, that this young woman, devotedly +attached to her father, and fully appreciating his value to his family, +should have regarded his ill-health as sent by God for her especial +benefit, to interrupt her worldly course, and compass her salvation. + +Judge Grimke's illness continued for a year or more; and so faithfully +did Sarah nurse him that when it was decided that he should go to +Philadelphia to consult Dr. Physic, she was chosen to accompany him. + +This first visit to the North was the most important event of Sarah's +life, for the influences and impressions there received gave some shape +to her vague and wayward fancies, and showed her a gleam of the light +beyond the tangled path which still stretched before her. + +She found lodgings for her father and herself in a Quaker family whose +name is not mentioned. About their life there, little is said; Sarah +being too much occupied with the care of her dear invalid to take much +interest in her new surroundings. Judge Grimke's health continued to +decline. His daughter's account of the last days of his life is very +touching, and shows not only how deep was her religious feeling, but +how tender and yet how strong she was all through this great trial. The +father and daughter, strangers in a strange land, drawn more closely +together by his suffering and her necessary care, became friends. +indeed; their attachment increasing day by day, until, ere their final +separation, they loved each other with that fervent affection which +grows only with true sympathy and unbounded confidence. Sarah thus +wrote of it:-- + +"I regard this as the greatest blessing, next to my conversion, I have +ever received from God, and I think if all my future life is passed in +affliction this mercy alone should make me willingly, yea, cheerfully +and joyously, submit to the chastisements of the Lord." + +During their stay in Philadelphia, she had hoped for her father's +recovery, but when, by the doctor's advice, they went to Long Branch, +and she saw how weak and ill he was, this hope forsook her, and she +describes her agony as something never to be effaced from her memory. +Doubtless this was intensified by her lone and friendless position. +They were in a tavern, without one human being to soothe them or +sympathize with them. "But," she writes, "let me here acknowledge the +mercy of that Being whose everlasting arms supported me in this hour of +suffering. After the first burst of grief I became calm, and felt an +assurance that He in whom I trusted would never leave nor forsake me, +and that I would have strength given me, even to the performance of the +last sad duties. But the end was not yet; the disease fluctuated, some +days arousing a gleam of hope, only to be extinguished by the next +day's weakness. Alas! I was compelled to see that death was certainly, +though slowly, approaching, and all feeling for my own suffering was +sunk in anxiety to contribute to my father's comfort, and smooth his +passage to the grave. And, blessed be God, I was not only able to +minister to many of his temporal wants, but permitted to strengthen his +hopes of a happy immortality. I prayed with him and read to him, and I +cannot recollect hearing an impatient expression from him during his +whole illness, or a wish that his sufferings might be lessened or +abridged. He often tried to conceal his bodily pain, and to soothe me +by every appearance of cheerful piety. Thus he lingered until the 6th +of August, when he grew visibly worse. Many incoherent expressions +escaped him, but even then how tenderly he spoke of me, I ever shall +remember.... About eight o'clock I moved him to his own bed, and, +sitting down, prepared to watch by him. He entreated me to lie down, +and I told him when he slept I would. + +"'Oh, God,' he exclaimed with fervent energy, 'how sweet to sleep and +wake in heaven!' This last desire was realized. He clasped one of my +hands, and as I bent over him and arranged his pillow he put his arm +around me. I did not stir; apparently he slept. But the relaxed grasp, +the dewy coldness, the damps of death which stood upon his forehead, +all told me that he was hastening fast to Jesus. Alone, at the hour of +midnight, I sat by this bed of death. My eyes were fixed on that face +whose calmness seemed to say, 'I rest in peace.' A gentle pressure of +the hand, and a scarcely audible respiration, alone indicated that life +was not extinct; at length that pressure ceased, and the strained ear +could no longer hear a breath. I continued gazing on the lifeless form, +closed his eyes and kissed him. His spirit, freed from the shackles of +mortality, had sprung to its source, the bosom of his God. I passed the +rest of the night alone." + +And alone, the only mourner, this brave, heart-stricken girl followed +the remains of her beloved father to the grave. + +When all was over she went back to Philadelphia, where she remained two +or three months, and then returned to Charleston. + +During the season of family mourning which followed, having nothing +especial to do, Sarah became more than ever concerned about her +spiritual welfare. She constantly deplored her lukewarmness, and +regarded herself as standing on the edge of a precipice from which she +had no power to withdraw. The subject of slavery began now also to +agitate her mind. After her residence in Philadelphia, where doubtless +she had to listen to some sharp reflections on the Southern +institution, it seemed more than ever abhorrent to her, but it does not +appear that she gave utterance to her feelings on more than one or two +occasions. Even her diary contains only a slight and occasional +reference to them. She saw, she says, how useless it was to discuss the +subject, as even Angelina, the child of her own training, could see +nothing wrong in the mere fact of slave-holding, if the slaves were +kindly treated. + +Her brother Thomas, to whom she might have opened her overburdened +heart, and received from his affection and good sense, comfort and +strength, she saw little of; besides, he was a slave-owner, and among +his numerous reform theories of education, politics, and religion, he +does not seem to have thought of touching slavery. He was a leading +member of the bar, very busy with his literary work, had a wife and +family, and resided out of the city. + +Alone, therefore, Sarah brooded over her trials, and those of the +slaves, "until they became like a canker, incessantly gnawing." Upon +the latter she could only look as one in bonds herself, powerless to +prevent or ameliorate them. Her sole consolation was teaching the +objects of her compassion, within the lawful restrictions, whenever she +could find the opportunity. But she began to look upon the world as a +wilderness of desolation and suffering, and herself as the most +miserable of sinners, fast hastening to destruction. In this frame of +mind she was induced to listen to the doctrine of universal salvation, +and eagerly adopted it, hoping thereby to find relief from her doubts +and fears. Her mother discovered this with horror, and, trembling for +her daughter's safety, she aroused herself to argue so strongly against +what she termed the false and awful doctrine, that, though Sarah +refused to acknowledge the force of all she said, it had its effect, +and she gradually lost her hold on her new belief. But losing that, she +lost all hope. "Wormwood and gall" were her portion, and, while she +fulfilled the outward duties of religion, dreariness and settled +despondency took possession of her mind. She writes: + +"Tears never moistened my eyes; to prayer I was a stranger. With Job I +dared to curse the day of my birth. One day I was tempted to say +something of the kind to my mother. She was greatly shocked, and +reproved me seriously. I craved a hiding-place in the grave, as a rest +from the distress of my feelings, thinking that no estate could be +worse than the present. Sometimes, being unable to pray, unable to +command one feeling of good, either natural or spiritual, I was tempted +to commit some great crime, thinking I could repent and thus restore my +lost sensibility. On this I often meditated, and assuredly should have +fallen into this snare had not the mercy of God still followed me." + +I might go on for many pages painting this dreary picture of a +misdirected life, but enough has been quoted at present to show Sarah +Grimke's strong, earnest, impressionable nature, and the effects upon +it of the teachings of the old theology, mingled with the narrow +Southern ideas of usefulness and woman's sphere. Endowed with a +superior intellect, with a most benevolent and unselfish disposition, +with a cheerful, loving nature, she desired above all things to be an +active, useful member of society. But every noble impulse was strangled +at its birth by the iron bands of a religion that taught the +crucifixion of every natural feeling as the most acceptable offering to +a stern and relentless God. She was now twenty-eight years of age, and +with the exception of the period devoted to her father she had as yet +thought and worked only for herself. I do not mean that she neglected +home duties, or her private charities and visits to the afflicted, but +all these offices were performed from one especial motive and with the +same end in view to avert from herself the wrath of her Maker. This one +thought filled all her mind. All else was as nothing. Family and +friends, home and humanity, were of importance only as they furthered +this object. It is in this spirit that she mentioned her father's +illness and death, and the heroic, self-sacrificing death, by +shipwreck, of her brother Benjamin, to which she could resign herself +from a conviction that the stroke was sent as a chastisement to her, +and was a merciful dispensation to draw his young wife nearer to God. +We read not one word of solicitude for mother, or brothers, or sisters, +not a single prayer for their conversion. She was too busy watching and +weeping over her own short-comings to concern herself about their doom. +The long diary is filled with the reiteration of her fears, her +sorrows, and her prayers. Many years afterwards she thus referred to +this condition of her mind:-- + +"I cannot without shuddering look back to that period. How dreadful did +the state of my mind become! Nothing interested me; I fulfilled my +duties without any feeling of satisfaction, in gloomy silence. My lips +moved in prayer, my feet carried me to the holy sanctuary, but my heart +was estranged from piety. I felt as if my doom was irrevocably fixed, +and I was destined to that fire which is never quenched. I have never +experienced any feeling so terrific as the despair of salvation. My +soul still remembers the wormwood and the gall, still remembers how +awful the conviction that every door of hope was closed, and that I was +given over unto death." + +Naturally, such a strain at last impaired her health, and, her mother +becoming alarmed, she was sent in the autumn of 1820 to North Carolina, +where several relatives owned plantations on the Cape Fear River. She +was welcomed with great affection, especially by her aunt, the wife of +her uncle James Smith, and mother of Barnwell Rhett. (This name was +assumed by him on the inheritance of property from a relative of that +name.) + +In the village near which this aunt lived there was no place of worship +except the Methodist meeting-house. Sarah attended this; and under the +earnest and alarming preaching she heard there, together with +association with some of the most spiritual-minded of the members, she +was aroused from her apathetic state, and was enabled to join in their +services with some interest. She even offered up prayer with them, and +at one of their love feasts delivered a public testimony to the truths +of the gospel. Thus associated with them, she was induced to examine +their principles and doctrines, but found them as faulty as all the +rest she had from time to time investigated. She therefore soon decided +not to become one of them. From her earliest serious impressions, she +had been dissatisfied with Episcopacy, feeling its forms lifeless; but +now, after having carefully considered the various other sects, and +finding error in all, she concluded to remain in the church whose +doctrines at least satisfied her as well as those of any other, and +were those of her mother and her family. + +Of the Society of Friends she knew little, and that little was +unfavorable. To a remark made one day by her mother, relative to her +turning Quaker, she replied, with some warmth:-- + +"Anything but a Quaker or a Catholic!" + +Having made up her mind that the Friends were wrong, she had steadily +refused, during her stay in Philadelphia, to attend their meetings or +read any of their writings. Nevertheless many things about them, +scarcely noticed at the time,--their quiet dress, orderly manner of +life and gentle tones of voice, together with their many acts of +kindness to her and her father,--came back to her after she had left +them, and especially impressed her as contrasting so strongly with the +slack habits and irregular discipline which made her own home so +unhappy. + +On the vessel which carried her from Philadelphia to Charleston, after +her father's death, was a party of Friends; and in the seven days which +it then required to make the voyage, an intimacy sprang up between them +and Sarah which influenced her whole after-life. From one of them she +had accepted a copy of Woolman's works,--evidence that there must have +been religious discussions between them. And that there was talk-- +probably some jesting--in the family about Quakers is shown by the +little incident Sarah relates of her brother Thomas presenting her, +soon after her return from North Carolina, with a volume of Quaker +writings he had picked up at some sale. He placed it in her hand, +saying jocosely,-- + +"Thee had better turn Quaker, Sally; thy long face would suit well +their sober dress." + +She was, as we have said, of a naturally cheerful disposition; but her +false views of religion led her to believe that "by the sadness of the +countenance the heart is made better," and she shed more tears, and +offered up more petitions for forgiveness, over occasional irresistible +merriment than I have space to record. + +She accepted the book from her brother, read it, and, needing some +explanation of portions of it, wrote to one of the Friends in +Philadelphia whose acquaintance she had made on the vessel. A +correspondence ensued, which resulted after some months in her entire +conversion to Quakerism. + +She had now reached, she thought, a resting-place for her weary, +sore-travailed spirit; and, like a tired pilgrim, she dropped all her +burdens beside this fresh stream, from whose waters she expected to +drink such cooling draughts. The quiet of the little meeting-house in +Charleston, the absence of ornament and ceremony, the silent worship by +the few members, the affectionate thee and thou, all soothed her +restless soul for a while, and a sweet calm fell upon her. But she +believed that God constantly spoke to her heart, directing her by the +still, small voice; and the fidelity with which she obeyed this +invisible guide was not only a real detriment to her spiritual +progress, but the cause of much distress to her. + +When, as sometimes happened from various causes, she failed in +obedience, her mental suffering was intense, and in abject humility she +accepted as punishment any mortification or sorrow that came to her +afterwards. As a sequence to this hallucination, she also had visions +at various times, and saw and communed with spirits, and did not +hesitate to acknowledge their influence and to respect their +intimations. So marvellously real were her feelings on these points +that her immediate friends, though greatly deploring their effect upon +her, seldom ventured any remonstrance against them. Now, under the +influence of her new belief, the impression of a divine call to be made +upon her deepened, and soon took shape in the persuasion that it was to +be a call to the ministry. Her soul recoiled at the very thought of +work so solemn, and she prayed the Lord to spare her; but the more she +prayed, the stronger and clearer the intimations became, until she felt +that no loop-hole of escape was left her from obedience to her Master's +will. From the publicity the work involved, she intuitively shrank. Her +natural sensitiveness and all the prejudices of her life rebelled +against it, and she could not look forward to it without fear and +trembling. Every meeting now found her, she says, like a craven, +dreading to hear the summons which would oblige her to rise and open +her lips before the two or three gathered there. Vainly did she try to +"hide herself from the Lord." The evidence came distinctly to her one +morning that some words of admonition were required of her; but so +appalling did the act appear to her that she trembled, hesitated, +resisted, and was silent. Sorrow and remorse at once filled her soul; +and, feeling that she had sinned against the Holy Ghost, she thought +that God never could forgive her, and that no sacrifice she could ever +offer could atone for this first act of disobedience. Through long and +dreary years it was the spectre that never would down, but stood ready +to point its accusing finger whenever she was tempted to seek the cause +of her disappointments and sorrows. + +Thus, in the very outset of her new departure, arose apprehensions +which followed her continually, robbing her religious exercises of all +peace, and bringing her such a depth of misery that, she says, it +almost destroyed her soul. The frequent letters of her Quaker friend, +though calculated to soothe and encourage her, were all firm on the +point of implicit obedience to the movements of the Spirit; and she +found herself in a straight and narrow path, from which she was not +allowed to deviate. + +To this friend, Israel Morris, Sarah seems to have confessed all her +shortcomings, all her fears, until, encouraged by his sympathy, and led +by her longing for a wider field of action, she began to contemplate a +removal to the North. There were other causes which urged her to seek +another home. The inharmonious life in her family, joined to the +reproaches and ridicule constantly aimed at her, and which stung her to +the quick, naturally inspired the desire to go where she would be rid +of it all, and live in peace. In her religious exaltation, it was easy +for her to persuade herself that she was moved to make this important +change by the Lord's command. She sincerely believed it was so, and +speaks of it as an unmistakable call, not to be disregarded, to go +forth from that land, and her work would be shown her. Naturally, +Philadelphia was the spot to which she was directed. When informed of +her desires, Israel Morris not only gave his approval, but invited her +to a home in his family. A door of shelter and safety being thus thrown +open to her, she no longer hesitated, but at once made known her +intention to her relatives. There seems to have been little or no +opposition offered to a step so serious; in fact, her brothers and +sisters, though much attached to her,--for her loving nature was +irresistible,--evidently felt it a relief when she was gone, her strict +and pious life being a constant rebuke to their worldly views and +practices. + +Her sister Anna, at her urgent request, accompanied her on the voyage. +This sister, the widow of an Episcopal clergyman, though a defender of +slavery as an institution, recognized its evil influences on the +society where it existed, and gladly accepted the opportunity offered +to take her young daughter away from them. It was necessary, too, that +she should do something to increase her slender income, and Sarah +advised opening a small school in Philadelphia,--a thing which she +could not have done in Charleston without a sacrifice of her own social +position and of the family pride. + +There is nothing said of the parting, even from Angelina, though we +know it must have been a hard trial for Sarah to leave this young +sister, just budding into womanhood, and surrounded by all the snares +whose alluring influences she understood so well. That she could +consent to leave her thus is perhaps the strongest proof of her faith +in the imperative nature of the summons to which she felt she was +yielding obedience. + +The exiles reached Philadelphia without accident in the latter part of +May, 1821. Lodgings were found for Mrs. Frost and her child, and Sarah +went at once to the residence of her friend, Israel Morris. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +It is very much to be regretted that all of Sarah Grimke's letters to +Angelina, and to other members of her family at this time, were, at her +own request, destroyed as received. They would not only have afforded +most interesting reading, but would have thrown light on much which, +without them, is necessarily obscure. Nor were there more than +twenty-five or thirty of Angelina's letters preserved, and they were +written between the years 1826 and 1828. We therefore have but little +data by which to follow Sarah's life during the five years succeeding +her return to Philadelphia, and before she again went, to Charleston; +or Angelina's life at home, during the same period. Sarah's diary, +frequently interrupted, continues to record her religious sorrows, for +these followed her even into the peaceful home at "Greenhill Farm," the +name of Israel Morris's place, where she was received and treated like +a near and dear relative; and it was but natural and proper that she +should be so accepted by the members of Mr. Morris's family. He was +literally her only friend at the North. Through his influence she had +been brought into the Quaker religion, and encouraged to leave her +mother and native land. She was entirely unpractised in the ways of the +world, and was besides in very narrow circumstances, her only available +income being the interest on $10,000, the sum left by Judge Grimke to +each of his children. The estate had not yet been settled up. Add to +all this the virtue of hospitality, inculcated by the Quaker doctrine, +and it seems perfectly natural that Sarah should accept the offer of +her friend in the spirit in which it was made, and feel grateful to her +Heavenly Father that such a refuge was provided for her. + +The notes in her journal for that summer are rather meagre. She +attended meeting regularly, but made no formal application to be +received into the Society of Friends. It would hardly have been +considered so soon; she must first go through a season of probation. +How hard this was is told in the lamentations and prayers which she +confided to her diary. The "fearful act of disobedience" of which she +was guilty in Charleston lay as a heavy load on her spirit, troubling +her thoughts by day and her dreams by night, until she says: "At times +I am almost led to believe I shall never know good any more." + +Notwithstanding these trying spiritual exercises, the summer seems to +have passed in more peace than she had dared to hope for. Israel Morris +was a truly good man, with a strong, genial nature, which must have had +a soothing effect upon Sarah's troubled spirit. But before many months +her thoughts began to turn back to home. Her mother's want of +spirituality, from her standpoint, grieved her greatly. The accounts +she received of the disorder in the family added to her anxieties, and +she felt that her influence was needed to bring about harmony, and to +guide her mother on the road to Zion. She laid the case before the +Lord, and, receiving no intimation that she would be doing a wrong +thing, she decided to return to Charleston. + +Before leaving Philadelphia, however, she felt that it was her duty to +assume the full Quaker dress. She had worn plain colors from the time +she began to attend meeting in her native city, but the clothes were +not fashioned after the Quaker style, and she still indulged herself in +occasionally wearing a becoming black dress; though when she did so, +she not only felt uncomfortable herself, but knew that she made many of +her friends so. "Persisting in so doing," she says, "I have since been +made sensible, manifested a want of condescension entirely unbecoming a +Christian, and one day conviction was so strong on this subject, that, +as I was dressing, I felt as if I could not proceed, but sat down with +my dress half on, and these words passed through my mind: Can it be of +any consequence in the sight of God whether I wear a black dress or +not? The evidence was clear that it was not, but that self-will was the +cause of my continuing to do it. For this I suffered much, but was at +length strengthened to cast away this idol." + +Remembering the fashionable life she had once led, and her natural +taste for the beautiful in all things, it must have been something of a +sacrifice, even though sustained by her religious exaltation, to lay +aside everything pretty and becoming, and, denying herself even so much +as a flower from nature's own fields, to array herself in the scant and +sober dress of drab, the untrimmed kerchief, and the poke bonnet. + +Writing from Greenhill in October, she says: + +"On last Fifth Day I changed my dress for the more plain one of the +Quakers, not because I think making my clothes in their peculiar manner +makes me any better, but because I believe it was laid upon me, seeing +that my natural will revolted from the idea of assuming this garb. I +trust I have made this change in a right spirit, and with a single eye +to my dear Redeemer. It was accompanied by a feeling of much peace." + +Late in the autumn she sailed for Charleston, and was received by the +home circle with affection, though her plain dress gave occasion for +some slighting remarks. These, however, no longer affected her as they +once had done, and she bore them in silence. Surrounded by her family, +all of whom she warmly loved, in spite of their want of sympathy with +her, rooming with her "precious child," with full opportunity to +counsel and direct her, and intent upon carrying out reform in the +household, she was for a time almost contented. She took up her old +routine, her charities, and her schools, and attended meeting +regularly. But a very few weeks sufficed to make her realize her utter +inability to harmonize the discordant elements in her home, or to make +more than a transient impression upon her mother. Day by day she became +more discouraged; everything seemed to conspire to thwart her efforts +for good, which were misconstrued and misunderstood. Surrounded, too, +and besieged by all the familiar influences of her old life, it became +harder to sustain her peculiar views and habits, and spiritual +luke-warmness gained rapidly upon her. With deep humility she +acknowledged the mistake she had made in going back to Charleston, +which place was evidently not the vineyard in which she could labor to +any profit. + +In July she was again in Philadelphia, a member now of the family of +Catherine Morris, sister to Israel. Here she remained until after her +admission into Friends' Society, when, feeling it her duty to make +herself independent of the friends who had been so kind to her, she +cast about her for something to do, and was mortified and chagrined to +find there was nothing suited to her capacity. + +"Oh!" she exclaims, "had I received the education I desired, had I been +bred to the profession of the law, I might have been a useful member of +society, and instead of myself and my property being taken care of, I +might have been a protector of the helpless, a pleader for the poor and +unfortunate." + +The industrial avenues for women were few and narrow in those days; and +for the want of some practical knowledge, the doors Sarah Grimke might +have entered were closed to her, and she was finally forced to abandon +her hopes of independence, and to again accept a home for the winter in +Israel Morris's house, now in the city. It must not be supposed, +however, that either here or at Catherine's, where she afterwards made +her steady home, she was a burden or a hindrance. She was too energetic +and too conscientious to be a laggard anywhere. So kind and so +thoughtful was she, so helpful in sickness, so sympathetic in joy and +in sorrow, that she more than earned her frugal board wherever she +went. Could she only have been persuaded that it was right to yield to +her naturally cheerful temper, she would have been a delightful +companion at all times; but her sadness frequently affected her +friends, and even drew forth an occasional reproof. The ministry, that +dreadful requirement which she felt sure the Lord would make of her, +was ever before her, and in fear and trembling she awaited the moment +when the command would be given, "Arise and speak." + +This painful preparation went on year after year, but her advance +towards her expected goal was very slow. She would occasionally nerve +herself to speak a few words of admonition in a small meeting, make a +short prayer, or quote a text of scripture, but her services were +limited to these efforts. She often feared that she was restrained by +her desire that her first attempt at exhorting should be a brilliant +success, and place her at once where she would be a power in the +meetings; and she prayed constantly for a clear manifestation, +something she could not mistake, that she might not be tempted by the +hope of relief from present suffering to move prematurely in the "awful +work." + +Thus she waited, trying to restrain and satisfy her impatient yearnings +for some real, living work by teaching charity schools, visiting +prisons, and going through the duties of monthly, quarterly, and yearly +meetings. But she could not shut out from herself the doubts that would +force themselves forward, that her time was not employed as it should +be. + +We hear nothing of her family during these years, nothing to indicate +any change in their condition or in their feelings. We know, however, +that Sarah kept up a frequent correspondence with her mother and with +Angelina, and that chiefly through her admonitions the latter was +turned from her worldly life to more serious concerns. + +Like Sarah, Angelina grew up a gay, fashionable girl. Her personal +beauty and qualities of mind and heart challenged the admiration of all +who came in contact with her. More brilliant than Sarah, she was also +more self-reliant, and, though quite as sympathetic and sensitive, she +was neither so demonstrative nor so tender in her feelings as her elder +sister, and her manner being more dignified and positive, she inspired, +even in those nearest to her, a certain degree of awe which forbade, +perhaps, the fulness of confidence which Sarah's greater gentleness +always invited. Her frankness and scrupulous conscientiousness were +equal to Sarah's, but she always preserved her individuality and her +right to think for herself. Once convinced, she could maintain her +opinion against all arguments and persuasions, no matter from whom. As +an illustration of this, it is related of her that when she was about +thirteen years of age the bishop of the diocese called to talk to her +about being confirmed. She had, of course, been baptized when an +infant, and he told her she was now old enough to take upon herself the +vows then made for her. She asked the meaning of confirmation, and was +referred to the prayer-book. After reading the rite over, she said:-- + +"I cannot be confirmed, for I cannot promise what is here required." + +The bishop urged that it was a form which all went through who had been +baptized in the Church, and expected to remain in it. Looking him +calmly in the face, she said, in a tone whose decision could not be +questioned:-- + +"If, with my feelings and views as they now are, I should go through +that form, it would be acting a lie. I cannot do it." And no +persuasions could induce her to consent. + +Like Sarah, she felt much for the slaves, and was ever kind to them, +thoughtful, and considerate. She, too, suffered keenly when punishments +were inflicted upon them; and no one could listen without tears to the +account she gave of herself, as a little girl, stealing out of the +house after dark with a bottle of oil with which to anoint the wounds +of some poor creature who had been torn by the lash. Earlier than +Sarah, she recognized the whole injustice of the system, and refused +ever to have anything to do with it. She did once own a woman, but +under the following circumstances:-- + +"I had determined," she writes, "never to own a slave; but, finding +that my mother could not manage Kitty, I undertook to do so, if I could +have her without any interference from anyone. This could not be unless +she was mine, and purely from notions of duty I consented to own her. +Soon after, one of my mother's servants quarrelled with her, and beat +her. I determined she should not be subject to such abuse, and I went +out to find her a place in some Christian family. My steps were ordered +by the Lord. I succeeded in my desire, and placed her with a religious +friend, where she was kindly treated." + +Afterwards, when the woman had become a good Methodist, Angelina +transferred the ownership to her mother, not wishing to receive the +woman's wages,--to take, as she said, money which that poor creature +had earned. + +There is no evidence that, up to the time of her first visit to +Philadelphia, in 1828, she saw anything sinful in owning slaves; +indeed, Sarah distinctly says she did not. She took the Bible as +authority for the right to own them, and their cruel treatment by their +masters was all that distressed her for many years. + +Like most of her young companions, Angelina had great respect for the +ordinary observances of religion without much devotional sense of its +sacred obligations. But Sarah did not neglect her duty as godmother. +Her searching inquiries and solemn warnings had their effect, and soon +awakened a slumbering conscience. But its upbraidings were not accepted +unquestionably by Angelina, as they had been by Sarah. They only stung +her into a desire for investigation. She must know the why; and her +strong self-reliance helped her judgment, and buoyed her up amid waves +of doubt and anxiety that would have submerged her more timid sister. + +In the first letter of hers that was preserved, written in January, +1826, we are introduced to her religious feelings, and find that they +were formed by the pattern set by Sarah, save that they lacked Sarah's +earnestness and sincere conviction. She acknowledges herself a poor, +miserable sinner, but the tone is that of confidence that she will come +out all right, and that it isn't really such a dreadful thing to be a +sinner after all. In this letter, too, she mentions the death of her +brother Benjamin, and in the same spirit in which Sarah wrote of it. + +"I was in Beaufort," she says, "when the news of my dear Ben's fate +arrived. You may well suppose it was a great shock to my feelings, but +I did not for one moment doubt all was right. This blow has been dealt +by the hand of mercy. We have been much comforted in this dispensation. +I have felt that it was good for me, and I think I have been thankful +for it." + +And further on: "If this affliction will only make Mary (Benjamin's +wife) a real Christian, how small will be the price of her salvation!" + +Poor Ben! heroic, self-sacrificing soul, he was not a professing +Christian. + +In this same letter she expresses the desire to become a communicant of +the Episcopal Church. + +But she did not wait for Sarah's answer. Before it came, she and one of +her sisters had joined the Church. This was in January. Before a month +had passed she began to be dissatisfied, and grew more and more so as +time went on. Why, it is not difficult to surmise. From having been +accustomed to much society and genial intercourse, she found herself, +from her own choice, shut out from it all, and imprisoned within the +rigid formalism and narrow exclusiveness of a proud, aristocratic +church society. The compensation of knowing herself a lamb of this +flock was not sufficient. She starved, she says, on the cold water of +Episcopacy, and, to her mother's distress, began going to the +Presbyterian church, just as Sarah had done. + +In April, she writes thus to her sister:-- + +"O, my dear mother, I have joyful news to tell you. God has given me a +new heart. He has renewed a right spirit within me. This is news which +has occasioned even the angels in heaven to rejoice; surely, then, as a +Christian, as my sister and my mother, you will also greatly rejoice. +For many years I hardened my heart, and would not listen to God's +admonitions to flee from the wrath to come. Now I feel as if I could +give up all for Christ, and that if I no longer live in conformity to +the world, I can be saved." + +She then states that this change was brought about by the preaching of +Mr. McDowell, the Presbyterian minister, and that she can never be +grateful enough, as his ministry had been blessed to the saving of her +soul. A little further on she adds:-- + +"The Presbyterians, I think, enjoy so many privileges that, on this +account, I would wish to be one. They have their monthly concert and +prayer-meetings, Bible-classes, weekly prayer-meetings, morning and +evening, and many more which spring from different circumstances. I +trust, my dear mother, you will approve of what I have done. I cannot +but think if I had been taking an improper step, my conscience would +have warned me of it, but, far otherwise, I have gone on my way +rejoicing. + +"Mr. Hanckel sent me a note and a tract persuasive of my remaining in +his church. The latter I think the most bigoted thing I ever read. He +said he would call and see me on the subject. I trust and believe God +will give me words whereby to refute his arguments. Brother Tom +sanctioned my change, for his liberal mind embraces all classes of +Christians in the arms of charity and love, and he thinks everyone +right to sit under that minister, and choose that form, which makes the +deepest impression on the heart. I feel that I have begun a great work, +and must be diligent. Adieu, my dear mother. You must write soon to +your daughter, and tell her all your mind on this subject." + +There is something very refreshing in all this, after poor Sarah's +pages of bitterness and self-reproach. At that time, at any rate, +Angelina enjoyed her religion. It was to her the fulfilment of promise. +Sarah experienced little of its satisfactions, and groaned and wept +under its requirements, from a sense of her utter unworthiness to +accept any of its blessings. And this difference between the sisters +continued always. Angelina knew that humility was the chief of the +Christian virtues, and often she believed she had attained to it; but +there was too much self-assertion, too much of the pride of power, in +her composition, to permit her to go down into the depths, and +prostrate herself in the dust as Sarah did. She could turn her full +gaze to the sun, and bask in its genial beams, while Sarah felt +unworthy to be touched by a single ray, and looked up to its light with +imploring but shaded eyes. + +In November, 1827, Sarah again visited Charleston. Her heart yearned +for Angelina, whose religious state excited her tenderest solicitude, +and called for her wisest counsel. For that enthusiastic young convert +was again running off the beaten track, and picking flaws in her new +doctrines. But there was another reason why Sarah desired to absent +herself from Philadelphia for a while. + +I can touch but lightly on this experience of her life, for her +sensitive soul quivered under any allusion to it; and though her diary +contains many references to it, they are chiefly in the form of prayers +for submission to her trial, and strength to bear it. But it was the +key-note to the dirge which sounded ever after in her heart, mingling +its mournful numbers with every joy, even after she had risen beyond +her religious horrors. + +For months she fought against this new snare of Satan, as she termed +it, this plain design to draw her thoughts from God, and compass her +destruction. The love of Christ should surely be enough for her, and +any craving for earthly affection was the evidence of an unsanctified +heart. In a delicate reference to this, in after years, she says:-- + +"It is a beautiful theory, but my experience belies it, that God can be +all in all to man. There are moments, diamond points in life, when God +fills the yearning soul, and supplies all our needs, through the +richness of his mercy in Christ Jesus. But human hearts are created for +human hearts to love and be loved by, and their claims are as true and +as sacred as those of the spirit." + +It was very soon after her first doubts concerning her worthiness to +accept the happiness offered to her that she determined to go to +Charleston and put her feelings to the test of absence and unbiased +reflection. The entry in her diary of November 22d is as follows:-- + +"Landed this morning in Charleston, and was welcomed by my dear mother +with tears of pleasure and tenderness, as she folded me once more to +her bosom. My dear sisters, too, greeted me with all the warmth of +affection. It is a blessing to find them all seriously disposed, and my +precious Angelina one of the Master's chosen vessels. What a mercy!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +The strong contrast between Sarah and Angelina Grimke was shown not +only in their religious feelings, but in their manner of treating the +ordinary concerns of life, and in carrying out their convictions of +duty. In her humility, and in her strong reliance on the "inner light," +Sarah refused to trust her own judgment, even in the merest trifles, +such as the lending of a book to a friend, postponing the writing of a +letter, or sweeping a room to-day, when it might be better to defer it +until to-morrow. She says of this: "Perhaps to some who have been led +by higher ways than I have been into a knowledge of the truth, it may +appear foolish to think of seeking direction in little things, but my +mind has for a long time been in a state in which I have often felt a +fear how I came in or went out, and I have found it a precious thing to +stop and consult the mind of truth, and be governed thereby." + +The following incident, one out of many, will illustrate the sincerity +of her conviction on this point. + +"In this frame of mind I went to meeting, and it being a rainy day I +took a large, handsome umbrella, which I had accepted from brother +Henry, accepted doubtfully, therefore wrongfully, and have never felt +quite easy to use it, which, however, I have done a few times. After I +was in meeting, I was much tried with a wandering mind, and every now +and then the umbrella would come before me, so that I sat trying to +wait on my God, and he showed me that I must not only give up this +little thing, but return it to brother. Glad to purchase peace, I +yielded; then the reasoner said I could put it away and not use it, but +this language was spoken: 'I have shown thee what was required of +thee.' It seemed to me that a little light came through a narrow +passage, when my will was subdued. Now this is a marvellous thing to +me, as marvellous as the dealings of the Lord with me in what may +appear great things." + +In a note she adds: "This little sacrifice was made. I sent the +umbrella with an affectionate note to brother, and believe it gave him +no offence to have it returned. And sweet has been the recompense--even +peace." + +Whenever she acted from her own impulses, she was very clever in +finding out some disappointment or mistake, which she could claim as a +punishment for her self-will. + +As sympathy was the strongest quality of her moral nature, she suffered +intensely when, impelled by a sense of duty, she offered a rebuke of +any kind. The tenderest pity stirred her heart for wrong-doers, and +though she never spared the sinner, it was always manifest that she +loved him while hating his sin. + +Angelina, on the other hand, was wonderfully well satisfied with her +own power of distinguishing right from wrong; this power being, she +believed, the gift of the Spirit to her. She sought her object, +dreading no consequences, and if disaster followed she comforted +herself with the feeling that she had acted according to her best +light. She was a faithful disciple of every cause she espoused, and +scrupulously exact in obeying even its implied provisions. In this +there was no hesitancy. No matter who was offended, or what sacrifices +to herself it involved, the law, the strict letter of the law, must be +carried out. + +In the early years of her religious life, she frequently felt called +upon to rebuke those about her. She did it unhesitatingly, and as a +righteous and an inflexible judge. + +In order to make these differences between the sisters more plain, +differences which harmonized singularly with their unity in other +respects, I shall be obliged, at the risk of wearying the reader, to +make some further extracts from their diaries, before entering upon +that portion of their lives in which they became so closely identified. + +After Sarah's return home, in 1827, we learn more of her mother and of +the family generally, and see, though with them, how far apart she +really was from them. The second entry in her diary at that date shows +the beginning of this. + +"23d. Have been favored with strength to absent myself from family +prayers. A great trial this to Angelina and myself, and something the +rest cannot understand. But I have a testimony to bear against will +worship, and oh, that I may be faithful to this and to all the +testimonies which we as a Society are called to declare. + +"26th. Am this day thirty-five years old. A serious consideration that +I have passed so many years to so little profit. + +"How little mother seems to know when I am sitting solemnly beside her, +of the supplications which arise for her, under the view of her having +ere long to give an account of the deeds done in the body." + +A month later she writes: "The subject of returning to Philadelphia has +been revived before me. It seems like a fresh trial, and as if, did my +Master permit, here would I stay, and in the bosom of my family be +content to dwell; but if he orders it otherwise, great as will be the +struggle, may I submit in humble faith." + +By the following extracts it will be seen that living under the daily +and hourly influence of Sarah, Angelina was slowly but surely imbibing +the fresh milk of Quakerism, and was preparing for another great change +on her spiritual journey. + +In March, 1828, she wrote as follows to her sister, Mrs. Frost, in +Philadelphia:-- + +"I think I can say that it was owing in a great measure to my peculiar +state of mind that I did not write to you for so long. During that time +it seemed as though the Lord was driving me from everything on which I +had rested for happiness, in order to bring me to Christ alone. My dear +little church, in which I delighted once to dwell, seemed to have +Ichabod written upon its walls, and I felt as though it was a cross for +me to go into it. At times I thought the Saviour meant to bring me out +of it, and I could weep at the bare thought of being separated from +people I loved so dearly. Like Abraham, I had gone out from my kindred +into a strange land, and I have often thought that by faith I was +joined to that body of Christians, for I certainly knew nothing at all +about them at that time." + +In the latter part of the letter she mentions the visit to her of an +Episcopal minister, from near Beaufort. He asked her if she could not +do something to remove the lukewarmness from the Episcopal Church, and +if a real evangelical minister was sent there would she not return to +it. "But," she says, "I told him I could not conscientiously belong to +any church which exalted itself above all others, and excluded +ministers of other denominations from its pulpit. The principle of +_liberty_ is what especially endears the Presbyterian church to me. Our +pulpit is open to all Christians, and, as I have often heard my dear +pastor remark, our communion table is the _Lord's table_, and all his +children are cheerfully received at it." + +About the same time Sarah says in her diary: "My dear Angelina observed +to-day, 'I do not know what is the matter with me; some time ago I +could talk to the poor people, but now it seems as if my lips were +absolutely sealed. I cannot get the words out.' I mark with intense +interest her progress in the divine life, believing she is raised up to +declare the wonderful works of God to the children of men." + +In the latter part of March, 1828, she makes the following entry: "On +the eve of my departure from home, all before me lies in darkness save +this one step, to go at this time in the _Langdon Cheeves_. This seems +peremptory, and at times precious promises have been annexed to +obedience,--'Go, and I will be with thee.'" + +Angelina had been very happy during the year spent in the Presbyterian +Church, all its requirements suiting her temperament exactly. Her +energy and activity found full exercise in various works of charity, in +visiting the prison, where she delighted to exhort the prisoners, in +reading, and especially in expounding the scriptures to the sick and +aged; in zealously forwarding missionary work, and in warm interest in +all the social exercises of the society. She was petted by the pastor, +and admired by the congregation. It was very pleasant to her to feel +that she not only conformed to all her duties, but was regarded as a +shining light, destined to do much to build up the church. She still +retained most of her old friendships in the Episcopal church, which had +not given up all hope of luring her back to its fold. Altogether, life +had gone smoothly with her, and she was well satisfied. The change +which she now contemplated was a revolution. It was to break up all the +old habits and associations, disturb life-long friendships, and, +stripping her of the attractions of society and church intercourse, +leave her standing alone, a spectacle to the eyes of those who gazed, a +wonder and a grief to her friends. But all this Sarah had warned her +of, and all this she felt able to endure. Self-sacrifice, +self-immolation, in fact, was what Sarah taught; and, although Angelina +never learned the lesson fully, she made a conscientious effort to +understand and practise it. She began very shortly after Sarah's +arrival at home. In January her diary records the following offering +made to the Moloch of Quakerism:-- + +"To-day I have torn up my novels. My mind has long been troubled about +them. I did not dare either to sell them or lend them out, and yet I +had not resolution to destroy them until this morning, when, in much +mercy, strength was granted." + +Sarah in her diary thus refers to this act: "This morning my dear +Angelina proposed destroying Scott's novels, which she had purchased +before she was serious. Perhaps I strengthened her a little, and +accordingly they were cut up. She also gave me some elegant articles to +stuff a cushion, believing that, as we were commanded to lead holy and +unblamable lives, so we must not sanction sin in others by giving them +what we had put away ourselves." + +Angelina also says, "A great deal of my finery, too, I have put beyond +the reach of anyone." + +An explanation of this is given in a copy of a paper which was put into +the cushion alluded to by Sarah. The copy is in her handwriting. + +"Believing that if ever the contents of this cushion, in the lapse of +years, come to be inspected (when, mayhap, its present covering should +be destroyed by time and service), they will excite some curiosity in +those who will behold the strange assemblage of handsome lace veils, +flounces, and trimmings, and caps, this may inform them that in the +winter of 1827-8, Sarah M. Grimke, being on a visit to her friends in +Charleston, undertook the economical task of making a rag carpet, and +with the shreds thereof concluded to stuff this cushion. Having made +known her intention, she solicited contributions from all the family, +which they furnished liberally, and several of them having relinquished +the vanities of the world to seek a better inheritance, they threw into +the treasury much which they had once used to decorate the poor +tabernacle of clay. Now it happened that on the 10th day of the first +month that, sitting at her work and industriously cutting her scraps, +her well-beloved sister Angelina proposed adding to the collection for +the cushion two handsome lace veils, a lace flounce, and other laces, +etc., which were accepted, and are accordingly in this medley. This has +been done under feelings of duty, believing that, as we are called with +a high and holy calling, and forbidden to adorn these bodies, but to +wear the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, as we have ourselves laid +aside these superfluities of naughtiness, so we should not in any +measure contribute to the destroying of others, knowing that we shall +be called to give an account of the deeds done in the body." + +This was at least consistent, and in this light cannot be condemned. +From that time Angelina kept up this kind of sacrifices, which were +gladly made, and for which she seems to have found ample compensation +in her satisfied sense of duty. + +One day she records: "I have just untrimmed my hat, and have put +nothing but a band of ribbon around it, and taken the lace out of the +inside. I do want, if I _am_ a Christian, to look like one. I think +that professors of religion ought so to dress that wherever they are +seen all around may feel they are _condemning_ the world and all its +trifling vanities." + +A little later, she writes: "My attention has lately been called to the +duty of Christians dressing _quite_ plain. When I was first brought to +the feet of Jesus, I learned this lesson in part, but I soon forgot +much of it. Now I find my views stricter and clearer than they ever +were. The first thing I gave up was a cashmere mantle which cost twenty +dollars. I had not felt easy with it for some months, and finally +determined never to wear it again, though I had no money at the time to +replace it with anything else. However, I gave it up in faith, and the +Lord provided for me. This part of Scripture came very forcibly to my +mind, and very sweetly, too, 'And Dagon was fallen upon his face to the +ground before the ark of the Lord.' It was then clearly revealed to me +that if the true ark Christ Jesus was really introduced into the temple +of the heart, that every idol would fall before it." + +Elsewhere she mentions that she had begun with this mantle by cutting +off the border; but this compromise did not satisfy conscience. + +But the work thus begun did not ripen until some time after Sarah's +departure, though the preparation for it went daily and silently on. + +Sarah in the meanwhile was once more quietly settled at Catherine +Morris' house in Philadelphia. + +But we must leave this much-tried pilgrim for a little while, and +record the progress of her young disciple on the path which, through +much tribulation, led her at last to her sister's side, and to that +work which was even now preparing for them both. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Angelina's diary, commenced in 1828, is most characteristic, and in the +very beginning shows that inclination to the consideration and +discussion of serious questions which in after years so distinguished +her. + +It is rather remarkable to find a girl of twenty-three scribbling over +several pages about the analogy existing between the natural and the +spiritual world, or discussing with herself the question: "Are seasons +of darkness always occasioned by sin?" or giving a long list of reasons +why she differs from commentators upon certain texts of scriptures. She +enjoyed this kind of thinking and writing, and seems to have been +unwearying in her search after authorities to sustain her views. The +maxims, too, which she was fond of jotting down here and there, and +which furnished the texts for long dissertations, show the serious +drift of her thoughts, and their clearness and beauty. + +From this time it is interesting to follow her spiritual progress, so +like and yet so unlike Sarah's. She, also, early in her religious life, +was impressed with the feeling that she would be called to some great +work. In the winter of 1828, she writes:-- + +"It does appear to me, and it has appeared so ever since I had a hope, +that there was a work before me to which all my other duties and trials +were only preparatory. I have no idea what it is, and I may be +mistaken, but it does seem that if I am obedient to the 'still small +voice' in my heart, that it will lead me and cause me to glorify my +Master in a more honorable work than any in which I have been yet +engaged." + +Knowing Sarah's convictions at this time, it is easy to imagine the +long, confidential talks she must have had with Angelina, and the +loving persuasion used to bring this dear sister into the same +communion with herself, and it is no marvel that she succeeded. +Angelina's nature was an earnest one, and she ever sought the truth, +and the best in every doctrine, and this remained with her after the +rest was rejected. The Presbyterian Church satisfied her better than +the Episcopal, but if Sarah or anyone else could show her a brighter +light to guide her, a better path leading to the same goal, she would +have thought it a heinous offence against God and her own true nature +to reject it. That no desire for novelty impelled her in her then +contemplated change, and that she foresaw all she would have to contend +with, and the sacrifices she would have to make, is evident from +several passages like the following:-- + +"Yesterday I was thrown into great exercise of mind. The Lord more +clearly than ever unfolded his design of appointing me another field of +labor, and at the same time I felt released from the cross of +conducting family worship. I feel that very soon all the burdens will +drop from my hands, and all the cords by which I have been bound to +many Christian friends will be broken asunder. Soon I shall be a +stranger among those with whom I took sweet counsel, and shall have to +tread the wine press alone and be forsaken of all." + +A day or two after she says:-- + +"This morning I felt no condemnation when I went into family prayers, +and did not lead as usual in the duties. I felt that my Master had +stripped me of the priest's garments, and put them on my mother. May He +be pleased to anoint her for these sacred duties." + +Her impressions may be accounted for by the influence of Sarah's +feelings regarding herself, and as there was then no other field of +public usefulness open to women, especially among the Quakers, than the +ministry, her mind naturally settled upon that as her prospective work. +But, unlike Sarah, the anticipation inspired her with no dread, no +doubt even of her ability to perform the duties, or of her entire +acceptance in them. It is true she craved of the Lord guidance and +help, but she was confident she would receive all she needed, and in +this state of mind she was better fitted, perhaps, to wait patiently +for her summons than Sarah was. + +She gives a minute and very interesting account of the successive steps +by which she was led to feel that she could no longer worship in the +Presbyterian Church, and we see the workings of Sarah's influence +through it all. But it was not until after Sarah left for Philadelphia +that Angelina took any decided measures to release herself from the old +bonds. All winter it had grieved her to think of leaving a church which +she had called the cradle of her soul, and where she had enjoyed so +many privileges. She loved everything connected with it; the pastor to +whom she had looked up as her spiritual guide; the members with whom +she had been so intimately associated, and the Sunday-school in which +she was much beloved, and where she felt she was doing a good work. +Again and again she asked herself: "How can I give them up?" + +Her friends all noticed the decline of her interest in the church work +and services, and commented upon it. But she shrank for a long time +from any open avowal of her change of views, preferring to let her +conduct tell the story. And in this she was straightforward and open +enough, not hesitating to act at once upon each new light as it was +given to her. First came the putting away of everything like ornament +about her dress. "Even the bows on my shoes," she says, "must go," and +then continues:-- + +"My friends tell me that I render myself ridiculous, and expose the +cause of Jesus to reproach, on account of my plain dressing. They tell +me it is wrong to make myself so conspicuous. But the more I ponder on +the subject, the more I feel that I am called with a high and holy +calling, and that I ought to be peculiar, and cannot be too zealous. I +rejoice to look forward to the time when Christians will follow the +apostolical injunction to 'keep their garments unspotted from the +world;' and is not every conformity to it a spot on the believer's +character? I think it is, and I bless the Lord that He has been pleased +to bring my mind to a contemplation of this subject. I pray that He may +strengthen me to keep the resolution to dress always in the following +style: A hat over the face, without any bows of ribbon or lace; no +frills or trimmings on any part of my dress, and materials _not_ the +finest." + +This simplicity in dress, and the sinfulness of every self-indulgence, +she also taught to her Sunday-school scholars with more or less +success, as one example out of several of a similar character will +show. + +"Yesterday," she writes, "I met my class, and think it was a profitable +meeting to all. One of them has entertained a hope for about a year. +She asked me if I thought it wrong to plant geraniums? I told her _I_ +had no time for such things. She then said that she had once taken +great pleasure in cultivating them, but lately she had felt so much +condemnation that she had given it up entirely. Another professed to +have some little hope in the Saviour, and remarked that I had changed +her views with regard to dress very much, that she had taken off her +rings and flounces, and hoped never to wear them again. Her hat also +distressed her. It was almost new, and she could not afford to get +another. I told her if she would send it to me I would try to change +it. Two others came who felt a little, but are still asleep. A good +work is evidently begun. May it be carried triumphantly on." + +Towards spring she began to absent herself from the weekly +prayer-meetings, to stop her active charities, and to withdraw herself +more from the family and social circle. In April she writes in her +diary:-- + +"My mind is composed, and I cannot but feel astonished at the total +change which has passed over me in the last six months. I once +delighted in going to meeting four and five times every week, but now +my Master says, 'Be still,' and I would rather be at home; for I find +that every stream from which I used to drink the waters of salvation is +dry, and that I have been led to the fountain itself. And is it +possible, I would ask myself to-night, is it possible that I have this +day paid my last visit to the Presbyterian Church? that I have taught +my interesting class for the last time? Is it right that I should +separate myself from a people whom I have loved so tenderly, and who +have been the helpers of my joy? Is it right to give up instructing +those dear children, whom I have so often carried in the arms of faith +and love to the throne of grace? Reason would sternly answer, _No_, but +the Spirit whispers, 'Come out from among them!' I am sure if I refuse +the call of my Master to the Society of Friends, I shall be a dead +member in the Presbyterian Church. I have read none of their books for +fear of being convinced of their principles, but the Lord has taught me +Himself, and I feel that He who is Head over all things, has called me +to follow Him into the little silent meeting which is in this city." + +And into the little silent meeting she went,--little, indeed, as the +only regular attendants were two old men; and silent, chiefly because +between these two there was a bitter feud, and the communion of spirit +was naturally preferred to vocal intercession. + +When Angelina became aware of this state of feeling, and saw that the +two old Quakers always left the meeting-house without shaking hands, as +it was the custom to do, she became much troubled, and for several +weeks much of the comfort of attending meeting was destroyed. "The more +I thought of it," she writes to Sarah, "the clearer became the +conviction that I must write to J.K. (the one with whom she was best +acquainted). This I did, after asking counsel of the Lord, for full +well did I know that I should expose myself to the anger and rudeness +of J.K., by touching on a point which I believed was already sore from +the prickings of conscience. His reply was even harsher than I +expected; but, though it did wound my feelings, it convinced me that he +needed just what I wrote, and that the pure witness within him +condemned him. My letter, I think, was written in conformity to the +direction given by Paul to Timothy, 'Rebuke not an _elder_, but entreat +him as a father,' and in a spirit of love and tenderness. His answer +spoke a spirit too proud to brook even the meekest remonstrance, and he +tried to justify his conduct by saying that D.L. was a thief and a +slave-holder, and had cheated him out of a large sum of money, etc. I +answered him, expressing my belief that, let D.L.'s moral character be +what it might, the Christian ought to be gentle and courteous to all +men; and that we were bound to love our enemies, which was not at all +inconsistent with the obligation to bear a decided testimony against +all that we believed contrary to the precepts of the Bible. He sent me +another letter, in which he declared D.L. was to him as a 'heathen and +a publican,' and I was a 'busybody in other men's matters.' Here I +think the matter will end. I feel that I have done what was required of +me, and I am willing he should think of me as he does, so long as I +enjoy the testimony of a good conscience." + +We cannot wonder that Angelina drew upon herself, as Sarah had done, +the arrows of ridicule; and that taunts and sneers followed her, as she +walked alone in her simple dress to her humble place of worship. But we +marvel that one situated as she was,--young, naturally gay and +brilliant, the centre of a large circle of fashionable friends, the ewe +lamb of an influential religious society,--should have unflinchingly +maintained her position under persecutions and trials that would have +made many an older disciple succumb. That they were martyrdom to her +proud spirit there can be no doubt; but, sustained by the inner light, +the conviction that she was right, she could put every temptation +behind her, and resist even the prayers and tears of her mother. + +Her withdrawal from the Presbyterian Church caused the most intense +excitement in the community, and every effort was made to reclaim her. + +The Rev. Mr. McDowell, her pastor, visited her, and remonstrated with +her in the most feeling manner, assuring her of his profound pity, as +she was evidently under a delusion of the arch-adversary. Members of +the congregation made repeated calls upon her, urging every argument +they could think of to convince her she was deceived. Some expressed a +fear that her mind was a little unbalanced, and shook their heads over +the possible result; others declared that she was committing a great +impropriety to shut herself up every Sunday with two old men. This, +Angelina informed them, was a mistake, as the windows and doors were +wide open, and the gate also. Others of her friends assured her with +tears in their eyes that they would pray to the Lord to bring her back +to the path of duty she had forsaken. + +The superintendent of the Sunday-school came also to plead with her, in +the name of the children she was abandoning. Some of the scholars +themselves came and implored her not to leave them. + +"But," she writes, "none of these things turn me a hair's breadth, for +I have the witness in myself that I have done as the Master commanded. +Some tell me this is a judgment on me for sin committed; and some say +it is a chastisement to Mr. McDowell for going away last summer." + +(During the prevalence of an epidemic the summer before, the +Presbyterian pastor had been much blamed for deserting his flock and +fleeing to the sea-shore until all danger was past.) + +By all this it will be seen that Angelina was regarded as too precious +a jewel in the crown of the Church to be relinquished without a +struggle. + +But satisfied as was her conscience, Angelina's natural feelings could +not be immediately stifled. Though not so sensitive or so affectionate +as Sarah, she was quite as proud, and valued as greatly the good +opinion of her family and friends. She could not feel herself an +outcast, an object of pity and derision, without being deeply affected +by it. Her health gave way under the pressure, and a change of scene +and climate was recommended. Sarah at once urged that she join her in +Philadelphia; and, this meeting the approbation of her mother, she +sailed for the North in July (1828). + +In Sarah's diary, about this time, we find the following entry:-- + +"13th. My beloved Angelina arrived yesterday. Peace has, I believe, +been the covering of our minds; and in thinking of her to-day, and +trying to feel whether I should advise her not to adopt immediately the +garb of a Quaker, the language presented itself, 'Touch not mine +anointed, and do my prophets no harm.' So I dared not meddle with her." + +The summer was a peaceful and delightful one to Angelina. She was the +guest of Catherine Morris, and was treated like a daughter by all the +kind Quaker circle. The novelty of her surroundings, the fresh scenes +and new ideas constantly presented before her, opened up a field of +thought whose boundaries only she had until then touched, but which she +soon began eagerly and conscientiously to explore. Two extracts from +letters written by her at that time will show how strict she was in her +Quaker principles, and also that the persuasion that she was to be +given some great work to do was becoming even more firmly grounded. + +To Sarah, who was absent from her for a short time, she writes:-- + +"Dear Mother: My mind begins to be much exercised. I scarcely want to +converse at all, and believe it best I should be much alone. Sister +Anna is very kind in leaving me to myself. She appears to feel much for +me, but I do not feel at liberty to ask her what occasions the tears +which at times flow as she throws her arms around me. I sometimes think +she sees more than I do about myself. I often tremble when I think of +the future, and fear that I am not entirely resigned to my Master's +will. Read the first chapter of Jeremiah; it rests much on my mind, and +distresses me; and though I would wish to put far off the evil day, yet +I am urged continually to pray that the Lord would cut short the work +of preparation." + +Her sister Anna (Mrs. Frost) was one of those who thought Angelina was +under a terrible delusion, and mourned over her wasted energies. But it +is certainly singular that the chapter to which she refers, taken in +connection with the work with which she afterwards became identified, +should have made the impression on her mind which it evidently did, as +she repeatedly alludes to it. This letter is the last in which she +addresses Sarah as _mother_. Their Quaker friends all objected to the +habit, and it was dropped. + +In another letter she describes a visit she made to a friend in the +country, and says:-- + +"I have already had reason to feel my great need of watchfulness here. +Yesterday the nurse gave me a cap to tuck and trim for the baby. My +hands actually trembled as I worked on it, and yet I had not +faithfulness enough to refuse to do it. This text was repeatedly +presented to me, 'Happy is he who condemneth not himself in that thing +which he alloweth.' While working, my heart was lifted up to the Father +of mercies for strength to bear my testimony against such vanities; and +when I put the cap into Clara's hands, I begged her not to give me any +more such work to do, as I felt it a duty to bear my testimony against +dress, and believed it sinful in me to assist anyone in doing what I +was convinced was sinful, and assured her of my willingness to do any +plain work. She laughed at my scruples, but my agitated mind was +calmed, and I was satisfied to be thought foolish for Christ's sake. +Thomas (Clara's husband) and I had along talk about Quakers yesterday. +I tried to convince him that they do not reject the Bible, explained +the reason of their not calling it the word of God, and got him to +acknowledge that in several texts I repeated the word was the Spirit. +We conversed on the ordinances. He did not argue much for them, but was +immovable in his opinions. He thinks if all Quakers were like _me_, he +could like them, but believes I have carried all the good of +Presbyterianism into the Society, therefore they cannot be judged of by +me." + +On the 11th of November Sarah writes: "Parted with my dearly beloved +sister Angelina this afternoon. We have been one another's consolation +and strength in the Lord, mingling sweetly in exercise, and bearing one +another's burdens." + +The first entry in Angelina's diary after her return to Charleston is +as follows: "Once more in the bosom of my family. My prayer is that our +coming together may be for the better, not for the worse." + +Considering the agitation which had been going on at the North for +several years concerning slavery, we must suppose that Angelina and +Sarah Grimke heard it frequently discussed, and had its features +brought before them in a stronger light than that in which they had +previously viewed them. In Sarah's mind, absorbed as it was at that +time by her own sorrows and by the deeply-rooted conviction of her +prospective and dreaded call to the ministry, there appears to have +been no room for any other subject, if we except the strife then going +on in the Quaker Church, and which called forth all her sympathy for +the Orthodox portion, and her strong denunciation of the Hicksites. But +upon Angelina every word she heard against the institution which she +had always abhorred, but accepted as a necessary evil, made an +indelible impression, which deepened when she was again face to face +with its odious lineaments. This begins to show itself soon after her +return home, as will be seen by the following extract:-- + +"Since my arrival I have enjoyed a continuation of that rest from +exercise of mind which began last spring, until to-night. My soul is +sorrowful, and my heart bleeds. I am ready to exclaim, When shall I be +released from this land of slavery! But if my suffering for these poor +creatures can at all ameliorate their condition, surely I ought to be +quite willing, and I can now bless the Lord that my labor is not all in +vain, though much remains to be done yet." + +The secluded and inactive life she now led confirmed the opinion of her +Presbyterian friends that she was a backslider in the divine life. + +I must reserve for another chapter the recital of Angelina's efforts to +open the eyes of the members of her household to the unchristian life +they were leading, and the sins they were multiplying on their heads by +their treatments of those they held in bondage. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Many things about the home life which habit had prevented Angelina from +remarking before, now, since her visit among Friends, struck her as +sinful, and inconsistent with a Christian profession. Only a few days +after her return, she thus writes in her diary:-- + +"I am much tried at times at the manner in which I am obliged to live +here in so much luxury and ease, and raised so far above the poor, and +spending so much on my board. I want to live in plainness and +simplicity and economy, for so should every Christian do. I am at a +loss how to act, for if I live with mother, which seems the proper +place for me, I must live in this way in a great degree. It is true I +can always take the plainest food, and this I do generally, believing +that whether at home or abroad I ought to eat nothing I think too +sumptuous for a _servant_ of Jesus Christ. For this reason, when I took +tea at a minister's house a few evenings since, I did not touch the +richest cakes, nor the fruit and nuts handed, after tea; and when +paying a visit the other morning, I refused cake and wine, although I +felt fatigued, and would have liked something plain to eat. But it is +not only the food I eat at mother's, but the whole style of living is a +direct departure from the simplicity that is in Christ. The Lord's poor +tell me they do not like to come to such a fine house to see me; and if +they come, instead of being able to read a lesson of frugality, and +deadness to the world, they must go away lamenting over the +inconsistency of a sister professor. One thing is very hard to bear--I +feel obliged to pay five dollars a week for board, though I disapprove +of this extravagance, and am actually accessory in maintaining this +style of living, when I know it is wrong, and am thereby prevented from +giving to the poor as liberally as I would like." + +She and Sarah had for several years, when at home, paid board regularly +to their mother, and this was probably one thing which irritated the +other members of the family, several of whom were living in idleness on +their mother, doing nothing and paying nothing. The brothers at least +could not but feel the implied rebuke. As we have seen, she was not at +all backward in expressing her disapprobation, when she found her +silent testimony was disregarded or misunderstood; and her language was +generally rather forcible. This, of course, was trying to those who did +not see the necessity of living according to her standard, and very +trying to Angelina, whose convictions were clear, and whose interest in +her relatives was as tender as it was sincere. Scarcely a day passed +that something did not occur to wound her feelings, shock her religious +prejudices, or arouse her righteous indignation. Slavery was always the +cause of the latter, and for the others ample reason was to be found in +what she styled the vain lusts of the world, and in the coldness and +irritability of some members of the family. Unrestrained +self-indulgence, joined to high-strung and undisciplined tempers, made +of what should have been a united, bright, and charming home circle, a +place of constant discord, jealousy, and unhappiness. + +Sarah had borne this state of things better than Angelina could, her +extreme gentleness and kindness disarming all unkind feelings in +others. But even she was forced to flee from it at last. The record is +a most painful one, and it gives another evidence of Angelina's sense +of her own power, and of her reliance on divine help, that she should +for one moment have contemplated effecting any change. But the respite +from those dissensions, and the rest thus given to her spirit by her +visit North, softened the bitter feelings she had once entertained, and +when she returned home it was with sentiments of affection for +everyone, and especially for her mother, from whom she had been +grievously estranged. She prayed that she might not do or say anything +to alienate them further from her; but when she fully realized, as she +had never yet done, the sad condition of things, she could not keep +silent. She felt it her duty to speak, and she did so, kindly and +affectionately, but unsparingly. She relates many incidents proving +this, and showing also how badly her reproofs were received. The +mistake she made, and which in after years she freely acknowledged, was +in excess of zeal. But Angelina was a born radical, and if a thing was +wrong, it was wrong, and she could not see why it should not be righted +at once. Temporizing with a wrong, or compromising with it in any way, +were things outside of her reasoning, and she never would admit that +they were justifiable under any circumstances. It was, of course, +difficult to apply this principle in the desired reform of her mother's +inherited and life-long prejudices. Hence the incessant chafing and +irritation which daily made Angelina feel more keenly her isolated +position, and caused her to turn with increasing longing to the North, +where her beloved sister and many dear friends were in sympathy with +her. + +To illustrate what I have said, one or two examples will be sufficient. +She was much troubled because her mother had the drawing-room repainted +and handsomely papered. Mrs. Grimke doubtless selected a paper in +harmony with the house and furniture, and had no suspicion that she was +thereby committing a sin. But Angelina thought it entirely too fine, +and felt that she could never sit in the room. When the work was at +last finished, and some friends were invited to tea, and afterwards +repaired to the newly-decorated apartment, Angelina did not accompany +them, but remained below, reading alone, much disturbed during the +evening by the talking and laughing up stairs. Her mother did not +notice her absence, or ascribed it to some other cause; but Angelina +explained it to her some time afterwards, when, she says, a way seemed +to open for it. + +"I spoke to her of how great a trial it was to me to see her living in +the luxury she did, and explained to her that it was not, as she seemed +to think, because I did not wish to see brother John and sister Sally +that I was tried at their dining here every week, but it was the parade +and profusion which was displayed when they came. I spoke also of the +drawing-room, and remarked it was as much my feeling about _that_ which +had prevented my coming into the room when M.A. and others drank tea +here, as my objection to fashionable company. She said it was very hard +that she could not give her children what food she chose, or have a +room papered, without being found fault with; that, indeed, she was +weary of being continually blamed about everything she did, and she +wished she could be let alone, for she saw no sin in these things. 'I +trust,' I said, 'that I do not speak to thee, mother, in the spirit +thou art now speaking to me; nothing but my conviction that I am bound +to bear my testimony to the truth could induce me to find fault with +thee. In doing so, I am acting with eternity in view. I am acting in +reference to that awful hour when I shall stand at thy death-bed, or +thou by mine.' Interrupting me, she said if _I_ was so constantly found +fault with, I would not bear it either; for her part, she was quite +discouraged. 'Oh, mother,' said I, 'there is something in thee so +alienated from the love of Christ that thou canst not bear to be found +fault with.' 'Yes,' she said, 'you and Sally always say _I_ speak in a +wrong spirit, but both of you in a right one.' She then went on to say +how much I was changed, about slavery, for instance, for when I was +first serious I thought it was right, and never condemned it. I replied +that I acted according to the light I had. 'Well, then,' she continued, +'you are not to expect everyone to think like Quakers.' I remarked that +true believers had but one leader, who would, if they followed Him, +guide them into all truth, and teach them the same things. She again +spoke of my turning Quaker, and said it was because I was a Quaker that +I disapproved of a great many things that nobody but Quakers could see +any harm in. I was much roused at this, and said with a good deal of +energy, 'Dear mother, what but the _power_ of God could ever have made +_me_ change my sentiments?' Some very painful conversation followed +about Kitty. I did not hesitate to say that no one with _Christian_ +feelings could have treated her as she was treated before I took her; +her condition was a disgrace to the name of Christian. She reminded me +that _I_ had advised the very method that had been adopted with her. +This stung me to the quick. 'Not after I professed Christianity,' I +eagerly replied, 'and that I should have done so before, only proved +the wretched manner of my education.' But mother is perfectly blind as +to the miserable manner in which she brought us up. During the latter +part of the conversation I was greatly excited, for so acute have been +my sufferings on account of slavery, and so strong my feelings of +indignation in looking upon its oppressions and degradations, that I +cannot command my feelings in speaking of what my own eyes have seen, +and thus, I believe, I lost the satisfaction I should otherwise have +felt for speaking the truth." + +Though constantly disregarded, taunted, and thwarted, Angelina +faithfully persevered in her efforts at reform, at the same time as +faithfully striving after more meekness and singleness of purpose +herself. + +After a while, she obtained two concessions from which she hoped much: +one, that the servants should come to her in the library every day for +religious instruction; the other, that her mother would sit with her in +silence every evening for half an hour before tea. + +The servants came as directed, and Angelina made her instructions so +interesting that soon some of the neighbors' servants asked to be +admitted, and then her mother and one or two of her sisters joined the +meetings; and though no very marked fruit of her labors appeared for +some time, she persevered, with a firm faith that the seed she was +sowing would not all be scattered to the winds. + +The proposal to her mother to sit in silence for a while with her every +evening was in accordance with the Quaker practices. She thought they +would both find it profitable, and that it would be the means of +forming a bond of union between them. The mother's assent to this was +certainly an amiable concession to her daughter's views, enhanced by +the regularity with which she kept the appointment, although the dark, +silent room must have been at times a trifle wearisome. Angelina always +sat on a low seat beside her, with her head in her mother's lap, and +very rarely was the silence broken. The practice was kept up until the +mosquitoes obliged them to discontinue it. That it did not prove +entirely satisfactory, we judge from several entries in the diary like +the following:-- + +"I still sit in silence with dear mother, but feel very sensibly that +she takes no interest at all in it; still, I do not like to relinquish +the habit, believing it may yet be blessed. Eliza came this evening, as +she has several times before. It was a season of great deadness, and +yet I am glad to sit even thus, for where there is communion there will +be some union." + +Her position was certainly a difficult and a painful one; for, apart +from other troubles, her eyes were now fully open to all the iniquities +of the slave system, and she could neither stay in nor go out without +having some of its miserable features forced upon her notice. In the +view of her after-work, it is interesting to note the beginning of her +strong feelings on the subject, as well as her faithful crusades +against it in her own family. In April, 1829, she writes as follows in +her diary:-- + +"Whilst returning from meeting this morning, I saw before me a colored +woman who in much distress was vindicating herself to two white boys, +one about eighteen, the other fifteen, who walked on each side of her. +The dreadful apprehension that they were leading her to the workhouse +crossed my mind, and I would have avoided her if I could. As I +approached, the younger said to her, 'I will have you tied up.' My +knees smote together, and my heart sank within me. As I passed them, +she exclaimed, 'Missis!' But I felt all I had to do was to suffer the +pain of seeing her. My lips were sealed, and my soul earnestly craved a +willingness to bear the exercise which was laid on me. How long, O +Lord, how long wilt thou suffer the foot of the oppressor to stand on +the neck of the slave! None but those who know from experience what it +is to live in a land of bondage can form any idea of what is endured by +those whose eyes are open to the enormities of slavery, and whose +hearts are tender enough to feel for these miserable creatures. For two +or three months after my return here it seemed to me that all the +cruelty and unkindness which I had from my infancy seen practised +towards them came back to my mind as though it was only yesterday. And +as to the house of correction, it seemed as though its doors were +unbarred to me, and the wretched, lacerated inmates of its cold, dark +cells were presented to my view. Night and day they were before me, and +yet my hands were bound as with chains of iron. I could do nothing but +weep over the scenes of horror which passed in review before my mind. +Sometimes I felt as though I was willing to fly from Carolina, be the +consequences what they might. At others, it seemed as though the very +exercises I was suffering under were preparing me for future usefulness +to them; and this,--_hope_, I can scarcely call it, for my very soul +trembled at the solemn thought of such a work being placed in my feeble +and unworthy hands,--this idea was the means of reconciling me to +suffer, and causing me to feel something of a willingness to pass +through any trials, if I could only be the means of exposing the +cruelty and injustice which was practised in the institution of +oppression, and of bringing to light the hidden things of darkness, of +revealing the secrets of iniquity and abolishing its present +regulations,--above all, of exposing the awful sin of professors of +religion sending their slaves to such a place of cruelty, and having +them whipped so that when they come out they can scarcely walk, or +having them put upon the treadmill until they are lamed for days +afterwards. These are not things I have heard; no, my own eyes have +looked upon them and wept over them. Such was the opinion I formed of +the workhouse that for many months whilst I was a teacher in the +Sunday-school, having a scholar in my class who was the daughter of the +master of it, I had frequent occasion to go to it to mark her lessons, +and no one can imagine my feelings in walking down that street. It +seemed as though I was walking on the very confines of hell; and this +winter, being obliged to pass it to pay a visit to a friend, I suffered +so much that I could not get over it for days, and wondered how any +real Christian could live near such a place." + +It may appear to some who read this biography that Angelina's +expressions of feeling were over-strained. But it was not so. Her +nervous organization was exceedingly delicate, and became more so after +she began to give her best thoughts to the cause of humanity. In her +own realization, at least, of the suffering of others there was no +exaggeration. + +Not long after making the above record of her feelings on this subject, +she narrates the following incident:-- + +"I have been suffering for the last two days on account of Henry's boy +having run away, because he was threatened with a whipping. Oh, who can +paint the horrors of slavery! And yet, so hard is the natural heart +that I am constantly told that the situation of slaves is very good, +much better than that of their owners. How strange that anyone should +believe such an absurdity, or try to make others believe it! No wonder +poor John ran away at the threat of a flogging, when he has told me +more than once that when H. last whipped him he was in pain for a week +afterwards. I don't know how the boy must have felt, but I know that +that night was one of agony to me; for it was not only dreadful to hear +the blows, but the oaths and curses H. uttered went like daggers to my +heart. And this was done, too, in the house of one who is regarded as a +light in the church. O Jesus, where is thy meek and merciful +disposition to be found now? Are the marks of discipleship changed, or +who are thy true disciples? Last night I lay awake weeping over the +condition of John, and it seemed as though that was all I could do. But +at last I was directed to go to H. and tenderly remonstrate with him. I +sought strength, and was willing to do so, if the impression continued. +To-day, was somewhat released from this exercise, though still +suffering, and almost thought it would not be required. But at dusk it +returned; and, having occasion to go into H.'s room for something, I +broached the subject as guardedly and mildly as possible, first passing +my arm around him, and leaning my head on his shoulder. He very openly +acknowledged that he meant to give John such a whipping as would cure +him of ever doing the same thing again, and that he deserved to be +whipped until he could not stand. I said that would be treating him +worse than he would treat his horse. He now became excited, and replied +that he considered his horse no comparison better than John, and would +_not_ treat _it_ so. By this time my heart was full, and I felt so much +overcome as to be compelled to seat myself, or rather to fall into a +chair before him, but I don't think he observed this. The conversation +proceeded. I pleaded the cause of humanity. He grew very angry, and +said I had no business to be meddling with him, that he never did so +with me. I said if I had ever done anything to offend him I was very +sorry for it, but I had tried to do everything to please him. He said I +had come from the North expressly to be miserable myself and make +everyone in the house so, and that I had much better go and live at the +North. I told him that I was not ignorant that both C. and himself +would be very glad if I did, and that as soon as I felt released from +Carolina I would go; but that I had believed it my duty to return this +winter, though I knew I was coming back to suffer. He again accused me +of meddling with his private affairs, which he said I had no right to +do. I told him I could not but lift up my voice against his manner of +treating John. He said rather than suffer the continual condemnation of +his conduct by me, he would leave mother's house. I appealed to the +witness in his own bosom as to the truth of what I urged. To my +surprise he readily acknowledged that he felt something within him +which fully met all I asserted, and that I had harrowed his feelings +and made him wretched. Much more passed. I alluded to his neglect of +me, and testified that I had experienced no feeling but that of love +towards him and all the family, and a desire to do all I could to +oblige them; and I left the room in tears. I retired to bless my +Saviour for the strength he had granted, and to implore his continued +support." + +"7th. Surely my heart ought to be lifted to my blessed Master in +emotions of gratitude and praise. His boy came home last night a short +time after our conversation, and instead of punishing him, as I am +certain he intended to do, he merely told him to go about his business. +I was amazed last night after all my sufferings were over, and I was +made willing to leave all things in my Father's hands, to see John in +the house. This was a renewed proof to me how necessary it is for us to +watch for the right _time_ in which to do things. If I had not spoken +just when I did, I could not have done so before John's return. He has +escaped entirely.... Oh, how earnestly two nights ago did I pray for a +release from this land of slavery, and how my heart still pants after +it! And yet, I think, I trust it is in submission to my Heavenly +Father's will. I feel comfortable to-night; my relief from suffering +about John is so great that other trials seem too light to name." + +"8th. My heart sings aloud for joy. I feel the sweet testimony of a +good conscience, the reward of obedience in speaking to H. Dear boy, he +has good, tender feelings naturally, but a false education has nearly +destroyed them, and his own perverted judgment as to what is manly and +what is necessary in the government of slaves has done the rest. Lord, +open thou his eyes." + +On the 13th of March she says: "To-day, for the first time, I ironed my +clothes, and felt as though it was an acceptable sacrifice. This seemed +part of the preparation for my removal to the North. I felt fearful +lest this object was a stronger incentive to me than the desire to +glorify my divine Master." + +There was doubtless some truth in the charge brought against her by her +brothers, that her face was a perpetual condemnation of them. Referring +to a call she received from some friends, she says:-- + +"An emptiness and vapidness pervaded all they said about religion. I +was silent most of the time, and fear what I did say sprang from a +feeling of too great indignation. Just before they went away, I joined +in a joke; much condemnation was felt, for the language to me +constantly is, 'I have called _thee_ with a _high_ and _holy_ calling,' +and it seems as though solemnity ought always to pervade my mind too +much to allow me ever to joke, but my natural vivacity is hard to +bridle and subdue." + +The bond between Sarah and Angelina was growing stronger every day, +their separation in matters of religion from the other members of the +family serving more than anything else to draw them closely and +lovingly together. Every letter from Sarah was hailed as a messenger of +peace and joy, and to her Angelina turned for counsel and sympathy. It +is very pleasant to read such words as the following, and know that +they expressed the inmost feelings of Angelina's heart:-- + +"Thou art, dearest, my best beloved, and often does my heart expand +with gratitude to the Giver of all good for the gift of such a friend, +who has been the helper of my joy and the lifter up of my hands when +they were ready to hang down in hopeless despair. Often do I look back +to those days of conflict and suffering through which I passed last +winter, when thou alone seemed to know of the deep baptisms wherewith I +was baptized, and to be qualified to speak the words of encouragement +and reproof which I believe were blessed to my poor soul. + +"I received another long letter from thee this afternoon. I cannot tell +thee what a consolation thy letters are to her who feels like an exile, +a stranger in the place of her nativity, 'as unknown, and yet well +known,' and one of the very least where she was once among the +greatest." + +In one of her letters, written soon after her return home, she thus +speaks of her Quaker dress:-- + +"I thought I should find it so trying to dress like a Quaker here; but +it has been made so easy that if it is a cross I do not feel the weight +of it.... It appears to me that at present I am to be little and +unknown, and that the most that is required of me is that I bear a +decided testimony against dress. I am literally as a wonder unto many, +but though I am as a gazing-stock--perhaps a laughing-stock--in the +midst of them, yet I scarcely feel it, so sensible am I of the presence +and approbation of Him for whose sake I count it a high privilege to +endure scorn and derision. I begin to feel that it is a solemn thing +even to dress like a Quaker, as by so doing I profess a belief in the +purest principles of the Bible, and warrant the expectation in others +that my life will exhibit to all around those principles drawn out in +living characters." + +There is a pride of conscience in all this, strongly contrasting with +Sarah's want of self-confidence when travelling the same path. If +Angelina suffered for her religion, no one suspected it, and for this +very reason she was enabled to exert a stronger influence upon those +about her than Sarah ever could have done. She herself saw the great +points of difference between them, and frequently alluded to them. On +one page of her diary she writes:-- + +"I have been reading dear sister's diary the last two days, and find +she has suffered great conflict of mind, particularly about her call to +the ministry, and I am led to look at the contrast between our feelings +on the subject. I clearly saw winter before last that my having been +appointed to this work was the great reason why I was called out of the +Presbyterian Society, but I don't think my will has ever rebelled +against it. + +"So far from murmuring against the appointment, I have felt exceedingly +impatient at not being permitted to enter upon my work at once; and +this is probably an evidence that I am not prepared for it. But it is +hard for me to _be_ and to _do_ nothing. My restless, ambitious temper, +so different from dear sister's, craves high duties and high +attainments, and I have at times thought that this ambition was a +motive to me to do my duty and submit my will. The hope of attaining to +great eminence in the divine life has often prompted me to give up in +little things, to bend to existing circumstances, to be willing for the +time to be trampled upon. These are my temptations. For a long time it +seemed to me I did everything from a hope of applause. I could not even +write in my diary without a feeling that I was doing it in the hope +that it would one day meet the eye of the public. Last winter I wrote +more freely in it, and am still permitted to do so. Very often, when +thinking of my useless state at present, something of disappointment is +felt that I am as nothing, and this language has been presented with +force, 'Seekest thou great things for thyself, seek them not.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +At this time of her life, ere a single sorrow had thrown its shadow +across her heart, and all her tears were shed for other's woes, we see +very distinctly Angelina's peculiar characteristics. Her +conscientiousness and her pride are especially conspicuous. The former, +with its attendant sacrifices at the shrine of religious principle, had +the effect of silencing criticism after a while, and inspiring a +respect which touched upon veneration. One of her sisters, in referring +to this, says:-- + +"Though we considered her views entirely irrational, yet so absolute +was her sense of duty, her superiority to public sentiment, and her +moral courage, that she seemed to us almost like one inspired, and we +all came to look upon her with a feeling of awe." + +Of her pride--"that stumbling block," as she calls it, to Christian +meekness--she herself writes:-- + +"My pride is my bane. In examining myself, I blush to confess this +fault, so great do I find its proportions. I am all pride, and I fear I +am even proud of my pride." + +But hers was not the pride that includes personal vanity or the desire +for the applause of the multitude, for of these two elements few ever +had less; neither was there any haughtiness in it, only the dignity +which comes from the conscious possession of rare advantages, joined to +the desire to use them to the glory of something better than self. +Still it was pride, and, in her eyes, sinful, and called for all her +efforts to subdue its manifestations. It especially troubled her +whenever she entered into any argument or discussion, both of which she +was rather fond of inviting. She knew full well her intellectual power, +and thoroughly enjoyed its exercise. + +I regret that space does not permit me to copy her discussion with the +Rev. Mr. McDowell on Presbyterianism; her answers to the questions +given her when arraigned before the Sessions for having left the +Church; her conversation on Orthodoxy with some Hicksites who called on +her, and her arguments on silent worship. They all show remarkable +reasoning power, great lucidity of thought, and great faculty of +expression for so young a woman. + +But, interesting as is the whole history of Angelina's last year in +Charleston, I may not dwell longer upon it, but hasten towards that +period when the reason for all this mental and spiritual preparation +was made manifest in the work in which she became as a "light upon the +hill top," and, which, as long as it lasted, filled the measure of her +desires full to the brim. + +As it is important to show just what her views and feelings about +slavery were at this time, and as they can be better narrated in her +own words than in mine, I shall quote from her diary and a few letters +all that relates to the subject. + +In May, 1829, we find this short sentence in her diary:-- + +"May it not be laid down as an axiom, that that system must be +radically wrong which can only be supported by transgressing the laws +of God." + +"3d Mo. 20th. Could I think I was in the least advancing the glory of +God by staying here, I think I would be satisfied, but I am doing +nothing. Though 'the fields are white for harvest, yet am I standing +idle in the market place.' I am often tempted to ask, Why am I kept in +such a situation, a poor unworthy worm, feeding on luxuries my soul +abhors, tended by slaves, who (I think) I would rather serve than be +served by, and whose bondage I deeply deplore? Oh! why am I kept in +Carolina? But the answer seems to be: 'I have set thee as a sign to the +people.' Lord, give me patience to stand still." + +"29th. At times slavery is a heavy burden to my heart. Last night I was +led to speak of this subject, of all others the sorest on which to +touch a Carolinian. The depravity of slaves was spoken of with +contempt, and one said they were fitted to hold no other place than the +one they do. I asked what had made them so depraved? Was it not because +of their degraded situations, and was it not white people who had +placed them and kept them in this situation, and were _they_ not to +blame for it? Was it not a fact that the minds of slaves were totally +uncultivated, and their souls no more cared for by their owners than if +they had none? Was it not true that, in order to restrain them from +vice, coercion was employed instead of the moral restraint which, if +proper instruction had been given them, would have guarded them against +evil? 'I wish,' exclaimed one, 'that you would never speak on the +subject.' 'And why?' I asked. 'Because you speak in such a serious +way,' she replied. 'Truth cuts deep into the heart,' I said, and this +is no doubt the reason why no one likes to hear me express my +sentiments, but I did feel it my duty to bear a decided testimony +against an institution which I believe altogether contrary to the +spirit of the Gospel; for it was a system which nourished the worst +passions of the human heart, a system which sanctioned the daily +trampling under foot of the feelings of our fellow creatures. 'But,' +said one, 'it is exceedingly imprudent in you to speak as you do.' I +replied I was not speaking before servants, I was speaking only to +owners, whom I wished to know my sentiments; this wrong had long enough +been covered up, and I was not afraid or ashamed to have any one know +my sentiments--they were drawn from the Bible. I also took occasion to +speak very plainly to sister Mary about the bad feeling she had towards +negroes, and told her, though she wished to get rid of them, and would +be glad to see them _shipped_, as she called it, that this wish did not +spring from pure Christian benevolence. My heart was very heavy after +this conversation." + +"3d Mo. 31st. Yesterday was a day of suffering. My soul was exceedingly +sorrowful, and out of the depths of it, I cried unto the Lord that He +would make a way for me to escape from this land of slavery. Is there +any suffering so great as that of seeing the rights and feelings of our +fellow creatures trodden under foot, without being able to rescue them +from bondage? How clear it is to my mind that slaves can be controlled +only by one of two principles,--fear or love. As to moral restraint, +they know nothing of it, for they are not taught to act from principle. +I feel as though I had nothing to do in this thing, but by my manner to +bear a decided testimony against such an abuse of power. The suffering +of mind through which I have passed has necessarily rendered me silent +and solemn. The language seems to be, 'It behooves thee to suffer these +things,' and this morning I think I saw very plainly that this was a +part of the preparation for the awful work of the ministry." + +"4th Mo. 4th. Does not this no less positive than comprehensive law +under the Gospel dispensation entirely exclude slavery: 'Do unto others +as you would he done by?' After arguing for some time, one evening, +with an individual, I proposed the question: 'Would'st thou be willing +to be a slave thyself?' He eagerly answered 'No!' 'Then,' said I, 'thou +hast no right to enslave the negro, for the Master expressly says: "Do +unto others as thou wouldst they should do unto thee."' Again I put the +query: 'Suppose thou wast obliged to free thy slaves, or take their +place, which wouldst thou do?' Of course he said he would free them. +'But why,' I asked, 'if thou really believest what thou contendest for, +namely, that their situation is as good as thine?' But these questions +were too close, and he did not know what to say." + +"4th Mo. 23d. Friend K. drank tea here last night. It seems to me that +whenever mother can get anyone to argue with her on the subject of +slavery, she always introduces it; but last night she was mistaken, +for, to my surprise, Friend K. acknowledged that notwithstanding all +that could be said for it, there was something in her heart which told +her it was wrong, and she admitted all I said. Since my last argument +on this subject, it has appeared to me in another light. I remarked +that a Carolina mistress was literally a slave-driver, and that I +thought it degrading to the female character. The mistress is as great +a slave to her servants, in some respects, as they are to her. One +thing which annoys me very much is the constant orders that are given. +Really, when I go into mother's room to read to her, I am continually +interrupted by a variety of orders which might easily be avoided, were +it not for the domineering spirit which is, it seems to me, inherent in +a Carolinian; and they are such fine ladies that if a shutter is to be +hooked, or a chair moved, or their work handed to them, a servant must +be summoned to do it for them. Oh! I do very much desire to cultivate +feelings of forbearance, but I feel at the same time that it is my duty +to bear an open and decided testimony against such a violation of the +divine command." + +"28th. It seems this morning as if the language was spoken with regard +to dear mother: _Thy_ work is done. My mind has been mostly released +from exercises, and it seems as though I had nothing to do now but to +bear and forbear with her. I can truly say I have not shunned to +'declare unto her the whole counsel of God, but she would none of my +reproofs.' I stretched out my hands to her, speaking the truth in +_love_, but she has not regarded. Perhaps He has seen fit not to work +by me lest I should be exalted above measure." + +"5th Mo. 6th. Today has been one of much trial of mind, and my soul has +groaned under the burden of slavery. Is it too harsh to say that a +person must be destitute of Christian feelings to be willing to be +served by slaves, who are actuated by no sentiment but that of fear? +Are not these unfortunate creatures expected to act on principles +directly opposite to our natural feelings and daily experience? They +are required to do more for others than for themselves, and all without +thanks or reward." + +"12th. It appears to me that there is a real want of natural affection +among many families in Carolina, and I have thought that one great +cause of it is the independence which members of families feel here. +Instead of being taught to do for themselves and each other, they are +brought up to be waited on by slaves, and become unamiable, proud, and +selfish. I have many times felt exceedingly tried, when, in the +flowings of love towards mother, I have offered to do little things for +her, and she has refused to allow me, saying it was Stephen's or +William's duty, and she preferred one of them should do it. The other +night, being refused in this way, I said:-- + +"'Mother, it seems to me thou would'st at any time rather have a +servant do little things for thee, than me.' She replied it was their +business. 'Well,' said I, 'mother, I do not think it ever was designed +that parents and children should be independent of each other. Our +Heavenly Father intended that we should be dependent on each other, not +on servants.' From time to time ability is granted me to labor against +slavery. I may be mistaken, but I do not think it is any longer without +sin in mother, for I think she feels very sensibly that it is not +right, though she never will acknowledge it." + +_Night._ Left the parlor on account of some unpleasant occurrence, and +retired to weep in solitude over the evils of slavery. The language was +forcibly revived: 'Woe unto you, for you bind heavy burdens, grievous +to be borne, on men's shoulders, and will not move them yourselves with +one of your fingers.' I do not think I pass a single day without +apprehension as to something painful about the servants." + +"15th. Had a long conversation with Selina last evening about servants, +and expressed very freely my opinion of Henry's feelings towards them, +and his treatment of John. She admitted all I said, and seemed to feel +for slaves, until I said I thought they had as much right to freedom as +I had. Of course she would not admit this, but I was glad an +opportunity was offered for me to tell her that my life was one of such +continual and painful exercise on account of the manner in which our +servants were treated, that, were it not for mother, I would not stay a +day longer in Carolina, and were it not for the belief that Henry would +treat his servants worse if we were not here, that both Eliza and I +would leave the house. Dear girl; she seemed to feel a good deal at +these strictures on her husband, but bore with me very patiently." + +"18th. Oh, Lord! grant that my going forth out of this land may be in +such a time and such a way, let what may happen after I leave my +mother's house, I may never have to reproach myself for doing so. Of +late my mind has been much engrossed with the subject of slavery. I +have felt not only the necessity of feeling that it is sinful, but of +being able to prove from Scripture that it is not warranted by God." + +"30th. Slavery is a system of abject selfishness, and yet I believe I +have seen some of the best of it. In its worst form, tyranny is added +to it, and power cruelly treads under foot the rights of man, and +trammels not only the body, but the mind of the poor negro. Experience +has convinced me that a person may own a slave, with a single eye to +the glory of God. But as the eye is kept single, it will soon become +full of light on this momentous subject; the arm of power will be +broken; the voice of authority will tremble, and strength will be +granted to obey the command: 'Touch not the unclean thing.'" + +"_Night._ Sometimes I think that the children of Israel could not have +looked towards the land of Canaan with keener longing than I do to the +North. I do not expect to go there and be exempt from trial, far from +it; and yet it looks like a promised land, a pleasant land, because it +is a land of freedom; and it seems to me that I would rather bear much +deeper spiritual exercises than, day after day, and month after month, +to endure the conutless evils which incessantly flow from slavery. 'Oh, +to grace how great a debtor for my sentiments on this subject. Surely I +may measurably adopt the language of Paul, when with holy triumph he +exclaimed: 'By the grace of God I am what I am.'" + +A few weeks later, we read: "If I could believe that I contributed to +dear mother's happiness, surely duty, yea, inclination, would lead me +to continue here; but I do not. Yesterday morning I read her some +papers on slavery, which had just come by the L.C. (vessel). It was +greatly against her will, but it seemed to me I must do it, and that +this was the last effort which would be required of me. She was really +angry, but I did not feel condemned." + +"_Night._ Have sought a season of retirement, in order to ponder all +these things in my heart, for I feel greatly burdened, and think I must +open this subject to dear mother to-morrow, perhaps. I earnestly desire +to do the Lord's will." + +"12th. This morning I read parts of dear sister's letters to mother, on +the subject of my going to the North. She did not oppose, though she +regretted it. My mind is in a calm, almost an indifferent, state about +it, simply acquiescing in what I believe to be the divine will +concerning me." + +Had we all of Sarah's letters written to Angelina, we should doubtless +see that she fully sympathized with her in her anti-slavery sentiments; +but Sarah's diary shows her thoughts to have been almost wholly +absorbed by her disappointed hopes, and her trials in the ministry. As +positive evidences of her continued interest in slavery, we have only +the fact that, in 1829, Angelina mentions, in her diary, receiving +anti-slavery documents from her sister, and the statements of friends +that she retained her interest in the subject which had, in her earlier +years, caused her so much sorrow. + +It is astonishing how ignorant of passing events, even of importance, a +person may remain who is shut up as Sarah Grimke was, in an +organization hedged in by restrictions which would prevent her from +gaining such knowledge. She mingled in no society outside of her +church; her time was so fully occupied with her various charitable and +religious duties, that she frequently laments the necessity of +neglecting reading and writing, which, she says, "I love so well." + +When a few friends met together, their conversation was chiefly of +religious or benevolent matters, and it is probable that Sarah even +read no newspaper but the _Friends' Journal_. + +That this narrow and busy life was led even after Angelina joined her +we judge from what Angelina writes to her brother Thomas, thanking him +for sending them his literary correspondence to read. She says: "It is +very kind in thee to send us thy private correspondence. We enjoy it so +much that I am sure thou would'st feel compensated for the trouble if +thou could'st see us. We mingle almost entirely with a Society which +appears to know but little of what is going on outside of its own +immediate precincts. It is therefore a great treat when we have access +to information more diffuse, or that which introduces our minds in some +measure into the general interest which seems to be exciting the +religious world." + +The fact, however, remains, that in 1829 Sarah sent to Angelina various +anti-slavery publications, from which the latter drew strength and +encouragement for her own arguments. Angelina also mentions reading +carefully Woolman's works, which she found very helpful. But it is +evident that neither she nor Sarah looked forward at all to any +identification of themselves with the active opponents of slavery. For +them, at that time, there seemed to be nothing more to do than to +express their opinions on the subject in private, and to get as far +away from the sight of its evils as possible. As Sarah had done this, +so now Angelina felt that the time had come when she too must go. + +She had done what she could, and had failed in making the impression +she had hoped to make. Why should she linger longer where her feelings +were daily tortured, and where there was not one to sympathize with her +or aid her, where she could neither give nor receive any good? Still +there was a great struggle in her mind about leaving her mother. She +thus writes of it: + +"Though I am favored to feel this is the right time for me to go, yet I +cannot but be pained at the thought of leaving mother, for I am sure I +shall leave her to suffer. It has appeared very plain to me that I +never would have been taken from her again if she had been willing to +listen to my remonstrances, and to yield to the requisitions of duty, +as shown her by the light within. And I do not think dear sister or I +will ever see her again until she is willing to give up slavery." + +"10th Mo. 4th. Last night E.T. took tea here. As soon as she began to +extol the North and speak against slavery, mother left the room. She +cannot bear these two subjects. My mind continues distressingly +exercised and anxious that mother's eyes should be open to all the +iniquities of the system she upholds. Much hope has lately been +experienced, and it seems as though the language to me was: 'Thou hast +done what was given thee to do; now go and leave the rest to _me_." + +Two weeks later, she writes as follows: + +"_Night._ This morning I had a very satisfactory conversation with dear +mother, and feel considerably relieved from painful exercise. I found +her views far more correct than I had supposed, and I do believe that, +through suffering, the great work will yet be accomplished. She +remarked that, though she had found it very hard to bear many things +which sister and I had from time to time said to her, yet she believed +that the Lord had raised us up to teach her, and that her fervent +prayer was that, if we were right and she was wrong, she might see it. +I remarked that if she was _willing_, she would, I was sure, see still +more than she now did; and I drew a contrast between what she once +approved and now believed right. 'Yes,' she said, 'I see very +differently; for when I look back and remember what I used to do, and +think nothing of it, I shrink back with horror. Much more passed, and +we parted in love." + +Two weeks later Angelina left Charleston, never to return. The +description of the parting with her mother is very affecting, but we +have not room for it here. It shows, however, that Mrs. Grimke had the +true heart of a mother, and loved her daughter most tenderly. She shed +bitter tears as she folded her to her bosom for the last time, +murmuring amid her sobs: "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will +take Benjamin away also!" The mother and daughter never saw each other +again. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Angelina arrived in Philadelphia in the latter part of October, 1829, +and made her home with Sarah in the family of Catherine Morris. + +Over the next four or five years I must pass very briefly, although +they were marked by many interesting incidents and some deep sorrows, +and much that the sisters wrote during that time I would like to +notice, if space permitted. + +We see Sarah still regarding herself as the vilest of sinners, against +whom it seemed at times as if every door of mercy was closed, and still +haunted by her horror of horrors, the ministry. Her preparation +continued, but brought her apparently no nearer the long-expected and +dreaded end. She was still unrecognized by the Church. First-day +meetings were looked forward to without pleasure, while the Quarterly +and Yearly meetings were seasons of actual suffering. Of one of the +latter she says,-- + +"I think no criminal under sentence of death can look more fearfully to +the day of execution than I do towards our Yearly Meeting." + +Still she would nerve herself from time to time to arise when the +Spirit moved her, and say a few words, but deriving no satisfaction +from the exercise, except that of obedience to the divine will. + +Doubtless she would have grown out of all this timidity, and would have +acquitted herself more acceptably in meeting, if she had met with +consideration and kindness from the elders and influential members of +the Society. But, for reasons not clearly explained, her efforts do not +seem to have been generally regarded with favor; and so sensibly did +she feel this that she trembled in every limb when obliged even to +offer a prayer in the presence of one of the dignitaries. It is +probable that her ultra views on various needed reforms in the society, +and declining--as she and Angelina both did--to conform to all its +peculiar usages, gave offence. For instance, the sisters never could +bring themselves to use certain ungrammatical forms of speech, such as +_thee_ for _thou_, and would wear bonnets of a shape and material +better adapted to protect them from the cold than those prescribed by +Quaker style. It was also discovered that they indulged in vocal prayer +in their private devotions, which was directly contrary to established +usage. These things were regarded as quiet protests against customs +which all members of the Society were expected to respect. As to the +_principles_ of Quakerism, the sisters were more scrupulous in obeying, +them than many of the elders themselves. Sarah frequently mentions the +coldness and indifference with which she was treated by those from whom +she had a right to look for tender sympathy and friendly counsel, and +feelingly records the kindness and encouragement offered to her by many +of the less conspicuous brothers and sisters. It is no doubt that to +this treatment by those in authority was due the gradual waning of her +interest in Quakerism, although she is far from acknowledging it. + +One obstacle in the way of her success as a preacher was her manner of +speaking. Though a clear, forcible thinker and writer, she lacked the +gift of eloquence which so distinguished Angelina, and being, besides, +exceedingly self-conscious, it was difficult for her to express herself +satisfactorily in words. Her speech was sometimes slow and hesitating; +at others, when feeling very deeply, or at all embarrassed, rapid and a +little confused, as though she was in a hurry to get through. This +irregularity laid her open to the charge which was frequently brought +against her, that she prepared and committed her offerings to memory +before coming to meeting, an almost unpardonable offence according to +the views of those making the accusation. That her earnest denial of +this should be treated lightly was an additional wrong which Sarah +never entirely succeeded in forgiving. In reference to this she says:-- + +"The suffering passed through in meeting, on account of the ministry, +feeling as if I were condemned already whenever I arise; the severe +reproofs administered by an elder to whom I did a little look for +kindness; the cutting charge of preparing what I had to say out of +meeting, and going there to preach, instead of to worship, like poor +Mary Cox, was almost too much for me. It cost me hours of anguish; but +Jesus allayed the storm and gave me peace; for in looking at my poor +services I can truly say it is not so, although my mind is often +brought under exercise on account of this work, and many are the +sleepless hours I pass in prayer for preservation in it, feeling it +indeed an awful thing to be a channel of communication between God and +His people." + +Referring to the charge again, some time later, she says:-- + +"There are times when I greatly fear my best life will perish in this +conflict. I have felt lately as if I were ready to give up all, and to +question all I have known and done." + +As contrasting with the very different opinions she held a few years +later, the following lines from her diary, about the beginning of 1830, +are interesting:-- + +"There are seasons when my heart is so filled with apostolic love that +I feel as if I could freely part with all I hold most dear, to be +instrumental to the salvation of souls, especially those of the members +of my own religious society; and the language often prevails, 'I am not +sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' Yet woman's +preaching mocks at all my reasoning. I cannot see it to be right, and I +am moving on in faith alone, feeling that 'Woe is me, if I preach not +the Gospel.' To see is no part of my business, but I marvel not at the +unbelief of others; every natural feeling is against it." + +About this time, Angelina was admitted as a member of Friends' Society, +and began her preparation for the ministry. But her active spirit +needed stronger food to satisfy its cravings. It was not enough for her +to accept the few duties assigned to her; she must make others for +herself. Her restless energy, which was only her ambition to be +practically useful, refused to let her sit with folded hands waiting +for the Lord's work. She was too strong to be idle, too conscious of +the value of the talents committed to her charge, to be willing to lay +them away for safe keeping in a Quaker napkin, spotless as it might be. +She never loved the Society of Friends as Sarah did. She chafed under +its restrictions, questioned its authority, and rebelled against the +constant admonition to "be still." On one page of her diary, dated a +short time before her admission to Friends' Society, she says:-- + +"I have passed through some trying feelings of late about becoming a +member of Friends' Society. Perhaps it is Satan who has been doing all +he could to prevent my joining, by showing me the inconsistencies of +the people, and persuading me that _I_ am too good to be one of them. I +have been led to doubt if it was right for me ever to have worn the +dress of a Quaker, for I despised the very form in my heart, and have +felt it a disgrace to have adopted it, so empty have the people seemed +to me, and sometimes it has seemed impossible that I should ever be +willing to join them. My heart has been full of rebellion, and I have +even dared to think it hard that I should have to bear the burdens of a +people I did not, could not, love." + +Angelina's devotion to Sarah led her to resent the treatment of the +latter by the elders, and came near producing a breach between +Catherine Morris and the sisters. + +Nevertheless, she did join the Society, impelled thereto, we are forced +to believe, more by love and consideration for Sarah than by religious +conviction. But she constantly complains of her "leanness and +barrenness of spirit," of "doubts and distressing fears" as to the +Lord's remembrance of her for good, and grieves that she is such a +useless member of the Church, the "activity of nature," she says, +"finding it very hard to stand and wait." + +Her restlessness, no doubt, gave Sarah some trouble, for there are +several entries in her diary like the following:-- + +"O Lord, be pleased, I beseech Thee, to preserve my precious sister +from moving in her own will, or under the deceitful reasonings of +Satan. Strengthen her, I beseech Thee, to be _still_." + +But though Angelina tried for a time to submit passively to the slow +training marked out for her, she found no satisfaction in it. She +looked to the ministry as her ultimate field of labor, but she must be +doing something in the meanwhile, something outside of the missionary +work which satisfied Sarah's conscience. But what should that be? The +same difficulties which had humiliated and frightened Sarah into a life +of quiet routine now faced Angelina. But she looked at them bravely, +measured herself with them, and resolved to conquer them. The field of +education was the only one which seemed to promise the active +usefulness she craved; and she at once set about fitting herself to be +a teacher. She was now twenty-six years old, but no ambitious girl of +fifteen ever entered upon school duties with more zest than she +exhibited in preparing a course of study for herself. History, +arithmetic, algebra, and geometry were begun, with her sister Anna as a +fellow-student, and much time was devoted to reading biography and +travels. All this, however, was evening work. Her days were almost +wholly given up to charities and the appointed meetings assigned to her +by the society, into all of which she infused so much energy that +Catherine and Sarah both began to fear that she was in danger of losing +some of her spirituality. She says herself that she was so much +interested in some of her work that the days were not long enough for +her. + +There is no allusion in the diary or letters of either of the sisters, +in 1829 or 1830, to the many stirring events of the anti-slavery +movement which occurred after the final abolition of slavery in New +York, in 1827, and which foreshadowed the earnest struggle for +political supremacy between the slave power and the free spirit of the +nation. The daily records of their lives and thoughts exhibit them in +the enjoyment of their quiet home with Catherine Morris, visiting +prisons, hospitals, and alms-houses, and mourning over no sorrow or +sins but their own. Angelina was leading a life of benevolent effort, +too busy to admit of the pleasures of society, and her Quaker +associations did not favor contact with the world's people, or promote +knowledge of the active movements in the larger reforms of the day. As +to Sarah, she was still suffering keenly under the great sorrow of her +life. + +At this time, Angelina was a most attractive young woman. Tall and +graceful, with a shapely head covered with chestnut ringlets, a +delicate complexion and features, and clear blue eyes, which could +dance with merriment or flash with indignation, and withal a dignified, +yet gentle and courteous bearing, it is not surprising that she should +have had many admirers of the opposite sex, even in the limited society +to which she was confined. Nor can we wonder that, with a heart so +susceptible to all the finer emotions, she should have preferred the +companionship of one to that of all others. But though for more than +two years this friendship--for it never became an engagement--absorbed +all her thoughts, to the exclusion even of her studies, I must conclude +from the plain evidence in the case that it was only a warm +_friendship_, at least on her side, not the strong, enduring love, +based upon entire sympathy, which afterwards blessed her life. It owed +its origin to her admiration for intellectuality in men, and its +continuance to her womanly pity; for the object of her preference +suffered much from ill-health, which at last gave way altogether in the +latter part of 1832, when he died. + +To the various emotions naturally aroused during this long experience, +and to the depression of spirits which followed the final issue, we may +perhaps partially ascribe Angelina's indifference to the excited state +of feeling throughout the country on the subject of that institution +which "owned no law but human will." + +In November, 1831, Sarah Grimke once more, and for the last time, +visited Charleston. + +In December, the slave insurrection in Jamaica--tenfold more destructive +to life and property than the insurrection of Nat Turner, in Virginia, +of the preceding August--startled the world; but even this is scarcely +referred to in the correspondence between the two sisters. But that +Angelina, at least, was interested in matters outside of her religion, +we gather from a postscript to one of her letters. "Tell me," she says, +"something about politics." + +This refers to nullification, that ill-judged and premature attempt at +secession made by the Calhoun wing of the slave power, which was then +the most exciting topic in South Carolina. Thomas Grimke was one of the +few eminent lawyers in the State who, from the first, denounced and +resisted the treasonable doctrine,--he so termed it in an open letter +of remonstrance addressed to Calhoun, McDuffie, Governor Hayne, and +Barnwell Rhett, his cousin and legal pupil, who was afterwards +attorney-general of the State.[1] Mr. Grimke represented at that time +the city of Charleston in the State Senate; and in a two days' argument +he so triumphantly exposed the sophistries and false pretences of the +nullifiers, that his constituents, enraged by it, gathered a mob, and +with threats of personal violence attacked his house. But this +descendant of the Huguenots had been seasonably warned; and, sending +his family to the country, he illuminated his front windows, threw open +his doors, and seated himself quietly on the porch to await his +visitors. The howling horde came on, but when the man they sought +boldly advanced to meet them, and announced himself ready to be mobbed +for the cause he had denounced, their courage faltered; they tried to +hoot, balked, broke ranks, and straggled away. + + [1] Mr. Grimke told Carolina that, if she persisted in her disloyalty, + she would stand as a blasted tree in the midst of her sister States. + +A few words just here about this "beloved brother Thomas," who was +always held in reverence by every member of his family, will not be out +of place. As before stated, he was a graduate of Yale College, and rose +to eminence at the bar and in the politics of his State. But he was a +man of peculiar views on many subjects, and while his intellectual +ability was everywhere acknowledged, his judgment was often impugned +and his opinions severely criticised. He gained a wide reputation on +account of his brilliant addresses, especially those of Peace, +Temperance, and Education. He was a prominent member of the American +Peace Society, and did not believe that even defensive warfare was +justifiable. He was a fine classical scholar, but held that both the +classics and the higher mathematics should not be made obligatory +studies in a collegiate education, as being comparatively useless to +the great majority of American young men. A High Church Episcopalian, +and very religious, he strongly urged the necessity of establishing a +Bible class for religious instruction in every school. He also +attempted to make a reform in orthography by dropping out all +superfluous letters, but abandoned this after publishing a small volume +of essays, in which he used his amended words, which, as he gave no +prefatory explanation, were misunderstood and ridiculed. In all these +subjects he was much interested, and succeeded in interesting his +sisters, delegating to them the supervision and correction of his +addresses and essays published in Philadelphia. Strange, indeed, is it, +that this very religious, liberal-minded, and conscientious man was a +large slaveowner, and yet the oppressed and persecuted Cherokees of +Georgia and Alabama had no more earnest advocate than he! And to this +"Indian question" both Sarah and Angelina gave their cordial sympathy. + +The correspondence between them and Thomas was a remarkable one. It +embraced the following subjects: Peace, Temperance, the Classics, the +Priesthood, the Jewish Dispensation, Was the Eagle the Babylonian and +Persian Standard? Catholicism, and the universality of human sacrifice, +with short discussions on minor controversial topics. Into all of these +Angelina especially entered with great and evident relish, and her long +letters, covering page after page of foolscap, would certainly have +wearied the patience of any one less interested than Thomas was in the +subjects of which they treated. That which claimed Sarah's particular +interest was Peace, and she held to her brother's views to the end of +her life. She especially indorsed the sentiment expressed in his +written reply to the question, what he would do if he were mayor of +Charleston and a pirate ship should attack the city? + +"I would," he answered, "call together the Sunday-school children and +lead them in procession to meet the pirates, who would be at once +subdued by the sight." + +In answer to a letter written by Sarah soon after her arrival in +Charleston, Angelina says:-- + +"I am not at all surprised at the account thou hast given of Carolina, +and yet am not alarmed, as I believe the time of retribution has not +yet fully come, and I cannot but hope that those most dear to us will +have fled from her borders before the day of judgment arrives." + +This refers to nullification, which was threatening to end in +bloodshed; but there is in the sentence also an evident allusion to +slavery. + +In her next letter she describes the interest she feels in the infant +school, of which she had become a teacher, and does not know which is +the most absorbing,--that, or the Arch Street prison. Before closing, +she says:-- + +"No doubt thou art suffering a double portion now, for in a land of +slavery there is very much daily--yea, almost hourly,--to try the +better feelings, besides that suffering which thou art so constantly +enduring." + +Catherine Morris must have acted the part of a good mother to both +Sarah and Angelina, for they frequently refer to their peaceful home +with her. In one of her letters Angelina says,-- + +"I never valued the advantages I enjoy so much as I do now; no, nor my +home, either, dear sister. Many a time of late has my heart been filled +with gratitude in looking at the peaceful shelter provided for me in a +strange land. It is just such a home as I would desire were I to have a +choice, and I often ask why my restless heart is not quite happy in the +land of ease which has been assigned me, for I do believe I shall, in +after life, look back upon this winter as one of peculiar favor, a time +granted for the improvement of my mind and my heart." + +Again: "Very often do I contrast the sweet, unbroken quiet of the home +I now enjoy with the uncongenial one I was taken from." + +In one of her letters she asks: "Dearest, does our precious mother seem +to have any idea of leaving Carolina? Such seems to be the distressing +excitement there from various causes, that I think it cannot be quite +safe to remain there. What does brother Thomas think will be the issue +of the political contest? I find the fate of the poor Indians is now +inevitable." + +Towards the close of the winter there are two paragraphs in her letters +which show that she did at least read the daily papers. In one she +asks: "Didst thou know that great efforts are making in the House of +Delegates in Virginia to abolish slavery?" + +The other one is as follows:-- + +"Read the enclosed, and give it to brother Thomas from me. Do you know +how this subject has been agitated in the Virginia legislature?" + +The question naturally arises: if a little, why not more? If she could +refer to the subject of the Virginia debates, why should she not in +some of her letters give expression to her own views, or answer some +expressions from Sarah? The _Quaker Society_, is the only answer we can +find; the Society whose rules and customs at that time tended to +repress individuality in its members, and independence of thought or +action; which forbade its young men and maidens to look admiringly on +any fair face or manly form not framed in a long-eared cap, or +surmounted by the regulation broad-brim; which did not accord to a +member the right even to publish a newspaper article, without having +first submitted it to a committee of its Solons. + +From the beginning, the Quaker Church bore its testimony against the +abolition excitement. Most Friends were in favor of the Colonization +Society; the rest were gradualists. Their commercial interests were as +closely interwoven with those of the South as were the interests of any +other class of the Northern people, and it took them years to admit, if +not to discover, that there was any new light on the subject of human +rights. + +"The mills of the gods grind slowly;" and perhaps it was all the better +in the end, for the cause their advocated so grandly, that Sarah and +Angelina Grimke should have gone through this long period of silence +and repression, during which their moral and intellectual forces +gathered power for the conflict--the great work which both had so +singularly and for so many years seen was before them, though its +nature was for a long time hidden. + +Angelina's experience in the infant school, interesting as it was to +her, was discouraging so far as her success as a teacher went; and she +soon gave it up and made inquiries concerning some school in which she +could prepare herself to teach. Catherine Beecher's then famous +seminary at Hartford was recommended, and a correspondence was opened. +Several letters passed between Catherine and her would-be pupil, which +so aroused Catherine's interest, that she went on to Philadelphia +chiefly to make a personal acquaintance with the very mature young +woman who at the age of twenty-seven declared she knew nothing and +wanted to go to school again. In one of her letters to Sarah, early in +the spring of 1832, Angelina says,-- + +"Catherine Beecher has actually paid her promised visit. She regretted +not seeing thee, and seemed much pleased with me. The day after she +arrived she went to meeting with me, and I think was more tired of it +than any person I ever saw. It was a long, silent meeting, except a few +words from J.L." + +When Catherine Beecher took her leave of Angelina, she cordially +invited her to visit Hartford, and examine for herself the system of +education there pursued. + +Sarah returned to Philadelphia in March, 1832, cutting short her visit +at the earnest entreaty of Angelina, who was then looking forward to +her first Yearly Meeting, and desired her sister's encouraging presence +with her. Writing to Sarah, she says: "I have much desired that we +might at that time mingle in sympathy and love. Truly we have known, +might I not say, the agony of separation." + +Soon after Sarah's return, Angelina went to live with Mrs. Frost, in +order to give that sister the benefit of her board. This separation was +a great trial to both sisters, and only consented to from a sense of +duty. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +In July, 1832, Angelina, accompanied by a friend, set out to make her +promised visit to Hartford. Her journal, kept day by day, shows her to +have been at this time in a most cheerful frame of mind, which fitted +her to enjoy not only the beautiful scenery on her journey, but the +society of the various people she met. At times she is almost like a +young girl just out of school; and we can hardly wonder that she felt +so, after the monotonous life she had led so long, and the uniform +character of the people with whom she had associated. She visited New +Haven, with its great college, and then went to Hartford, where a week +was pleasantly spent in attendance on Catherine Beecher's classes, and +in visiting Lydia Sigourney, and others, to whom she had brought +letters. After examining Angelina, Catherine gave her the gratifying +opinion that she could be prepared to teach in six months, and she at +once began to try her hand at drawing maps., and to take part in many +of the exercises of the school. She could, however, make no definite +arrangement until her return to Philadelphia; but she was full of +enthusiasm, and utilized to the very utmost the advantages of +conversation with Catherine and Harriet Beecher. She was evidently +quite charmed with Harriet's bright intellect and pleasant manner, and +refers particularly to a very satisfactory conversation held with her +about Quakers. The people of this Society were so little known in New +England at that period, that Angelina and her friend, in their peculiar +dress, were objects of great curiosity where-ever they went. Catherine +Beecher accompanied them back to New Tork, and saw them safely on their +way to Philadelphia. But when Angelina mentioned to Friends her desire +to return to Hartford and become a teacher, she was answered with the +most decided disapprobation. Several unsatisfactory reasons were +given--"going among strangers"--"leaving her sisters,"--"abandoning her +charities," &c., the real one probably being the fear to trust their +impressionable young member to Presbyterian influence. And so she must +content herself to sink down in the old ruts, and plod on in work which +was daily becoming more insufficient to her intellectual and spiritual +needs. Her chief pleasure was her correspondence with her brother +Thomas, with whom she discussed controversial Bible questions, and +various moral reforms, including prison discipline; but only once does +she seem to have touched the question of slavery, which absorbed the +public mind to such a degree that there was scarcely a household +throughout the length and breadth of the land, that did not feel its +influence in some way. + +In 1832 the most intense excitement prevailed throughout the South, +especially in South Carolina, where Mr. Calhoun had just thrown down +the gauntlet to the Federal government. In this Angelina expresses some +interest, though chiefly from a religious point of view, as she regards +all the important events then taking place as "signs of the times," and +congratulates herself and her brother that they live in "such an +important and interesting era, when the laws of Christianity are +interwoven with the system, of education, and with even the discipline +of prisons and houses of refuge." In one of her letters we find the +following:-- + +"I may be deceived, but the cloud which has arisen in the South will, I +fear, spread over all our heavens, though it looks now so small. It +will come down upon us in a storm which will beat our government to +pieces; for, beautiful as it may appear, it is, nevertheless, not built +upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ +himself being the chief corner-stone. We may boast of this temple of +liberty, but oh, my brother, it is not of God." + +In this letter she speaks of being much interested in "Ramsey's Civil +and Ecclesiastical Polity of the Jews," and mentions that they were +studying together, in the family, "Townsend's Old Testament, +chronologically arranged, with notes, a work in twenty-eight volumes." +She adds:-- + +"Will not the study of the Bible produce a thirst for the purest and +most valuable literature, as, to understand it, we must study the +history of nations, natural history, philosophy, and geography." + +In another letter she says:-- + +"I am glad of thy opinions, but I cannot see that Carolina will escape. +Slavery is too great a sin for justice always to sleep over, and this +is, I believe, the true cause of the declining state of Carolina; this +the root of bitterness which is to trouble our republic. I am not moved +by fear to these reflections, but by a calm and deliberate +consideration of the state of the Church, and while I believe +convulsions and distress are coming upon this country, I am comforted +in believing that _my_ kingdom is not of this world, nor thine either, +I trust, beloved brother." + +To this letter Sarah adds a postscript, and says: "My fears respecting +you are often prevalent, but I endeavor not to be too anxious. The Lord +is omnipotent, and although I fear His sword is unsheathed against +America, I believe He will remember His own elect, and shield them.... +Do the planters approve or aid the Colonization Society? There have +been some severe pieces published in our papers about it." + +At this time--that is, during the summer of 1832--Sarah lived a more +than usually retired life, and her diary only records her increased +depression of spirits, and her continued painful experiences in +meeting. She would gladly have turned her back upon it all, and sought +a home elsewhere at the North, or have returned to Charleston, but she +dared not move without divine approbation, and this never seemed +sufficiently clear to satisfy her. + +"Surely," she says, "though I cannot understand why it is so, there +must be wisdom in the decree which forbids my seeking another home. +Most gladly would I have remained in Charleston, but my Father's will +was not so." + +And again she says,-- + +"But while the desire to escape present conflict has turned my mind +there [to Charleston] with longing towards my precious mother, all the +answer I can hear from the sanctuary is, 'Stay here;' and Satan adds, +'to suffer.'" According to Sarah's own views, she had thus far made +little or no progress towards the great end and aim of her labors and +sacrifices,--the securing of her eternal salvation; and the amount of +misery she managed to manufacture for herself out of this thought, and +her many fancied transgressions, is sad in the extreme. Years +afterwards, in a letter to a young friend, she says,-- + +"I have suffered the very torments of the fabled hell, because my +conscience was sore to the touch all over. I would fain have you spared +such long, dark years of anguish." + +And to another friend, concerning this portion of her life, she +writes,-- + +"Much of my suffering arose from a morbid conscience,--a conscience +which magnified infirmities into crimes, and transformed our blessed +Father in heaven into a stern judge, who punishes to the uttermost +every real or imaginary departure from what we apprehend to be his +requirements. Deceived by the false theological views in which I was +educated, I was continually lashed by the scorpion whip of a perverted +conscience." + +During the winter of 1832-33, the time of both sisters was much taken +up in nursing a sick woman, whose friendless position stirred +Angelina's sense of duty, and she had her removed to Mrs. Frost's +house. She and Sarah took upon themselves all the offices of nurse, +even the most menial. They read to her, and tried to cheer her during +the day, sat up with her at night, and in every way devoted themselves +to the poor consumptive, until death came to her relief. Such a +sacrifice to a sense of duty was all the more admirable, as the invalid +was unusually exacting and unreasonable, and felt apparently little +appreciation of the trouble she gave. Angelina, being in the same +house, was more with her than Sarah, and she could scarcely have shown +her greater attention if the tenderest ties had existed between her and +her charge. + +This was only one among the many similar acts of self-abnegation which +were dotted all along Angelina's path through life; she never went out +of her way to avoid them, but would travel any distance to take them +up, if duty pointed her to them; and in accepting them she never seemed +to think she was doing more than just what she ought to do, although +they were generally of the kind which bring no honor or reward, except +that sense of duty fulfilled which spreads over hearts like hers such +sweet content. + +From many passages in the diaries, it is evident that, as the agitating +questions of the time were forced upon the notice of Sarah and +Angelina, their thoughts were diverted from the narrow channel to which +they had so long been confined; and, in proportion as their interest in +these matters increased, the cords which bound them to their religious +society loosened. Angelina, as we have before remarked, never stood in +the same attitude as Sarah towards the Society. To the latter, it was +as the oracle of her fate, whose decrees she dared not question, much +less disobey. It represented to her mind the divine will and purposes, +which were wisdom entirely, and could only fail through the pride or +disobedience of sinners like herself. Angelina, on the contrary, +regarded it as made up of human beings with human intellects, full of +weakness, and liable to err in the interpretation of the Lord's will, +and, while praying for guidance and strength, believed it wise to +follow her own judgment to a great extent. She could not be restrained +from reasoning for herself, and would often have acted more +independently, but for her affection for Sarah. The scales, however, +were slowly falling from Sarah's eyes, though it was long before she +saw the new light as anything but a snare of Satan, who she felt sure +was bound to have her, in spite of all her struggles. Against the +growing coolness towards her Society she did struggle and pray in +deepest contrition. At one time she writes,-- + +"Satan is tempting me strongly with increased dissatisfaction with +Friends; but I know if I am to be of any use it is in my own Society." + +And again: "I beseech thee, O God, to fill my heart with love for the +Society of Friends. I shall be ruined if I listen to Satan." + +But all this was of no avail. Angelina was growing in knowledge, and +was imparting to Sarah what she learned. The evidence is meagre, but +there is enough to show that the ruling topics claimed much of their +attention during that summer, and that Angelina, especially, drew upon +herself more than one reproof from Catherine Morris for the interest +she manifested in "matters entirely outside of the Society." In the +spring, she writes in a letter to Thomas:-- + +"The following proposition was made at a Colonization meeting in this +city: is it strictly true? 'No two nations, brought together under +similar circumstances with those under which the Africans have been +brought into this country, have amalgamated.' Are not the people in the +West Indies principally mulatto? And how is it in South America? Did +they not amalgamate there? Did not the Helots, a great many of whom +were Persians, etc., taken in battle, amalgamate with the Grecians, and +rise to equal privileges in the State? I ask for information. Please +tell me, also, whether slavery is not an infringement of the +Constitution of the United States. You Southerners have no idea of the +excitement existing at the North on the subjects of abolition and +colonization." + +This shows only the dawning of interest in the mighty subject. The +evidence is full and conclusive that at this time neither Sarah nor +Angelina had formed any decided opinions concerning either of the +societies mentioned above, or contemplated taking any active part +whatever in the cause of freedom. + +In February, 1834, occurred the famous debate at Lane Seminary, near +Cincinnati, presided over by Dr. Lyman Beecher, which, for earnestness, +ability, and eloquence, has probably never been surpassed in this +country. A colonization society, composed in great part of Southern +students, had been formed in 1832 in the seminary, but went to pieces +during the debate, which lasted eighteen evenings, and produced a +profound sensation throughout the Presbyterian Church, and even outside +of it. President Beecher took no part in it, standing too much in awe +of the trustees of the institution to countenance it even by his +presence, although he had promised to do so. + +The speakers were all students, young men remarkable for their +sincerity and their energy, and several of them excelling as orators. +Among the latter were Henry B. Stanton and Theodore D. Weld, both +possessing great powers of reasoning and natural gifts of eloquence. Of +Theodore D. Weld it was said, that when he lectured on temperance, so +powerfully did he affect his audiences, that many a liquor dealer went +home and emptied out the contents of his barrels. Those who remember +him in his best days can well believe this, while others who have had +the privilege of hearing him only in his "parlor talks" can have no +difficulty in understanding the impression he must have made on mixed +audiences in those times when his great heart, filled from boyhood with +sorrow for the oppressed, found such food for its sympathies.[2] + + [2] An incident of the childhood of this zealous champion of human + rights, related in a letter I have, shows how early he took his + stand by the side of the weak and defenceless. When he was about six + years old, and going to school in Connecticut, a little colored boy + was admitted as a pupil. Weld had never seen a black person before, + and was grieved to find that the color of his skin caused him to be + despised by the other boys, and put off on a seat by himself. The + teacher heard him his lessons separately, and generally sent him + back to his lonely seat with a cuff or a jeer. After witnessing this + injustice for a day or two, little Weld went to the teacher and + asked to have his own seat changed. "Why, where do you want to sit?" + asked the teacher. "By Jerry," replied Weld. The master burst out + laughing, and exclaimed: "Why, are you a nigger too?" and, "Theodore + Weld is a nigger!" resounded through the school. "I never shall + forget," says Mr. Weld, "the tumult in my little bosom that day. I + went, however, and sat with Jerry, and played with Jerry, and we + were great friends; and in a week I had permission to say my lessons + with Jerry, and I have been an abolitionist ever since, and never + had any prejudices to overcome." + +It is no disparagement to the many able and eloquent advocates of the +anti-slavery cause, between 1833 and 1836, to say that public opinion +placed Weld at the head of them all. In him were combined reason and +imagination, wide and accurate knowledge, manly courage, a tender and +sympathetic nature, a remarkable faculty of expression, and a fervent +enthusiasm which made him the best platform orator of his time. As a +lecturer on education, temperance, and abolition, he drew crowded +houses and made many converts. The late Secretary Stanton was one of +these, and often mentioned Mr. Weld as the most eloquent speaker he had +ever heard; and Wendell Phillips, in a recent letter, says of him: "In +the first years of the anti-slavery cause, he was our foremost +advocate." + +Of Henry B. Stanton, a newspaper reporter once said in excuse for not +reporting one of his great anti-slavery speeches, that he could not +attempt to report a whirlwind or a thunderstorm. + +With such leaders, and with followers no less earnest if less +brilliant, it is not surprising that the Lane Seminary debate arrested +such general attention, and afterwards assumed so much importance in +the anti-slavery struggle. The trustees, fearing its effect upon their +Southern patrons, ordered that both societies should be dissolved, and +no more meetings held. The anti-slavery students replied to this order +by withdrawing in a body from the institution. Some went over to +Oberlin; others,--and among them the two I have named--entered the +field as lecturers and workers in the cause they had so ardently +espoused. + +In September, 1834, Sarah and Angelina were gratified by a visit from +their brother Thomas, who was on his way to Cincinnati, to deliver an +address on Education before the College of Professional Teachers, and +also to visit his brother Frederic, residing in Columbus, whom he had +not seen for sixteen years. As Angelina had not seen him since her +departure from Charleston in 1829, the few days of his society she now +enjoyed were very precious, and made peculiarly so by after-events. The +cholera was then for the second time epidemic in the West, but those +who knew enough about it to be prudent felt no fear, and the sisters +bade farewell to their brother, cheered by his promise to see them +again on his way home. He delivered his address in Cincinnati, started +for Columbus, arrived within twelve miles of it, when, at a wayside +tavern, he was seized with cholera. His brother, then holding a term of +the Supreme Court, was sent for. He at once adjourned court and +hastened to Thomas with a physician. He was already speechless, but was +able to turn upon Frederic a look of recognition, then pressed his +hand, and died. + +Angelina, writing of her brother's death, says: "The world has lost an +eminent reformer in the cause of Christian education, an eloquent +advocate of peace, and one who was remarkably ready for every good +work. I never saw a man who combined such brilliant talents, such +diversity and profundity of knowledge, with such humility of heart and +such simplicity and gentleness of manner. He was a great and good man, +a pillar of the church and state, and his memory is blessed." + +In a letter written in 1837, referring to her brother's visit to +Philadelphia, Sarah says: "We often conversed on the subject of +slavery, and never did I hear from his lips an approval of it. He had +never examined the subject; he regarded it as a duty to do it, and he +intended devoting the powers of his mind to it the next year of his +life, and asked us to get ready for him all the abolition works worth +studying. But God took him away. My own views were dark and confused. +Had I had my present light, I might have helped him." + +Angelina bore her testimony to the same effect. Referring to Thomas in +a letter to a member of her family many years after his death, she +says: + +"He was deeply interested in _every_ reform, and saw very clearly that +the anti-slavery agitation which began in 1832 would shake our country +to its foundation. He told me in Philadelphia that he knew slavery +would be the all-absorbing subject here, and that he intended to devote +a whole year to its investigation; and, in order that he might do so +impartially, he requested me to subscribe for every periodical and +paper, and to buy and forward to him any books, that might be published +by the Anti-Slavery and Colonization societies. I asked whether he +believed colonization could abolish slavery. He said: 'No, never!' but +observed; 'I help that only on account of its reflex influence upon +slavery here. If we can build up an intelligent, industrious community +of colored people in Africa, it will do a great deal towards destroying +slavery in the United States.'" + +The loss of her brother almost crushed Sarah, although she expresses +only submission to the Lord's will. It had the effect of closing her +heart and mind once more to everything but religion, and again she gave +herself fully and entirely to her evangelical preparation. She +expresses herself as longing to preach the everlasting Gospel, and +prays that she may soon be called to be a minister, and be instrumental +in turning her fellow sinners away from the wrath to come. Later, in +the early part of 1835, after having re-perused her brother's works, +she solemnly dedicated herself to the cause of peace, persuading +herself that Thomas had left it as a legacy to her and Angelina. She +resolved to use all her best endeavors to promote its advancement, and +daily prayed for a blessing on her exertions and for the success of the +cause. This at least served to divert her thoughts from herself, and no +doubt helped her to the belief which now came to her, that at last +Satan was conquered, and she was accepted of God. + +If she could only have been comforted also with the knowledge that her +labors in the ministry were recognized, her satisfaction would have +been complete, but more than ever was she tormented by the slights and +sneers of the elders, and by her own conviction that she was a useless +vessel. There is scarcely a page of her diary that does not tell of +some humiliation, some disappointment connected with her services in +meeting. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Although the Quakers were the first, as a religious society, to +recognize the iniquity of slavery, and to wash their hands of it, so +far as to free all the slaves they owned; few of them saw the further +duty of discouraging it by ceasing all commercial intercourse with +slave-holders. They nearly all continued to trade with the South, and +to use the products of slave-labor. After the appearance in this +country of Elizabeth Heyrick's pamphlet, in which she so strongly urged +upon abolitionists the duty of abstinence from all slave products, the +number was increased of those who declined any and every participation +in the guilt of the slave-holder, and exerted themselves to convert +others to the same views; but the majority of selfish and inconsiderate +people is always large, and it refused to see the good results which +could be reasonably expected from such a system of self-denial. As the +older members, also, of Friends' Society were opposed to all exciting +discussions, and to popular movements generally, while the younger ones +could not smother a natural interest in the great reforms of the day; +it followed that, although all were opposed to slavery in the abstract, +there was no fixed principle of action among them. In their ranks were +all sorts: gradualists and immediatists, advocates of unconditional +emancipation, and colonizationists, thus making it impossible to +discuss the main question without excitement. Therefore all discussion +was discouraged and even forbidden. + +The Society never counted among its members many colored persons. There +were, however, a few in Philadelphia, all educated, and belonging to +the best of their class. Among them was a most excellent woman, Sarah +Douglass, to whom Sarah and Angelina Grimke became much attached, and +with whom Sarah kept up a correspondence for nearly thirty years. + +The first letter of this correspondence which we have, was written in +March, 1885, and shows that Sarah had known very little about her +colored brethren in Philadelphia, and it also shows her inclination +towards colonization. She mentions having been cheered by an account of +several literary and benevolent societies among the colored residents, +expresses warm sympathy with them, and gives them some good, practical +advice about helping themselves. She then says:-- + +"I went about three weeks ago to an anti-slavery meeting, and heard +with much interest an address from Robert Gordon. It was feeling, +temperate, and judicious; but _one_ word struck my ear unpleasantly. He +said, 'And yet it is _audaciously_ asked: What has the North to do with +slavery?' The word 'audaciously,' while I am ready to admit its +justice, seemed to me inconsistent with the spirit of the Gospel; +although we may abhor the system of slavery, I want us to remember that +the guilt of the oppressor demands Christian pity and Christian prayer. + +"My sister went last evening to hear George Thompson. She is deeply +interested in this subject, and was much pleased with his discourse. Do +not the colored people believe that the Colonization Society may prove +a blessing to Africa, that it may be the means of liberating some +slaves, and that, by sending a portion of them there, they may +introduce civilization and Christianity into this benighted region? +That the Colonization Society can ever be the means of breaking the +yoke in America appears to me utterly impossible, but when I look at +poor heathen Africa, I cannot but believe its efforts will be a +blessing to her." + +In the next letter, written in April, she descants on the universal +prejudice against color,--"a prejudice," she says, "which will in days +to come excite as much astonishment as the facts now do that +Christians--some of them I verily believe, sincere lovers of God--put +to death nineteen persons and one dog for the crime of witchcraft." + +And yet, singularly enough, she does not, at this time, notice the +inconsistency of a separate seat for colored people in all the +churches. In the Quaker meeting this was especially humiliating, as it +was placed either directly under the stairs, or off in a corner, was +called the "negro seat," and was regularly guarded to prevent either +colored people from passing beyond it, or white people from making a +mistake and occupying it. Two years later, Sarah and Angelina both +denounced it; but before that, though they may have privately deplored +it, they seem to have accepted it as a necessary conformity to the +existing feeling against the blacks. + +The decision of Friends' Society concerning discussion Sarah Grimke +seems to have accepted, for, as we have said, there is no expression of +her views on emancipation in letters or diary. But Angelina felt that +her obligations to humanity were greater than her obligations to the +Society of Friends; and as she listened to the eloquent speeches of +George Thompson and others, her life-long interest in the slave was +stimulated, and it aroused in her a desire to work for him in some way, +to do something that would practically help his cause. + +On one of several loose leaves of a diary which Angelina kept at this +time, we find the following under date, "5th Mo. 12th, 1835: 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." + +Her fast-increasing enthusiasm alarmed her cautious sister, and drew +from her frequent and serious remonstrances. But that she also +travelled rapidly towards the final rending of the bonds which had +hitherto held her, we find from a letter to Sarah Douglass, written in +the spring of 1835. Speaking of Jay's book of Colonization, which had +just appeared, she says:-- + +"The work is written for the most part in a spirit of Christian candor +and benevolence. There is here and there a touch of satire or sarcasm I +would rather should have been spared. The subject is one of solemn +importance to our country, and while I do desire that every righteous +means may be employed to give to America a clear and convincing view of +the fearful load of guilt that rests upon her for trading in the souls +of men, yet I do want the friends of emancipation to take no unhallowed +weapons to sever the manacles of the slave. I rejoice in the hope that +all the prominent friends of abolition are peace men. My sister sends +her love to thee. Her mind is deeply engaged in the cause of immediate, +unconditional emancipation. I believe she does often pray for it." + +In July, 1835, Angelina went to visit a friend in Shrewsbury, New +Jersey. In this quiet retreat she had ample time for reflection, and +for the study of abolition. She could, she says, think of nothing else; +and the question continually before her was, "What can I do? What can I +do?" But the more she thought, the more perplexed she became. The +certainty that any independent action, whatever, would not only offend +her Society, but grieve her sister, stood in the way of reaching any +conclusion, and kept her in a state of unrest which plainly showed +itself in her letters to Sarah. + +Doubtless she did consider Sarah's advice, for she still looked up to +her with filial regard, but before she could do more than consider it, +an event occurred which made the turning point in her career, and +emancipated her forever from the restrictions to which she had so +unwillingly assented. + +The difficulty which abolitionists found in holding meetings in Boston, +to be addressed by George Thompson, of England, brought out in July an +Appeal to the citizens of Boston from Mr. Garrison. This reached +Angelina's hands, and so touched her feelings, so aroused all her +anti-slavery enthusiasm, that she could no longer keep quiet. She must +give expression to her sympathy with the great cause. She wrote to the +author--a brave thing for her to do--but we doubt if she could have +refrained even if she could have fully realized the storm of reproach +which the act brought down upon her. On account of its length, I cannot +copy this letter entire, but a few extracts will give an idea of its +general tone and spirit. It is dated Philadelphia, 8th Month 30th, +1835, and begins thus:-- + +"Respected Friend: It seems as if I was compelled at this time to +address thee, notwithstanding all my reasonings against intruding on +thy valuable time, and the uselessness of so insignificant a person as +myself offering thee the sentiments of sympathy at this alarming +crisis. + +"I can hardly express to thee the deep and solemn interest with which I +have viewed the violent proceedings of the last few weeks. Although I +expected opposition, I was not prepared for it so soon--it took me by +surprise--and I greatly feared abolitionists would be driven back in +the first outset, and thrown into confusion.... Under these feelings I +was urged to read thy Appeal to the citizens of Boston. Judge, then, +what were my feelings on finding that my fears were utterly groundless, +and that thou stoodest firm in the midst of the storm, determined to +suffer and to die, rather than yield one inch ... The ground upon which +you stand is holy ground; never, never surrender it." + +She then goes on to encourage him to persevere in his work, reminding +him of the persecutions of reformers in past times, and that religious +persecution always began with mobs. + +"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." + +This letter Mr. Garrison published in the Liberator, to the surprise of +Angelina, and the great displeasure and grief of her Quaker friends. +But she who had just counselled another to suffer and die rather than +abate an inch of his principles was not likely to quail before the +strongly expressed censure of her Society, which was at once +communicated to her. Only over her sister's tender disapproval did she +shed any tears. Her letter of explanation to Sarah shows the sweetness +and the firmness of her character so conspicuously, that I offer no +apology for copying a portion of it. It is dated Shrewsbury, Sept. +27th, 1335, and enters at once upon the subject:-- + +"My Beloved Sister: I feel constrained in all the tenderness of a +sister's love to address thee, though I hardly know what to say, seeing +that I stand utterly condemned by the standard which thou hast set up +to judge me by--the opinion of my friends. This thou seemest to feel an +infallible criterion. If it is, I have not so learned Christ, for He +says, 'he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of +me,' etc. I do most fully believe that had I done what I have done in a +church capacity, I should justly incur their censure, because they +disapprove of any intermeddling with the question, but what I did was +done in a private capacity, on my own responsibility. Now, my precious +sister, I feel willing to be condemned by all but thyself, _without_ a +hearing; but to thee I owe the sacred duty of vindication, though +hardly one ray of hope dawns on my mind that I shall be acquitted even +by _thee_. If I know mine own heart, I desire _not_ to be acquitted; if +I have erred, or if this trial of my faith is needful for me by Him who +knoweth with what food to feed His poor dependent ones, thou hast been +with me in heights and in depths, in joy and in sorrow, therefore to +thee I speak. Thou knowest what I have passed through on the subject of +slavery; thou knowest I am an exile from the home of my birth because +of slavery--therefore, to thee I speak. + +"Previous to my writing that letter, I believe four weeks elapsed, +during which time, though I passed through close and constant exercise, +I did not read anything on the subject of abolition, except the pieces +in the Friends' paper and the _Pennsylvanian_ relative to the +insurrections and the bonfires in Charleston. I was afraid to read. +After this, I perused the Appeal. I confess I could not read it without +tears, so much did its spirit harmonize with my own feelings. This +introduced my mind into deep sympathy with Wm. Lloyd Garrison. I found +in that piece the spirit of my Master; my heart was drawn out in prayer +for him, and I felt as if I would like to write to him, but forebore +until this day four weeks ago, when it seemed to me I _must_ write to +him. I put it by and sat down to read, but I could not read. I then +thought that perhaps writing would relieve _my own mind_, without it +being required of me to send what I wrote. I wrote the letter and laid +it aside, desiring to be preserved from sending it if it was wrong to +do so. On Second Day night, on my bended knees, I implored Divine +direction, and next morning, after again praying over it, I felt easy +to send it, and, after committing it to the office, felt anxiety +removed, and as though I had nothing more to do with it. Thou knowest +what has followed. I think on Fifth Day I was brought as low as I ever +was. After that my Heavenly Father was pleased in great mercy to open +the windows of heaven, and pour out upon my grief-bound, sin-sick soul, +the showers of His grace, and in prayer at the footstool of mercy I +found that relief which human hearts denied me. A little light seemed +to arise. I remembered how often, in deep and solemn prayer, I had told +my Heavenly Father I was willing to suffer anything if I could only aid +the great cause of emancipation, and the query arose whether this +suffering was not the peculiar kind required of me. Since then I have +been permitted to enjoy a portion of that peace which human hands +cannot rob me of, though great sadness covers my mind; for I feel as +though my character had sustained a deep injury in the opinion of those +I love and value most--how justly, they will best know at a future day. +Silent submission is my portion, and in the everlasting strength of my +Master, I humbly trust I shall be enabled to bear whatever is put upon +me. + +"I have now said all I have to say, and I leave this text with thee: +'Judge not by appearance, but judge righteous judgment;' and again, +'Judge nothing before the time.' Farewell. In the love of the blessed +Gospel of God's Son, I remain, thy afflicted sister. + +"A.E.G." + +The entry in Sarah's diary respecting this incident is as follows. The +date is two days before that of Angelina's letter to her. + +"The suffering which my precious sister has brought upon herself by her +connection with the anti-slavery cause, which has been a sorrow of +heart to me, is another proof how dangerous it is to slight the clear +convictions of truth. But, like myself, she listened to the voice of +the tempter. Oh! that she may learn obedience by the things that she +suffers. Of myself I can say, the Lord brought me up out of the +horrible pit, and my prayer for her is that she may be willing to bear +the present chastisement patiently." + +In Angelina's diary, she describes very touchingly some of her trials +in this matter. Writing in September, 1835, after recording in similar +language to that used in her letter to Sarah the state of feelings +under which she wrote and sent the letter to Garrison, she says:-- + +"I had some idea it might be published, but did not feel at liberty to +say it must not be, for I had no idea that, if it was, my name would be +attached to it. As three weeks passed and I heard nothing of it, I +concluded it had been broken open in the office and destroyed. To my +great surprise, last Fourth Day, Friend B. came to tell me a letter of +mine had been published in the Liberator. He was most exceeding tried +at my having written it, and also at its publication. He wished me to +re-examine the letter, and write to Wm. Lloyd Garrison, expressing +disapproval of its publication, and altering some portions of it. His +visit was, I believe, prompted by the affection he bears me, but he +appeared utterly incapable of understanding the depth of feeling under +which that letter was written. The editor's remarks were deeply trying +to him. Friend B. seemed to think they were the ravings of a fanatic, +and that the bare mention of my precious brother's name was a disgrace +to his character, when coupled with mine in such a cause and such a +paper, or rather in a cause advocated in such a way. I was so +astonished and tried that I hardly knew what to say. I declined, +however, to write to W.L.G., and said I felt willing to bear any +suffering, if it was only made instrumental of good. I felt my great +unworthiness of being used in such a work, but remembered that God hath +chosen the weak things of this world to confound the wise. But I was +truly miserable, believing my character was altogether gone among my +dearest, most valued friends. I was indeed brought to the brink of +despair, as the vilest of sinners. A little light dawned at last, as I +remembered how often I had told the Lord if He would only prepare me to +be, and make me, instrumental in the great work of emancipation, I +would be willing to bear any suffering, and the question arose, whether +this was not the peculiar kind allotted to me. Oh, the extreme pain of +extravagant praise! to be held up as a saint in a public newspaper, +before thousands of people, when I felt I was the chief of sinners. +Blushing, and confusion of face were mine, and I thought the walls of a +prison would have been preferable to such an exposure. Then, again, to +have my name, not so much my name as the name of Grimke, associated +with that of the despised Garrison, seemed like bringing disgrace upon +my family, not myself alone. I felt as though the name had been +tarnished in the eyes of thousands who had before loved and revered it. +I cannot describe the anguish of my soul Nevertheless, I could not +blame the publication of the letter, nor would I have recalled it if I +could. + +"My greatest trial is the continued opposition of my precious sister +Sarah. She thinks I have been given over to blindness of mind, and that +I do not know light from darkness, right from wrong. Her grief is that +I cannot see it was wrong in me ever to have written the letter at all, +and she seems to think I deserve all the suffering I have brought upon +myself." + +We approach now the most interesting period in the lives of the two +sisters. A new era was about to dawn upon them; their quiet, peaceful +routine was to be disturbed; a path was opening for them, very +different from the one which had hitherto been indicated, and for which +their long and painful probation had eminently prepared them. Angelina +was the first to see it, the first to venture upon it, and for a time +she travelled it alone, unsustained by her beloved sister, and feeling +herself condemned by all her nearest friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +All through the winter of 1835-36, demonstrations of violence continued +to be made against the friends of emancipation throughout the country. +The reign of terror inaugurated in 1832 threatened to crush out the +grandest principles of our Constitution. Freedom of press and speech +became by-words, and personal liberty was in constant danger. A man or +woman needed only to be pointed out as an abolitionist to be insulted +and assaulted. No anti-slavery meetings could be held uninterrupted by +the worst elements of rowdyism, instigated by men in high position. In +vain the authorities were appealed to for protection; they declared +their inability to afford it. The few newspapers that dared to express +disapproval of such disregard of the doctrine of equal rights were +punished by the withdrawal of subscriptions and advertisements, while +the majority of the public press teemed with the vilest slanders +against the noble men and women who, in spite of mobs and social +ostracism, continued to sow anti-slavery truths so diligently that new +converts were made every day, and the very means taken to impose upon +public opinion enlightened it more and more.[3] + + [3] Apropos of sowing anti-slavery truths, I remember seeing at the + first anti-slavery fair I attended,--in 1853, I think,--a sampler + made in 1836 by a little girl, a pupil in a school where evidently + great pains were taken to propagate anti-slavery principles. On the + sampler was neatly worked the words: "May the points of our needles + prick the slave-holders' consciences." + +During this winter we find nothing especial to narrate concerning Sarah +and Angelina. Sarah's diary continues to record her trials in meeting, +and her religious sufferings, notwithstanding her recently expressed +belief that her eternal salvation was secured. Angelina kept no diary +at this time, and wrote few letters, but we see from an occasional +allusion in these that her mind was busy, and that her warmest interest +was enlisted in the cause of abolition. + +She read everything she could get on the subject, wrote some effective +articles for the anti-slavery papers, and pondered night and day over +the question of what more she could do. One practical thing she did was +to write to the widow of her brother Thomas, proposing to purchase from +her the woman whom she (Angelina) in her girlhood had refused to own, +and who afterwards became the property of her brother. This woman was +now the mother of several children, and Angelina, jointly with Mrs. +Frost, proposed to purchase them all, bring them to Philadelphia, and +emancipate them. But no notice was taken of the application, either by +their sister-in-law or their sister Eliza, to whom Angelina repeatedly +wrote on the subject. + +Learning from their mother that she was about to make her will, +Angelina and Sarah wrote to her, asking that her slaves be included in +their portions. To this she assented, but managed to dispose of all but +four before she died. These were left to her two anti-slavery +daughters, who at once freed them, at the same time purchasing the +husband of one of them and freeing him. + +As she continued to study anti-slavery doctrines, one thing became very +plain to Angelina--that the friends of emancipation, in order to clear +their skirts of all participation in the slave-owner's sin, must cease +to use the products of slave labor. To this view she tried to bring all +with whom she discussed the main subject, and so important did it +appear to her, that she thought of writing to some of the anti-slavery +friends in New York about it, but her courage failed. After what she +had gone through because of the publication of her letter to Mr. +Garrison, she shrank from the risk of having another communication made +public. But her mind was deeply exercised on this point, and when--in +the spring--she and Sarah went to attend Yearly Meeting in Providence, +R.I., an opportunity offered for her to express her views to a +prominent member of the New York Society, whom she met on the boat. She +begged this lady to talk to Gerrit Smith, recently converted from +colonization, and others, about it, and to offer them, in her name, one +hundred dollars towards setting up a free cotton factory. This was the +beginning of a society formed by those willing to pledge themselves to +the use of free-labor products only. In 1826 Benjamin Lundy had +procured the establishment, in Baltimore, of a free-labor produce +store; and subsequently he had formed several societies on the same +principle. Evan Lewis had established one in Philadelphia about 1826, +and it was still in existence. + +The sisters had been so long and so closely tied to Philadelphia and +their duties there, that the relief of the visit to Providence was very +great. Sarah mentions it in this characteristic way:-- + +"The Friend of sinners opened a door of escape for me out of that city +of bonds and afflictions." In Providence she records how much more +freedom she felt in the exercise of her ministerial gift than she did +at home. + +Angelina sympathized with these sentiments, feeling, as she expresses +it, that her release from Philadelphia was signed when she left for +Providence. She found it delightful to be able to read what she pleased +without being criticised, and to talk about slavery freely. While in +Providence she was refreshed by calls upon her of several +abolitionists, among them a cotton manufacturer and his son, Quakers, +with whom she had a long talk, not knowing their business. She +discussed the use of slave-labor, and descanted on the impossibility of +any man being clean-handed enough to work in the anti-slavery cause so +long as he was making his fortune by dealing in slave-labor products. +These two gentlemen afterwards became her warm friends. + +An Anti-slavery Society meeting was held in Providence while Angelina +was there, but she did not feel at liberty to attend it, though she +mentions seeing Garrison, Henry B. Stanton, Osborne, "and others," but +does not say that she made their acquaintance; probably not, as she was +visiting orthodox Quakers who all disapproved of these men, and +Angelina's modesty would never have allowed her to seek their notice. + +Leaving Providence, the sisters attended two Quarterly Meetings in +adjacent towns, where, Angelina states, the subject of slavery was +brought up, "and," she says, "gospel liberty prevailed to such an +extent, that even poor I was enabled to open my lips in a few words." +She neglected to say that these few words introduced the subject to the +meetings, and produced such deep feeling that many hitherto wavering +ones went away strengthened and encouraged. + +They also attended Yearly Meeting at Newport, where many friends were +made; and where Angelina's conversations on the subject which absorbed +all her thoughts produced such an impression that she was strongly +urged to remain in New England, and become an anti-slavery missionary +in the Society of Friends. But she did not feel that she could stay, +as, she says, it was shown her very clearly that Shrewsbury was her +right place for the summer, though why, she knew not. The reason was +plainly revealed a little later. + +She returned to Shrewsbury refreshed and strengthened, and feeling that +her various experiences had helped her to see more clearly where her +duty and her work lay. But she was saddened by the conviction that if +she gave herself up, as she felt she must, to the anti-slavery cause, +she would be cast loose from her peaceful home, and from very many dear +friends, to whom she was bound by the strongest ties of gratitude and +affection. She thus writes to a friend:-- + +"Didst thou ever feel as if thou hadst no home on earth, except in the +bosom of Jesus? I feel so now." + +For several weeks after her return to Shrewsbury, Angelina tried to +withdraw her mind from the subject which her sister thought was taking +too strong hold on it, and interfering with her spiritual needs and +exercises. Out of deference to these views, she resumed her studies, +and tried to become interested in a "History of the United States on +Peace Principles," which she had thought some time before of writing. +Then she began the composition of a little book on the "Beauty and Duty +of Forgiveness, as Illustrated by the Story of Joseph," but gave that +up to commence a sacred history. In this she did become much interested +for a time, but her mind was too heavily burdened to permit her to +remain tranquil long. Still the question was ever before her: "Is there +nothing that I can do?" She tried to be cheerful, but felt at all times +much more like shedding tears. And her suffering was greater that it +was borne alone. The friend, Mrs. Parker, whom she was visiting, was a +comparative stranger, whose views she had not yet ascertained, and whom +she feared to trouble with her perplexities. Of Sarah, so closely +associated with Catherine Morris, she could not make an entire +confidant, and no other friend was near. Catherine, and some others in +Philadelphia, anxious about her evident and growing indifference to her +Society duties, tried to persuade her to open a school with one who had +long been a highly-prized friend, but Angelina very decidedly refused +to listen to the project. + +"As to S.W.'s proposal," she writes, "I cannot think of acceding to it, +because I have seen so clearly that my pen, at least, must be employed +in the great reformations of the day, and if I engaged in a school, my +time would not be my own. No money that could be given could induce me +to bind my body and mind and soul so completely in Philadelphia. There +is no lack of light as to the right decision about this." + +For this reply she received a letter of remonstrance from Sarah, to +which she thus answered:-- + +"I think I am as afraid as thou canst be of my doing anything to hurt +my usefulness in our Society, if that is the field designed for me to +labor in. But, Is it? is often a query of deep interest and solemnity +to my mind. I feel no openness among Friends. My spirit is oppressed +and heavy laden, and shut up in prison. What am I to do? The only +relief I experience is in writing letters and pieces for the peace and +anti-slavery causes, and this makes me think that my influence is to +reach beyond our own limits. My mind is fully made up not to spend next +winter in Philadelphia, if I can help it. I feel strangely released, +and am sure I know not what is to become of me. I am perfectly blind as +to the future." + +But light was coming, and her sorrowful questionings were soon to be +answered. + +It was not long before Mrs. Parker saw that her guest's cheerfulness +was assumed, and only thinly veiled some great trouble. As they became +more intimate, she questioned her affectionately, and soon drew from +her the whole story of her sorrows and her perplexities, and her great +need of a friend to feel for her and advise her. Mrs. Parker became +this friend, and, though differing from her on some essential points, +did much to help and strengthen her. For many days slavery was the only +topic discussed between them, and then one morning Angelina entered the +breakfast-room with a beaming countenance, and said:-- + +"It has all come to me; God has shown me what I can do; I can write an +appeal to Southern women, one which, thus inspired, will touch their +hearts, and lead them to use their influence with their husbands and +brothers. I will speak to them in such tones that they must hear me, +and, through me, the voice of justice and humanity." + +This appeal was begun that very day, but before she had written many +pages, she was interrupted in her task by a letter which threw her into +a state of great agitation, and added to her perplexity. This letter +was from Elizur Wright, then secretary of the American Anti-Slavery +Society, the office of which was in New York. He invited her, in the +name of the Executive Committee of the Society, to come to New York, +and meet with Christian women in sewing circles and private parlors, +and talk to them, as she so well knew how to do, on slavery. + +The door of usefulness she had been looking for so long was opened at +last, but it was so unexpected, so different from anything she had yet +thought of, that she was cast into a sea of trouble. Naturally retiring +and unobtrusive, she shrank from so public an engagement, and this +proposal frightened her so much that she could not sleep the first +night after receiving it. She had never spoken to the smallest assembly +of Friends, and even in meeting, where all were free to speak as the +spirit moved them, she had never uttered a word; and yet, how could she +refuse? She delayed her answer until she could make it the subject of +prayer and consult with Sarah. Desiring to leave her sister entirely +free to express her opinion, she merely wrote to her that she had +received the proposition. + +Sarah was beginning to feel that Angelina was growing beyond her, and, +may be, above her. She did not offer a word of advice, but most +tenderly expressed her entire willingness to give up her "precious +child," to go anywhere, and do anything she felt was right. And in a +letter to a friend, alluding to this, she says:-- + +"My beloved sister does indeed need the prayers of all who love her. +Oh! may He who laid down his life for us guide her footsteps and keep +her in the hollow of His holy hand. Perhaps the Lord may be pleased to +cast our lot somewhere together. If so, I feel as if I could ask no +more in this world." + +Sarah's willingness to surrender her to whatever work she felt called +to do was a great relief to Angelina. In writing to thank her and to +speak more fully of Mr. Wright's letter, she says:-- + +"The bare idea that such a thing may be required of me is truly +alarming, and that thy mind should be at all resigned to it increases +the fear that possibly I may have to do it. It does not appear by the +letter that it is expected I should extend my work outside of our +Society. One thing, however, I do see clearly, that I am not to do it +now, for I have begun to write an 'Appeal to the Christian Women of the +South,' which I feel must be finished first." + +She then proceeds to give an account of the part of this Appeal already +written, and of what she intended the rest to be, and shows that she +shared the feelings common among Southerners, the anticipation of a +servile insurrection sooner or later. She says:-- + + "In conclusion I intend to take up the subject of abolitionism, and + endeavor to undeceive the South as to the supposed objects of + anti-slavery societies, and bear my full testimony to their pacific + principles; and then to close with as feeling an appeal as possible + to them as women, as Christian women, setting before them the awful + responsibility resting on them at this crisis; for if the women of + the South do not rise in the strength of the Lord to plead with + their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, that country must + witness the most dreadful scenes of murder and blood. + + "It will be a pamphlet of a dozen pages, I suppose. My wish is to + submit it to the publishing committee of the A.A.S.S., of New York, + for revision, to be published by them with my name attached, for I + well know my _name_ is worth more than _myself_, and will add + weight to it.[4] Now, dearest, what dost thou think of it? A pretty + bold step, I know, and one of which my friends will highly + disapprove, but this is a day in which I feel I must act + independently of consequences to myself, for of how little + consequence will my trials be, if the cause of truth is helped + forward ever so little. The South must be reached. An address to + men will not reach women, but an address to women will reach the + whole community, if it can be reached at all. + + "I mean to write to Elizur Wright by to-morrow's mail, informing + him that I am writing such a pamphlet, and that I feel as if the + proposition of the committee is one of too much importance, either + to accept or refuse, without more reflection than I have yet been + able to give to it. The trial would indeed be great, to have to + leave this sweet, quiet retreat, but if duty calls, I must go.... + Many, many thanks for thy dear, long letters." + + [4] In a letter written some time after, she says: "I would have + liked thee to join thy name to mine in my Appeal, but thought it + would probably bring out so much opposition and violence, that I + preferred bearing it all myself." + +While Angelina was thus busily employed, and buoyed up by the hope of +benefiting those whose wrongs she had all her life felt so deeply, +Sarah was reaching towards her, and in trying to be indulgent to her +and just to her Society at the same time, she was awakening to her own +false position and to some of the awful mistakes of her religious life. +Through the summer, such passages as the following appear in her diary: +-- + +"The approach of our Yearly Meeting was almost overwhelming. I felt as +if I could be thankful even for sickness, for almost anything so I +might have escaped attending it. But my dear Saviour opened no door, +and after a season of unusual conflict I was favored with resignation. + +"Oh! the cruel treatment I have undergone from those in authority. I +could not have believed it had I not been called to endure it. But the +Lord permits it. My part is not to judge how far they have been moving +under divine direction, but to receive humbly and thankfully through +them the lessons of meekness, lowliness, faith, patience, and love, and +I trust I may be thankful for the opportunity thus afforded to love my +enemies and to pray for them, and perhaps it is to prepare me to feel +for others, that I have been thus tried and afflicted." + +That she was thus prepared was evidenced through all the varied +experiences of her after-life, for certainly no more sympathetic soul +ever dwelt in a mortal frame, and more generously diffused its warmth +and tenderness upon all who came within its radius. + +After the next First Day meeting, she writes:-- + +"The suffering in my own meeting is so intense that I think nothing +short of a settled conviction that obedience and eternal life are +closely connected could enable me to open my lips there." + +Two weeks later, an almost prophetic sentence is written. + +"Truly discouragement does so prevail that it would be no surprise to +me if Friends requested me to be silent. Hitherto, I have been spared +this trial, but if it comes, O Holy Father, may my own will be so slain +that I may bow in reverent adoring submission." + +Notwithstanding all this distress, however, Sarah might still have +lingered on some time longer, stifling in the dry dust of the Quaker +Church, and refusing to partake of the living water Angelina proffered +to her, but for an incident which occurred about this time, scarcely a +fortnight after the last sentence quoted,--an incident which proved to +be the last straw added to the heavy burden she had borne so +submissively, if not patiently. It is best given in her own words, and +I may add, it is the last entry in her most remarkable diary. + +"8th Mo. 3d. Went this morning to Orange Street meeting after a season +of conflict and prayer. I believed the Lord required this sacrifice, +but I went with a heart bowed down, praying to Jesus that I might not +speak my own words, that he would be pleased to make a way for me, or, +if what I had to deliver brought upon me opposition, to strengthen me +to endure it. The meeting had been gathered some time when I arose, and +after repeating our Lord's thrice-repeated query to Peter, 'Lovest thou +me?' I remarked that it was addressed to one who had been forgiven +much, and who could appeal to the Searcher of hearts that he did indeed +love Him. Few of us had had the temptation to endure which overcame +Peter when he denied his Lord and Master. But although few of us might +openly deny the Lord who bought us, yet there is, I apprehend, in many +of us an evil heart of unbelief, which alienates us from God and +disqualifies from answering the query as Peter did. I had proceeded so +far when Jonathan Evans rose and said: 'I hope the Friend will now be +satisfied.' I immediately sat down and was favored to feel perfectly +calm. The language, 'Ye can have no power at all against me unless it +be given you,' sustained me, and although I am branded in the public +eye with the disapprobation of a poor fellow worm, and it was entirely +a breach of discipline in him to publicly silence a minister who has +been allowed to exercise her gifts in her own meeting without ever +having been requested to be silent, yet I feel no anger towards him. +Surely the feelings that could prompt to so cruel an act cannot be the +feelings of Christian love. But it seems to be one more evidence that +my dear Saviour designs to bring me out of this place. How much has his +injunction rested on my mind of latter time. 'When they persecute you +in one city, flee ye into another.' I pray unto Thee, O Lord Jesus, to +direct the wanderer's footsteps and to plant me where thou seest I can +best promote thy glory. Expect to go to Burlington to-morrow." + +To those unacquainted with the Society of Friends fifty years ago, and +its discipline at that period, so different from what it is now, this +incident may seem of little consequence; but it was, on the contrary, +extremely serious. Jonathan Evans was the presiding elder of the Yearly +Meetings, a most important personage, whose authority was undisputed. +He was sometimes alluded to as "Pope Jonathan." He had disliked Sarah +from the time of her connection with the Society, and had habitually +treated her and her offerings with a silent indifference most +significant, and which, of course, had its effect on many who pinned +their prejudices as well as their faith to the coats of the elders. It +was owing entirely to this secretly-exercised but well-understood +opposition, that Sarah had for nine long years used her ministerial +gift only through intense suffering. She believed, against much +rebellion in her own breast, that it had been given her to use in God's +service, and that she had no right to withhold it; but she had been +made so often to feel the condemnation under which she labored, that +she was really not much surprised when the final blow came. + +But with all her religious humility her pride was great, and her +sensitiveness to any discourtesy very keen. She may not have felt anger +against Elder Evans. We can imagine, on the contrary, that her heart +was filled with pity for him, but a pity largely mixed with contempt; +and it is certain that the Society was made, in her view, responsible +for his conduct. Every slight she had ever received in it came back to +her exaggerated; all her dissatisfaction with its principles of action +doubled; the grief she had always felt at its indifference to the +doctrine of the atonement, and its neglect to preach "Jesus Christ and +him crucified," of which she had often complained, was intensified, and +her first impulse was to quit the Society, as she determined to quit +Philadelphia, for ever. + +Angelina was greatly shocked when she learned of the treatment her +sister had received, but the words, "I will break your bonds and set +you free," came immediately to her mind, and so comforted her that her +grief and indignation were turned to joy. She had long felt that, kind +as Catherine Morris had always been, her strict orthodox principles, +which she severely enforced in her household, circumscribed Sarah's +liberty of thought and action, and operated powerfully in preventing +her from rising out of her depressed and discouraged state. But though +the question had often revolved itself in her mind, and even been +discussed between her and her sister, neither had been able to see how +Sarah could ever leave Catherine, bound to her as she was by such +strong ties of gratitude, and feeling herself so necessary to +Catherine's comfort. But now the way was made clear, and certainly no +true friend of Sarah could expect her to remain longer in Philadelphia. + +It is surprising that Sarah had not discovered many years earlier that +the attempt must be futile to engraft a scion of the Charleston +aristocracy upon the rugged stock of Quaker orthodoxy. + +She went to Burlington, to the house of a dear friend who knew of all +her trials, and there she remained for several weeks. + +Angelina had finished her "Appeal," and, only two days before she heard +of the Evans incident, wrote to Sarah to inform her of the fact. This +letter is dated "Aug. 1st, 1836." + +After a few affectionate inquiries, she says: "I have just finished my +'Appeal to Southern Women.' It has furnished work for two weeks. How +much I wish I could have thee here, if it were only for three or four +hours, that we might read it over together before I send it to Elizur +Wright. I read it to Margaret, and she says it carries its own evidence +with it; still, I should value thy judgment very much if I could have +it, but a private opportunity offers to-morrow, and I think I had +better send it. It must go just as I sent my letter to W.L.G., with +fervent prayers that the Lord would do just as he pleased with it. I +believe He directed and helped me to write it, and now I feel as if I +had nothing to do but to send it to the Anti-Slavery Society, +submitting it entirely to their judgment.... I cannot be too thankful +for the change thou expressest in thy feelings with regard to the +Anti-Slavery Society, and feel no desire at all to blame thee for +former opposition, believing, as I do, that it was permitted in order +to drive me closer to my Saviour, and into a deeper examination of the +ground upon which I was standing. I am indeed thankful for it; how +could I be otherwise, when it was so evident thou hadst my good at +heart and really did for the best? And it did not hurt me at all. It +did not alienate me from the blessed cause, for I think the same +suffering that would drive us back from a bad cause makes us cling to +and love a good one more ardently. O sister, I feel as if I could give +up not only friends, but life itself, for the slave, if it is called +for. I feel as if I could go anywhere to save him, even down to the +South if I am called there. The conviction deepens and strengthens, as +retirement affords fuller opportunity for calm reflection, that the +cause of emancipation is a cause worth suffering for, yea, dying for, +if need be. With regard to the proposed mission in New York, I can see +nothing about it, and never did any poor creature feel more unfit to do +anything than I do to undertake it. But what duty presses me into, I +cannot press myself out of.... I sometimes feel frightened to think of +how long I was standing idle in the market-place, and cannot help +attributing it in a great measure to the doctrine of nothingness so +constantly preached up in our Society. It is the most paralyzing, +zeal-quenching doctrine that ever was preached in the Church, and I +believe has produced its legitimate fruit of nothingness in reducing us +to nothing, when we ought to have been a light in the Christian +Church.... Farewell, dearest, perhaps we shall soon meet." + +The Appeal was sent to New York, and this was what Mr. Wright wrote to +the author in acknowledging its receipt:-- + +"I have just finished reading your Appeal, and not with a dry eye. I do +not feel the slightest doubt that the committee will publish it. Oh +that it could be rained down into every parlor in our land. I know it +will carry the Christian women of the South if it can be read, and my +soul blesses that dear and glorious Saviour who has helped you to write +it." + +When it was read some days after to the gentlemen of the committee, +they found in it such an intimate knowledge of the workings of the +whole slave system, such righteous denunciation of it, and such a warm +interest in the cause of emancipation, that they decided to publish it +at once and scatter it through the country, especially through the +South. It made a pamphlet of thirty-six pages. The Quarterly +Anti-Slavery Magazine for October, 1836, thus mentions it:-- + +"This eloquent pamphlet is from the pen of a sister of the late Thomas +S. Grimke, of Charleston, S.C. We need hardly say more of it than that +it is written with that peculiar felicity and unction which +characterized the works of her lamented brother. Among anti-slavery +writings there are two classes--one especially adapted to make new +converts, the other to strengthen the old. We cannot exclude Miss +Grimke's Appeal from either class. It belongs pre-eminently to the +former. The converts that will be made by it, we have no doubt, will be +not only numerous, but thorough-going." + +Mr. Wright spoke of it 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. + +This praise was not exaggerated. The pamphlet produced the most +profound sensation wherever it was read, but, as Angelina predicted, +she was made to suffer for having written it. Friends upbraided and +denounced her, Catherine Morris even predicting that she would be +disowned, and intimating pretty plainly that she would not dissent from +such punishment; and Angelina even began to doubt her own judgment, and +to question if she ought not to have continued to live a useless life +in Philadelphia, rather than to have so displeased her best friends. +But her convictions of duty were too strong to allow her to remain long +in this depressed, semi-repentant state. In a letter to a friend she +expresses herself as almost wondering at her own weakness; and of +Catherine Morris she says: "Her disapproval, more than anything else, +shook my resolution. Nevertheless, I told her, with many tears, that I +felt it a religious duty to labor in this cause, and that I must do it +even against the advice and wishes of my friends. I think if I ever had +a clear, calm view of the path of duty in all my life, I have had it +since I came here, in reference to slavery. But I assure thee that I +expect nothing less than that my labors in this blessed cause will +result in my being disowned by Friends, but none of these things will +move me. I must confess I value my right very little in a Society which +is frowning on all the moral reformations of the day, and almost +enslaving its members by unchristian and unreasonable restrictions, +with regard to uniting with others in these works of faith and labors +of love. I do not believe it would cost me one pang to be disowned for +doing my duty to the slave." + +But her condemnation reached beyond the Quaker Society--even to her +native city, where her Appeal produced a sensation she had little +expected. Mr. Weld's account of its reception there is thus given:-- + +"When it (the Appeal) came out, a large number of copies were sent by +mail to South Carolina. Most of them were publicly burned by +postmasters. Not long after this, the city authorities of Charleston +learned that Miss Grimke was intending to visit her mother and sisters, +and pass the winter with them. Thereupon the mayor called upon Mrs. +Grimke and desired her to inform her daughter that the police had been +instructed to prevent her landing while the steamer remained in port, +and to see to it that she should not communicate, by letter or +otherwise, with any persons in the city; and, further, that if she +should elude their vigilance and go on shore, she would be arrested and +imprisoned until the return of the vessel. Her Charleston friends at +once conveyed to her the message of the mayor, and added that the +people of Charleston were so incensed against her, that if she should +go there despite the mayor's threat of pains and penalties, she could +not escape personal violence at the hands of the mob. She replied to +the letter that her going would probably compromise her family; not +only distress them, but put them in peril, which she had neither heart +nor right to do; but for that fact, she would certainly exercise her +constitutional right as an American citizen, and go to Charleston to +visit her relatives, and if for that, the authorities should inflict +upon her pains and penalties, she would willingly bear them, assured +that such an outrage would help to reveal to the free States the fact +that slavery defies and tramples alike upon constitutions and laws, and +thus outlaws itself." + +These brave words said no more than they meant, for Angelina Grimke's +moral heroism would have borne her to the front of the fiercest battle +ever fought for human rights; and she would have counted it little to +lay down her life if that could help on the victory. She touched as yet +only the surf of the breakers into which she was soon to be swept, but +her clear eye would not have quailed, or her cheek have blanched, if +even then all their cruelty could have been revealed to her. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +We have seen, a few pages back, that Angelina expressed her +thankfulness at Sarah's change of views with respect to the +anti-slavery cause. Again we must regret the destruction of Sarah's +letters, which would have shown us by what chains of reasoning her mind +at last reached entire sympathy with Angelina's. We can only infer that +her progress was rapid after the public rebuke which caused her to turn +her back on Philadelphia, and that her sister's brave and isolated +position, appealing strongly to her affection, urged her to make a +closer examination of the subject of abolitionism than she had yet +done. The result we know; her entire conversion in a few weeks to +Angelina's views. And from that time she travelled close by her +sister's side in this as well as in other questions of reform, drawing +her inspiration from Angelina's clearer intuitions and calmer judgment, +and frankly and affectionately acknowledging her right of leadership. + +The last of August, 1836, the sisters were once more together, Sarah +having accepted Mrs. Parker's invitation to come to Shrewsbury. The +question of future arrangements was now discussed. Angelina felt a +strong inclination to go to New England, and undertake there the same +work which the committee in New York wished her to perform, and she +even wrote to Mr. Wright that she expected to do so. Feeling also that +Friends had the first right to her time and labors, and that, if +permitted, she would prefer to work within the Society, she wrote to +her old acquaintances, E. and L. Capron, the cotton manufacturers of +Uxbridge, Massachusetts, to consult them on the subject. She mentions +this in a letter to her friend, Jane Smith, saying:-- + +"My present feelings lead me to labor with Friends on the manufacture +and use of the products of slave-labor. They excuse themselves from +doing anything, because they say they cannot mingle in the general +excitement, and so on. Now, here is a field of labor in which they need +have nothing to do with other societies, and yet will be striking a +heavy blow at slavery. These topics the Anti-Slavery Society has never +acted upon as a body, and therefore no agent of theirs could +consistently labor on them. I stated to E. and L. Capron just how I +felt, and asked whether I could be of any use among them, whether they +were prepared to have the morality of these things discussed on +Christian principles. I have no doubt my Philadelphia friends will +oppose my going there, but, Jane, I have realized very sensibly of late +that I belong not to them, but to Christ Jesus, and that I must follow +the Lamb whithersoever He leadeth.... I feel as if I was about to +sacrifice every friend I thought I had, but I still believe with T.D. +Weld, that this is 'a cause worth dying for.'" + +This is the first mention we find of her future husband, whom she had +not yet seen, but whose eloquent addresses she had read, and whose +ill-treatment by Western mobs had more than once called forth the +expression of her indignation. + +The senior member of the firm to which she had written answered her +letter in person, and, she says, utterly discouraged her. He said that +if she should go into New England with the avowed intention of laboring +among Friends on the subject of slavery in _any_ way, her path would be +completely closed, and she would find herself entirely helpless. He +even went so far as to say that he believed there were Friends who +would destroy her character if she attempted anything of the kind. He +proposed that she should go to his house for the winter, and employ her +time in writing for the Anti-Slavery Society, and doing anything else +she could incidentally. But this plan did not suit her. She felt it +right to offer her services to Friends first, and was glad she had done +so; but if they would not accept them she must take them elsewhere. +Besides, when she communicated her plan to Catherine Morris, Catherine +objected to it very decidedly, and said she _could not_ go without a +certificate and a companion, and these she knew Friends would not grant +her. + +"Under all these circumstances," Angelina writes, "I felt a little like +the apostle Paul, who having first offered the Jews the gospel, and +finding they would not receive it, believed it right for him to turn to +the Gentiles. Didst thou ever hear anything so absurd as what Catherine +says about the certificate and a companion? I cannot feel bound by such +unreasonable restrictions if my Heavenly Father opens a door for me, +and I do not mean to submit to them. She knows very well that Arch +Street Meeting would grant me neither, but as the servant of Jesus +Christ I have no right to bow down thus to the authority of man, and I +do not expect ever again to suffer myself to be trammelled as I have +been. It is sinful in any human being to resign his or her conscience +and free agency to any society or individual, if such usurpation can be +resisted by moral power. The course our Society is now determined upon, +of crushing everything which opposes the peculiar views of Friends, +seems to me just like the powerful effort of the Jews to close the lips +of Jesus. They are afraid that the Society will be completely broken up +if they allow any difference of opinion to pass unrebuked, and they are +resolved to put down all who question in any way the doctrines of +Barclay, the soundness of Fox, or the practices which are built on +them. But the time is fast approaching when we shall see who is for +Christ, and who for Fox and Barclay, the Paul and Apollos of our +Society." + +Her plan of going to New England frustrated, Angelina hesitated no +longer about accepting the invitation from New York. But first there +was a long discussion of the subject with Sarah, who found it hard to +resign her sister to a work she as yet did not cordially approve. She +begged her not to decide suddenly, and pointed out all sorts of +difficulties--the great responsibility she would assume, her retiring +disposition, and almost morbid shrinking from whatever might make her +conspicuous; the trial of going among strangers, made greater by her +Quaker costume and speech, and lastly, of the almost universal +prejudice against a woman's speaking to any audience; and she asked her +if, under all these embarrassing circumstances, added to her +inexperience of the world, she did not feel that she would ultimately +be forced to give up what now seemed to her so practicable. To all this +Angelina only answered that the responsibility seemed thrust upon her, +that the call was God's call, and she could not refuse to answer it. +Sarah then told her that if she should go upon this mission without the +sanction of the "Meeting for Sufferings," it would be regarded as a +violation of the established usages of the Society, and it would feel +obliged to disown her. Angelina's answer to this ended the discussion. +She declared that as her mind was made up to go, she could not ask +leave of her Society--that it would grieve her to have to leave it, and +it would be unpleasant to be disowned, but she had no alternative. Then +Sarah, whose loving heart had, during the long talk, been moving nearer +and nearer to that of her clear child, surprised her by speaking in the +beautiful, tender language of Ruth: "If thou indeed feelest thus, and I +cannot doubt it, then my mind too is made up. Where thou goest, I will +go; thy God shall be my God, thy people my people. What thou doest, I +will, to my utmost, aid thee in doing. We have wept and prayed +together, we will go and work together." + +And thus fully united, heart and soul and mind, they departed for New +York, Angelina first writing to inform the committee of her decision, +and while thanking them for the salary offered, refusing to receive +any. She also told them that her sister would accompany her and +co-operate with her, and they would both bear their own expense. + +After this time, the sisters found themselves in frequent and intimate +association with the men who, as officers of the American Anti-Slavery +Society, had the direction of the movement. The marked superiority of +their new friends in education, experience, culture, piety, liberality +of view, statesmanship, decision of character, and energy in action, to +the Philadelphia Quakers and Charleston slave-holders, must have been +to them a surprise and a revelation. Working with a common purpose, +these men were of varied accomplishments and qualities. William Jay and +James G. Birney were cultured men of the world, trained in legal +practice and public life; Arthur Tappan, Lewis Tappan, John Rankin, and +Duncan Dunbar, were successful merchants; Abraham L. Cox, a physician +in large practice; Theodore D. Weld, Henry B. Stanton, Alvan Stewart, +and Gerrit Smith were popular orators; Joshua Leavitt, Elizur Wright, +and William Goodell were ready writers and able editors; Beriah Green +and Amos A. Phelps were pulpit speakers and authors, and John G. +Whittier was a poet. Some of them had national reputations. Those who +in December, 1835, protested against the false charges of publishing +incendiary documents calculated to excite servile war, made against the +Society by President Jackson, had signed names almost as well known as +his, and had written better English than his message. Several of them +had been officers of the American Anti-Slavery Society from its +formation. Their energy had been phenomenal: they had raised funds, +sent lecturers into nearly every county in the free States, and +circulated in a single year more than a million copies of newspapers, +pamphlets, magazines, and books. Their moderation, good judgment, and +piety had been seen and known of all men. Faithful in the exposure of +unfaithfulness to freedom on the part of politicians and clergymen, +they denounced neither the Constitution nor the Bible. Their devotion +to the cause of abolition was pure; for its sake they suppressed the +vanity of personal notoriety and of oratorical display. Among them, not +one can be found who sought to make a name as a leader, speaker, or +writer; not one who was jealous of the reputation of co-adjutors; not +one who rewarded adherents with flattery and hurled invectives at +dissentients; not one to whom personal flattery was acceptable or +personal prominence desirable; not one whose writings betrayed egotism, +self-inflation or bombast. Such was their honest aversion to personal +publicity, it is now almost impossible to trace the work each did. Some +of their noblest arguments for Freedom were published anonymously. They +made no vainglorious claims to the original authorship of ideas. But +never in the history of reform was work better done than the old +American Anti-Slavery Society did from its formation in 1833 to its +disruption in 1840. In less than seven years it regained for Freedom +most of the vantage-ground lost under the open assaults and secret +plottings, beginning in 1829, of the Jackson administration, and in the +panic caused by the Southampton insurrection; blew into flame the +embers of the national anti-slavery sentiment; painted slavery as it +was; vindicated the anti-slavery character of the Constitution and the +Bible; defended the right of petition; laid bare the causes of the +Seminole war: exposed the Texas conspiracy and the designs of the slave +power for supremacy; and freed the legitimate abolition cause from "no +human government," secession, and anti-constitution heresies. In short, +it planted the seed which flowered and fruited in a political party, +around which the nation was to gather for defence against the +aggressions of the slave power. + +At the anti-slavery office in New York, Angelina and Sarah learned, +much to their satisfaction, that the work that would probably be +required of Angelina could be done in a private capacity; that it was +proposed to organize, the next month (November), a National Female +Anti-Slavery Society, for which women agents would be needed, and they +could make themselves exceedingly useful travelling about, distributing +tracts, and talking to women in their own homes. + +There the matter rested for a time. + +Writing to her friend Jane Smith in Philadelphia after their return to +Shrewsbury, Angelina says:-- + +"I am certain of the disapproval of nearly all my friends. As to dear +Catherine, I am afraid she will hardly want to see me again. I wrote to +her all about it, for I wanted her to know what my prospects were. I +expect nothing less than the loss of her friendship and of my +membership in the Society. The latter will be a far less trial than the +former.... I cannot describe to thee how my dear sister has comforted +and strengthened me. I cannot regard the change in her feelings as any +other than as a strong evidence that my Heavenly Father has called me +into the anti-slavery field, and after having tried my faith by her +opposition, is now pleased to strengthen and confirm it by her +approbation." + +In a postscript to this letter, Sarah says:-- + +"God does not willingly grieve or afflict the children of men, and if +my suffering or even my beloved sister's, which is harder to bear than +my own, can help forward the cause of Truth and Righteousness, I may +rejoice in that we are found worthy not only to believe on, but also to +suffer for, the name of Jesus." + +Angelina adds that she shall be obliged to go to Philadelphia for a +week or so, to dispose of her personal effects, and asks Jane to +receive her as a boarder, as she did not think it would be right to +impose herself upon either her sister, Mrs. Frost, or Catherine, on +account of their disapproval of anti-slavery measures. + +"I never felt before," she says, "as if I had _no_ home. It seems as if +the Lord had completely broken up my rest and driven me out to labor +for the poor slave. It is _His_ work--I blame no one." + +A few weeks later, the sisters were again in New York, the guests of +that staunch abolitionist, Dr. Cox, and his good wife, Abby, as earnest +a worker in the cause as her husband. An anti-slavery convention had +been called for the first week in the month of November, and met soon +after their arrival. It was at this convention that Angelina first saw +and listened to Theodore D. Weld. Writing to her friend Jane, she +says:-- + +"The meetings are increasingly interesting, and to-day (11th) we +enjoyed a moral and intellectual feast in a most noble speech from T.D. +Weld, of more than two hours, on the question, 'What is slavery?' I +never heard so grand and beautiful an exposition of the dignity and +nobility of man in my life." + +She goes on to give a synopsis of the entire speech, and by her +frequent enthusiastic comments reveals how much it and the speaker +impressed her. She continues:-- + +"After the meeting was over, W.L. Garrison introduced Weld to us. He +greeted me with the appellation of 'my dear sister,' and I felt as +though he was a brother indeed in the holy cause of suffering humanity; +a man raised up by God and wonderfully qualified to plead the cause of +the oppressed. Perhaps now thou wilt want to know how this lion of the +tribe of abolition _looks_. Well, at first sight, there was nothing +remarkable to me in his appearance, and I wondered whether he was +really as great as I had heard. But as soon as his countenance became +animated by speaking, I found it was one which portrayed the noblest +qualities of the heart and head beaming with intelligence, benevolence, +and frankness." + +On the last page of her letter she says: "It is truly comforting to me +to find that sister is so much pleased with the Convention, that she +acknowledges the spirit of brotherly love and condescension manifest +there, and that earnest desire after truth which characterizes the +addresses. We have been introduced to a number of abolitionists, +Thurston, Phelps, Green, the Burleighs, Wright, Pritchard, Thome, etc., +and Amos Dresser, as lovely a specimen of the meekness and lowliness of +the great Master as I ever saw. His countenance betrayeth that he has +been with Jesus, and it was truly affecting to hear him on Sixth Day +give an account of the Nashville outrage to a very large colored +school.[5] + +"The F.A.S. Society is to have its first public meeting this week, at +which we hope to hear Weld, but fear he will not have time, as he is +not even able to go home to meals, and told me he had sat up until two +o'clock every night since he came to New York. As to myself, I feel I +have nothing to do but to attend the Convention at present. I am very +comfortable, feeling in my right place, and sister seems to feel so +too, though neither of us sees much ahead." + + [5] Amos Dresser was one of the Lane Seminary students. After + leaving that institution, in order to raise funds to continue his + studies, he accepted an agency for the sale of the "Cottage Bible." + While peacefully prosecuting his business in Nashville, in 1834, it + became known that he was an abolitionist. This was enough. He was + arrested, his trunk broken open, and its contents searched and + scattered. He was then taken before a vigilance committee, and + without a single charge, except that of his anti-slavery principles, + being brought against him, was condemned to receive twenty lashes, + "well laid on," on the bare back, and then to be driven from the + town. The sentence was carried out by the votes and in the presence + of thousands of people, and was presided over by the mayor and the + elders of the Presbyterian Church from whose hands Mr. Dresser had, + the Sunday before, received the Holy Communion. + +In her next letter she describes the deepening interest of the +Convention, and Sarah's increasing unity with its members. + +"We sit," she says, "from 9 to 1, 3 to 5, and 7 to 9, and never feel +weary at all. It is better, _far_ better than any Yearly Meeting I ever +attended. It is still uncertain when we shall adjourn, and it is so +good to be here that I don't know how to look forward to the end of +such a feast.... T.D. Weld is to begin his Bible argument to-morrow. It +will occupy, he says, four days." + +The Convention adjourned the latter part of November, 1836, and we may +judge how profitable its meetings had proved to Sarah Grimke, from the +fact that she at once began the preparation of an "Epistle to the +Clergy of the Southern States," which, printed in pamphlet form, was +issued some time in December, and was as strong an argument against the +stand on the subject of slavery taken by the majority of the clergy as +had yet appeared. Reading it, one would little suspect how recent had +been the author's opposition to just such protests as this, calculated +to stir up bitter feelings and create discussion and excitement in the +churches. It is written in a spirit of gentleness and persuasion, but +also of firm admonition, and evidently under a deep sense of individual +responsibility. It shows, too, that Sarah had reached full accord with +Angelina in her views of immediate emancipation. + +By the time the Convention was over, the sisters, and portions of their +history, had become so well known to abolitionists, that the leaders +felt they had secured invaluable champions in these two Quaker women, +one so logical, brilliant, and persuasive; the other so intelligent, +earnest, and conscientious; and both distinguished by their ability to +testify as eye-witnesses against the monstrous evils of slavery. + +It was proposed that they should begin to hold a series of parlor +meetings, for women only, of course. But it was soon found that they +had, in private conversations, made such an impression, that no parlors +would be large enough to accommodate all who desired to hear them speak +more at length. Upon learning this, the Rev. Mr. Dunbar, a Baptist +clergyman, offered them the use of his Session room, and the Female +Anti-Slavery Society embraced the opportunity to make this the +beginning of regular quarterly meetings. On the Sunday previous to the +meeting, notice of it was given out in four churches, without however, +naming the proposed speakers. But it became known in some way that the +Misses Grimke were to address the meeting, and a shock went through the +whole community. Not a word would have been said if they had restricted +themselves to a private parlor meeting, but that it should be +transferred to such a public place as the parlor of a church made quite +a different affair of it. Friends were of course as loud as Friends +could properly be in their expressions of disapproval, while other +denominations, not so restrained, gave Mr. Dunbar, the abolitionists, +and the "two bold Southern women" an unmistakable piece of their mind. +Even Gerrit Smith, always the grandest champion of woman, advised +against the meeting, fearing it would be pronounced a Fanny Wright +affair, and do more harm than good. Sarah and Angelina were appalled, +the latter especially, feeling almost as if she was the bold creature +she was represented to be. She declared her utter inability, in the +face of such antagonism, to go on with the work she had undertaken, and +the more she looked at it, the more unnatural and unwise it seemed to +her; and when printed hand-bills were scattered about, calling +attention in a slighting manner to their names, both felt as if it were +humanly impossible for them to proceed any further. But the meeting had +been called, and as there was no business to come before it, they did +not know what to do. + +"In this emergency," Angelina writes, "I called upon Him who has ever +hearkened unto my cry. My strength and confidence were renewed, my +burden slipped off, and from that time I felt sure of God's help in the +hour of need, and that He would be mouth and wisdom, tongue and +utterance to us both." + +"Yesterday," she continues, "T.D. Weld came up, like a brother, to +sympathize with us and encourage our hearts. He is a precious +Christian, and bade us not to fear, but to trust in God. In a previous +conversation on our holding meetings, he had expressed his full unity +with our doing so, and grieved over that factitious state of society +which bound up the energies of woman, instead of allowing her to +exercise them to the glory of God and the good of her fellow creatures. +His visit was really a strength to us, and I felt no more fear. We went +to the meeting at three o'clock, and found about three hundred women +there. It was opened with prayer by Henry Ludlow; we were warmly +welcomed by brother Dunbar, and then these two left us. After a moment, +I arose and spoke about forty minutes, feeling, I think, entirely +unembarrassed. Then dear sister did her part better than I did. We then +read some extracts from papers and letters, and answered a few +questions, when at five the meeting closed; after the question had been +put whether our sisters wished another meeting to be held. A good many +rose, and Henry Ludlow says he is sure he can get his session room for +us." + +This account of the first assembly of women, not Quakers, in a public +place in America, addressed by American women, 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, and to hear them applauded too, can scarcely +realize the prejudice which, half a century back, sought to close the +lips of two refined Christian ladies, desirous only of adding their +testimony against the greatest evil of any age or country. But those +who denounced and ridiculed them builded better than they knew, for +then and there was laid the corner-stone of that temple of equal rights +for women, which has been built upon by so many brave hearts and +willing hands since, and has brought to the front such staunch +supporters and brilliant advocates as now adorn every convention of the +Woman's Rights Associations. + +After mentioning some who came up and spoke to them after the meeting +was over, Angelina adds:-- + +"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." + +Another meeting, similar to the first, was held the next week, when so +much interest was manifested that it was decided to continue the +meetings every week until further notice. By the middle of January they +had become so crowded, and were attended by such an influential class +of women, that Mr. Ludlow concluded to offer his church to them. He +always opened the meetings with prayer, and then retired. The addresses +made by the sisters were called "lectures," but they were rather +familiar talks, occasionally a discussion, while many questions were +asked and answered. Angelina's confidence in herself increased rapidly, +until she no longer felt the least embarrassment in speaking; though +she alludes to the exhausting effect of the meetings on her physical +system. Of Sarah, she says, writing to Jane Smith:-- + +"It is really delightful to see dear sister so happy in this work.... +Some Friends come to hear us, but I do not know what they think of the +meetings--or of us. How little, how very little I supposed, when I used +so often to say 'I wish I were a man,' that I could go forth and +lecture, that I ever would do such a thing. The idea never crossed my +mind that as a woman such work could possibly be assigned to me." + +To this letter there is a postscript from Sarah, in which she says:-- + +"I would not give up my abolition feelings for anything I know. They +are intertwined with my Christianity. They have given a new spring to +my existence, and shed over my whole being sweet and hallowed +enjoyments." + +Angelina's next letter to her friend is dated, "2d Mo. 4th, 1837," and +continues the account of the meetings. She mentions that, at the last +one, they had one male auditor, who refused to go out when told he +must, so he was allowed to stay, and she says: "Somehow, I did not +feel, his presence embarrassing 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 +some Southern paper." + +Truly it was a risky thing for a lord of creation to intrude himself +into a woman's meeting in those days! + +Angelina goes on to remark that more Friends are attending their +meetings, and that if they were not opened with prayer, still more +would come. Also, that Friends had been very kind and attentive to them +in every way, and never said a discouraging word to them. She then +discourses a little on phrenology, at that time quite a new thing in +this country, and relates an anecdote of "Brother "Weld," as follows:-- + +"When he went to Fowler in this city, he disguised himself as an +omnibus driver. The phrenologist 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 examined at +Utica, he was told he was deficient in the organ of color, his eyebrow +showing it. He immediately remembered that his mother often told him: +'Theodore, it is of no use to send you to match a skein of silk, for +you never bring the right color.' When relating this, he observed a +general titter in the room, and on inquiring the reason a candle was +put near him, and, to his amazement, all agreed that the legs 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 formed in Philadelphia, and Angelina desired her +friend to put her name to the pledge, 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 +most easy to do so, but I cannot say my judgment is convinced; +therefore, I would rather not put my name to the pledge." + +Her judgment was convinced, however, very shortly afterwards, by a +discussion of the subject with Weld and some others, and she then wrote +to Jane Smith to set her name down, as she found her testimony in the +great cause was greatly strengthened by keeping clean hands. + +There is much told of their meetings, and their other experiences in +New York, which is very interesting, and for which I regret I have not +room. Angelina 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 shine 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 friendship for Sarah Douglass, the Fortens, and other +colored families of Philadelphia, how slight was their prejudice +against 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 much of their +enlightenment on this as well as on some other points of radical +abolitionism. It was after a talk with him that Angelina 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 women from any share +in its management, and gave little encouragement 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 pauperism, and that the only way to eradicate this +plague 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 from going among +them as our equals." + +In her next letter to Jane Smith, Angelina gives an interesting account +of H.B. Stanton's great speech before the Committee of the +Massachusetts legislature 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 was wondering, my dear Jane, what could be the reason I had not +heard from thee, when brother Weld came in with thine and Mira's +letters hanging from the paper on which they had been tied. 'I bring +you,' he said, 'a good emblem of the fate of abolitionists,--so take +warning;' and held them up to our view.... + +"Brother Garrison was here last Sixth Day and spent two hours with us. +He gave us a most delightful account of recent things in Boston, which +I will try to tell thee of. "When the abolitionists found how their +petitions were treated in Congress, they sent in, from all parts of +Massachusetts, petitions to the legislature, requesting it to issue a +protest against such contempt of the people's wishes and rights. The +legislature 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 stormy, a good number were out. A +young lawyer of Boston first spoke an hour and a half; H.B. Stanton +followed, and completely astonished the audience, but could not get +through by dark, and asked for another meeting. The next afternoon an +overflowing audience greeted him; he spoke three hours, and did not yet +finish. Another meeting was appointed for the next evening, 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 from the greatness of +the effort, added to the unceasing 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 who wished 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 +who wished 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 more on this subject, that he came directly to New York to get +Weld to go and speak before them, but his throat is still so much +affected that it will be impossible for him to do so. Isn't this +cheering news? Here are seven hundred men in the Massachusetts +legislature, who, if they can be moved to protest against the +unconstitutional proceedings of Congress, will shake this nation to its +centre, and rock it in a revolutionary storm that must either sink it +or save it." + +After closing their meetings 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 from this time we +hear no more of the gloom 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 mercy. + +These meetings 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 Richmond Whig +published several editorials about "those fanatical women, the Misses +Grimke." But writing against 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 Smith, holding +interesting meetings 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, 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 a meeting of 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 overcome at this meeting that I sat down and wept. +I feel as if I had taken my stand by the side of the colored American, +willing to share with him the odium of a darker skin, and I trust if I +am permitted again to take my seat in Arch Street Meeting House, it +will be beside thee and thy dear mother." + +These Hudson River meetings 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 +demonstrated the ability of women to publicly advocate a great 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 +number of converts they had made, as to estimate the encouragement and +strength their zeal and eloquence had given 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 meetings where the +Grimke sisters were to speak more men than women, and gave them the +applause and hearty support of some of the ablest minds of New England. +The Female Anti-slavery Convention opened with seventy-one delegates; +the Misses Grimke, at their own request, representing South Carolina. +During this convention they met many congenial souls, among whom they +particularize Lydia M. Child, Mary T. Parker, and Anna Weston, as +sympathizing so entirely with their own views respecting prejudice and +the province of woman. + +The latter question had long been Sarah's pet problem, to the solution +of which she had given much thought 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 mind this question was +second in importance to none, and though 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 time and place to +develop it. Angelina, while holding the same views, would probably have +kept them in the background longer, but for Sarah's arguments, +supported by the objection so frequently urged against the +encouragement of their meetings,--that slavery was a political subject +with which women had nothing 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 we +well 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 argument, covering nearly seventy pages, is remarkable in its +calm reasoning, sound logic, and fervid eloquence, and will well repay +perusal, even at this day. About the same time a beautiful and most +feeling "Address to Free Colored Americans" was written 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 from the New England States. It +was finally decided that they should go to Boston first, to aid the +brave, good women there, who, while willing 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 public meeting. It was not +contemplated, however, that the sisters should address any but +assemblies of women. Even Boston was not yet prepared for a greater +infringement of the social proprieties. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +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. Their broad views, freely expressed in their New York +meetings, opened up the subject of woman's duties under the existing +state of public sentiment, and, in connection with the revelations made +concerning the condition of her white and colored sisters at the South, +and the frantic efforts used to prevent her from receiving these +revelations, she soon began to see that she had some moral obligations +outside of her home sphere and her private circle. At first her only +idea of aid in the great cause was that of prayer, which men +universally granted was her especial privilege, even encouraging her to +pray for them; but it must be private prayer--prayer in her own +closet--with no auditor but the God to whom she appealed. As soon as it +became public, and took the form of petitions to legislatures and to +Congress, the reprobation began. The enemies of freedom, fully +realizing woman's influence, opposed her interference at every point; +and when a Southern representative declared from his seat that women +had no right to send up petitions to Congress he was sustained by the +sycophantic response which came from the North, that slavery was a +political question, with which women had nothing to do. Angelina Grimke +answered this so fully and so eloquently in her "Appeal to Northern +Women," that no doubt could have been left in the minds of those who +read it, not only of woman's right, but of her duty to interfere in +this matter. The appeal is made chiefly to woman's tenderest and +holiest feelings, but enough is said of her rights to show whither +Angelina's own reflections were leading her, and it must have turned +the thoughts of many other women in the same direction. A passage or +two may be quoted as examples. + +"Every citizen should feel an intense interest in the political +concerns of the country, because the honor, happiness and well-being of +every class are bound up in its politics, government, and laws. Are we +aliens because we are women? Are we bereft of citizenship because we +are the mothers, wives, and daughters of a mighty people? Have women no +country--no interests staked on the public weal--no partnership in a +nation's guilt and shame? Has woman no home nor household altars, nor +endearing ties of kindred, nor sway with man, nor power at the +mercy-seat, nor voice to cheer, nor hand to raise the drooping, or to +bind the broken?... The Lord has raised up men whom he has endowed with +'wisdom and understanding, and knowledge,' to lay deep and broad the +foundations of the temple of liberty. This is a great moral work in +which they are engaged. No war-trumpet summons to the field of battle; +but Wisdom crieth without, 'Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him +bring an offering.' Shall woman refuse her response to the call? Was +she created to be a helpmeet for man--his sorrows to divide, his joys +to share, and all his toils to lighten by her willing aid, and shall +she refuse to aid him with her prayers, her labors, and her counsels +too, at such a time, in such a cause as this?" + +There had been, from the beginning of the anti-slavery agitation, no +lack of women sympathizers with it. Some of the best and brightest of +the land had poured forth their words of grief, of courage, and of hope +through magazines and newspapers, in prose and in verse, and had proved +their willingness to suffer for the slave, by enduring unshrinkingly +ridicule and wrath, pecuniary loss and social ostracism. All over the +country, in almost every town and village, women labored untiringly to +raise funds for the printing of pamphlets, sending forth lecturers and +for the pay of special agents. They were regular attendants also on the +anti-slavery meetings and conventions, often outnumbering the men, and +privately made some of the best suggestions that were offered. But so +strong and general was the feeling against women speaking in any public +place, that, up to the time when Sarah and Angelina Grimke began their +crusade, it was an almost unheard of thing for a woman to raise her +voice in any but a church prayer-meeting. During the sittings of the +Anti-Slavery Convention in Philadelphia, in 1833, which was attended by +a number of women, chiefly Friends, Lucretia Mott, though she had had +experience in speaking in Quaker meetings, timidly arose one day, and, +in fear lest she might offend, ventured to propose an amendment to a +certain resolution. With rare indulgence and good sense, Beriah Green, +the president of the convention, encouraged her to proceed; and May, in +his "Recollections," says: "She made a more impressive and effective +speech than any other that was made in the convention, excepting only +the closing address of our president." + +Two other ladies, Esther Moore and Lydia White, emboldened by Mrs. +Mott's example, afterwards said a few words on one or two occasions, +but these were the only infringements, during all those early years of +agitation, of St. Paul's oft-quoted injunction. + +When Sarah and Angelina Grimke accepted the invitation of the Female +Anti-Slavery Society of Boston, to come and labor there, they found +friends on every hand--women of the highest culture and purest +religion, eager to hear them, not only concerning what their eyes had +witnessed in that land of worse than Egyptian bondage, but ready to be +enlightened upon their own duties and rights in the matter of moral +reform, and as willing as resolute to perform them. Without experience, +as the sisters were, we can hardly be surprised that they should have +been carried beyond their original moorings, and have made what many of +their best friends felt was a serious mistake, in uniting the two +causes, thus laying upon abolitionists a double burden, and a +responsibility to which the great majority of them were as much opposed +as were their bitterest enemies. But no movement in this direction was +made for some time. Indeed, it seems to have grown quite naturally out +of, or been forced forward by, the alarm among men, and the means they +took to frighten and warn women away from the dangerous topic. + +The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Convention met early in June, 1837. In +writing about it to Jane Smith, Angelina first touches upon the dawning +feeling on this woman question. She says:-- + +"We had Stanton and Burleigh, Colver and Birney, Garrison and Goodell, +etc. Their eloquence was no less delightful to the ear than the +soundness of their doctrine was comforting to the heart.... A peace +resolution was brought up, but this occasioned some difficulty on +account of non-resistance here meaning a repudiation of civil +government, and of course we cannot expect many to be willing to do +this.... At Friend Chapman's, where we spent a social evening, I had a +long talk with the brethren on the rights of women, and found a very +general sentiment prevailing that it is time our fetters were broken. +L. Child and Maria Chapman strongly supported this view; indeed, very +many seem to think a new order of things is very desirable in this +respect.... And now, my dear friend, in view of these things, I feel +that it is not the cause of the slave only that we plead, but the cause +of woman as a moral, responsible being, and I am ready to exclaim, 'Who +is sufficient for these things?' These holy causes must be injured if +they are not helped by us. I see not to what point all these things are +leading us. But one thing comforts me: I do feel as though the Lord had +sent us, and as if I was leaning on his arm." + +And in this reliance, in a meek and lowly spirit, impelled not by +inclination, but by an overpowering sense of duty, these gentle women, +fully realizing the singularity of their position, prepared to enter +upon entirely new scenes of labor, encompassed by difficulties +peculiarly trying to their delicate natures. + +A series of public meetings was arranged for them as soon as the +Convention adjourned, and the first was held in Dorchester, in the town +hall, to which they repaired upon finding the number of those who +wished to hear them too great to be accommodated in a private house. +Their next was in Boston on the following afternoon. Angelina's heart +here almost failed her as she glanced over the assemblage of women of +all classes, and thought of the responsibility resting upon her. It was +at this meeting that a reverend gentleman set the example, which was +followed by two or three other men, of slyly sliding into a back seat +to hear for himself what manner of thing this woman's speaking was. +Satisfied of its superior quality, and alarmed at its effects upon the +audience, he shortly afterwards took great pains to prove that it was +unscriptural for a woman to speak in public. + +As the meetings were held at first only in the daylight, there was +little show of opposition for some time. The sisters went from one town +to another, arousing enthusiasm everywhere, and vindicating, by their +power and success, their right to speak. Angelina's letters to Jane +Smith contain memoranda of all the meetings she and Sarah held during +that summer and fall. It is surprising that they were able to endure +such an amount of mental and physical labor, and maintain the +constantly increasing eagerness to hear them. Before the end of the +first week, she records:--"Nearly thirty men present, pretty easy to +speak." A few days later the number of men had increased to fifty, with +"great openness on their part to hear." + +After having held meetings every day, their audience numbering from one +hundred and fifty to one thousand, Angelina records on the 21st July, +at Lynn:-- + +"In the evening of the same day addressed our first mixed audience. +Over one thousand present, great openness to hear, and ease in +speaking." + +This, so briefly mentioned, was the beginning of the revolution in +sentiment respecting woman's sphere, which, though it was met at the +outset with much the same spirit which opposed abolitionism, soon +spread and became a principle of reform as conscientiously and as ably +advocated as any other, moral or political. Neither Sarah nor Angelina +had any idea of starting such a revolution, but when they found it +fairly inaugurated, and that many women had long privately held the +same views as they did and were ready to follow in their lead, they +bravely accepted, and to the end of their lives as bravely sustained +all the responsibilities their opinions involved. They were the +pioneers in the great cause of political freedom for women, and opened +the way in the true pioneer spirit. The clear sense of justice and the +broad humanity which inspired their trenchant rebukes and fervid +appeals not only enlightened and encouraged other women, but led to +inquiry into various wrongs practised towards the sex which had up to +that time been suffered in silence and in ignorance, or in despair of +any possibility of relief. The peculiar tenderness of Sarah Grimke's +nature, and her overflowing sympathy with any form of suffering, led +her, earlier than Angelina, to the consideration of the necessity of +some organized system of protection of helpless women and children; +and, from the investigation of the impositions and abuses to which they +were subjected, was evolved, without much difficulty, the doctrine of +woman's equality before the law, and her right to a voice on every +subject of public interest, social or political. Sarah's published +letters during the summer of 1837 show her to have been as deeply +interested in this reform as in abolitionism, and to her influence was +certainly due the introduction of the "Woman Question" into the +anti-slavery discussions. That this question was as yet a secondary one +in Angelina's mind is evident from what she writes to Jane Smith about +this time. She says: "With regard to speaking on the rights of woman, +it has really been wonderful to me that though, everywhere I go, I meet +prejudice against our speaking, yet, in addressing an audience, I never +think of referring to it. I was particularly struck with this two days +ago. Riding with Dr. Miller to a meeting at Franklin, I found, from +conversation with him, that I had a great amount of prejudice to meet +at that town, and very much in his own mind. I gave him my views on +women's preaching, and verily believe I converted him, for he said he +had no idea so much could be adduced from the Bible to sustain the +ground I had taken, and remarked: 'This will be quite new to the +people, and I believe they will gladly hear these things,' and pressed +me so much to speak on the subject at the close of my lecture that I +was obliged to promise I would if I could remember to do so. After +speaking two hours, we returned to his house to tea, and he asked: 'Why +did you not tell the people why you believed you had a right to speak?' +I had entirely forgotten all about it until his question revived the +conversation we had on the road. Now I believe the Lord orders these +things so, driving out of my mind what I ought not to speak on. If the +time ever comes when this shall be a part of my public work, then I +shall not be able to forget it." + +But to return to the meeting at Lynn. We are told that the men present +listened in amazement. They were spell-bound, and impatient of the +slightest noise which might cause the loss of a word from the speakers. +Another meeting was called for, and held the next evening. This was +crowded to excess, many going away unable to get even standing-room. + +"At least one hundred," Angelina writes, "stood around the doors, and, +on the outside of each window, men stood with their heads above the +lowered sash. Very easy speaking indeed." + +But now the opposers of abolitionism, and especially the clergy, began +to be alarmed. It amounted to very little that (to borrow the language +of one of the newspapers of the day) "two fanatical women, forgetful of +the obligations of a respected name, and indifferent to the feelings of +their most worthy kinsmen, the Barnwells and the Rhetts, should, by the +novelty of their course, draw to their meetings idle and curious +women." But it became a different matter when men, the intelligent, +respectable and cultivated citizens of every town, began to crowd to +hear them, even following them from one place to another, and giving +them loud and honest applause. Then they were adjudged immodest, and +their conduct denounced as unwomanly and demoralizing. Their devotion +to principle, the purity of their lives, the justice of the cause they +pleaded, the religious stand-point from which they spoke, all were +overlooked, and the pitiless scorn of Christian men and women of every +sect was poured down upon them. Nor should we wonder when we remember +that, at that time, the Puritan bounds of propriety still hedged in the +education and the training of New England women, and limited the views +of New England men. Even many of the abolitionists had first to hear +Sarah and Angelina Grimke to be convinced that there was nothing +unwomanly in a woman's raising her voice to plead for those helpless to +plead for themselves. So good a man and so faithful an anti-slavery +worker as Samuel J. May confesses that his sense of propriety was a +little disturbed at first. Letters of reproval, admonition, and +persuasion, some anonymous, some signed by good conscientious people, +came to the sisters frequently. Clergymen denounced them from their +pulpits, especially warning their women members against them. Municipal +corporations refused the use of halls for their meetings, and threats +of personal violence came from various quarters. Friends especially +felt outraged. The New England Yearly Meeting went so far as to advise +the closing of meeting-house doors to all anti-slavery lecturers and +the disownment the sisters had long expected now became imminent. + +We can well imagine how terrible all this must have been to their +shrinking, sensitive, and proud spirits. But their courage never +failed, nor was their mighty work for humanity stayed one instant by +this storm of indignation and wrath. Angelina, writing to her dear Jane +an account of some of the opposition to them, says: + +"And now, thou wilt want to know how we feel about all these things. +Well, dear, poor enough in ourselves, and defenceless; but rich and +strong in the help which our Master is pleased to give from time to +time, making perfect his strength in our weakness. This is a truly +humbling dispensation, but when I am speaking I am favored to forget +little _I_ entirely, and to feel altogether hidden behind the great +cause I am pleading. Were it not for this, I do not know how I could +face such audiences and such opposition. O Jane, how good it is that we +can cast all our burdens upon the Lord." + +And Sarah, writing to Sarah Douglass, says: "They think to frighten us +from the field of duty; but they do not move us. God is our shield, and +we do not fear what man can do unto us," A little further on she says: +"It is really amusing to see how the clergy are arrayed against two +women who are telling the story of the slave's wrongs." + +This was before the celebrated "Pastoral Letter" appeared. Sarah's +answer to that in her letters to the N.E. Spectator shows how far the +clergy had gone beyond amusing her. + +There were, of course, many church members of every denomination, and +many ministers, in the abolition ranks. Indeed, at some of the +Anti-Slavery Conventions, it was a most edifying sight to see clergymen +of different churches sitting together and working together in harmony, +putting behind them, for the time being, all creeds and dogmas, or, +rather, sinking them all in the one creed taught by the blessed command +to do unto others as they would be done by. + +Some of the more conservative of the clergy objected, it is true, to +the great freedom of thought and speech allowed generally in the +Conventions, but this was slight compared to the feeling excited by the +encouragement given to women to take prominent and public part in the +work, even to speaking from the platform and the pulpit. + +The general prejudice against this was naturally increased by the +earnest eloquence with which Angelina Grimke pointed out the +inconsistent attitude of ministers and church members towards slavery; +by Sarah's strongly expressed views concerning a paid clergy; and the +indignant protests of both sisters against the sin of prejudice, then +as general in the church as out of it. + +The feeling grew very strong against them. They were setting public +sentiment at defiance, it was said; they were seeking to destroy +veneration for the ministers of the Gospel; they were casting contempt +upon the consecrated forms of the Church; and much more of the same +kind. Nowhere, however, did the feeling find decided public expression +until the General Association of Congregational Ministers of +Massachusetts saw proper to pass a resolution of censure against Sarah +and Angelina Grimke, and issued a pastoral letter, which, in the light +and freedom of the present day, must be regarded as a most +extraordinary document, to say the least of it. The opening sentences +show the degree of authority felt and exercised by the clergy at that +time. It maintained that, as ministers were ordained by God, it was +their place and duty to judge what food was best to feed to the flock +over which they had been made overseers by the Holy Ghost; and that, if +they did not preach on certain topics, as the flock desired, the flock +had no right to put strangers in their place to do it; that deference +and subordination were necessary to the happiness of every society, and +peculiarly so to the relation of a people to their pastor; and that the +sacred rights of ministers had been violated by having their pulpits +opened without their consent to lecturers on various subjects of +reform. + +All this might pass without much criticism: but it was followed by a +tirade against woman-preachers, aimed at the Grimke sisters especially, +which was as narrow as it was shallow. The dangers which threatened +the female character and the permanent injury likely to result to +society, if the example of these women should be followed, were +vigorously portrayed. Women were reminded that their power was in +their dependence; that God had given them their weakness for their +protection; and that when they assumed the tone and place of man, +as public reformers, they made the care and protection of man seem +unnecessary. "If the vine," this letter fancifully said, "whose +strength and beauty is to lean upon the trellis-work, and half +conceal its clusters, thinks to assume the independence and the +overshadowing nature of the elm, it will not only cease to bear +fruit, but will fall in shame and dishonor into the dust." + +Sarah Grimke had just begun a series of letters on the "Province of +Woman" for the _N.E. Spectator_, when this pastoral effusion came out. +Her third letter was devoted to it. She showed in the clearest manner +the unsoundness of its assertions, and the unscriptural and unchristian +spirit in which they were made. The delicate irony with which she also +exposed the ignorance and the shallowness of its author must have +caused him to blush for very shame. + +Whittier's muse, too, 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 account of color. But now that they found their own +rights invaded, they began to feel it was time to look out for the +rights of their whole sex. + +The Rev. Amos Phelps, a staunch abolitionist, wrote a private letter +to the sisters, remonstrating earnestly but kindly against their +lecturing to men and women, and requesting permission to publish the +fact of his having done so, with a declaration on their part that they +preferred having female audiences only. Angelina says to Jane Smith:-- + +"I wish you could see sister's admirable reply to this. We told him we +were entirely willing he should publish anything he felt it right to, +but that we could not consent to his saying in our name that we +preferred female audiences only, because in so saying we should +surrender a fundamental principle, believing, as we did, that as moral +beings it was our duty to appeal to all moral beings on this subject, +without any distinction of sex. He thinks we are throwing a +responsibility on the Anti-Slavery Society which will greatly injure +it. To this we replied that we would write to Elizur Wright, and give +the Executive Committee an opportunity to throw off all such +responsibility by publishing the facts that we had no commission from +them, and were not either responsible to or dependent on them. I wrote +this letter. H.B. Stanton happened to be here at the time; after +reading all the letters, he wrote to Elizur Wright, warning him by no +means to publish anything which would in the least appear to +disapprove of what we were doing. I do not know what the result will +be. My only fear is that some of our anti-slavery brethren will commit +themselves, in this excitement, against _women's rights and duties_ +before they examine the subject, and will, in a few years, regret the +steps they may now take. This will soon be an absorbing topic. It must +be discussed whether women are moral and responsible beings, and +whether there is such a thing as male and female virtues, male and +female duties, etc. My opinion is that there is no difference, and +that this false idea has run the ploughshare of ruin over the whole +field of morality. My idea is that whatever is morally right for a man +to do is morally right for a woman to do. I recognize no rights but +human rights. I know nothing of men's rights and women's rights; for +in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female.... I am persuaded +that woman is not to be as she has been, a mere second-hand agent in +the regeneration of a fallen world, but the acknowledged equal and +co-worker with man in this glorious work.... Hubbard Winslow of Boston +has just preached a sermon to set forth the proper sphere of our sex. +I am truly glad that men are not ashamed to come out boldly and tell +us just what is in their hearts." + +In another letter she mentions that a clergyman gave out a notice of +one of their meetings, at the request, he said, of his deacons, but +under protest; and he earnestly advised his members, particularly the +women, not to go and hear them. At a meeting, also, at Pepperell, +where they had to speak in a barn, on account of the feeling against +them, she mentions that an Orthodox clergyman opened the meeting with +prayer, but went out immediately after finishing, declaring that he +would as soon rob a hen-roost as remain there and hear a woman speak +in public. + +This, however, did not prevent the crowding of the barn "almost to +suffocation," and deep attention on the part of those assembled. + +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. The difficulties, inconveniences, and +discomforts to which they were constantly subjected, and of which the +women reformers of the present day know so little, were borne +cheerfully, and accepted as means of greater refinement and +purification for the Lord's work. They were often obliged to ride six +or eight or ten miles through the sun or rain, in stages or wagons +over rough roads to a meeting, speak two hours, and return the same +distance to their temporary abiding-place. For many weeks they held +five and six meetings a week, in a different place every time, were +often poorly lodged and poorly fed, especially the latter, as they ate +nothing which they did not know to be the product of free labor; +taking cold frequently, and speaking when ill enough to be in bed, but +sustained through all by faith in the justice of their cause, and by +their simple reliance upon the love and guidance of an Almighty +Father. The record of their journeyings, as copied by Angelina from +her day-book for the benefit of Jane Smith, is very interesting, as +showing how, in spite of continued opposition to them, anti-slavery +sentiment grew under their eloquent preaching. Wendell Phillips says: +"I can never forget the impulse our cause received when those two +sisters doubled our hold on New England in 1837 and 1838, and made a +name, already illustrious in South Carolina by great services, equally +historical in Massachusetts, in the two grandest movements of our +day." + +Angelina's eloquence must have been something marvellous. The sweet, +persuasive voice, the fluent speech, and occasionally a flash of the +old energy, were all we who knew her in later years were granted, to +show us what had been; but it was enough to confirm the accounts given +by those who had felt the power of her oratory in those early times. +Says Wendell Phillips: "I well remember evening after evening +listening to eloquence such as never then had been heard from a woman. +She swept the chords of the human heart with a power that has never +been surpassed and rarely equalled." + +Mr. Lincoln, in whose pulpit she lectured in Gardiner, says: "Never +before or since have I seen an audience so held and so moved by any +public speaker, man or woman; and never before or since have I seen a +Christian pulpit so well filled, nor in the pews seen such absorbed +hearers." + +Robert F. Walcutt testifies in the same manner. "Angelina," he says, +"possessed a rare gift of eloquence, a calm power of persuasion, a +magnetic influence over those who listened to her, which carried +conviction to hearts that nothing before had reached. I shall never +forget the wonderful manifestation of this power during six successive +evenings, in what was then called the Odeon. It was the old Boston +Theatre, which had been converted into a music hall; the four +galleries rising above the auditorium all crowded with a silent +audience carried away with the calm, simple eloquence which narrated +what she and her sister had seen from their earliest days. And yet +this Odeon scene, the audience so quiet and intensely absorbed, +occurred at the most enflamed period of the anti-slavery contest. The +effective agent in this phenomenon was Angelina's serene, commanding +eloquence, a wonderful gift, which enchained attention, disarmed +prejudice, and carried her hearers with her." + +Another, who often heard her, speaks of the gentle, firm, and +impressive voice which could ring out in clarion tones when speaking +in the name of the Lord to let the oppressed go free. + +Many travelled long distances to hear her. Mechanics left their shops, +and laborers came in out of the field, and sat almost motionless +throughout her meetings, showing impatience only when the lecture was +over and they could hear no more. Sarah's speaking, though fully as +earnest, was not nearly so effective as Angelina's. She was never very +fluent, and cared little for the flowers of rhetoric. She could state +a truth in clear and forcible terms, but the language was unvarnished, +sometimes harsh, while the manner of speaking was often embarrassed. +She understood and felt her deficiencies, and preferred to serve the +cause through her pen rather than through her voice. Writing to Sarah +Douglass, in September, 1837, she says:-- + +"That the work in which we are engaged is in a peculiar manner dear +Angelina's, I have no doubt. God called and qualified her for it by +deep travail of spirit. I do not think my mind ever passed through the +preparation hers did, and I regard my being with her more as an +evidence of our dear Saviour's care for us, than a design that I +should perform a conspicuous part in this labor of love. Hence, +although at first I was permitted to assist her, as her strength +increased and her ability to do the work assigned her was perfected, I +was more and more withdrawn from the service. Nor do I think anyone +ought to regret it. My precious sister has a gift in lecturing, in +reasoning and elucidating, so far superior to mine, that I know the +cause is better pleaded if left entirely in her hands. My spirit has +not bowed to this dispensation without prayer for resignation to being +thus laid aside, but since I have been enabled to take the above view, +I have been contented to be silent, believing that so is the will of +God." + +Sarah's religious anxieties seem all to have vanished before the +absorbing interest of her new work. She had no longer time to think of +herself, or to stand and question the Lord on every going-out and +coming-in. She relied upon Him as much as ever, but she understood Him +better, and had more faith in His loving-kindness. In a letter to T. +D. Weld, she says:-- + +"For many years I have been inquiring the way to Zion, and now I know +not but I shall have to surrender all or many long-cherished points of +religion, and come back to the one simple direction: 'Follow after +holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.'" + +All her letters show how much happier she was under her new +experiences. Angelina thus writes of her:-- + +"Sister Sarah enjoys more real comfort of mind than I ever saw her +enjoy before, and it is delightful to be thus yoked with her in this +work." + +But with Sarah's wider, fuller sympathies came bitter regrets over the +spiritual bondage which had kept her idle and useless so long. And +yet, in spite of all, her heart still clung to the Society of Friends, +and the struggle to give them up, to resign the long-cherished hope of +being permitted to preach among them the unsearchable riches of +Christ, was very great. But conscientious and true to her convictions +even here, as her own eyes had been mercifully opened to the faults of +this system of religion, she must do what she could to help others. +Under a solemn sense of responsibility, she wrote and printed a +pamphlet exposing the errors of the Quaker Church, and showing the +withering influence it exerted over all moral and religious progress. +For this, she doubted not, she would be at once disowned; but Friends +seem to have been very loth to part with the two rebellious subjects, +who had certainly given them much trouble, but in whom they could not +help feeling a certain pride of ownership. They showed their +willingness to be patient yet a little while longer. + +All through the summer and early fall, the meetings were continued +with slightly decreasing opposition, and continued abuse from press +and pulpit and "good society." Sarah still bore her share of the +labors, frequently speaking an hour at a time, and taking charge +chiefly of the legal side of the question of slavery, while the moral +and religious sides were left for Angelina. At Amesbury, Angelina +writes:-- + +"We met the mother, aunt, and sister of brother Whittier. They +received us at their sweet little cottage with sincere pleasure, I +believe, they being as thoroughgoing as their dear J.G.W., whom they +seem to know how to value. He was absent, serving the good cause in +New York." + +At an evening meeting they held at Amesbury, a letter was handed +Angelina, which stated that some gentlemen were present, who had just +returned from the South, and had formed very different opinions from +those of the lecturers, and would like to state them to the meeting. + +Sarah read the letter aloud, and requested the gentlemen to proceed +with their remarks. Two arose, and soon showed how little they really +knew, and how close an affinity they felt with slave-holders. A +discussion ensued, which lasted an hour, when Angelina went on with +her lecture on the "Dangers of Slavery." When it was over, the two +gentlemen of Southern sympathies requested that another opportunity be +granted for a free discussion of the subject. This was agreed to, and +the 19th of the month, August, settled upon. + +This was another and a great step forward, and when known gave rise to +renewed denunciations, the press being particularly severe against +such an unheard-of thing, which, it was declared, would not be +tolerated if the Misses Grimke were not members of the Society of +Friends. The abolitionists, however, rallied to their support, H.B. +Stanton even proposing to arrange some meeting where he and they could +speak together. But even Angelina shrank from such an irretrievable +committal on his part as this would be, and did not think the time had +yet come for such an anomaly. On the 19th they returned to Amesbury, +and Angelina writes that great excitement prevailed, and that many had +come from neighboring towns to hear two _Massachusetts men defend_ +slavery against the accusations of two _Southern women_. "May the +blessed Master," she adds, "stand at our right hand in this trying and +uncommon predicament." + +Two evenings were given to the discussion, the hall being packed both +evenings, many, even ladies, standing the whole time. Angelina gives +no details about it, as, she says, she sends a paper with a full +account to Jane Smith; but we may judge of the interest it excited +from the fact that the people urged a continuance of the discussion +for two more evenings, which, however, the sisters were obliged to +decline. Angelina adds:-- + +"Everyone is talking about it; but we have given great offence on +account of our womanhood, which seems to be as objectionable as our +abolitionism. The whole land seems aroused to discussion on the +province of woman, and I am glad of it. We are willing to bear the +brunt of the storm, if we can only be the means of making a breach in +the wall of public opinion, which lies right in the way of woman's +true dignity, honor, and usefulness. Sister Sarah does preach up +woman's rights most nobly and fearlessly, and we find that many of our +New England sisters are prepared to receive these strange doctrines, +feeling, as they do, that our whole sex needs emancipation from the +thraldom of public opinion. What dost thou think of some of _them +walking_ two, four, six, and eight miles to attend our meetings?" + +This preaching of the much-vexed doctrine was, however, done chiefly +in private, indeed altogether so by Angelina. Sarah's nature was so +impulsive that she could not always refrain from putting in a stroke +for her cherished views when it seemed to fit well into the argument +of a lecture. What prominent abolitionists thought of the subject in +its relation to the anti-slavery cause, and especially what T.D. Weld +and John G. Whittier thought, must be told in another chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Among the most prominent opposers of immediate emancipation were Dr. +Lyman Beecher and the members of his remarkable family; and though +they ultimately became converts to it, even so far as to allow a +branch of the "underground railway" to run through their barn, their +conversion was gradual, and only arrived at after various +controversies and discussions, and much bitter feeling between them +and the advocates of the unpopular cause. Opposed to slavery in the +abstract, that is, believing it to be a sin to hold a fellow creature +in bondage for the "_mere purposes of gain_," they utterly condemned +all agitation of the question. The Church and the Gospel were, with +them, as with so many evangelical Christians, the true means through +which evils should be reached and reforms effected. All efforts +outside were unwise and useless, not to say sinful. And further, as +Catherine Beecher expressed it, they considered the matter of Southern +slavery as one with which the North was no more called to interfere +than in the abolition of the press-gang system in England, or the +tithe system in Ireland. Some chapters back, the short but pleasant +friendship of Catherine Beecher and Angelina Grimke was mentioned. +Very soon after that little episode, the Beechers removed to +Cincinnati, where the doctor was called to the Presidency of the Lane +Theological Seminary. We can well understand that the withdrawal of +nearly all its students after the great discussion was a sore trial to +the Beechers, and intensified their already adverse feelings towards +abolitionists. The only result of this with which we have to do is the +volume published by Catherine Beecher during the summer of 1837, +entitled "Miss Beecher on the Slave Question," and addressed to +Angelina Grimke. + +Catherine was the true counterpart of her father, and the most +intellectual of his children, but she lacked the gentle, feminine +graces, and was so wanting in tenderness and sympathy that Angelina +charitably implies that her heart was sunk forever with her lover, +Professor Fisher of Yale, who perished in a storm at sea. With +independence, striking individuality, and entire freedom from timidity +of any sort, it would appear perfectly natural that Catherine should +espouse the Woman's Rights reform, even though opposing that of +abolitionism. But she presented the singular anomaly of a +strong-minded woman, already successful in taking care of herself, +advocating woman's subordination to man, and prescribing for her +efforts at self-help limits so narrow that only the few favored as she +was could venture within them. + +Her book was received with much favor by slave-holders and their +apologists, though it was harshly criticised by a few of the more +sensible of the former. These declared that they had more respect for +abolitionists who openly denounced the system of slavery, than for +those people who, in order to please the South, cloaked their real +sentiments under a garb like that of Miss Beecher's book. It was also +severely handled by abolitionists, and Lucretia Mott wrote a very able +review of it, which Angelina, however, pronounced entirely too mild. +She writes to Jane Smith: + +"Catherine's arguments are the most insidious things I ever read, and +I feel it my duty to answer them; only, I know not how to find +language strong enough to express my indignation at the view she takes +of woman's character and duty." + +The answer was given in a number of sharp, terse, letters, sent to the +_Liberator_ from various places where the sisters stopped while +lecturing. A few passages will convey some idea of the spirit and +style of these letters, thirteen in number. In the latter part of the +second letter she says:-- + +"Dost thou ask what I mean by emancipation? I will explain myself in a +few words. + +"1st. It is to reject with indignation the wild and guilty phantasy +that man can hold _property_ in man. + +"2d. To pay the laborer his hire, for he is worthy of it. + +"3d. No longer to deny him the right of marriage, but to let every man +have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband, as saith +the apostle. + +"4th. To let parents have their own children, for they are the gift of +the Lord to them, and no one else has any right to them. + +"5th. No longer to withhold the advantages of education, and the +privilege of reading the Bible. + +"6th. To put the slave under the protection of equitable laws. + +"Now why should not _all_ this be done immediately? Which of these +things is to be done next year, and which the year after? and so on. +_Our_ immediate emancipation means doing justice and loving mercy +_to-day_, and this is what we call upon every slave-holder to do.... + +"I have seen too much of slavery to be a gradualist. I dare not, in +view of such a system, tell the slave-holder that he is 'physically +unable to emancipate his slaves.'[6] I say _he is able_ to let the +oppressed go free, and that such heaven-daring atrocities ought to +cease _now_, henceforth, and forever. Oh, my very soul is grieved to +find a Northern woman 'thus sewing pillows under all arm-holes,' +framing and fitting soft excuses for the slave-holder's conscience, +whilst with the same pen she is _professing_ to regard slavery as a +sin. 'An open enemy is better than such a secret friend.' + +"Hoping that thou mayst soon be emancipated from such inconsistency, I +remain until then, + +"Thine _out_ of the bonds of Christian abolitionism. + +"A.E. GRIMKE." + + [6] The plea made by many of the apologists was that, as the laws of + some of the States forbade emancipation, the masters were physically + unable to free their slaves. + +The last letter, which Angelina says she wrote in sadness and read to +her sister in tears, ends thus:-- + +"After endeavoring to show that woman has no moral right to exercise +the right of petition for the dumb and stricken slave; no business to +join, in any way, in the excitement which anti-slavery principles are +producing in our country; no business to join abolition societies, +etc., thou professest to tell our sisters what they are to do in order +to bring the system of slavery to an end. And now, my dear friend, +what does all thou hast said in many pages amount to? Why, that women +are to exert their influence in private life to allay the excitement +which exists on this subject, and to quench the flame of sympathy in +the hearts of their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons. Fatal +delusion! Will Christian women heed such advice? + +"Hast thou ever asked thyself what the slave would think of thy book +if he could read it? Dost thou know that, from the beginning to the +end, not a word of compassion for _him_ has fallen from thy pen? +Recall, I pray, the memory of hours which thou spent in writing it. +Was the paper once moistened by the tear of pity? Did thy heart once +swell with sympathy for thy sister in _bonds_? Did it once ascend to +God in broken accents for the deliverance of the captive? Didst thou +even ask thyself what the free man of color would think of it? Is it +such an exhibition of slavery and prejudice as will call down _his_ +blessing on thy head? Hast thou thought of _these_ things? or carest +thou not for the blessings and prayers of these our suffering +brethren? Consider, I entreat, the reception given to thy book by the +apologists of slavery. What meaneth that loud acclaim with which they +hail it? Oh, listen and weep, and let thy repentings be kindled +together, and speedily bring forth, I beseech thee, fruits meet for +repentance, and henceforth show thyself faithful to Christ and His +bleeding representative, the slave. + +"I greatly fear that thy book might have been written just as well, +hadst thou not had the heart of a woman. It bespeaks a superior +intellect, but paralyzed and spellbound by the sorcery of a +worldly-minded expediency. Where, oh, where in its pages are the +outpourings of a soul overwhelmed with a sense of the heinous crimes of +our nation, and the necessity of immediate repentance? ... Farewell! +Perhaps on a dying bed thou mayst vainly wish that '_Miss Beecher on +the Slave Question_' might perish with the mouldering hand which penned +its cold and heartless pages. But I forbear, and in deep sadness of +heart, but in tender love though I thus speak, I bid thee again, +farewell. Forgive me if I have wronged thee, and pray for her who still +feels like + +"Thy sister in the bonds of a common sisterhood. + +"A.E. GRIMKE." + + +While Angelina was writing these letters, Sarah was publishing her +letters on the "Province of Woman" in the _Spectator_. This was a +heavier dose than Boston could stand at one time; harsh and bitter +things were said about the sisters, notices of their meetings were +torn down or effaced, and abolitionism came to be so mixed up in the +public mind with Woman's Rights, that anti-slavery leaders generally +began to feel anxious lest their cause should suffer by being +identified with one to which the large majority of abolitionists was +decidedly opposed. Even among them, however, there was a difference of +opinion, Garrison, H.C. Wright and others, non-resistants, encouraging +the agitation of Woman's Rights. A few lines from one of Angelina's +letters will best define the position taken by herself and Sarah. + +"Sister and I," she writes, "feel quite ready for the discussion about +women, but brothers Whittier and Weld entreat us to let it alone for +the present, because it will involve topics of such vast +importance,--a paid ministry, clerical domination, etc.,--and will, +they fear, divert our attention and that of the community from the +anti-slavery cause; and that the wrongs of the slave are so much +greater than the wrongs of woman, they ought not to be confounded. In +their letters, received last week, they regret exceedingly that the +letters in the _Spectator_ had been written. They think just as we do, +but believe that, for the time being, a persevering, practical +assertion of woman's right to speak to mixed audiences is the best one +we can make, and that we had better keep out of controversies, as our +hands are full. On the other hand, we fear that the leaven of the +Pharisees will be so assiduously worked into the minds of the people, +that if they come to hear us, they will be constantly thinking it is a +_shame_ for us to speak in the churches, and that we shall lose that +influence which we should otherwise have. We know that _our_ views on +this subject are quite new to the _mass_ of the people of this State, +and I think it best to throw them open for their consideration, just +letting them have both sides of the argument to look at, at the same +time. Indeed some wanted to have a meeting in Boston for us to speak +on this subject now, and we went into town on purpose to hold a +conference about it at Maria Chapman's. She, Mary Parker, and sister +were against it for the present, fearing lest it would bring down such +a storm upon our heads, that we could not work in the country, and so +Henrietta Sargent and I yielded, and I suppose this is the wisest +plan, though, as brother Stanton says, I am ready for the battle +_now_. I am still glad of sister's letters, and believe they are doing +great good. Some noble-minded women cheer her on, and she feels +encouraged to persevere, the brethren notwithstanding. I tell them +that this is _a part_ of the great doctrine of Human Rights, and can +no more be separated from emancipation than the light from the heat of +the sun; the rights of the slave and of woman blend like the colors of +the rainbow. However, I rarely introduce this topic into my addresses, +except to urge my sisters up to duty. Our _brethren_ are dreadfully +afraid of this kind of amalgamation. I am very glad to hear that +Lucretia Mott addressed the Moral Reform Society, and am earnest in +the hope that _we_ are only pioneers, going before a host of worthy +women who will come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty." + +The letters of Whittier and Weld, alluded to by Angelina, are so good +and so important that I feel no reluctance in giving them here almost +entire. The first is Whittier's, and is dated: "Office of Am. A.S. +Soc., 14th of 8th Mo., 1837,"--and is as follows: + +"MY DEAR SISTERS,--I have been waiting for an opportunity to answer +the letter which has been so kindly sent me. I am anxious, too, to +hold a long conversation with you on the subject of _war_, human +government, and church and family government. The more I reflect on +this subject, the more difficulty I find, and the more decidedly am I +of opinion that we ought to hold all these matters far aloof from the +cause of abolition. Our good friend, H.C. Wright, with the best +intentions in the world, is doing great injury by a different course. +He is making the anti-slavery party responsible in a great degree, for +his, to say the least, startling opinions. I do not censure him for +them, although I cannot subscribe to them in all their length and +breadth. But let him keep them distinct from the cause of +emancipation. This is his duty. Those who subscribe money to the +Anti-Slavery Society do it in the belief that it will be spent in the +propagation, not of Quakerism or Presbyterianism, but of the doctrines +of Immediate Emancipation. To employ an agent who devotes half his +time and talents to the propagation of 'no human or no family +government' doctrines in connection--_intimate connection_--with the +doctrines of abolition, is a fraud upon the patrons of the cause. Just +so with papers. Brother Garrison errs, I think, in this respect. He +takes the 'no church, and no human government' ground, as, for +instance, in his Providence speech. Now, in his prospectus, he engaged +to give his subscribers an anti-slavery paper, and his subscribers +made their contract with him on that ground. If he fills his paper +with Grahamism and no governmentism, he defrauds his subscribers. +However, I know that brother Garrison does not look at it in this +light. + +"In regard to another subject, '_the rights of woman_,' you are now +doing much and nobly to vindicate and assert the rights of woman. Your +lectures to crowded and promiscuous audiences on a subject manifestly, +in many of its aspects, _political_, interwoven with the framework of +the government, are practical and powerful assertions of the right and +the duty of woman to labor side by side with her brother for the +welfare and redemption of the world. Why, then, let me ask, is it +necessary for you to enter the lists as controversial writers on this +question? Does it not _look_, dear sisters, like abandoning in some +degree the cause of the poor and miserable slave, sighing from the +cotton plantations of the Mississippi, and whose cries and groans are +forever sounding in our ears, for the purpose of arguing and disputing +about some trifling oppression, political or social, which we may +ourselves suffer? Is it not forgetting the great and dreadful wrongs +of the slave in a selfish crusade against some paltry grievance of our +own? Forgive me if I have stated the case too strongly. I would not +for the world interfere with you in matters of conscientious duty, but +I wish you would weigh candidly the whole subject, and see if it does +not _seem_ an abandonment of your first love. Oh, let us try to forget +everything but our duty to God and our fellow beings; to dethrone the +selfish principle, and to strive to win over the hard heart of the +oppressor by truth kindly spoken. The Massachusetts Congregational +Association can do you no harm if you do not allow its splenetic and +idle manifesto to divert your attention from the great and holy +purpose of your souls. + +"Finally, dear sisters, rest assured that you have my deepest and +warmest sympathy; that my heart rejoices to know that you are mighty +instruments in the hands of Him who hath come down to deliver. May the +canopy of His love be over you, and His peace be with you! + +"Your friend and brother, + +"JNO. G. WHITTIER." + +Weld's first letter, written the day after Whittier's, begins by +defining his own position on the disturbing question. He says: "As to +the rights and wrongs of woman, it is an old theme with me. It was the +first subject I ever discussed. In a little debating society, when a +boy, I took the ground that sex neither qualified nor disqualified for +the discharge of any functions, mental, moral, or spiritual: that +there is no reason why woman should not make laws, administer justice, +sit in the chair of State, plead at the Bar, or in the pulpit, if she +has the qualifications, just as much as man. What I advocated in +boyhood, I advocate now--that woman, in every particular, shares, +equally with man, rights and responsibilities. Now that I have made +this statement of my creed on this point, to show you that we fully +agree, except that I probably go much further than you do, I must say +I do most deeply regret that you have begun a series of articles in +the papers on the rights of woman. Why, my dear sisters, the best +possible advocacy which you can make is just what you are making day +by day. Thousands hear you every week who have all their lives held +that women must not speak in public. Such a practical refutation of +the dogma which your speaking furnishes has already converted +multitudes." + +He then goes on to urge two strong points:-- + +1st. That as Southerners, and having been brought up among +slaveholders, they could do more to convince the North than twenty +Northern women, though they could speak as well, and that they would +lose this peculiar advantage the moment they took up another subject. + +2d. That almost any other women of their capacity and station could +produce a greater effect on the public mind on that subject than they, +because they were Quakers, and woman's right to speak and minister was +a Quaker doctrine. Therefore, for these and other reasons, he urged +them to leave the lesser work to others who could do it better than +they, and devote, consecrate their whole souls, bodies, and spirits to +the greater work which they could do far better than anybody else. He +continues: "Let us all first wake up the nation to lift millions of +slaves from the dust and turn them into men, and then, when we all +have our hand in, it will be an easy matter to take millions of women +from their knees and set them on their feet; or, in other words, +transform them from _babies_ into _women_." + +A spirited, almost dogmatic, controversy was the result of these +letters. In a letter to Jane Smith, Angelina says: "I cannot +understand why they (the abolitionists) so exceedingly regret sister's +having begun those letters. Brother Weld was not satisfied with +writing us _one_ letter about them, but we have received two more +setting forth various reasons why we should not moot the subject of +woman's rights _at all_, but our judgment is not convinced, and we +hardly know what to do about it, for we have just as high an opinion +of Brother Garrison's views, and _he_ says, '_go on_.' ... The great +effort of abolitionists now seems to be to keep every topic but +slavery out of view, and hence their opposition to Henry O. Wright and +his preaching anti-government doctrines, and our even writing on +woman's rights. Oh, if I _only_ saw they were _right_ and _we_ were +_wrong_, I would yield immediately." + +One of the two other letters from T.D. Weld, referred to by Angelina, +is a very long one, covering over ten pages of the old-fashioned +foolscap paper, and is in reply to letters received from the sisters, +and which were afterwards returned to them and probably destroyed. I +have concluded to make some extracts from this long letter from Mr. +Weld, not only on account of the arguments used, but to show the +frank, fearless spirit with which he met the reasoning of his two +"sisters." When we consider that he was even then courting Angelina, +his hardihood is a little surprising. + +After observing that he had carefully read their letters, and made an +abstract on half a sheet of paper of the "positions and conclusions +found therein," he continues:-- + +"This abstract I have been steadily looking at with great marvelling, + +"1st. That you should argue at length the doctrine of Woman's Rights, +as though I was a _dissentient_; + +"2d. That you should so magnify the power of the New England clergy; + +"3d. That you should so misconceive the actual convictions of +ministers and Christians, and almost all, as to the public speaking of +women; + +"4th. That you should take the ground that the clergy, and the whole +church government, must come down _before_ slavery can be abolished (a +proposition which to my mind is absurd). + +"5th. That you should so utterly overlook the very _threshold_ +principle upon which alone any moral reformation can be effectually +promoted. Oh, dear! There are a dozen other things--marvellables--in +your letters; but I must stop short, or I can say nothing on other +points. + +"... Now, before we commence action, let us clear the decks; for if +they are clogged we shall have foul play. _Overboard_ with everything +that don't _belong on board_. Now, first, _what is the precise point +at issue between us?_ I answer first _negatively_, that we may +understand each other on all points kindred to the main one. 1st. It +is _not_ whether _woman's_ rights are inferior to _man's_ rights." + +He then proceeded to state the doctrine of Woman's Rights very +forcibly. Of _sex_, he says:-- + +"Its _only_ design is not to give nor to take away, nor in any respect +to modify, or even touch, rights or responsibilities in any sense, +except so far as the peculiar offices of each sex may afford less or +more opportunity and ability for the exercise of rights, and the +discharge of responsibilities, but merely to continue and enlarge the +human department of God's government." + +For an entire page he continues in this manner of "_negatives_" to +"_clear the decks_," until he has shown through seven negative +specifications what do _not_ constitute the point at issue, and then +goes on:-- + +"Well, waving further negatives, the question at issue between us +_is_, whether _you_, S.M.G. and A.E.G., should engage in the public +discussion of the rights of women as a distinct topic. Here you +affirm, and I deny. Your reasons for doing it, as contained in your +two letters, are the following:-- + +"1st. The _New England Spectator_ was _opened_; you were invited to +write on the subject, and some of the Boston abolitionists _urged_ you +to do so, and you say, 'We viewed this unexpected opportunity of +throwing our views before the public, as _providential_.' + +"_Answer_. When the devil is hard pushed, and likely to be run down in +the chase, it is an old trick of his to start some smaller game, and +thus cause his pursuers to strike off from his own track on to that of +one of his imps. It was certainly a very _providential_ opportunity +for Nehemiah to 'throw his views before the public,' when Geshem, +Sanballat, and Tobiah invited and urged him to stop building the wall +and hold a public discussion as to the _right_ to build. And doubtless +a great many Jews said to him, 'Unless we _establish_ the right in the +first place, it will surely be taken from us utterly. This is a +providential opportunity to preach truth in the very camp of the +enemy.' But who got it up, God or the devil?... Look over the history +of the world, and in nine cases out of ten we shall find that Satan, +after being foiled in his arts to stop a great moral enterprise, has +finally succeeded by diverting the reformers from the _main_ point to +a _collateral_, and that too just at the _moment_ when such diversion +brought ruin. Now, even if this opportunity made it the duty of +_somebody_ to take up the subject (which is not proved by the fact of +the opportunity), why should _you_ give _your_ views, and with _your +name_? Others as able might be found, and as familiar with the +subject. But you say, others 'are driven off the field, and cannot +answer the objections.' I answer, your _names_ do not answer the +objections.... How very easy to have helped a third person to the +argument. By publicly making an onset in your own names, in a +widely-circulated periodical, upon a doctrine cherished as the apple +of their eye (I don't say really _believed_) by nine tenths of the +church and the world; what was it but a formal challenge to the whole +community for a regular set-to?" + +He proceeds to speak of such a "set to" and debate as "producing +alienation wide-spread in our own ranks, and introducing confusion and +every evil work." He urges the necessity of vindicating a right "by +exercising it," instead of simply arguing for it. + +Of ministers he says: "True, there is a pretty large class of +ministers who are fierce about it, and will fight, but a still larger +class that will come over _if_ they first witness the successful +practice rather than meet it in the shape of a doctrine to be +swallowed. Now, if instead of blowing a blast through the newspapers, +sounding the onset, and summoning the ministers and churches to +surrender, you had without any introductory flourish just gone right +among them and lectured, _when_ and _where_ and _as_ you could find +opportunity, and paid no attention to criticism, but pushed right on, +without making any ado about 'attacks,' and 'invasions,' and +'opposition,' and have let the barkers bark their bark out,--within +one year you might have practically brought over five hundred thousand +persons, of the very moral _elite_ of New England. You may rely upon +it.... No moral enterprise, when prosecuted with ability and any sort +of energy, _ever_ failed under heaven so long as its conductors pushed +the _main_ principle, and did not strike off until they reached the +summit level. On the other hand, every reform that ever foundered in +mid-sea, was capsized by one of these gusty side-winds. Nothing more +utterly amazes me than the fact that the _conduct_ of a great, a +_pre-eminently_ great moral enterprise, should exhibit so little of a +wise, far-sighted, comprehensive _plan_. Surely it is about plain +enough to be called _self-evident_, that the only common-sense method +of conducting a great moral enterprise is to _start_ with a +_fundamental, plain principle, so_ fundamental as not to involve +side-relations, and _so_ plain, that it cannot be denied." + +The main obvious principle he urges is to be pushed until the +community surrenders to it. He adds:-- + +"Then, when you have drawn them up to the top of the general +principle, you can slide them down upon all the derivative principles +_all at once_. But if you attempt to start off on a derivative +principle, from any other point than the summit level of the main +principle, you must beat up stream--yes, up a cataract. It reverses +the order of nature, and the laws of mind.... + +"You put the cart before the horse; you drag the tree by the top, in +attempting to push your woman's rights until human rights have gone +ahead and broken _the path_. + +* * * * * + +"You are both liable, it seems to me, from your structure of mind, to +form your opinions upon _too slight_ data, and too narrow a range of +induction, and to lay your plans and adopt your measures, rather +_dazzled_ by the glare of false _analogies_ than _led on_ by the +relations of cause and effect. Both of you, but especially Angelina, +unless I greatly mistake, are constitutionally tempted to push for +_present_ effect, and upon the suddenness and impulsiveness of the +onset rely mainly for victory. Besides from _her_ strong +_resistiveness_ and constitutional obstinacy, she is liable every +moment to turn short from the main point and spend her whole force +upon some little one-side annoyance that might temporarily nettle her. +In doing this she might win a _single battle_, but _lose a whole +campaign_. Add to this, great pride of character, so closely curtained +as to be almost searchless to herself, with a passion for adventure +and novel achievements, and she has in all an amount of temptation to +poor human nature that can be overmastered only by strong conflicts +and strong faith. Under this, a sense of justice so keen that +violation of justice would be likely to lash up such a tide of +indignation as would drive her from all anchorage. I say this to her +_not_ in raillery. I _believe_ it, and therefore utter it. It is +either fiction or fact. If _fiction_ it can do no hurt; if _fact_, it +may not be in vain in the Lord, and then my heart's desire and prayer +will be fulfilled. May the Lord have you in his keeping, my own dear +sisters. + +"Most affectionately, your brother ever, + +"T.D. WELD." + +"One point I designed to make _more_ prominent. It is this: What is +done for the _slave_ and _human rights_ in this country _must be done +note, now, now_. Delay is madness, ruin, whereas woman's rights are +not a life and death business, _now or never_. Why can't you have eyes +to see this? The wayfaring man, though a _fool_, need not err _here_, +it is so plain. What will you run a tilt at next?" + +And he names several things,--the tariff, the banks, English tithe +system, burning widows, etc., and adds:-- + +"If you adopt the views of H.C. Wright, as you are reported to have +done, in his official bulletin of a 'domestic scene' (where you are +made to figure conspicuously among the conquests of the victor as rare +spoils gracing the triumphal car), why then we are in one point of +doctrine just as wide asunder as extremes can be." + +This letter was answered by Sarah, and with the most admirable +patience and moderation. She begins by saying:-- + +"Angelina is so wrathy that I think it will be unsafe to trust the pen +in her hands to reply to thy two last _good_ long letters. As I feel +nothing but gratitude for the kindness which I am sure dictated them, +I shall endeavor to answer them, and, as far as possible, allay thy +uneasiness as to the course we are pursuing." + +She then proceeds to calmly discuss his objections, and to defend +their views on the woman question, which, she says, she regards as +second in importance to none, but that she does not feel bound to take +up every _caviller_ who presents himself, and therefore will not +notice some others who had criticised her letters in the _Spectator_. + +About H.C. Wright, she says: "I must say a few words concerning +Brother Wright, towards whom I do not feel certain that the law of +love predominated when thou wrote that part of thy letter relative to +him.... We feel prepared to avow the principles set forth in the +'domestic scene.' I wonder thou canst not perceive the simplicity and +beauty and consistency of the doctrine that all government, whether +civil or ecclesiastical, conflicts with the government of Jehovah, and +that by the Christian no other can be acknowledged, without leaning +more or less on an arm of flesh. Would to God that all abolitionists +put their trust where I believe H.C. Wright has placed his, in God +alone.... I have given my opinions (in the _Spectator_). Those who +read them may receive or reject or find fault. I have nothing to do +with that. I shall let thee enjoy thy opinion, but I must wait and see +the issue before I conclude it was one of Satan's providences.... I +know the opposition to our views arises in part from the fact that +women are habitually regarded as inferior beings, but chiefly I +believe from a desire to keep them in unholy subjection to man, and +one way of doing this is to deprive us of the means of becoming their +equals by forbidding us the privileges of education which would fit us +for the performance of duty. I am greatly mistaken if most men have +not a desire that women should be silly.... I have not said half I +wanted, but this must suffice for the present, as Angelina has +concluded to try her hand at scolding. Farewell, dear brother. May the +Lord reward thee tenfold for thy kindness, and keep thee in the hollow +of His holy hand. + +"Thy sister in Jesus, + +"S.M.G." + +Angelina's part of the letter is not written in the sweet, Quaker +spirit which prevails through Sarah's, but shows a very interesting +consciousness of her power over the man she addressed. + +"Sister," she writes, "seems very much afraid that my pen will be +transformed into a venomous serpent when I employ it to address thee, +my dear brother, and no wonder, for I like to pay my debts, and, as I +received ten dollars' worth of scolding,[7] I should be guilty of +injustice did I not return the favor. Well! such a lecture I never +before had from anyone. What is the matter with thee? One would really +suppose that we had actually abandoned the anti-slavery cause, and +were roving the country, preaching _nothing_ but woman's rights, when, +in fact, I can truly say that whenever I lecture, I forget _everything +but the slave_. He is all in all for the time being. And what is the +reason _I_ am to be scolded because _sister_ writes letters in the +_Spectator_? Please let every woman bear _her own burdens_. Indeed, I +should like to know what I have done yet? And dost thou really think +in my answer to C.E. Beecher's absurd views of woman that I had better +suppress my own? If so, I will do it, as thou makest such a monster +out of the molehill, but my judgment is _not_ convinced that in this +incidental way it is wrong to throw light on the subject." + + [7] Angelina and Sarah had sent Mr. Weld ten dollars for some + supposed debts. He returned it, and said if any trifling sums fell + due, he would take them out in scolding, and pay himself thus. + +She speaks very gratefully of "Brother Lincoln, of Gardner," who +rejoiced to have them speak in his pulpit, and says:-- + +"My _keen sense of justice_ compels me to admire such nobility. He +hoped sister would give her views on this branch of the subject in the +_Spectator_. He thought they were needed, and _we_ are well convinced +they are, T.D.W. notwithstanding. So much for my bump of obstinacy +which even thy sledge-hammer cannot beat down." + +The subsequent correspondence, which I regret I have not room to +insert, shows that the remonstrances of Whittier and Weld were +effective in restraining, for the time being, the impatience of the +sisters to urge in their public meetings what, however, they +faithfully preached in private--their conviction that the wrongs of +woman were the root of _all_ oppression. + +Sarah meekly writes to "brother Weld." + +"After a struggle with my feelings, so severe that I was almost +tempted to turn back from the anti-slavery cause, I have given up to +what seemed the inevitable, and have thought little of it since. +Perhaps I have done wrong, and if so, I trust I shall see it and +repent it. I do not intend to make any promises, because I may have +reason to regret them, but I do not know that I shall scribble any +more on the objectionable topic of woman." + +This interesting controversy did not end until several more letters +had passed back and forth, and various other topics had been brought +in; but it was carried through with the same spirit of candor and love +on all sides which marked the beginning. There was one subject +introduced, a sort of side-question which I must notice, as it reveals +in a very pleasant manner the religious principle and manly moral +courage of Theodore D. Weld. At the close of one of her letters, Sarah +says:-- + +"Now just as it has come into my head, please tell me whether thy +clothing costs one hundred dollars per annum? I ask because it was +insisted upon that Mr. Weld must spend that amount on his wardrobe, +and I as strenuously insisted he did not. It was thought impossible a +gentleman could spend less, but I think anti-slavery agents know +better." + +To this, he answered thus, at the end of one of _his_ letters. + +"Oh! I forgot the wardrobe! I suppose you are going to take me to task +about my shag-overcoat, linsey-woolsey coat, and cowhide shoes; for +you Quakers are as notional about _quality_ as you are precise about +_cut_. Well, now to the question. While I was travelling and +lecturing, I think that _one_ year my clothing must have cost me +nearly one hundred dollars. It was the first year of my lecturing in +the West, when one entire suit and part of another were destroyed or +nearly so by mobs. Since I resigned my commission as agent, which is +now nearly a year, my clothing has not cost me one third that amount. +I don't think it _even_ cost me fifty dollars a year, except the year +I spoke of, when it was ruined by mobs, and the year 1832, when, in +travelling, I lost it all with my other baggage in the Alum River. +There, I believe I have answered your question as well as I can. +However, I have always had to encounter the criticism and chidings of +my acquaintances about my coarse dress. They will have it that I have +always curtailed my influence and usefulness by such a John the +Baptist attire as I have always been habited in. But I have remarked +that those persons who have beset me on that score have shown in some +way that they had their hearts set more or less on showing off their +persons to advantage by their dress. Now I think of it, I believe you +are in great danger of making a little god out of your caps and your +drab color, and '_thee_' and '_thou_.' Besides, the tendency is quite +questionable. The moment certain shades of color, or a certain +combination of letters, or modulation of sounds, or arrangement of +seams and angles, are made the _sine qua non_ of religion and +principle, that moment religion and principle are hurled from their +vantage-ground and become _slaves_ instead of _rulers_. I cannot get +it out of my mind that these must be a fetter on the spirit that +clings to such stereotyped forms and ceremonies that rustle and +clatter the more because life and spirit and power do not inhabit +them. Think about it, dear sisters." + +In Sarah's next letter to him she says:-- + +"Now first about the wardrobe. Thou art greatly mistaken in supposing +that I meant to quiz thee; no, not I, indeed. I wish from my heart +more of us who take the profession of Jesus on our lips were willing +to wear shag cloaks and linsey-woolsey garments. Now I may inform thee +that, notwithstanding my prim caps, etc., I am as economical as thou +art. I do many things in the way of dress to please my friends, but +perhaps their watchfulness is needful." + +Dear Aunt Sarah! these last words will make many smile who remember +how scrupulously careful she was about spending more on her dress than +was absolutely necessary to cleanliness and health. Every dollar +beyond this she felt was taken from the poor or from some benevolent +enterprise. The watchfulness of her friends was indeed needful! + +It appears from the above correspondence that both Sarah and Angelina +had become tinctured with the doctrines of "non-resistance," which, +within a few years, had gained some credit with a few "perfectionists" +and active reformers in and about Boston. They had been presented by +Lydia Maria Child, a genial writer, under the guise of the Scriptural +doctrine of love. This sentiment was held to be adequate to the +regulation of social and political life: by it, ruffians were to be +made to stand in awe of virtue; thieves, burglars, and murderers were +to be made ashamed of themselves, and turned into honest and amiable +citizens; children were to be governed without punishment; and the +world was to be made a paradise. Rev. Henry C. Wright, a man of some +ability, but tossed by every wind of doctrine, embraced the new +gospel. He applied its principles to public matters. From the +essential sinfulness of all forms of force, if used towards human +beings, he inferred that penal laws, prisons, sheriffs, and criminal +courts should be dispensed with; that governments, which, of +necessity, execute their decrees by force, should be abolished; that +Christians should not take part in politics, either by voting or +holding office; that they should not employ force, even to resist +encroachment or in the defence of their wives and children; and that +although slavery, being a form of force, was wrong, no one should vote +against it. The slave-holder was to be converted by love. The free +States should show their grief and disapprobation by seceding from the +slave States, and by nullifying within their limits any unjust laws +passed by the nation. All governments, civil, ecclesiastical, and +family, were to disappear, so that the divine law, interpreted by each +one for himself, might have free course. To this fanciful, +transcendental, and anarchical theory, Mr. Wright made sundry +converts, more or less thorough, including Parker Pillsbury, Wm. L. +Garrison, and Stephen S. Foster. That he took a good deal of pains to +capture the subjects of our biography is evident. He attended their +lectures, cultivated their acquaintance, extended to them his +sympathy, and made them his guests. There are certain affinities of +the non-resistance doctrines with Quakerism, which made them +attractive to these two women who had little worldly knowledge, and +who had been trained for years in the peace doctrines of the +Philadelphia Friends. + +It was fortunate for the anti-slavery cause that Sarah and Angelina +were warned in time by their New York friends of the fatally dangerous +character of the heresies they were inclined to accept. They went no +further in that direction. In all their subsequent letters, journals, +and papers there is not a word to show that either of them ever +entertained no-government notions, or identified herself with persons +who did. During the remaining months of their stay in Massachusetts, +they devoted themselves to their true mission of anti-slavery work, +accepting the co-operation and friendship of all friends of the slave, +but avoiding compromising relations with those known as "no human +government" non-resistants. This course was continued in after years, +and drew upon them the disapprobation and strictures of the +non-voting, non-fighting faction. In a letter from Sarah to Augustus +Wattles, dated May 11, 1854, about the time of the Kansas war, she +says:-- + +"We were fully aware of the severe criticisms passed upon us by many +of those who showed their unfitness to be in the judgment seat, by the +unmerciful censure they have pronounced against us when we were doing +what to us seemed positive duty. They wanted us to live out Wm. Lloyd +Garrison, not the convictions of our own souls, entirely unaware that +they were exhibiting, in the high places of moral reform, the genuine +spirit of slave-holding by wishing to curtail the sacred privilege of +conscience. But we have not allowed their unreasonableness to sever us +from them; they have many noble traits, have acted grandly for +humanity, and it was perhaps a part of their business to abuse us. I +do not think I love Garrison any the less for what he has said. His +spirit of intolerance towards those who did not draw in his traces, +and his adulation of those who surrendered themselves to his guidance, +have always been exceedingly repulsive to me, weaknesses which marred +the beauty and symmetry of his character, and prevented its +symmetrical development, but nevertheless I know the stern principle +which is the basis of his action. He is Garrison and nobody else, and +all I ask is that he would let others be themselves." + +The feeling thus expressed was probably never changed until after the +sisters had taken up their residence in the neighborhood of Boston, +when visits were interchanged with Mr. Garrison, and friendly +relations established, which ended only with death. It is certain, +however, that Sarah and Angelina sympathized with the stalwart freemen +who used Sharp's rifles in the defence of free Kansas, who voted the +Liberty, Free Soil, and Republican ticket, who elected Abraham Lincoln +President, and who shouldered muskets against the rebels. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +The anti-slavery cause, and intimate association with so many of its +enthusiastic advocates, had indeed done much for Sarah Grimke. Her +mind was rapidly becoming purified from the dross that had clogged it +so long; religious doubts and difficulties were fading away one by +one, and the wide, warm sympathies of her nature now freed, expanded +gladly to a new world of light and love and labor. As she expressed +it, she was like one coming into a clear brisk atmosphere, after +having been long shut up in a close room. Her drowsy faculties were +all stirred and invigorated, and though her disappointments had left +wounds whose pain must always remind her of them, she had no longer +time to sit down and bemoan them. There was so much to do in the +broad, fresh fields which stretched around her, and she had been idle +so long! Is it any wonder that she tried to grasp too much at first? + +The affection between her and Angelina was growing daily more +tender--perhaps a little more maternal on her part. Drawn closer +together by the now complete separation from every member of their own +family, and by the disapproval and coldness of their Philadelphia +friends, they were an inexpressible solace and help to each other. +Identified in all their trials, as now in their labors, they worked +together in a sweet unity of spirit, which lessened every difficulty +and lightened every burden. + +They continued to lecture almost uninterruptedly for five months, and +though the prejudice against them as women appeared but slightly +diminished, people were becoming familiarized to the idea of women +speaking in public, and the way was gradually being cleared for the +advance-guard of that noble army which has brought about so many +changes favorable to the weak and downtrodden of its own sex. + +Invitations to speak came to the sisters from all parts of the State, +and not even by dividing their labors among the smaller towns could +they begin to respond to all who wished to hear them. Sometimes the +crowds around the place of meeting were so great that a second hall or +church would have to be provided, and Sarah speak in one, while +Angelina spoke in the other. At one place, where over a thousand +people crowded into a church, one of the joists gave way; it was +propped up, but soon others began to crack, and, although the people +were warned to leave that part of the building, only a few obeyed, and +it was found impossible to persuade them to go, or to consent to have +the speaking stopped. + +At another place ladders were put up at all the windows, and men +crowded upon them, and tenaciously held their uncomfortable positions +through the whole meeting. In one or two places they were refused a +meeting-house, on account of strong sectarian feeling against them as +Quakers. At Worcester they had to adjourn from a large Congregational +church to a small Methodist one, because the clergyman of the former +suddenly returned from an absence, and declared that if they spoke in +his church he would never enter it again. At Bolton, notices of their +meetings were torn down, but the town hall was packed notwithstanding, +many going away, unable to get in. The church here had also been +refused them. Angelina, in the course of her lecture, seized an +opportunity to refer to their treatment, saying that if the people of +her native city could see her lecturing in that hall because every +church had been closed against the cause of God's down-trodden +creatures, they would clap their hands for joy, and say, "See what +slavery is doing for us in the town of Bolton!" + +She describes very graphically going two miles to a meeting on a dark +and rainy night, 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 +came to being upset, and how they met men in flocks along the road, +all going to the meeting. She says:-- + +"It seemed as if I could not realize they were going to hear me," and +adds:-- + +"This was the first large meeting I 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 system, together with the +fatigue and exposure of almost constant travelling, began 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 peremptorily called a halt. In the +beginning of November, after a week of unusual fatigue, having +lectured six times in as many different places, they reached Hingham +quite worn out. Sarah, though still suffering 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 how unwell Angelina +looked, seized both her hands and exclaimed:-- + +"Oh, if you will only hold out to-night, 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 remainder of the year. Their good friends, +Samuel and Eliza Philbrick, brought the sisters to their beautiful +home in Brookline, and surrounded them with every care and comfort +kind hearts could suggest. Sarah then found how very weary she was +also, and how opportune was this enforced rest. + +"Thus," wrote Angelina some weeks afterwards to Jane Smith, "thus +ended our summer campaign. Oh, how delightful it was to stretch my +weary limbs on a bed of ease, and roll off from my mind all the heavy +responsibilities which had so long pressed upon it, and, above all, to +feel in my soul the language, 'Well done.' It was luxury indeed, well +worth the toil of months." + +Sarah, too, speaks of looking back upon the labors of the summer with +feelings of unmixed satisfaction. + +That the leaven prepared in Sarah Grimke's letters on the "Province of +Woman" was beginning to work was evidenced by a public discussion on +woman's rights which took place at the Boston Lyceum on the evening 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 most intelligent 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, +accompanied by Mr. Philbrick. + +"A very noble view throughout," says Angelina, and adds: "The +discussion has raised my hopes of the woman question. It was conducted +with respect, delicacy, and dignity, and many minds no doubt were +roused to reflection, though I must not forget to say it was decided +against us by acclamation, our enemies themselves being judges. It was +like a meeting of slave-holders deciding that the slaves are happier +in their present condition than they would be freed." + +Soon after this, Angelina writes that some Boston women, including +Maria Chapman and Lydia M. Child, were about to start a woman's rights +paper, and she adds: "We greatly hope dear Maria Chapman will soon +commence lecturing, and that the spark we have been permitted to kindle +on the woman question will never die out." + +The annual meeting 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 meeting," 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 themselves regarded it as strong +evidence of the progress their cause had made. Angelina writes Jane +Smith a graphic account of the speakers and speeches at this meeting, +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 who was 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 whom we were commanded to honor and obey." These +remarks were so ridiculous as to excite laughter, and the manner in +which Stanton demolished the speaker by his own arguments called forth +such repeated rounds of applause that the great orator was obliged to +_insist_ upon silence. + +At this meeting, said to have been the largest ever held in Boston, +several hundred women were present, a most encouraging sign to Sarah +Grimke of the progress of _her_ ideas. + +After some parleying, the hall of the House of Representatives was +granted the Society for their remaining meetings, 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 names of some thousands of women were +before it as signers 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 manifest assertion of equality. + +"It seems," Angelina 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_ myself. I feel willing +to do it, and think I shall say nothing 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 chairman as a woman, as a Southerner, as a moral +being.... 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 chairman of +the committee; and the halls of the Massachusetts Legislature were +opened for the first time to a woman. Wendell Phillips says of that +meeting:--"It gave Miss Grimke the opportunity to speak to the best +culture and character of Massachusetts; and the profound impression +then made on a class not often found in our meetings was never wholly +lost. It was not only the testimony of one most competent to speak, +but it was the profound religious experience of one who had broken out +of the charmed circle, and whose intense earnestness melted all +opposition. The converts she made needed no after-training. It was +when 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 impression her words were making." + +We have not Angelina's account of this meeting, but referring to it in +a letter to Sarah Douglass, she says: "My heart never quailed before, +but it almost died within me at that tremendous hour." + +But one hearing did not satisfy her, and the committee needed no +urging to grant her another. At the second meeting, the hall was +literally packed, and hundreds went away unable to obtain seats. When +she arose to speak, there was some hissing from the doorways, but the +most profound silence reigned through the crowd within. 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 might 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 meetings is to be, I know not, nor do I feel +that _I_ have anything to do with it. This I know, that the chairman +was in tears almost the whole time I was speaking," and she adds: "We +abolition women are turning the world upside down, for during the +whole meeting there was sister seated up in the Speaker's chair of +state." + +These meetings were followed by the six evening lectures at the Odeon, +to which reference has already been made. Sarah delivered the first +lecture, taking for 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 +some strongly expressed truth, and showing 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 time Sarah spoke in public. Her throat, which had +long troubled her, was now seriously affected, and entire rest was +prescribed. She did not murmur, for she had increasingly felt that +Angelina's speaking was more effective than hers, and now she believed +the Lord was showing her that this part of the work must be left to +her more gifted sister, and she gladly yielded to her the task of +delivering the five succeeding lectures. In relation to these +lectures, the son of Samuel Philbrick has kindly sent me the following +extract from a diary kept by his father. Under date of April 23, 1838, +he says:-- + +"In February Angelina addressed the committee of our legislature on +the subject of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia +and Florida, and the inter-state slave trade, during 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 few weeks she has delivered five lectures, and Sarah +one at the Odeon, before an assembly of men and women from all parts +of the city. Every part of the building was crowded, every aisle +filled. Estimated number, two thousand to three thousand at each +meeting. 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 +six months, and returned to Philadelphia, Sarah accepting a temporary +home with Jane Smith, while Angelina went to stay with Mrs. Frost, at +whose house two weeks later, that is on the 14th of May, she was +united in marriage to Theodore D. Weld. + +No marriage could have been more true, 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. + +Invitations were sent to about eighty persons, mostly abolitionists, +of all colors, some jet black. Nearly all came; representing +Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and +Massachusetts. Among them were H.B. Stanton, C.C. Burleigh, William +Lloyd Garrison, Amos Dresser, H.C. Wright, Maria and Mary Chapman, +Abby Kelly, Samuel Philbrick, Jane Smith, and Sarah Douglass of +course, and Mr. Weld's older brother, the president of the asylum for +deaf mutes. Sarah Grimke's account of the wedding, written to a friend +in England, is most interesting; and one cannot but wonder if another +like it ever took place. The letter was written while the then and +ever after inseparable trio was at Manlius, New York, visiting Mr. +Weld's family. After a slight mention of other matters, she says:-- + +"I must now give thee some account of my dear sister's marriage, which +probably thou hast already heard of. Her precious husband is +emphatically a man of God, a member of the Presbyterian Church. Of +course Angelina will be disowned for forming this connection, and I +shall be for attending the marriage. We feel no regret at this +circumstance, believing that the discipline which cuts us off from +membership for an act so strictly in conformity with the will of God, +and so sanctioned by His word as is the marriage of the righteous, +must be anti-Christian, and I am thankful for an opportunity to +testify against it. The marriage was solemnized at the house of our +sister, Anna R. Frost, in Philadelphia, on the 14th instant. By the +law of Pennsylvania, a marriage is legal if witnessed by twelve +persons. Neither clergyman nor magistrate is required to be present. +Angelina could not conscientiously consent to be married by a +clergyman, and Theodore D. Weld cheerfully consented to have the +marriage solemnized in such manner as comported with her views. We all +felt that the presence of a magistrate, a stranger, would be +unpleasant to us at such a time, and we therefore concluded to invite +such of our friends as we desired, and have the marriage solemnized as +a religious act, in a religious and social meeting. Neither Theodore +nor Angelina felt as if they could bind themselves to any preconceived +form of words, and accordingly uttered such as the Lord gave them at +the moment. Theodore addressed Angelina in a solemn and tender manner. +He alluded to the unrighteous power vested in a husband by the laws of +the United States over the person and property of his wife, and he +abjured all authority, all government, save the influence which love +would give to them over each other as moral and immortal beings. I +would give much could I recall his words, but I cannot. Angelina's +address to him was brief but comprehensive, containing a promise to +honor him, to prefer him above herself, to love him with a pure heart +fervently. Immediately after this we knelt, and dear Theodore poured +out his soul in solemn supplication for the blessing of God on their +union, that it might be productive of enlarged usefulness, and +increased sympathy for the slave. Angelina followed in a melting +appeal to our Heavenly Father, for a blessing on them, and that their +union might glorify Him, and then asked His guidance and +over-shadowing love through the rest of their pilgrimage. A colored +Presbyterian minister then prayed, and was followed by a white one, +and then I felt as if I could not restrain the language of praise and +thanksgiving to Him who had condescended to be in the midst of this +marriage feast, and to pour forth abundantly the oil and wine of +consolation and rejoicing. The Lord Jesus was the first guest invited +to be present, and He condescended to bless us with His presence, and +to sanction and sanctify the union which was thus consummated. The +certificate was then read by William Lloyd Garrison, and was signed by +the company. The evening was spent in pleasant social intercourse. +Several colored persons were present, among them two liberated slaves, +who formerly belonged to our father, had come by inheritance to sister +Anna, and had been freed by her. They were our invited guests, and we +thus had an opportunity to bear our testimony against the horrible +prejudice which prevails against colored persons, and the equally +awful prejudice against the poor." + +This unconventional but truly religious marriage ceremony was in +perfect harmony with the loyal, noble natures of Theodore Weld and +Angelina Grimke, exemplifying the simplicity of their lives and the +strength of their principles. No grand preparations preceded the +event; no wedding bells were rung on the occasion; no rare gifts were +displayed: but the blessing of the lowly and the despised, and the +heart-felt wishes of co-workers and co-sufferers were the offerings +which lent to the occasion its purest joy and brightest light. + +But though so quietly and peacefully solemnized, this marriage was to +have its celebration,--one little anticipated, but according well with +the experiences which had preceded it, and serving to make it all the +more impressive and its promises more sacred. + +Refused the use of churches and lecture-rooms, and denied the +privilege of hiring halls for their meetings, the abolitionists of +Philadelphia, with other friends of free discussion, formed an +association, and built, at an expense of forty thousand dollars, a +beautiful hall, to be used for free speech on any and every subject +not of an immoral character. Daniel Neall was the president of this +association, and William Dorsey the secretary. The hall, one of the +finest buildings in the city, was situated at the southwest corner of +Delaware, Sixth, and Harris streets, between Cherry and Sassafras +streets. + +It was opened for the first time on Angelina Grimke's wedding-day, and +was filled with one of the largest audiences ever assembled in +Philadelphia. + +As soon as the president of the association had taken his seat, the +secretary arose and explained the uses and purposes the hall was +expected to serve. He said:-- + +"A number of individuals of all sects, and those of no sect, of all +parties, and those of no party, being desirous that the citizens of +Philadelphia should possess a room wherein the principles of _liberty_ +and _equality of civil rights_ could be freely discussed, and the +evils of slavery fearlessly portrayed, have erected this building, +which we are now about to dedicate to liberty and the rights of +man.... A majority of the stockholders are mechanics or working-men, +and (as is the case in almost every other good work) a number are +women." + +The secretary then proceeded to read letters from John Quincy Adams, +Thaddeus Stevens, Gerrit Smith, Theodore Weld, and others, who had +been invited to deliver addresses, but who, from various causes, were +obliged to decline. That from Weld was characteristic of the +earnestness of the man. After stating that for a year and a half he +had been prevented from speaking in public on account of an affection +of the throat, and must therefore decline the invitation of the +committee, he adds:-- + +"I exult in the erection of your 'temple of freedom,' and the more, as +it is the first and only one, in a republic of fifteen millions, +consecrated to free discussion and equal rights." + +"For years they have been banished from our halls of legislation and +of justice, from our churches and our pulpits. It is befitting that +the city of Benezet and of Franklin should be the first to open an +asylum where the hunted exiles may find a home. God grant that your +Pennsylvania Hall may be _free, indeed!_" + +"The empty name is everywhere,--_free_ government, _free_ men, _free_ +speech, _free_ people, _free_ schools, and _free_ churches. Hollow +counterfeits all! _Free!_ It is the climax of irony, and its million +echoes are hisses and jeers, even from the earth's ends. _Free! Blot +it out_. Words are the signs of _things_. The substance has gone! Let +fools and madmen clutch at shadows. The husk must rustle the more when +the kernel and the ear are gone. Rome's loudest shout for liberty was +when she murdered it, and drowned its death shrieks in her hoarse +huzzas. She never raised her hands so high to swear allegiance to +freedom as when she gave the death-stab, and madly leaped upon its +corpse; and her most delirious dance was among the clods her hands had +cast upon its coffin. _Free!_ The word and sound are omnipresent masks +and mockers. An impious lie, unless they stand for free _lynch law_ +and free _murder_, for they _are_ free. + +"But I'll hold. The times demand brief speech, but mighty deeds. On, +my brethren! uprear your temple. "Your brother in the sacred strife +for all, + +"THEODORE D. WELD." + +David Paul Brown, of Philadelphia, was invited to deliver the +dedicatory address, which, with other exercises, occupied the mornings +and evening of three days, and included addresses by Garrison, Thomas +P. Hunt, Arnold Buffum, Alanson St. Clair, and others, on slavery, +temperance, the Indians, right of free discussion, and kindred topics. +On the second day, an appropriate and soul-stirring poem by John G. +Whittier was read by C.C. Burleigh. The first lines will give an idea +of the spirit of the whole poem, one of the finest efforts Whittier +ever made:-- + + "Not with the splendors of the days of old, + The spoil of nations and barbaric gold, + No weapons wrested from the fields of blood, + Where dark and stern the unyielding Roman stood, + And the proud eagles of his cohorts saw + A world war-wasted, crouching to his law; + Nor blazoned car, nor banners floating gay, + Like those which swept along the Appian Way, + When, to the welcome of imperial Rome, + The victor warrior came in triumph home, + And trumpet peal, and shoutings wild and high, + Stirred the blue quiet of th' Italian sky, + But calm and grateful, prayerful, and sincere, + As Christian freemen only, gathering here, + We dedicate our fair and lofty hall, + Pillar and arch, entablature and wall, + As Virtue's shrine, as Liberty's abode, + Sacred to Freedom, and to Freedom's God." + +The Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women was then holding a +session in the city, and among the members present were some of the +brightest and noblest women of the day, women with courage as calm and +high to dare, as with hearts tender to feel for human woe. The +Convention occupied the lecture-room of Pennsylvania Hall, under the +main saloon. A strong desire having been expressed by many citizens to +hear some of these able pleaders for the slave, notice was given that +there would be a meeting in the main saloon on the evening of the +16th, at which Angelina, E.G. Weld, Maria Chapman, and others would +speak. + +Up to the time of this announcement, no apprehension of any +disturbance had been felt by the managers of the hall. So far all the +meetings had been conducted without interruption; nor could anyone +have supposed it possible that in a city renowned for its order and +law, and possessing a large and efficient police force, a public +outrage upon an assemblage of respectable citizens, many of them +women, could be perpetrated. But it was soon to be shown how deeply +the spirit of slavery had infused itself into the minds of the people +of the free States, leading them to disregard the rights of +individuals and to wantonly violate the sacred principles guaranteed +by the Constitution of the country. + +During the day some threats of violence were thrown out, and _written_ +placards were posted about the city inviting interference with the +proposed meeting, _forcibly if necessary_. But this was regarded only +as the expression of malice on the part of a few, or perhaps of an +individual, and occasioned no alarm. Still, the precaution was taken +to request the mayor to hold his police force in readiness to protect +the meeting in case of need. The day passed quietly. Long before the +time announced for the meeting, the hall, capable of containing three +thousand people, was thronged, and, by the time the speakers arrived, +every seat was filled, every inch of standing room was occupied, and +thousands went away from the doors unable to obtain admittance. The +audience was for the most part a highly respectable and intelligent +one, and, notwithstanding the great crowd, was exceedingly quiet. +William Lloyd Garrison opened the meeting with a short but +characteristic speech, during which he was frequently interrupted by +hisses and groans; and when he ended, some efforts were made to break +up the meeting. In the midst of the confusion, Maria W. Chapman arose, +calm, dignified, and, with a wave of her hand, as though to still the +noise, began to speak, but, before she had gone far, yells from the +outside proclaimed the arrival there of a disorderly rabble, and at +once the confusion inside became so great, that, although the brave +woman continued her speech, she was not heard except by those +immediately around her. + +Sarah Grimke thus wrote of Mrs. Chapman's appearance on that occasion: +"She is the most beautiful woman I ever saw; the perfection of +sweetness and intelligence being blended in her speaking countenance. +She arose amid the yells and shouts of the infuriated mob, the crash +of windows and the hurling of stones. She looked to me like an angelic +being descended amid that tempest of passion in all the dignity of +conscious superiority." + +Then Angelina Weld, the bride of three days, came forward, and so +great 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 solemnity, and in words of burning eloquence, +she gave her testimony against the awful wickedness of an institution +which had no secrets from her. She was frequently interrupted by the +mob, but their yells and shouts only furnished her with metaphors +which she used with unshrinking power. More stones were thrown at the +windows, more glass crashed, but she only paused to ask:-- + +"What is a mob? What would the breaking of every window be? Any +evidence that we are wrong, or that slavery is a good and wholesome +institution? What if that mob should now burst in upon us, break up +our meeting, and commit violence upon our persons--would this be +anything compared with what the slaves endure? No, no: and we do not +remember them 'as bound with them,' if we shrink in the time of peril, +or feel unwilling 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 completely +seared as to be unmoved by the truth of the living God." + +Here a shower of stones was thrown through the windows, and there was +some disturbance in the audience, but quiet was again restored, and +Angelina proceeded, and spoke for over an hour, making 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 tremor or a change of color perceptible, and though the +missiles continued to fly through 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 few words, +her first public utterances. She was followed by gentle Lucretia Mott +in a short but most earnest speech, and then this memorable meeting, +the first of the kind where men and women acted together as moral +beings, closed. + +There was a dense crowd in the streets around the hall as the immense +audience streamed out, but though screams and all sorts of appalling +noises were made, no violence was offered, and all reached their homes +in safety. + +But the mob remained, many of its wretched members staying all night, +assaulting every belated colored man who came along. The next morning +the dregs of the populace, and some respectable _looking_ men again +assembled around the doomed hall, but the usual meetings were held, +and even the convention of women assembled in the lecture room to +finish up their business. The evening was to have been occupied by a +public meeting of the Wesleyan Anti-Slavery Society of Philadelphia, +but as the day waned to its close, the indications of approaching +disturbance became more and more alarming. The crowd around the +building increased, and the secret agents of slavery were busy +inflaming the passions of the rabble against the abolitionists, and +inciting it to outrage. Seeing this, and realizing the danger which +threatened, the managers of the hall gave the building over to the +protection of the mayor of the city, _at his request_. Of course the +proposed meeting was postponed. All the mayor did was to appear in +front of the hall, and, in a friendly tone, express to the mob the +hope that it would not do anything disorderly, saying that he relied +upon the men he saw before him, as his _policemen_, and he wished them +"good evening!" The mob gave "three cheers for the mayor," and, as +soon as he was out of sight, extinguished the gas lights in front of +the building. The rest is soon told. Doors and windows were broken +through, and with wild yells the reckless horde dashed in, plundered +the Repository, scattering the books in every direction, and, mounting +the stairways and entering the beautiful hall, piled combustibles on +the Speaker's forum, and applied the torch to them, shrieking like +demons,--as they were, for the time. A moment more, and the flames +roared and crackled through the building, and though it was estimated +that fifteen thousand persons were present, and though the fire +companies were early on the scene, not one effort was made to save the +structure so recently erected, at such great cost, and consecrated to +such Christian uses. In a few hours the smouldering walls alone were +left. + +Angelina Weld never again appeared in public. An accident soon after +her marriage caused an injury of such a nature that her nervous system +was permanently impaired, and she was ever after obliged 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 many who espoused it through 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 +new work 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 most efficient, Weld and Burleigh, were +already, from overwork, taken from the platform. + +But though denied the privilege of again raising her voice in behalf +of the oppressed, Angelina continued to plead for them through her +pen. She could never forget the cause that could never forget her, and +to her writings was transferred much of the force and eloquence of her +speaking. + +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, from which place, Sarah, writing to Jane Smith, says:-- + +"O Jane, it looks like almost too great a blessing for us three to be +together in some quiet, humble habitation, living to the glory of God, +and promoting 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 amid their new surroundings before the +sisters received a formal notice of their disownment by the Society of +Friends because of Angelina's marriage. The notification, signed by +two prominent women elders of the Society, expressed regret that Sarah +and Angelina had not more highly prized their right of membership, and +added an earnest desire that they might come to a sense of their real +state, and manifest a disposition to condemn their deviations from the +path of duty. + +Angelina 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 members of the household of faith. If you regret that we +have valued our right of membership so little, we equally regret that +our Society should have adopted a discipline which has no foundation +in the Bible or in reason; and we earnestly hope the time may come +when the simple Gospel rule with regard to marriage, '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 shibboleth be not exactly the same. + +"We are very respectfully, in that love which knows no distinction in +color, clime, or creed, your friends, + +"A.E.G. 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. From that +time they never attached themselves to any religious organization, but +rested contentedly in the simple religion of Christ, illustrating by +every act of their daily lives how near they were to the heart of all +true religion. + +As I am approaching the limits prescribed for this volume, I can, in +the space remaining to me, only note with any detail the chief +incidents of the years which followed Angelina's marriage. I would +like to describe at length the beautiful family life the trio created, +and which disproved so clearly the current assertion that interest in +public matters disqualifies woman for home duties or make these +distasteful to her. In the case of Sarah and Angelina those duties +were entered upon with joy and gratitude, and with the same +conscientious zeal that had characterized their public labors. The +simplicity and frugality, too, which marked all their domestic +arrangements, and which neither thought it necessary to apologize for +at any time, recall to one's mind the sweet pictures of Arcadian life +over which goodness, purity, and innocence presided, creating an +atmosphere of perfect inward and outward peace. + +Sarah's letters detail their every-day occupations, their division of +labor, their culinary experiments, often failures,--for of practical +domestic economy they had little knowledge, though they enjoyed the +new experience like happy children. She tells of rambles and picnics +along the Hudson, climbing rocks to get a fine view, halting under the +trees to read together for a while, taking their simple dinner in some +shady nook, and returning weary but happy to their "dear little No. +3," as she designates their house. + +"Oh, Jane," she writes, "words cannot tell the goodness of the Lord to +us since we have sat down under the shadow of our own roof, and +gathered around our humble board. Peace has flowed sweetly through our +souls. The Lord has been in the midst, and blessed us with his +presence, and the daily aspiration of our souls is: Lord, show us thy +will concerning us." And in another letter she says, "We are delighted +with our arrangement to do without a girl. Angelina boils potatoes to +admiration, and says she finds cooking much easier than she expected." + +During the summer they were gratified by a visit from their good +friend Jane, who, it appears, gave them some useful and much-needed +lessons in the art of cookery. But about this time Sarah became +converted to the Graham system of diet, which Mr. "Weld had adopted +three, and Mrs. Weld two years before. Sarah thus writes of it:-- + +"We have heard Graham lectures, and read Alcott's 'Young Housekeeper,' +and are truly thankful that the Lord has converted us to this mode of +living, and that we are all of one heart and one mind. We believe it +is the most conducive to health, and, besides, it is such an +emancipation of woman from the toils of the kitchen, and saves so much +precious time for purposes of more importance than eating and +drinking. We have a great variety of dishes, and, to our taste, very +savory. We can make good bread, and this with milk is an excellent +meal. This week I am cook, and am writing this while my beans are +boiling and pears stewing for dinner. We use no tea or coffee, and +take our food cool." + +She then tells of the arrival one day of two friends from the city, +just as they had sat down to their simple meal of rice and molasses. +"But," she says, "we were very glad to see them, and with bread and +milk, and pie without shortening, and hominy, we contrived to give +them enough, and as they were pretty hungry they partook of it with +tolerable appetite." Answering some inquiries from Jane Smith, +Angelina writes:-- + +"As to how I have made out with cooking, it so happens that labor +(planting a garden) gives Theodore such an appetite that everything is +sweet to him, so that my rice and asparagus, potatoes, mush, and +Indian bread all taste well, though some might think them not fit to +eat." + +They had but one cooking day, when enough was generally prepared to +last a week, so that very little time and mind was given to creature +comforts; in fact, no more than was necessary to the preservation of +health. Their motto literally was "to eat to live," and this they felt +to be a part of that non-conformity to the world of which the apostle +speaks, and after which Sarah, at least, felt she must still strive. +Their furniture corresponded with the simplicity of their table. +Angelina writes shortly after her marriage:-- + +"We ordered our furniture to be made of cherry, and quite enjoy the +cheapness of our outfit as well as our manner of life; for the less we +spend, the less the Anti-Slavery Society will have to pay my Theodore +for his labors as editor of all the extra publications of the +Society." + +Thus some high or unselfish motive inspired all their conduct and +influenced every arrangement. Nothing superfluous or merely ornamental +found a place with these true and zealous followers of Him whose +precepts guided their lives. Everything in doors and out served a +special purpose of utility, or suggested some duty or great moral aim. +Angelina was exceedingly fond of flowers, but refrained from +cultivating them, because of the time required, which she thought +could be better employed. She felt she had no right to use one moment +for her own selfish gratification which could be given to some more +necessary work. Therefore, though both sisters were peculiarly gifted +with a love of the beautiful, as their frequent descriptions of +natural scenery show, they contented themselves, from principle, with +the enjoyment of "glorious sunsets," and with the flowers of the field +and wayside. Later they learned a different appreciation of all the +innocent pleasures of life; but at the time I am describing, they had +just emerged from Quaker asceticism, and in the flush of their new +religion, and looking upon their past years as almost wasted, they +were eager only to make amends for them. In one of her letters to her +English friend, Angelina acknowledges the present from her of a large +picture of a _Kneeling Slave_, and adds:-- + +"We purpose pasting it on binder's boards, binding it with colored +paper, and fixing it over our mantelpiece. It is just such a speaking +monument of suffering as we want in our parlor, and suits my fireboard +most admirably. I first covered this with plain paper, and then +arranged as well as I could about forty anti-slavery pictures upon it. +I never saw one like it, but we hope other abolitionists will make +them when they see what an ornamental and impressive article of +furniture can thus be manufactured. We want those who come into our +house to see at a glance that we are on the side of the oppressed and +the poor." + +Sarah Douglass spent a day with them in September, and as I can have +no more fitting place to show how conscientious were these rare +spirits in their practical testimony against the color prejudice, I +will quote a few passages from a letter written to Sarah Douglass +after her departure from the circle where she had been treated as a +most honored guest. Sarah Grimke begins as follows:-- + +"Thy letter, my beloved Sarah, was truly acceptable as an evidence of +thy love for us, and because it told us one of our Lord's dear +children had been comforted in being with us. It would have been truly +grateful to have had thee a longer time with us, and we hope thy next +visit may be less brief. By the way, dear, as I love frankness, I am +going to tell thee what I have thought in reading thy note. It seemed +to me thy proposal 'to spend a day' with us was made under a little +feeling something like this: 'Well, after all, I am not quite certain +I shall be an acceptable visitor.' I can only say that it is no +surprise to me that thou shouldst be beset with such a temptation, but +set a strong guard against this entrance to thy heart, lest the +adversary poison all the springs of comfort. I want thee to rise above +the suspicions which are so naturally aroused. They are among the +subtle devices of Satan, by which he alienates us from Jesus, and +makes us go mourning on our way with the language in our hearts: 'Is +there not a cause?'" + +Angelina adds:-- + +"MY DEAR SARAH,--I can fully unite with my precious sister in all she +has said relative to thy late visit to us. Theodore and I both felt +surprised and disappointed that thou proposedst spending but one day +with us when we had expected a visit of a week. It was indeed a +comfort to receive such a letter from thee, dear, and yet there was +much of pain mingled in the feeling. Thou thankest us for our +'Christian conduct.' In what did it consist? In receiving and treating +thee as an equal, a sister beloved in the Lord? Oh, how humbling to +receive such thanks! What a crowd of reflections throng the mind as we +inquire, _Why_ does her full heart thus overflow with gratitude? Yes, +how irresistibly are we led to contemplate the woes which iron-hearted +prejudice inflicts on the oppressed of our land, the hidden sorrows +they endure--the full cup of bitterness which is wrung out to them by +the hands of professed followers of Him who is no respecter of +persons. And oh, how these reflections ought to lead us to labor and +to pray that the time may soon come when thou canst no longer write +_such_ a letter! The Lord in his mercy has made our little household +_one_ in sentiment on this subject, and we know we have been blessed +in the exercise of those Christian feelings which He hath taught us to +cherish, not only towards the outraged people of color, but towards +that large class of individuals who serve in families, and are, at the +same time, almost completely separated from human society and sympathy +so far as their employers are concerned. + +"Let me tell thee, dear Sarah, how much good it did me to find that +thy visit had made thee love my precious husband as a brother, and +afforded thee an opportunity to _feel_ what manner of spirit is his. +Now I greatly want thy dear mother to know him too, and cannot but +believe she will come and visit us next summer." + +The gratitude of Sarah Douglass for the reception given her at Fort +Lee was not surprising, considering how different such kindness was +from the treatment she and her excellent mother had always received +from the Society of Friends, of which they were members. Scarcely +anything more damaging to the Christian spirit of the Society can be +found than the testimony of this mother and daughter, which Sarah +Grimke obtained and wrote out, but, I believe, never published. + +Before his marriage, Mr. Weld lodged, on principle, in a colored +family in New York, even submitting to the inconvenience of having no +heat in his room in winter, and bearing with singular charity and +patience what Sarah calls the sanctimonious pride and Pharisaical +aristocracy of his hosts. He, also, and the sisters when they were in +the city, attended a colored church, which, however, became to Sarah, +at least, a place of such "spiritual famine" that she gave up going. + +In the winter of 1839-40, when it became necessary to have more help +in the household, a colored woman, Betsy Dawson by name, was sent for. +She had been a slave in Colonel Grimke's family, and, falling to the +share of Mrs. Frost when the estate was settled up, was by her +emancipated. She was received into the family at Fort Lee as a friend, +and so treated in every respect. Sarah expresses the pleasure it was +to have one as a helper who knew and loved them all, and adds: +"Besides I cannot tell thee how thankful we are that our heavenly +Father has put it in our power to have one who was once a slave in our +family to sit at our table and be with us as a sister cherished, to +place her on an entire equality with, us in social intercourse, and do +all we can to show her we feel for her as we, under like +circumstances, would desire her to feel for us. I don't know what M.C. +[a friend from New York] thought of our having her at table and in our +parlor just like one of ourselves." + +Some time later, Angelina writes of another of the family slaves, +Stephen, to whom they gave a home, putting him to do the cooking, +lest, being unaccustomed to a Northern climate, he should suffer by +exposure to outdoor work. He proved an eyesore in every way, but they +retained him as long 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 him this opportunity to earn something 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 man. We +might consider the incidents I have related, and a dozen similar ones +I could give, as evidence only of a desire to perform a religious +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 almost universal feeling concerning the inferiority of the negro +race. With people of such pure religious dedication, and such exalted +views, it was perhaps not difficult to treat their ex-slaves as human +beings, 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 +the manner in which they met the tremendous test was the crowning +glory 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 time. Neither had any idea that this +public work was over. Angelina writes to her friend in England soon +after her marriage:-- + +"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 am thus dwelling at ease I may +not forget the captives of my land, or be unwilling to go forth again +on the high places of the field, to combat the giant 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 woman, and will never lay a straw in the way of my +lecturing. He has many times strengthened my hands in the work, and +often tenderly admonished me to keep my eye upon my great Leader, and +my heart in a state of readiness to go forth whenever I am called out. +I humbly trust I may, but as earnestly desire to be preserved from +going before I hear a voice saying unto me, 'This is the way, walk in +it, and I will be thy shield and thy buckler.' This was the promise +which was given me before, and how faithfully it was fulfilled, my +soul knoweth right well." + +Sarah too, writes to Sarah Douglass-- + +"I have thought much of my present situation, laid aside from active +service, but I see no pointing of the divine finger 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 +advancement in holiness, a time of deep searching of heart, when the +soul may contemplate itself, and seek nearer and fuller and higher +communion with its God." + +And again she says:-- + +"It is true my nature shrinks from public work, but whenever the +mandate goes 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 most important +contribution to the arguments on the woman's rights subject. This was +a small volume of letters on the "Equality of the Sexes," commenced +during her lecturing tour, and addressed to Mary S. Parker, president +of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. Written in a gentle, +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 many tender consciences by their strong +arguments. + +An extract or two from a letter written to Sarah by Angelina and +Theodore early in the autumn of 1838 will show the tender relations +existing 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 come up from our evening meal, my beloved sister, and +are sitting in our little study for a while before taking our +moonlight 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 +time for dinner, which, though eaten alone, was, I must confess, very +much relished, for exercise gives a good appetite, thou knowest. I +then set my beans to boil whilst I dusted, and was upstairs waiting, +ready dressed, for the sound of the 'Echo's' piston. Soon I heard it, +and blew my whistle, which was _not_ responded to, and I began to fear +my Theodore was not on board. But I blew again, and the glad response +came merrily over the water, and I thought I saw him. In a little +while he came, and gave me all your parting messages. On Second Day +the weather was almost cold, and we were glad to take a run at noon up +the Palisades and sun ourselves on the rock at the first opening. +Returning, we gathered some field beans, and some apples for stewing, +as our fruit was nearly out. In the evening it was so cool that we +thought a fire would be more comfortable, so we sat in the kitchen, +paring apples, shelling beans, and talking over the Bible argument;[8] +and, as we had a fire, I thought 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_ complains of anything. Third Day evening we took a walk up the +Palisades. The moon shone most beautifully, throwing her mantle of +light 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 must be the glories of that +upper Temple which needeth not the light of the sun or of the moon. O +sister, shall we ever wash our robes so white in the blood of the Lamb +as to be clean enough to enter that pure and holy Temple of the Most +High? We returned to our dear little home, and went to bed by the lamp +of heaven; for we needed no other, so brightly did she shine through +our windows. 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 _home_ to thy weary, tossed, afflicted +spirit. We feel it a great blessing to have thee under our roof. Thy +room looks very desolate; for, though the sun shines brightly in it, I +find, after all, _thou_ art the light of it." + + [8] This was the argument which Angelina heard Mr. Weld make before + the A.S. Convention in New York two years before, and which was + afterwards published by the A.A.S. Society. He was now revising it + for a new edition. It made many converts to emancipation. Among them + 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 became convinced that he was wrong, and Weld + right. Acting 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 little +morning and evening circle, 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 testimony for our poor, suffering brothers and sisters, wailing +under bonds, and we pray without ceasing that He who sent will teach, +strengthen, and help you greatly to do for Him and the bleeding +slave." + +Debarred from lecturing by the condition of his throat, Mr. Weld was a +most untiring worker in the Anti-Slavery office in New York, from +which he received a small salary. His time out of office hours was +employed in writing for the different anti-slavery papers, and in +various editorial duties. Soon after his marriage he began 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 themselves, and +from Southern publications. The design 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 comparatively ignorant of the sufferings of the slaves, and +the barbarities inflicted upon them. Mr. Weld thought the state of the +abolition cause demanded a work which would not only prove by argument +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 American Anti-Slavery Society in New York, and all who thought +the atrocities described in Weld's book were incredible, were invited +to call and examine for themselves. + +This book was the most effective answer ever given to the appeal made +against 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 made, and all who read it felt that, fearful as was +the Virginia tragedy, the system which provoked it included many +things far worse, and demanded investigation and discussion. Issued in +pamphlet form, the "Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses," was +extensively circulated over the country, and most advantageously used +by anti-slavery lecturers and advocates; and it is not too much to say +that by awakening the humanity and pride of the people to end this +national disgrace, 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 testimony of +their personal observation and experience given over their own names, +but many files of Southern papers were industriously examined for such +facts as were needed, and which Mr. Weld arranged. Early in January, +1839, Sarah writes:-- + +"I do not think we ever labored more assiduously for the slave than we +have done this fall and winter, and, although our work is of the kind +that may be privately performed, yet we find the same holy peace in +doing it which we found in the public advocacy of the cause." + +Referring a little later to this work, she says: "We have been almost +too busy to look out on the beautiful winter landscape, and have been +wrought up by our daily researches almost to a frenzy of justice, +intolerance, and enthusiasm to crush the viper that is eating out the +vitals of the nation. Oh, what a blessed privilege to be engaged in +labor for the oppressed! We often think, if the slaves are never +emancipated, we are richly rewarded by the hallowed influence of +abolition principles on our own hearts." + +In a recent letter to me, Mr. Weld makes some interesting statements +respecting this work. I will give them in his own words:-- + +"The fact is, those dear souls spent six months, averaging more than +six hours a day, in searching through thousands upon thousands of +Southern newspapers, marking and cutting out facts of slave-holding +disclosures for the book. I engaged of the Superintendent of the New +York Commercial Reading-Room all his papers published in our Southern +States and Territories. These, after remaining upon the files one +month, were taken off and sold. Thus was gathered the raw material for +the manufacture of 'Slavery As It Is.' After the work was finished, we +were curious to know how many newspapers had been examined. So we went +up to our attic and took an inventory of bundles, as they were packed +heap upon heap. When our count had reached _twenty thousand_ +newspapers, we said: 'There, let that suffice.' Though the book had in +it many thousand facts thus authenticated by the slave-holders +themselves, yet it contained but a tiny fraction of the nameless +atrocities gathered from the papers examined." + +Besides this absorbing occupation, the sisters busied themselves that +winter getting up a petition to Congress for the abolition of slavery +in the District of Columbia, and walked many miles, day after day, to +obtain signatures, meeting with patience, humility, and sweetness the +frequent rebuffs of the rude and the ignorant, feeling only pity for +them, and gratitude to God who had touched and softened their own +hearts and enlightened their minds. + +They received repeated invitations from the different anti-slavery +organizations to again enter the lecture field, and great +disappointment was felt by all who had once listened to them that they +should have retired from public work. + +Sarah speaks of attending "meeting," as, from habit, she called it, +and doubtless they all went regularly, as Mr. Weld was a communicant +of the Presbyterian Church, and Mrs. Weld and Sarah were still sound +on all the fundamental points of Christian doctrine. During some +portion of every Sunday, Mrs. Weld was in the habit of visiting among +the very poor, white and colored, and preaching to them the Gospel of +peace and good will. In her peculiarly tender and persuasive way, she +opened to those unhappy and benighted souls the promises and hopes +which supported her, and lavished upon them the treasures of an +eloquence that thousands had and would still have crowded to listen +to. There were none to applaud in those sorrowful abodes, but her +words of courage and consolation lifted many a despondent heart from +the depths, while her own faith in the love and mercy of her heavenly +Father brought confidence and comfort to many a benumbed and wavering +soul. + +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. The advent of this child was not +only an inexpressible blessing to the affectionate hearts of the +father and mother, but to Sarah it seemed truly a mark of divine love +to her, compensating her for the home ties and affections once so +nearly within her grasp, and still often mourned for. She describes +her feelings as she pressed the infant in her arms and folded him to +her breast as a rhapsody of wild delight. "Oh, the ecstacy and the +gratitude!" she exclaimed: "How I opened the little blanket and peeped +in to gaze, with swimming eyes, at my treasure, and looked upon that +face forever so dear!" + +For months before the birth of her child, Mrs. Weld had read carefully +different authors on the treatment of children, and felt herself +prepared at every point with the best theories derived from Combes' +"Physiological and Moral Management of Infancy," and kindred works. It +is rather amusing to read how systematically this baby was trained, +and how little he appreciated all the wise theories; how he protested +against going to sleep by rule; how he wouldn't be bathed in cold +water; how he was fed, a tablespoonful at a time, five times during +the twenty-four hours,--at 8, 12, 4, 8, and 3 in the morning; how his +fretting at last induced his Aunt Sarah to take the responsibility of +giving him a little license with his bottle, when, horrified at his +gluttony, she was, at the same time, convinced that the child had been +slowly starving ever since his birth. Allowed more indulgence in food, +he soon stopped fretting, and became a healthy, lively baby. + +Angelina, writing to a friend, speaks of the blessed influence the +child was exerting over them all. "The idea," she says, "of a baby +exercising moral influence never came into my mind until I felt its +power on my own heart. I used to think all a parent's reward for early +care and anxiety was reaped in after-life, save the enjoyment of an +infant as a pretty plaything. But the Lord has taught me differently, +and woe be unto me if I do not profit by the instructions of this +little teacher sent from God." + +It was about this time that the injury referred to in the last chapter +was received, which frustrated all Angelina's hopes and plans for +continued public service for the slave, and condemned her, with all +her rare intellectual gifts, to a quiet life. The sweet submission +with which she bore this trial proved how great was the peace which +possessed her soul, and kept her ready for whatever it seemed good for +the Father to send her. Henceforth, shut out from the praises and +plaudits of men, in her own home, among her neighbors and among the +poor and afflicted, quietly and unobtrusively she fulfilled every law +of love and duty. And though during the remainder of her life she was +subject to frequent weakness and intense pain, all was borne with such +fortitude and patience that only her husband and sister knew that she +suffered. + +In the latter part of February, 1840, Mr. Weld, having purchased a +farm of fifty acres at Belleville, New Jersey, removed his family +there. Angelina, announcing the change to Jane Smith, says:-- + +"Yes, we have left the sweet little village of Fort Lee, a spot never +to be forgotten by me as the place where my Theodore and I first lived +together, and the birthplace of my darling babe, the scene of my +happiest days. There, too, my precious sister ministered with untiring +faithfulness to my wants when sick, and there, too, I welcomed _thee_ +for the first time under my roof." + +To their new home they brought the simplicity of living to which they +had adhered in their old one, a simplicity which, with their more +commodious house, enabled them to exercise the broad hospitality which +they had been obliged to deny themselves in a measure at Fort Lee. All +the good deeds done under this sacred name of hospitality during their +fourteen years' residence at Belleville can never be known. Few ever +so diligently sought, or so cheerfully accepted, opportunities for the +exercise of every good word and work. Scarcely a day passed that they +did not feel called upon to make some sacrifice of comfort or +convenience for the comfort or convenience of others; and more than +once the sacrifice involved the risk of health and life. But in true +humility and with an unwavering trust in God, they looked away from +themselves and beyond ordinary considerations. + +One of their first acts, after their removal, was to take back to +their service the incompetent Stephen whom they had been forced to +discharge from Fort Lee, and who had lived a precarious life +afterwards. They gave him work on the farm, paid him the usual wages, +and patiently endeavored to correct his faults. A young nephew in +delicate health was also added to their household; and, a few months +later, Angelina having heard that an old friend and her daughter in +Charleston were in pecuniary distress and feeble health, wrote and +offered them a home with her for a year. + +"They have no means of support, and are anxious to leave Carolina," +wrote Angelina to Jane Smith; "we will keep them until their health is +recruited, their minds rested, and some situation found for them where +they can earn their own living. We know not," she adds, "whom else the +Lord may send us, and only pray Him to help us to fulfil His will +towards all whose lot may be cast among us." + +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. + +At one time they received into their family a poor young man from +Jamaica, personally a stranger, but of whose labors as a +self-appointed missionary among the recently emancipated slaves of the +West Indies they had heard. He had labored for three years, supporting +himself as he could, until he was utterly broken down in health, when +he came back to die. His friendless situation appealed to the warmest +sympathy of the Welds, and he was brought to their hospitable home. +The pleasantest room in the house was given to him, and every +attention bestowed upon him, until death came to his relief. + +The people of their neighborhood soon learned to know where they could +confidently turn for help in any kind of distress. It would be +difficult to tell the number of times that one or the other of the +great-hearted trio responded to the summons from a sick or dying bed, +and gave without stint of their sympathy, their time, and their labor. + +Once, following only her own conviction of duty, Angelina left her +home to go and nurse a wretched colored man and his wife, ill with +small-pox and abandoned by everyone. She stayed with them night and +day until they were so far recovered as to be able to help themselves. + +What a picture is this! That humble cabin with its miserable +occupants--and they negroes--ill with a loathsome disease, suffering, +praying for help, but deserted by neighbors and friends. Suddenly a +fair, delicate face bends over them; a sweet, low voice bids them be +comforted, and gentle hands lift the cooling draught to their parched +lips, bathe their fevered brows, make comfortable their poor bed, and +then, angel as she appears to them, stations herself beside them, to +minister to them like the true sister of mercy she was. + +In this action, we may well suppose, Angelina was not encouraged by +her husband or sister, but it was a sacred principle with them never +to oppose anything which she conscientiously saw it was her duty to +do. When this appeared to her so plain that she felt she could not +hold back from it, they committed her to the Lord, and left their +doubts and anxieties with Him. She never shrank from the meanest +offices to the sick and suffering, though their performance might be +followed, as was often the case, by faintness and nausea. She would +return home exhausted, but cheerful, and grateful that she had been +able to help "one of God's suffering children." + +In other 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. + +Besides the work of the farm, Mr. Weld interested himself in all the +local affairs of his neighborhood. His energy, common sense, and +enthusiasm pushed forward many a lagging improvement, while the +influence of his moral and intellectual views was felt in every +household. He taught the young men temperance, and the dignity of +honest labor; to the young women he preached self-reliance, contempt +for the frivolities of fashion, and the duty of making themselves +independent. He became superintendent of the public schools of the +township, and gave to them his warmest and most active services. + +Sarah, although always ready to second Angelina in every charity, +found her chief employment at home. She relieved her sister almost +entirely of the care of the children, for in the course of years two +more little ones were given to them, and she lessened the expenses by +attending to household work, which would otherwise have called for +another servant. After a short time, Mr. Weld's father, mother, +sister, and brother, all invalids, came to live near them, claiming +much of their sympathy and their care. Their niece also, the daughter +of Mrs. Frost, now married, and the mother of children, took up her +residence in the neighborhood, and Aunt Sai, as the children called +her, and as almost every one else came, in time, to call her, found +even fuller occupation for heart and hands. Her love for children was +intense, and she had the rare faculty of being able to bring her +intelligence down to theirs. Angelina's children were literally as her +own, on whom she ever bestowed the tenderest care, and with whose +welfare her holiest affections were intertwined. She often speaks of +loving them with "all but a mother's love," of having them "enshrined +in her heart of hearts," of "receiving through them the only cordial +that could have raised a heart bowed by sorrow and crushing memories." + +In one of her letters she says: "I live for Theodore and Angelina and +the children, those blessed comforters to my poor, sad heart," and, +during an absence from home, she writes to Angelina:-- + +"I have enjoyed being with my friends: still there is a longing, a +yearning after my children. I miss the sight of those dear faces, the +sound of those voices that comes like music to my ears." + +In a letter to Sarah Douglass, written towards the close of their +residence in Belleville, she says:--- + +"In our precious children my desolate heart found a sweet response to +its love. They have saved me from I know not what of horrible despair, +or rushing into some new and untried and unsanctified effort to let +off the fire that consumed me. Crushed, mutilated, torn, they +comforted and cheered me, and furnished me with objects of interest +which drew me from myself. I feel that they were the gift of a pitying +Father, and that to love and cherish them is my highest manifestation +of love to the Giver." + +As the children grew, the parents began to feel the difficulty of +educating them properly without other companions, and it was at last +decided to take a few children into the family to be instructed with +their own. + +This was the beginning of another important chapter in their lives. As +educators Mr. and Mrs. Weld very soon developed such rare ability, +that although they had thought of limiting the number of pupils to two +or three, so many were pressed upon them, with such good reasons for +their acceptance, that the two or three became a dozen, and were with +difficulty kept at that figure. In this new life their trials were +many, their labor great, and the pecuniary compensation exceedingly +moderate; but it is inspiring to read from Sarah the accounts of +Theodore's courage--"always ready to take the heaviest end of every +burden," and of Angelina's cheerfulness; and from Angelina the +frequent testimony to Sarah's patience and fidelity. It took this dear +Aunt Sai many years to learn to like teaching, especially as she never +had any talent for governing, save by love, and this method was not +always appreciated. + +With their new and exacting work, the farm, of course, had to be given +up, and was finally sold. + +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 compensation +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. + +And now, as I am nearing the end of my narrative, this seems to be the +place to say a few words relative to the religious views into which +the two sisters finally settled. We have followed them through their +various conflicts from early youth to mature age, and have seen in +their several changes of belief that there was no fickleness, no real +inconsistency. They sought the truth, and at different times thought +they had found it. But it was the truth as taught in Christ Jesus, the +simple doctrine of the Cross they wanted, the preaching and practice +of love for God, and for the meanest, the weakest, the lowest of His +children. The spiritual conflicts through which they passed, prepared +them to see the nothingness of all outward forms, and they came at +last to reject the so-called orthodox creed, and to look only to God +for help and comfort. + +During the entire period of Sarah's connection with religious +organizations, and even from her very first religious impressions, she +found it difficult to accept the doctrine of the Atonement; and yet +she professed and tried to think she believed it, but only because the +Bible, which she accepted as a revelation from God, taught it. That +her reason rebelled against it is shown in her frequent prayers to be +delivered from this great temptation of the arch enemy, and her deep +repentance whenever she lapsed into a state of doubt. The fear that +she might come to reject this fundamental dogma was--at least up to +the time when she was driven from the Quaker Church--one of her most +terrible trials, causing her at intervals more agony than all else put +together. But the worshipful element was so strong in Sarah that she +could not, even after her reason had satisfied her conscience on this +point, give up this Christ at whose feet she had learned her most +precious lessons of faith and meekness and gentleness and +long-suffering, and whom she had accepted and adored as her +intermediary before an awful Jehovah. In her whole life there appears +to me nothing more beautiful than this full, tender, abiding love of +Jesus, and I believe it to have been the inspiration always of all +that was loveliest and grandest in her character. In one of her +letters, written while at Belleville, she says:-- + +"I cannot grasp the idea of an Infinite Being; but, without perplexing +myself with questions which I cannot solve, everything around me +proclaims the presence and the government of an intelligent, +law-abiding Law-giver, and I believe implicitly in his power and his +love. But I must have the Friend of sinners to rest in." + +And again: "In one sense, as Creator and Benefactor, I feel this +Infinite Being to be my Father, but I want a Jesus whom I can approach +as a fellow creature, yet who is so nearly allied to God that I can +look up to Him with reverence, and love Him and lie in His bosom." + +And later, in a letter to Gerrit Smith, she says:-- + +"God is love, and whoso dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in +him. O friends, but for this faith, this anchor to the soul both sure +and steadfast, I know not what would have become of us in the sweep +which there has been of what we called the doctrines of Christianity +from our minds. They have passed away like the shadows of night, but +the glorious truth remains that the Lord of love and mercy reigns, and +great peace have they who do His will." + +Their increasingly liberal views, and their growing indifference to +most of the established forms in religion, drew upon them the severe +censure of their Charleston relatives, and finally, when, about 1847, +it came to be known that they no longer considered the Sabbath in a +sacred light, their sister Eliza wrote to them that all personal +intercourse must end between them and her, and that her doors would be +forever closed against them. Angelina's answer, covering four full +pages of foolscap, was most affectionate; but, while she expressed her +sorrow at the feeling excited against them, she could not regret that +they had been brought from error to truth. She argued the point fully, +patiently giving all the best authorities concerning the substitution +of the Christian for the Jewish Sabbath, and against their sister's +assertion that the former was a divine institution. + +"When I began to understand," she says, "what the gift of the Holy +Spirit really was, then all outwardisms fell off. I did not throw them +off through force of argument or example of others, but all reverence +for them died in my heart. I could not help it; it was unexpected to +me, and I wondered to find even the Sabbath gone. And now, to give to +God alone the ceaseless worship of my life is all my creed, all my +desire. Oh, for this pure, exalted state, how my soul pants after it! +In my nursery and kitchen and parlor, when ministering to the common +little wants of my family, and encountering the fretfulness and +waywardness of my children, oh, for the pure worship of the soul which +can enable me to meet and bear all the _little_ trials of life in +quietness and love and patience. This is the religion of Christ, and I +feel that no other can satisfy me or meet the wants of human nature. I +cannot sanction any other, and I dare not teach any other to my +precious children." + +Thus it came to pass with them and with Theodore also, that to love +Jesus more, and to follow more and more after him, became the sum of +their religion. With increasing years and wider experiences, their +views broadened into the most comprehensive liberality, but the high +worship of an infinite God, and the sweet reverence for his purest +disciple never left them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +In a letter to Dr. Harriot Hunt, Sarah Grimke thus describes Eagleswood:-- + +"It was a most enchanting spot. Situated on the Raritan Bay and River, +just twenty-five miles from New York, and sixty miles from +Philadelphia, in sight of the beautiful lower bay and of the dark +Neversink Hills, all its surroundings appeal to my sense of the +beautiful. In rambles through the woods or along the shore, new charms +are constantly presented. The ever-varying face of the bay alone is a +source of ceaseless enjoyment, and with the sound of its waves, +sometimes dashing impetuously, sometimes murmuring softly, the eye, +the ear, and the soul are filled with wonder and delight." + +In this beautiful spot a commodious stone building was erected, +suitable for association purposes. One end was divided into flats for +a limited number of families; the other into school-rooms, +dormitories, and parlors for social uses, while the centre contained +the refectory for pupils and teachers, of whom there was an efficient +corps, and dining-rooms for the other residents and their visitors. +Several families of intelligence and culture resided in the immediate +neighborhood, adding much to the social life of the place. All who +were so fortunate as to be members of the Eagleswood family during Mr. +Weld's administration must often look back with the keenest pleasure +to the days passed there. It seems to me there can never be such a +centre to such a circle as the Welds drew around them. Here gathered, +at different times, many of the best, the brightest, the broadest +minds of the day. Here came James G. Birney, Wm. H. Channing, Henry +W. Bellows, O.B. Frothingham, Dr. Chapin, Wm. H. Furness, Wm. Cullen +Bryant, the Collyers, Horace Greeley, Gerrit Smith, Moncure D. Conway, +James Freeman Clarke, Joshua R. Giddings, Youmans, and a host of +others whose names were known throughout the land. Here, too, came +artists and poets for a few days' inspiration, and weary men of +business for a little rest and intellectual refreshment, and leaders +of reform movements, attracted by the liberal atmosphere of the place. +Nearly all of these, invited by Mr. Weld, gave to the pupils and their +families and friends, assembled in the parlors, something of +themselves,--some personal experience, perhaps, or a lecture or short +essay, or an insight into their own especial work and how it was done. +The amount of pleasant and profitable instruction thus imparted was +incalculable; while the after discussions and conversation were as +enjoyable as might be expected from the friction of such minds. +Seldom, if ever, in the famous _salons_ of Europe were better things +said or higher topics treated than in the Eagleswood parlors. All the +rights and wrongs of humanity received here earnest consideration; +while questions of general interest, politics, religion, the arts and +sciences, even the last new novel or poem, had each its turn. Thoreau, +also, spent many days at Eagleswood, and spoke often to the pupils; +and A. Bronson Alcott gave them a series of his familiar lectures. + +Here, on Sundays, Theodore D. Weld delivered lay sermons, so full of +divine light and love, of precious lessons of contempt for all +littleness, of patience with the weaknesses of our fellow-men, that +few could listen without being inspired with higher and holier +purposes in life. + +Here James G. Birney died, in 1857, and was buried in the beautiful +little cemetery on the crest of the hill. + +Here were brought and interred the bodies of Stevens and Hazlitt, two +of John Brown's mistaken but faithful apostles. + +Here stirring lessons of patriotism were learned in 1860-61, and from +this place went forth, at the first call, some of the truest defenders +of the liberties of the nation. + +At Eagleswood, Mr. Weld and his faithful wife and sister passed some +of their most laborious as well as some of their most pleasant and +satisfactory years. They did not find the association all or even the +half of what they had expected. "We had indulged the delightful hope," +writes Sarah, "that Theodore would have no cares outside of the +schoolroom, and Angelina would have leisure to pursue her studies and +aid in the cause of woman. Her heart is in it, and her talents qualify +her for enlarged usefulness. She was no more designed to serve tables +than Theodore to dig potatoes. But verily, to use a homely phrase, we +have jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire in point of leisure, +for there are innumerable sponges here to suck up every spare moment; +but dear Nina is a miracle of hope, faith, and endurance." + +In the new school Angelina taught history, for which she was admirably +qualified, while Sarah taught French, and was also book-keeper, both +of which offices were distasteful to her because of her conscious +incompetency. She did herself great injustice, as the results of her +work showed, but it required a great mental struggle to reconcile +herself to it in the beginning. + +"I am driven to it," she says, "by a stern sense of duty. I feel its +responsibilities and my own insufficiency so deeply, that I never hear +the school bell with pleasure, and seldom enter the schoolroom without +a sinking of the heart, a dread as of some approaching catastrophe. +Oh, if I had only been developed into usefulness in early life, how +much happier I should have been and would be now. From want of +training, I am all slip-shod, and all I do, whether learning or +teaching, is done slip-shod fashion. However, I must try and use the +fag-end of me that is left, to the most advantage." + +In order to do this, although sixty-one years old, she set earnestly +to work to brush up her intellectual powers and qualify herself as far +as possible for her position. She took French lessons daily, that she +might improve her accent and learn the modern methods of teaching, and +for months after she entered the Eagleswood school her reading was +confined to such books as could enlighten her most on her especial +work. She was rewarded by finding her interest in it constantly +increasing, and she would doubtless have learned to love it, if, as +she expressed it, her heart, soul, and mind had not been so nearly +absorbed by the woman movement. Age and reflection had not only +modified her views somewhat on this subject, but had given her a more +just appreciation of the real obstacles in the way of the +enfranchisement of her sex. Speaking of Horace Mann, she says:-- + +"He will not help the cause of woman greatly, but his efforts to +educate her will do a greater work than he anticipates. Prepare woman +for duty and usefulness, and she will laugh at any boundaries man may +set for her. She will as naturally fall into her right position as the +feather floats in the air, or the pebble sinks in the water." + +And at another time she writes: "I feel more and more that woman's +work is inside, that the great battle must first be fought within, and +the conquest obtained over her love of admiration, her vanity, her +want of moral courage, her littleness, ere she is prepared to use her +rights without abusing them. Women must come into the arena with men, +not to increase the number of potsherds, but to elevate the standard +of right." + +Her ideal of womanhood was very high, and comprehended an education so +different from the usual one, that she seldom ventured to unfold it. +But she longed to do something towards it, and there is no doubt that +but for home duties, which she felt were paramount, she would have +undertaken a true missionary work of regeneration among women, +especially of the lower classes. Many sleepless nights were passed +pondering upon the subject. At one time she thought of editing a +paper, then of studying law, that she might sometimes be able to +advise and protect the weak and defenceless of her sex. She went so +far in this as to consult an eminent lawyer in Philadelphia, but was +discouraged by him. Then she considered the medical profession as +opening to her a door of influence and usefulness among poor women. +Sarah Douglass, who was a successful medical lecturer among the +colored women of Philadelphia and New York, encouraged her friend in +this idea, and urged her to take a course of lectures. + +"I would dearly like to do as you say," Sarah Grimke answered, "but it +must not be in Philadelphia. I cannot draw a long breath there, +intellectual or moral. Freedom to live as my conscience dictates, to +give free utterance to my thoughts, to have contact with those who are +pressing after progress and whose watchword is onward, is needful to +me. In Philadelphia there is an atmosphere of repression that would +destroy me. Ground to powder as I was, in the mill of bigotry and +superstition, I shudder at the thought of encountering again the same +suffering I went through there. Indeed, I wonder I was not altogether +stultified and dried up beyond the power of revivification, when the +spring came to my darkened soul after that long, long winter.... There +must be something in this wide, progressive world for me to do, but I +must wait patiently to see what the future has in store for me." + +All this, from a woman in her sixty-second year, shows how fresh was +still her interest in humanity, and how little her desires for +usefulness and improvement were dampened by age. But Angelina's +continued delicate health kept her from carrying out any of her plans. +She could see no way of escape consistent with duty and her devotion +to the children, and she cheerfully submitted to the inevitable. But +she could never bring herself to be satisfied with the Association +life. She had had no ideal about it, no golden dreams, but joined it +because she could not be separated from those she loved, and, with +singular reasoning, she put one thousand dollars into it, because, if +there was to be a failure and loss, she wished to share it with her +sister and brother. But she had no affinity for living together in a +great hotel, and it fretted her much, also, to see Mr. and Mrs. Weld +taking constantly increasing burdens upon themselves as the school +increased. Her longings, for their sake, for a little quiet home, are +very pathetic. But she never allowed her anxieties to affect her +intercourse in the household; on the contrary, no one was more full of +life and good humor than she. Her favorite maxim was: "Bravely to meet +our trials is true heroism; to bear them cheerfully, an exhibition of +strength and fortitude infinitely beyond trying to get rid of them." + +But it is doubtful, after all, if everything else had been favorable +to it, that Sarah could have brought herself to leave Angelina and the +children. She says herself:-- + +"A separation from the darling children who have brightened a few +years of my lonely and sorrowful life overwhelms me when I think of it +as the probable result of any change. They seem to be the links that +bind me to life, the stars that shed light on my path, the beings in +whom past, present, and future enjoyments are centred, without whom +existence would have no charms." + +All through her letters we see that, though generally cheerful, and +often even merry, there were bitter moments in this devoted woman's +life, moments when all the affection with which she was surrounded +failed to fill the measure of her content. The old wounds would still +sometimes bleed and the heart ache for home joys all her own. Writing +to Jane Smith in 1852, she says: "I chide myself that I am not happier +than I am, surrounded by so many blessings, but there are times when I +feel as though the sun of earthly bliss had set for me. I know not +what would have become of me but for Angelina's children. They have +strewed my solitary path with flowers, and gemmed my sky with stars. +My heart has brooded o'er sorrows untold, until life has seemed an +awful blank, humanity a cheat, and myself an outcast. Then have come +the soft accents of my children's voices, and they have spoken to me +so lovingly, that I have turned from my bitter thoughts and have said: +'Forgive thy poor, weak servant, Lord.'" + +All through Sarah's life, children had a great attraction for her. +Even amid her cares and doubts at Eagleswood she writes: "Surrounded +by all these dear young people, and drinking in from their exuberance, +and scarcely living my own life, I cannot but be cheerful." + +And describing an evening in the school parlor, when she joined in the +Virginia reel, she says: "The children make one feel young if we will +only be children with them. I owe them so much that I shall try to be +cheerful to the end of my days." + +And in this school, where boys and girls of all ages and all +temperaments mingled, "Aunt Sai" was the great comforter and +counsellor. Her inexhaustible tenderness and mother-love blessed all +who came near her and soothed all who had a heartache. The weak and +erring found in her a frank but pitying rebuker; the earnest and good, +a kind friend and wise helper, and a child never feared to go to her +either to ask a favor or to confess a fault. + +At Eagleswood the Welds kept up as far as practicable their frugal +habits, though, soon after their establishment, they all modified +their Graham diet so far as to take meat once a day. Sarah's economy, +especially in trifles, was remarkable, almost as much so as the +untiring, almost painful industry of herself and Mrs. Weld. A penny +was never knowingly wasted, a minute never willingly lost. Among other +thrifty devices, she generally wrote to her friends on the backs of +circulars, on blank pages of notes she received, on almost any clean +scrap, in fact. Angelina often remonstrated with her, but to no avail. + +"It gives me a few more pennies for my love purse, and my friends +won't mind," she would say. + +This "love purse" was well named. Into it were cast all her small +economies: a car-fare when she walked instead of riding; a few pennies +saved by taking a simpler lunch than she had planned, when in New York +on business; the ten cents difference in the quality of a cap, ribbon, +or a handkerchief,--all these savings were dropped into the love +purse, to be drawn out again to buy a new book for some friend too +poor to get it herself; to subscribe to a paper for another; to +purchase some little gift for a sick child, or a young girl trying to +keep up a neat appearance. It was a pair of cuffs to one, mittens or +slippers of her own knitting to another, a collar or a ribbon to a +third. All through the letters written during the last twenty years of +her life, the references to such little gifts are innumerable, and +show that her generosity was only equalled by her thoughtfulness, and +only limited by her means. Nothing was spent unnecessarily, in the +strictest sense of the word, on herself; not a dollar of her narrow +income laid by. All went for kindly or charitable objects, and was +gladly given without a single selfish twinge. + +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. The letters of affection, gratitude, and +appreciation of what had been done to make true men and women of them, +which were received by the Welds, in many cases, years after they had +parted from the writers, were treasured as their most precious +souvenirs, and quite reconciled them to the trials through which such +results were reached. + +A short time before leaving Belleville, Mrs. Weld and Sarah adopted +the Bloomer costume on account of its convenience, and the greater +freedom it permitted in taking long rambles, but neither of them ever +admired it or urged its adoption on others. Mrs. Weld, it is true, +wrote a long and eloquent letter to the Dress Reform Convention which +met in Syracuse in the summer of 1857, but it was not to advocate the +Bloomer, but to show the need of some dress more suitable than the +fashionable one, for work and exercise. She also urged that as woman +was no longer in her minority, no longer "man's pretty idol before +whom he bowed in chivalric gallantry," or "his petted slave whom he +coaxed and gulled with sugar-plum privileges, whilst robbing her of +intrinsic rights," but was emerging into her majority and claiming her +rights as a human being, and waking up to a higher destiny: as she was +beginning to answer the call to a life of useful exertion and +honorable independence, it was time that she dressed herself in +accordance with the change. "I regard the Bloomer costume," she says, +"as only an approach to that true womanly attire which will in due +time be inaugurated. We must experiment before we find a dress +altogether suitable.... Man has long enough borne the burden of +supporting the women of the civilized world. When woman's temple of +liberty is finished--when freedom for the world is achieved--when she +has educated herself into useful and lucrative occupations, then may +she fitly expend upon her person _her own earnings_, not man's. Such +women will have an indefeasible right to dress elegantly if they wish, +but they will discard cumbersomeness and a useless and absurd +circumference and length." + +Sarah says, in a letter to a friend, that the Bloomer dress violated +her taste, and was so opposed to her sense of modesty that she could +hardly endure it. During the residence at Eagleswood, both sisters +discarded it altogether. + +The John Brown tragedy was of course deeply felt by Sarah and +Angelina, and the bitter and desperate feelings which inspired it +fully sympathized with. Angelina was made quite ill by it, while Sarah +felt her soul bowed with reverence for the deluded but grand old man. +"O Sarah!" she writes to Sarah Douglass, "what a glorious spectacle is +now before us. The Jerome of Prague of our country, the John Huss of +the United States, now stands ready, as they were, to seal his +testimony with his life's blood. Last night I went in spirit to the +martyr. It was my privilege to enter into sympathy with him; to go +down, according to my measure, into the depths where he has travailed, +and feel his past exercises, his present sublime position." + +As mentioned a few pages back, two of John Brown's men, who died with +him at Harper's Ferry, were brought to Eagleswood and there quietly +interred. The pro-slavery people of Perth Amboy threatened to dig up +the bodies, but the men and boys of Eagleswood showed such a brave +front, and guarded the graves so faithfully, that the threat could not +be accomplished. + +The breaking out of the war found the Welds in deep family sorrow, +watching anxiously by the sick bed of a dear son, with scarcely a hope +of his recovery. Of Sarah's absolute devotion, of her ceaseless care +by day, and her tireless watching by night, during the many long and +weary months through which that precious life flickered, it is +needless to speak. She took the delicate mother's place beside that +bed of suffering, and, strong in her faith and hope, gave strength and +hope to the heart-stricken parents, sustaining them when they were +ready to sink beneath the avalanche of their woe. And when at last, +though life was spared, it was evident that the invalid must remain an +invalid for a long time, perhaps forever, Sarah's sublime courage +stood steadfast. There was no sign of faltering. With a resignation +almost cheerful, she took up her fresh burden, and, intent only on +cheering her dear patient and comforting the sorrow of her sister and +brother, she forgot her seventy-one years and every grief of the past. +"I try," she writes, "to accept this, the most grinding and bitter +dispensation of my checkered life, as what it must be, educational and +disciplinary, working towards a better preparation for a higher life." + +Chiefly on account of this son and the quiet which was necessary for +him, Mr. and Mrs. Weld gave up their position at Eagleswood, to the +deep regret of all who knew them and had children to educate. They +settled themselves temporarily in a pleasant house in Perth Amboy. +Here, between nursing their sick, and working for the soldiers, they +watched the progress of events which they had long foreseen were +inevitable. + +Sarah speaks of the war as a retribution. "Hitherto," she says, "we +have never been a republic, but one of the blackest tyrannies that +ever disgraced the earth." + +She calls attention to the fact that the South, by starting out with a +definite and declared purpose, added much to its strength. "In great +revolutions," she says, "confusion in popular ideas is fatal. The +South avoided this. She set up one idea as paramount; she seized a +great principle and uttered it. She shouted the talismanic words, +'Oppression and Liberty,' and said, 'Let us achieve our purpose or +die!' The masses, blinded by falsehood, caught the spirit of the +leaders, and verily believe they are struggling for freedom. We have +never enunciated any great truth as the cause of our uprising. We have +no great idea to rally around, and know not what we are fighting for." + +Later she expresses herself very strongly concerning the selfishness +of the politicians, North and South. + +"It is true there are some," she writes, "who are waging this war to +make our Declaration of Independence a fact; there is a glorious band +who are fighting for human rights, but the government, with Lincoln at +its head, has not a heart-throb for the slave. I want the South to do +her own work of emancipation. She would do it only from dire +necessity, but the North will do it from no higher motive, and the +South will feel less exasperation if she does it herself." + +In another letter in 1862, she writes:-- + +"The negro has generously come forward, in spite of his multiplied +wrongs, and offered to help to defend the country against those who +are trying to fasten the chains on the white as well as the black. We +have impiously denied him the right of citizenship, and have virtually +said, 'Stand back; I am holier than thou.' I pray that victory may not +crown our arms until the negro stands in his acknowledged manhood side +by side in this conflict with the white man, until we have the +nobility to say that this war is a war of abolition, and that no +concession on the part of the South shall save slavery from +destruction. Whatever Lincoln and his Cabinet are carrying on the war +to accomplish, God's design is to deliver from bondage his innocent +people." + +About this time Mrs. Weld published one of the most powerful things +she ever wrote, "A Declaration of War on Slavery." She and Sarah also +drew up a petition to the government for the entire abolition of +slavery, and took it around themselves for signatures. Very few +refused to sign it; and they were proposing to canvass, by means of +agents, the entire North, when the Emancipation Proclamation was +issued. + +With their Charleston relatives, Mrs. Weld and Sarah had always kept +up a rather irregular, but, on one side, at least, an affectionate +correspondence. Their mother died in 1839, retaining, to the +never-ceasing grief of her Northern daughters, her slave-holding +principles to the last. The few remaining members of the family were +settled in and around Charleston, and were, with one exception, in +comfortable circumstances at the beginning of the war. This exception +was their brother John, who was infirm, and had outlived his resources +and the ability to make a living. For years before the war, Sarah and +Angelina sent him from their slender incomes a small annuity, +sufficient to keep him from want, and it was continued, at much +inconvenience during the war, until his death, which occurred in the +latter part of 1863. Their sisters, Mary and Eliza, wrote very proud +and defiant letters during the first two years of hostilities, and +declared they were secure and happy in their dear old city. But +gradually their tone changed, and they did not refuse to receive, +through blockade-runners, a variety of necessary articles from their +abolition sisters. As their slaves deserted them, and one piece of +property after another lost its value or was destroyed, they saw +poverty staring them in the face; but their pride sustained them, and +it was not until they had lived for nearly a year on little else but +hominy and water that they allowed their sisters to know of their +condition. But in informing them of it, they still declared their +willingness to die "for slavery and the Confederacy." + +"Blind to the truth," writes Sarah, "they religiously believe that +slavery is a divine institution, and say they hope never to be guilty +of disbelieving the Bible, and thus rendering themselves amenable to +the wrath of God. I am glad," she adds, "to have this lesson of honest +blindness. It shows me that thousands like themselves are worshipping +a false god of their own creation." + +Of course relief was sent to these unhappy women as soon as possible; +and when hostilities ceased, more than two hundred dollars' worth of +necessaries of every kind was despatched to them, with an urgent +invitation to come and accept a home at the North. Some time before +this, however, the Welds had moved to Hyde Park, near Boston, and were +delightfully located, owning their house, and surrounded by kind and +congenial neighbors. But much as they all needed entire rest, and well +as they had earned it, they could not afford to be idle. Sarah became +housekeeper and general manager, while Mr. and Mrs. Weld accepted +positions, in Dr. Dio Lewis's famous school at Lexington. They were +obliged to leave home every Monday and return on Friday. + +The Charleston sisters refused for some time to accept the invitation +given them; but so delicately and affectionately was it urged, that, +goaded by necessity, they finally consented. They made their +preparations to leave Charleston; but in the midst of them, the older +sister, Mary, who had been very feeble for some time, was taken +suddenly ill, and died. Eliza, then, a most sad and desolate woman, as +we may well suppose, made the voyage to New York alone. There Sarah +met her, and accompanied her to Hyde Park, where she was received with +every consideration affection could devise. She seems to have soon +made up her mind to make the best of her altered circumstances, and +thus show her gratitude to those who had so readily overlooked her +past abuse of them. Sarah writes of her in 1866:-- + +"My sister Eliza is well and so cheerful. She is a sunbeam in the +family, but the failure of the Confederacy and the triumph of the +'Yankees' is hard to bear,--the wrong having crushed the right." + +This sister was tenderly cared for until arrangements were made for +her return to Charleston with Mrs. Frost. There she died in 1867. This +was only one of the many minor cases of retribution brought about by +the Nemesis of the civil war. Sarah mentions another. The sale of +lands for government taxes at Beaufort, S.C., was made from the +verandah of the Edmond Rhett House, where, more than ten years before, +the rebellion was concocted by the very men whose estates then (1866) +were passing under the hammer. And the chairman of the tax committee +was Dr. Wm. H. Brisbane, who, twenty-five years before, was driven +from the State because he would liberate his slaves. + +Quietly settled in what she felt was a permanent home, and with, no +cares outside of her family, Sarah found time not only to read, but to +indulge her taste for scribbling, as she called it. She sent, from +time to time, articles to the New York _Tribune_, the _Independent_, +the _Woman's Journal_, and other papers, all marked by remarkable +freshness as well as vigor. She also translated from the French +several stories illustrative of various social reforms, and in 1867, +being then seventy-five years old, she made a somewhat abridged +translation of Lamartine's poetical biography of Joan of Arc. This was +Sarah's most finished literary work, and aroused in her great +enthusiasm. "Sometimes," she writes, "it seems to infuse into my soul +a mite of that divinity which filled hers. Joan of Arc stands +pre-eminent in my mind above all other mortals save the Christ." + +When the book was finished, Sarah was most anxious to get it +published, "in order," she writes, "to revive the memory in this +country of the extraordinary woman who was an embodiment of faith, +courage, fortitude, and love rarely equalled and never excelled." + +But she had many more pressing demands on her income at that time, and +had nearly given up the project, when a gentleman from Lynn called to +see her, to whom she read a few pages of the narrative. He was so much +pleased with it that he undertook to have it published. It was brought +out in a few weeks by Adams & Co., of Boston, in a prettily bound +volume of one hundred and six pages, and had, I believe, a large sale. +Several long and many short notices of it appeared in papers all over +the country, all highly complimentary to the venerable translator. +These notices surprised Sarah as much as they delighted her, and she +expressed herself as deeply thankful that she had translated the work. + +A letter from Sarah Grimke to Jane Smith, written in 1850, contains +the following paragraph: "We have just heard of the death of our +brother Henry, a planter and a kind master. His slaves will feel his +loss deeply. They haunt me day and night. Sleeplessness is my portion, +thinking what will become of them. Oh, the horrors of slavery!" + +When she penned those lines, Sarah little imagined how great a mockery +was the title, "kind master," she gave her brother. She little +suspected that three of those slaves whose uncertain destiny haunted +her pillow were that brother's own children, and that he died leaving +the shackles on them--slaves to his heir, their white brother, though +he _did_ stipulate that they and their mother should never be sold. +Well might Sarah exclaim: "Oh, the horrors of slavery!" but in deepest +humiliation and anguish of spirit would the words have been uttered +had she known the truth. Montague Grimke inherited his brothers with +the rest of the human chattels. He knew they were his brothers, and he +never thought of freeing them. They were his to use and to abuse,--to +treat them kindly if it suited his mood; to whip them if he fancied; +to sell them if he should happen to need money,--and they could not +raise voice or hand to prevent it. There was no law to which they +could appeal, no refuge they could seek from the very worst with which +their brother might threaten them. Was ever any creature--brute or +human--in the wide world so defenceless as the plantation slave! The +forlorn case of these Grimke boys was that of thousands of others born +as they were, and inheriting the intelligence and spirit of +independence of their white parent. + +I have little space to give to their pitiful story. Many have +doubtless heard it. The younger brother, John, was, at least as a +child, more fortunate. When Charleston was at last occupied by the +Union army, the two oldest, Francis and Archibald, attracted the +attention of some members of the Sanitary Commission by their +intelligence and good behavior, and were by them sent to +Massachusetts, where some temporary work was found for them. Two +vacancies happening to occur in Lincoln University, Oxford, +Pennsylvania, they were recommended to fill them. Thither they went in +1866, and, eager and determined to profit by their advantages, they +studied so well during the winter months, and worked so diligently to +help themselves in the summer, that, in spite of the drawbacks of +their past life, they rose to honorable positions in the University, +and won the regard of all connected with it. Some time in February, +1868, Mrs. Weld read in the _Anti-Slavery Standard_ a notice of a +meeting of a literary society at Lincoln University, at which an +address was delivered by one of the students, named Francis Grimke. +She was surprised, and as she had never before heard of the +university, she made some inquiries about it, and was much interested +in what she learned of its object and character. She knew that the +name of Grimke was confined to the Charleston family, and naturally +came to the conclusion, at first, that this student who had attracted +her attention was an ex-slave of one of her brothers, and had, as was +frequently done, adopted his master's name. But the circumstance +worried her. She could not drive it from her mind. She knew so well +that blackest page of slavery on which was written the wrongs of its +women, that, dreadful as was the suspicion, it slowly grew upon her +that the blood of the Grimkes, the proud descendants of the Huguenots, +flowed in the veins of this poor colored student. The agitation into +which further reflection on the subject threw her came very near +making her ill and finally decided her to learn the truth if possible. +She addressed a note to Mr. Francis Grimke. The answer she received +confirmed her worst fears. He and his brothers were her nephews. Her +nerves already unstrung by the dread of this cruel blow, Angelina +fainted when it came, and was completely prostrated for several days. +Her husband and sister refrained from disturbing her by a question or +a suggestion. Physically stronger than she, they felt the superiority +of her spiritual strength, and uncertain, on this most momentous +occasion, of their own convictions of duty, they looked to her for the +initiative. + +The silent conflict in the soul of this tender, conscientious woman +during those days of prostration was known only to her God. The +question of prejudice had no place in it,--that had long and long ago +been cast to the winds. It was the fair name of a loved brother that +was at stake, and which must be sustained or blighted by her action. +"Ask me not," she once wrote to a young person, "if it is expedient to +do what you propose: ask yourself if it is _right_." This question now +came to her in a shape it had never assumed before, and it was hard to +answer. But it was no surprise to her family when she came forth from +that chamber of suffering and announced her decision. She would +acknowledge those nephews. She would not deepen the brand of shame +that had been set upon their brows: hers, rather, the privilege to +efface it. Her brother had wronged these, his children; his sisters +must right them. No doubt of the duty lingered in her mind. Those +youths were her own flesh and blood, and, though the whole world +should scoff, she would not deny them. + +Her decision was accepted by her husband and sister without a murmur +of dissent. If either had any doubts of its wisdom, they were never +uttered; and, as was always the case with them, having once decided in +their own minds a question of duty, they acted upon it in no half-way +spirit, and with no stinted measures. In the long letter which +Angelina wrote to Francis and Archibald Grimke, and which Theodore +Weld and Sarah Grimke fully indorsed, there appeared no trace of doubt +or indecision. The general tone was just such in which she might have +addressed newly-found legitimate nephews. After telling them that if +she had not suspected their relationship to herself, she should +probably not have written them, she questions them on various points, +showing her desire to be useful to them, and adds, "I want to talk to +you face to face, and am thinking seriously of going on to your +Commencement in June." A few lines further on she says:-- + +"I will not dwell on the past: let all that go. It cannot be altered. +Our work is in the present, and duty calls upon us now so to use the +past as to convert its curse into a blessing. I am glad you have taken +the name of Grimke. It was once one of the noblest names of Carolina. +You, my young friends, now bear this _once_ honored name. I charge you +most solemnly, by your upright conduct and your life-long devotion to +the eternal principles of justice and humanity and religion, to lift +this name out of the dust where it now lies, and set it once more +among the princes of our land." + +Other letters passed between them until the youths had told all their +history, so painful in its details that Angelina, after glancing at +it, put it aside, and for months had not the courage to read it. When +June came, though far from well, she summoned up strength and +resolution to do as she had proposed in the spring. Accompanied by her +oldest son, she attended the Lincoln University Commencement, and made +the personal acquaintance of Francis and Archibald Grimke. She found +them good-looking, intelligent, and gentlemanly young men; and she +took them by the hand, and, to president and professors, acknowledged +their claim upon her. She also invited them to visit her at her home, +assuring them of a kind reception from every member of her family. She +remained a week at Lincoln University, going over with these young men +all the details of their treatment by their brother Montague, and of +the treatment of the slaves in all the Grimke families. These details +brought back freshly to her mind the horrors which had haunted her +life in Charleston, and she lived them all over again, even in her +dreams. She had been miserably weak and worn for some time before +going to Lincoln; and the mental distress she now went through +affected her nervous system to such an extent that there is no doubt +her life was shortened by it. + +The hearty concurrence of every member of the family in the course +resolved on towards the nephews shows how united they were in moral +sentiment as well as in affection. There was not the slightest +hesitancy exhibited. The point touching her brother's shame thrust in +the background by the conviction of a higher duty, Mrs. Weld allowed +it to trouble her no more, but, with her husband and sister, expressed +a feeling of exultation in acknowledging the relationship of the +youths, as a testimony and protest against the wickedness of that hate +which had always trampled down the people of color because they were +as God made them. + +On Angelina's return journey, Sarah, ever anxious about her, met her +at Newark and accompanied her home. A few weeks later, writing to +Sarah Douglass an account of the Grimke boys, she says:-- + +"They are very promising young men. We all feel deeply interested in +them, and I hope to be able to get together money enough to pay the +college expenses of the younger. I would rejoice to meet these +entirely myself, but, not having the means, I intend to try and +collect it somehow. Angelina has not yet recovered from the effects of +her journey and the excitement of seeing and talking to those boys, +the president, etc. When I met her she was so exhausted and excited +that I felt very anxious, and when I found her brain and sight were so +disordered that she could not see distinctly, even striking her head +several times severely, and that she could not read, I was indeed +alarmed. But, notwithstanding all she had suffered, she has not for a +moment regretted that she went. She feels that a sacred duty has been +performed, and rejoices that she had strength for it." + +A few weeks later, she writes: "Nina is about and always busy, often +working when she seems ready to drop, sustained by her nervous energy +and irresistible will. She has kept up wonderfully under our last +painful trial, and has borne it so beautifully that I am afraid she is +getting too good to live." + +I have no right to say that Angelina Weld suffered martyrdom in every +fibre of her proud, sensitive nature during all the first months at +least of this trial; but I cannot but believe it. She never spoke of +her own feelings to any one but her husband; but Sarah writes to Sarah +Douglass in August, 1869:-- + +"My cheerful spirit has been sorely tested for some months. Nina has +been sick all summer, is a mere skeleton and looks ten or fifteen +years older than she did before that fatal visit to Lincoln +University. I do not think that she will ever be the same woman she +was before and sometimes I feel sure her toilsome journey on this +earth must be near its close. The tears will come whenever I think of +it." + +But not so! the sisters were to work hand in hand a few years longer; +the younger, in her patient suffering, leaning with filial love on the +stronger arm of the older, both now gray-haired and beginning to feel +the infirmities of age, but still devoted to each other and united in +sympathy with every good and progressive movement. The duty, as they +conceived it, to their colored nephews was as generously as +conscientiously performed. They received them into the family, treated +them in every respect as relatives, and exerted themselves to aid them +in finishing their education. Francis studied for the ministry, and is +now pastor of the 15th Street Presbyterian Church of Washington city. +Archibald, through Sarah's exertions and self-denial, took the law +course at Harvard, graduated, and has since practised law successfully +in Boston. Both are respected by the communities in which they reside. +John, the younger brother, remained in the South with his mother. + +Mrs. Weld and Sarah still took a warm, and, as far as it was possible, +an active interest in the woman suffrage movement; and when, in +February, 1870, after an eloquent lecture from Lucy Stone, a number of +the most intelligent and respectable women of Hyde Park determined to +try the experiment of voting at the approaching town election, Mrs. +Weld and Sarah Grimke united cordially with them. A few days before +the election, a large caucus was held, made up of about equal numbers +of men and women, among them many of the best and leading people of +the place. A ticket for the different offices was made up, voted for, +and elected. At this caucus Theodore Weld made one of his old-time +stirring speeches, encouraging the women to assert themselves, and +persist in demanding their political rights. + +The 7th of March, the day of the election, a terrific snowstorm +prevailed, but did not prevent the women from assembling in the hotel +near the place of voting, where each one was presented, on the part of +their gentlemen friends, with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. At the +proper time, a number of these gentlemen came over to the hotel and +escorted the ladies to the polls, where a convenient place for them to +vote had been arranged. There was a great crowd inside the hall, eager +to see the joke of women voting, and many were ready to jeer and hiss. +But when, through the door, the women filed, led by Sarah Grimke and +Angelina Weld, the laugh was checked, the intended jeer unuttered, and +deafening applause was given instead. The crowd fell back +respectfully, nearly every man removing his hat and remaining +uncovered while the women passed freely down the hall, deposited their +votes, and departed. + +Of course these votes were not counted. There was no expectation that +they would be (though the ticket was elected), but the women had given +a practical proof of their earnestness, and though one man said, in +consequence of this movement, he would sell his house two thousand +dollars cheaper than he would have done before, and another declared +he would give his away if the thing was done again, and still another +wished he might _die_ if the women were going to vote, the women +themselves were satisfied with their first step, and more than ever +determined to march courageously on until the citadel of man's +prejudices was conquered. + +The following summer, Sarah Grimke, believing that much good might be +accomplished by the circulation of John Stuart Mill's "Subjection of +Women," made herself an agent for the sale of the book, and traversed +hill and dale, walking miles daily to accomplish her purpose. She thus +succeeded in placing more than one hundred and fifty copies in the +hands of the women of Hyde Park and the vicinity, in spite of the +ignorance, narrowness, heartlessness, and slavery which, she says, she +had ample opportunity to deplore. The profits of her sales were given +to the _Woman's Journal_. + +Under date of May 25, 1871, she writes:-- + +"I have been travelling all through our town and vicinity on foot, to +get signers to a petition to Congress for woman suffrage. It is not a +pleasant work, often subjecting me to rudeness and coldness; but we +are so frequently taunted with: 'Women don't want the ballot,' that we +are trying to get one hundred thousand names of women who do want it, +to reply to this taunt." + +But the work which enlisted this indefatigable woman's warmest +sympathies, and which was the last active charity in which she +engaged, was that of begging cast-off clothing for the destitute +freedmen of Charleston and Florida. Accounts reaching her of their +wretched condition through successive failures of crops, she set to +work with her old-time energy to do what she could for their relief. +She literally went from house to house, and from store to store, +presenting her plea so touchingly that few could refuse her. Many +barrels of clothing were in this way gathered, and she often returned +home staggering beneath the weight of bundles she had carried perhaps +for a mile. She also wrote to friends at a distance, on whose +generosity she felt she could depend, and collected from them a +considerable sum of money, which, went far to keep the suffering from +starvation until new crops could be gathered. Writing to Sarah +Douglass, she says:-- + +"I have been so happy this winter, going about to beg old clothing for +the unfortunate freedmen in Florida. I have sent off several barrels +of clothes already. Alas! there is no Christ to multiply the garments, +and what are those I send among so many? I think of these destitute +ones night and day, and feel so glad to help them even a little." + +This happiness in helping others was the secret of Sarah Grimke's +unvarying contentment, and there was always some one needing the help +she was so ready to give, some one whose trials made her feel, she +says, ashamed to think of her own. But the infirmities of old age were +creeping upon her, and though her mental faculties remained as bright +as ever, she began to complain of her eyes and her hearing. In August, +1872, she writes to a friend:-- + +"My strength is failing. I cannot do a tithe of the walking I used to +do, and am really almost good for nothing. But I don't know but I may +learn to enjoy doing nothing; and if it is needful, I shall be +thankful, as that has always appeared to me a great trial." + +Notwithstanding this representation, however, she was seldom idle a +moment. She was an untiring knitter, and made quite a traffic of the +tidies, cushion-covers, and other fancy articles she knitted and +netted. These were purchased by her friends, and the proceeds given to +the poor. Soon after she had penned the above quoted paragraph, too, +she copied for the Rev. Henry Giles, the once successful Unitarian +preacher, a lecture of sixty-five pages, from which he hoped to make +some money. His eyesight had failed, and his means were too narrow to +permit of his paying a copyist. She also managed to keep up more or +less, as her strength permitted, her usual visits to the poor and +afflicted; and during the hot summer of 1872 she and Angelina went +daily to read to an old, bed-ridden lady, who was dying of cancer, and +living almost alone. During the following winter Sarah's strength +continued to fail, and she had several fainting spells, of which, +however, she was kept in ignorance. But as life's pulse beat less +vigorously, her heart seemed to grow warmer, and her interest in all +that concerned her friends rather to increase than to lessen. She +still wrote occasional short letters, and enjoyed nothing so much as +those she received, especially from young correspondents. In January, +1873, she writes to an old friend:-- + +"Yes, dear.... I esteem it a very choice blessing that, as the outer +man decays, the heart seems enlarged in charity, and more and more +drawn towards those I love. Oh, this love! it is as subtle as the +fragrance of the flower, an indefinable essence pervading the soul. My +eyesight and my hearing are both in a weakly condition; but I trust, +as the material senses fail, the interior perception of the divine may +be opened to a clearer knowledge of God, and that I may read the +glorious book of nature with a more heavenly light, and apprehend with +clearer insight the majesty and divinity and capabilities of my own +being." + +A few months later, she writes: "My days of active usefulness are +over; but there is a passive work to be done, far harder than actual +work,--namely, to exercise patience and study humble resignation to +the will of God, whatever that may be. Thanks be to Him, I have not +yet felt like complaining; nay, verily, the song of my heart is, Who +so blest as I? In years gone by, I used to rejoice as every year sped +its course and brought me nearer to the grave. But now, though the +grave has no terrors for me, and death looks like a pleasant +transition to another and a better condition, I am content to wait the +Father's own time for my removal. I rejoice that my ideal is still in +advance of my actual, though I can only look for realization in +another life. I know of a truth that my immortal spirit must progress; +not into a state of perfect happiness,--that would have no attractions +for me; there must be deficiencies in my heaven, to leave room for +progression. A realm of unqualified rest were a stagnant pool of +being, and the circle of absolute perfection a waveless calm, the +abstract cipher of indolence. But I believe I shall be gifted with +higher faculties, greater powers, and therefore be capable of higher +aspirations, better achievements, and a nobler appreciation of God and +His works." + +The sweet tranquillity expressed in this letter, and which was the +greatest blessing that could have been given to Sarah Grimke's last +years, grew day by day, and shed its benign influence on all about +her. She had long ceased to look back, and had long been satisfied +that though she had had an ample share of sorrows and perplexities, +her life had passed, after all, with more of good than evil in it, +more of enjoyment than sorrow. Her experience had been rich and +varied; and, while she could see, in the past, sins committed, errors +of judgment, idiosyncracies to which she had too readily yielded, she +felt that all had been blest to her in enlarging her knowledge of +herself, in widening her sphere of usefulness, and uniting her more +closely to Him who had always been her guide, and whose promises +sustained and blessed her, and crowned her latter days with joy +supreme. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Sarah Grimke had always enjoyed such good health, and was so +unaccustomed to even small ailments, that when a slight attack came in +the beginning of August, 1873, in the shape of a fainting-fit in the +night, she did not understand what it meant. For two or three years +she had had an occasional attack of the same kind, but was never +before conscious of it, and as she had frequently expressed a desire +to be alone when she died, to have no human presence between her and +her God, she thought, as the faintness came over her, that this desire +was about to be gratified. But not so: she returned to consciousness, +somewhat to her disappointment, and seemed to quite recover her health +in a few days. The weather, however, was extremely warm, and she felt +its prostrating effects. On the 27th of August another fainting-spell +came over her, also in the night, and she felt so unwell on coming out +of it that she was obliged to call assistance. For several weeks she +was very ill, and scarcely a hope of her recovery was entertained; but +again she rallied and tried to mingle with the family as usual, though +feeling very weak. Writing to Sarah Douglass of this illness, she +says:-- + +"The first two weeks are nearly a blank. I only remember a sense of +intense suffering, and that the second day I thought I was dying, and +felt calm with that sweet peace which our heavenly Father gives to +those who lay their heads on His bosom and breathe out their souls to +Him. Death is so beautiful a transition to another and a higher sphere +of usefulness and happiness, that it no longer looks to me like +passing through a dark valley, but rather like merging into sunlight +and joy. When consciousness returned to me, I was floating in an ocean +of divine love. Oh, dear Sarah, the unspeakable peace that I enjoyed! +Of course I was to come down from the mount, but not into the valley +of despondency. My mind has been calm, my faith steadfast, my +continual prayer that I may fulfil the design of my Father in thus +restoring me to life and finish the work he must have for me to do, +either active or passive. I am lost in wonder, love, and praise at the +vast outlay of affection and means used for my restoration. Stuart was +like a tender daughter, and all have been so loving, so patient." + +She continued very feeble, but insisted upon joining the family at +meals, though she frequently had to be carried back to her room. Still +her lively interest in every one about her showed no diminution, and +she still wrote, as strength permitted, short letters to old friends. +A few passages may be quoted from these letters to show how clear her +intellect remained, and with what a holy calm her soul was clothed. To +one nearly her own age, she says:-- + +"You and I and all who are on the passage to redemption know that +Gethsemane has done more for us than the Mount of Transfiguration. I +am sure I have advanced more in the right way through my sins than +through my righteousness, and for nothing am I more fervently grateful +than for the lessons of humility I have learned in this way." + +To another who was mourning the death of a dear child, she writes: "My +whole heart goes out in unspeakable yearnings for you; not, dearest, +that you may be delivered from your present trials; not only that you +may be blessed with returning health, but that you may find something +better, holier, stronger than philosophy to sustain you. Philosophy +may enable us to _endure_; this is its highest mission; it cannot give +the peace of God which passeth all understanding. This is what I covet +for you. And how can you doubt of immortality when you look on your +beloved's face? Can you believe that the soul which looked out of +those eyes can be quenched in endless night? No; never! As soon doubt +existence itself. It is this--these central truths, the existence and +the love of God, and the immortality of the soul, which rob death of +its terrors and shed upon it the blessed light of a hope which +triumphs over death itself. Oh that you could make Christ your friend! +He is so near and dear to me that more than ever does he seem to be my +link to the Father and to the life everlasting." + +As she complained only of weakness, Sarah's friends hoped that, when +the cool weather came on, she would regain her strength and be as well +as usual. But though she continued to move about the house, trying to +make herself useful, there was very little perceptible change in her +condition as the autumn passed and winter came on. Thus she continued +until the 12th of December, when she took a violent cold. She was in +the habit of airing her bed every night just before retiring, turning +back the cover, and opening wide her window. On that day it had +rained, and the air was very damp, but she had her bed and window +opened as usual, insisting that Florence Nightingale asserted that +damp air never hurt anyone. That night she coughed a great deal, but +in answer to Angelina's expressions of anxiety, said she felt no worse +than usual. But though she still went down to her meals, it was +evident that she was weaker than she had been. On Sunday, the 14th, +company coming to tea, she preferred to remain in her room. She never +went down again. Her breathing was much oppressed on Monday and her +cough worse, but it was not until Tuesday evening, after having passed +a distressing day, that she would consent to have a physician called. +Everything was done for her that could be thought of, and, as she grew +worse, two other physicians were sent for. But all in vain: it was +evident that the summons to "come up higher" had reached her yearning +soul, and that a bright New Year was dawning for her in that unseen +world which she was so well prepared to enter. + +She lingered, suffering at times great agony from suffocation, until +the afternoon of the 23d, when she was seized with the most severe +paroxysm she had yet had. Her family gathered about her bed, relieved +her as far as it was possible, and saw her sink exhausted into an +unconscious state, from which, two hours later, she crossed the +threshold of Eternity. Her "precious Nina" bent over her, caught the +last breath, and exclaimed: "Well done, good and faithful servant, +enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" + +The gates of heaven swung wide to admit that great soul, and the form +of clay that was left lying there seemed touched with the glory that +streamed forth. All traces of suffering vanished, and the placid face +wore-- + + "The look of one who bore away + Glad tidings from the hills of day." + +Every sorrow brings a peace with it, and Angelina's sorrow was +swallowed up in joy that the beloved sister had escaped from pain and +infirmity, and entered into fuller and closer communion with her +heavenly Father. + +She and Sarah had promised each other that no stranger hands should +perform the last offices to their mortal remains. How lovingly this +promise was now kept by Angelina, we must all understand. + +The weather was very cold, and in order to give her friends at a +distance opportunity to attend the funeral it did not take place until +the 27th. One of the last requests of this woman, whose life had been +an embodiment of the most tender chanty and the truest humility, was +that she might be laid in a plain pine coffin, and the difference in +price between it and the usual costly one be given as her last gift to +the poor. She knew--divine soul!--that her cold form would sleep just +as quietly, be guarded by the angels just as faithfully, and as +certainly go to its resurrection glory from a pine box as from the +richest rosewood casket. And it was like the sweet simplicity of her +whole life,--nothing for show, all for God and his poor. + +Her request was complied with, but loving hands covered every inch of +that plain stained coffin with fragrant flowers, making it rich and +beautiful with those sincere tributes of affection and gratitude to +one whose memory was a benediction. + +The funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Francis Williams, +pastor of the Unitarian Church of Hyde Park, and eloquent remarks were +made by him and by Wm. Lloyd Garrison. + +Mr. Williams could only testify to Sarah's life as he had known it +since she came to live in the village. + +"To the last," he said, "while her mind could plan, her pen could +move, and her heart could prompt, she was busy in the service of +humanity,--with her might and beyond her strength, in constant +nameless deeds of kindness to those in need in our own neighborhood, +and far to the south, deeds which were wise and beautiful,--help to +the poor, sympathy with the suffering, consolation to the dying. She +has fought the good fight of right and love; she has finished her +course of duty; she has kept the faith of friendship and sacrifice. + +"We will more truly live because she has lived among us. May her hope +and peace be ours." + +Mr. Garrison gave a brief summary of her life, and ended by saying: +"In view of such a life as hers, consecrated to suffering humanity in +its manifold needs, embracing all goodness, animated by the broadest +catholicity of spirit, and adorned with every excellent attribute, any +attempt at panegyric here seems as needless as it must be inadequate. +Here there is nothing to depress or deplore, nothing premature or +startling, nothing to be supplemented or finished. It is the +consummation of a long life, well rounded with charitable deeds, +active sympathies, toils, loving ministrations, grand testimonies, and +nobly self-sacrificing endeavors. She lived only to do good, neither +seeking nor desiring to be known, ever unselfish, unobtrusive, +compassionate, and loving, dwelling in God and God in her." + +The last look was then taken, the last kiss given, and the coffin, +lifted by those who loved and honored the form it enclosed, was borne +to its resting-place in Mount Hope Cemetery. + +"Dear friend," wrote Angelina to me, before yet the last rites had +been performed, "you know what I have lost, not _a sister only_, but a +mother, friend, counsellor,--everything I could lose in a woman." + +The longer our loved ones are spared to us, the closer becomes the tie +by which we are bound to them, and the deeper the pain of separation. +It was thus with Angelina. She could rejoice at her sister's blessed +translation, but she keenly felt the bereavement notwithstanding. +Their lives had been so bound together; they had walked so many years +side by side; they had so shared each other's burdens, cares, and +sorrows, that she who was left scarcely knew how to live the daily +life without that dear twin-soul. And so tender, so true and sacred +was the communion which had grown between them, that they could not be +separated long. + +Angelina continued, as her feeble health permitted, to do alone the +work Sarah had shared with her. The sick, the poor, the sorrowing, +were looked after and cared for as usual; but as she was already +weighed down by declining years, the burdens she tried to bear were +too heavy. Sarah used to say: "Angelina's creed is, for herself, work +till you drop; for others, spare yourself." Now, with no anxiously +watchful sister to restrain her, she overtaxed every power, and +brought on the result which had been long feared,--the paralysis which +finally ended her life. + +Those who have read Mr. Weld's beautiful memorial of his wife, with +the touching account of her last days, will find no fault, I am sure, +if I reproduce a portion of it here, while to those who have not been +so fortunate, it will show her sweet Christian spirit, mighty in its +gentleness, as no words of mine could do. In vain may we look back +through the centuries for a higher example of divine love and patience +and heroic fortitude; and, as a friend observed, her expressions of +gratitude for the long and perfect use of her faculties at the very +moment when she felt the fatal touch which was to deprive her of them, +was the sublimity of sweet and grateful trust. + +The early shattering of Angelina's nervous system rendered her always +exceedingly sensitive to outward impressions. She could not look upon +any form of suffering without, in a measure, feeling it herself; nor +could she read or listen to an account of great physical agony without +a sensation of faintness which frequently obliged her, at such times, +to leave the room and seek relief in the open air. The first stroke of +paralysis occurred the summer after Sarah's death, and was brought on +in a singular manner. Mr. Weld's account of the incident and its +consequences is thus given:-- + +"For weeks she had visited almost daily a distant neighbor, far gone +in consumption, whose wife was her dear friend. One day, over-heated +and tired out by work and a long walk in the sun, she passed their +house in returning home, too much overdone to call, as she thought to +do, and had gone a quarter of a mile toward home, when it occurred to +her, Mr. W. may be dying now! She turned back, and, as she feared, +found him dying. As she sat by his bedside, holding his hand, a +sensation never felt before seized her so strongly that she at once +attempted to withdraw her hand, but saw that she could not without +disturbing the dying man's last moments. She sat thus, in exceeding +discomfort, half an hour, with that strange feeling creeping up her +arm and down her side. + +"At last his grasp relaxed, and she left, only able to totter, and +upon getting home, she hardly knew how, declined supper, and went at +once to bed, saying only, 'Tired, tired.' In the morning, when her +husband rose, she said, 'I've something to tell you.' Her tone alarmed +him. 'Don't be alarmed,' she said. To his anxious question, 'Pray, +what is it?' she said again, 'Now you mustn't be troubled, I'm not; +it's all for the best. Something ails my right side, I can't move hand +or foot. It must be paralysis. Well, how thankful I should be that I +have had the perfect use of all my faculties, limbs, and senses for +sixty-eight years! And now, if they are to be taken from me, I shall +have it always to be grateful for that I have had them so long. Why, I +do think I am grateful for _this_, too. Come, let us be grateful +together.' Her half-palsied husband could respond only in weakest +words to the appeal of his unpalsied wife. While exulting in the +sublime triumph of her spirit over the stroke that felled her, well +might he feel abashed, as he did, to find that, in such a strait, he +was so poor a help to her who, in all his straits, had been such a +help to him. After a pause she added: 'Oh, possibly it is only the +effect of my being so tired out last night. Why, it seems to me I was +never half so tired. I wonder if a hard rubbing of your strong hands +mightn't throw it off.' Long and strongly he plied with friction the +parts affected, but no muscle responded. All seemed dead to volition +and motion. Though thus crippled in a moment, she insisted upon +rising, that she might be ready for breakfast at the usual hour. As +the process of dressing went on, she playfully enlivened it thus: +'Well, here I am a baby again; have to be dressed and fed, perhaps +lugged round in arms or trundled in a wheel-chair, taught to walk on +one foot, and sew and darn stockings with my left hand. Plenty of new +lessons to learn that will keep me busy. See what a chance I have to +learn patience! The dear Father knew just what I needed,' etc. + +"Soon after breakfast she gave herself a lesson in writing with her +left hand, stopping often, as she slowly scrawled on, to laugh at her +'quail tracks.' After three months of tireless persistence, she +partially recovered the use of her paralyzed muscles, so that she +could write, sew, knit, wipe dishes, and sweep, and do 'very +shabbily,' as she insisted, almost everything that she had done +before. + +"During the six years that remained of her life here, she had what +seemed to be two other slight shocks of paralysis,--one about three +years after the first, and the other only three weeks before her +death. This last was manifest in the sudden sinking of her bodily +powers, preeminently those of speech. During all those years she +looked upon herself as 'a soldier hourly awaiting orders,' often +saying with her good-night kiss, 'May be this will be the last +_here_,' or, 'Perhaps I shall send back my next from the other shore;' +or, 'The dear Father may call me from you before morning;' or, +'Perhaps when I wake, it may be in a morning that has no night; then I +can help you more than I can now.' + +"Many letters received asked for her latest views and feelings about +death and the life beyond,--as one expressed it, when she was +entering the dark valley.' The 'valley' she saw, but no darkness, +neither night nor shadow; all was light and peace. On the future life +she had pondered much, but ever with a trust absolute and an abounding +cheer. Fear, doubt, anxiety, suspense, she knew nothing of; none of +them had power to mar her peace or jostle her conviction. While she +could speak, she expressed the utmost gratitude that the dear Father +was loosening the cords of life so gently that she had no pain. + +"When her speech failed, after a sinking in which she seemed dying, +she strove to let us know that _she knew it_ by trying to speak the +word 'death.' Divining her thought, I said, 'Is it death?' Then in a +kind of convulsive outburst came, 'Death, death!' Thinking that she +was right, that it was indeed to her death _begun_, of what _could_ +die, thus _dating_ her life immortal, I said, 'No, oh no! not death, +but life immortal.' She instantly caught my meaning, and cried out, +'Life eternal! E--ter--nal life.' She soon sank into a gentle sleep +for hours. When she awoke, what seemed that fatal sinking had passed. + +"One night, while watching with her, after she had been a long time +quietly sleeping, she seemed to be in pain, and began to toss +excitedly. It was soon plain that what seemed bodily pain was mental +anguish. She began to talk earnestly in mingled tones of pathos and +strong remonstrance. She was back again among the scenes of childhood, +talking upon slavery. At first, only words could be caught here and +there, but enough to show that she was living over again the old +horrors, and remonstrating with slave-holders upon the wrongs of +slavery. Then came passages of Scripture, their most telling words +given with strong emphasis, the others indistinctly; some in tones of +solemn rebuke, others in those of heart-broken pathos, but most +distinctly audible in detached fragments. There was one exception,--a +few words uttered brokenly, with a half-explosive force, from James 5: +4: 'The--hire--of--the--laborers,--kept--back--by--fraud, +--crieth:--and--the--cries--are--in--the--ears--of--the--Lord.'... + +"As we stood around her, straining to catch again some fragmentary +word, she would turn her eyes upon our faces, one by one, as though +lovingly piercing our inmost; but though all speech failed, the +intense longing of that look outspoke all words.... + +"Then there was again a vain struggle to speak, but no words came! +Only abortive sounds painfully shattered! How precious those unborn +words! Oh, that we knew them!" + +Thus quietly, peacefully, almost joyfully, the life forces of the worn +and weary toiler weakened day by day, until, on the 26th of October, +1879, the great Husbandman called her from her labors at last. She +lived the life and died the death of a saint. + +Who shall dare to say when and where the echoes of her soul died away? +Not in vain such lives as hers and her beloved sister's. They take +their place with those of the heroes of the world, great among the +greatest. + +One last thing I must mention, as strongly illustrative of Angelina's +modesty, and that shrinking from any praise of man which was such a +marked trait in her character. She never voluntarily alluded to any +act of hers which would be likely to draw upon her commendatory +notice, even from the members of her own family, and in her charities +she followed out as far as possible the Bible injunction: "When thou +doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." + +Her husband relates the following:-- + +"In November, 1839, in making provision for the _then_ to her not +improbable contingency of sudden death, Angelina prepared a +communication to her husband, filled with details concerning +themselves alone. This was enclosed in a sealed envelope, with +directions that it should be opened only after her death. When, a few +days after her decease, he broke the seal, he found, among many +details, this item: 'I also leave to thee the _liability_ of being +called upon eventually to support in part four emancipated slaves in +Charleston, S.C., whose freedom I have been instrumental in obtaining.'" + +It is plain from the wording of the letter that she had never stated +the fact to him. She lived forty years after writing it and putting it +under seal; and yet, during all those years, she never gave him the +least intimation of her having freed those four slaves and contributed +to their support, as she had done. Even Sarah could not have known +anything of it. Her brother Henry, to whom the bill of sale was made +out, as they could not be legally emancipated, was probably the only +person who was aware of her generous act. He became technically their +owner, responsible for them to the State, but left them free to live +and work for themselves as they pleased. + +Angelina's funeral took place on the 29th of October, and to it came +many old friends and veteran co-workers in the anti-slavery cause. The +services were in keeping with the record of the life they commemorated. +They were opened by that beautiful chant, "Thy will be done," followed +by a touching prayer from the Rev. Mr. Morrison, who then briefly +sketched the life of her who lay so still and beautiful before them. He +was followed by Elizur Wright, who, overcome by the memories with which +she was identified, memories of struggles, trials, perils, and triumphs, +that he stood for a moment unable to speak. Then, only partially +conquering his emotion, he told of what she did and what she was in +those times which tried the souls of the stoutest. "There is," said he, +"the courage of the mariner who buffets the angry waves. There is the +courage of the warrior who marches up to the cannon's mouth, coolly +pressing forward amid engines of destruction on every side. But hers +was a courage greater than theirs. She not only faced death at the +hands of stealthy assassins and howling mobs, in her loyalty to truth, +duty, and humanity, but she encountered unflinchingly the awful frowns +of the mighty consecrated leaders of society, the scoffs and sneers of +the multitude, the outstretched finger of scorn, and the whispered +mockery of pity, standing up for the lowest of the low. Nurtured in the +very bosom of slavery, by her own observation and thought, of one thing +she became certain,--that it was a false, cruel, accursed relation +between human beings. And to this conviction, from the very budding of +her womanhood, she was true; not the fear of poverty, obloquy, or death +could induce her to smother it. Neither wealth, nor fame, nor tyrant +fashion, nor all that the high position of her birth had to offer, +could bribe her to abate one syllable of her testimony against the +seductive system.... Let us hope that South Carolina will yet count +this noble, brave, excellent woman above all her past heroes. She it +was, more than all the rest of us put together, who called out what +was good and humane in the Christian church to take the part of the +slave, and deliver the proud State of her birth from the monster that +had preyed on its vitals for a century. I have no fitting words for a +life like hers. With a mind high and deep and broad enough to grasp +the relations of justice and mercy, and a heart warm enough to +sympathize with and cherish all that live, what a home she made! Words +cannot paint it. I saw it in that old stone house, surrounded with its +beautiful garden, at Belleville, on the banks of the Passaic. I saw +it in that busy, bright, and cheery palace of true education at +Eagleswood, New Jersey. I have seen it here, in this Mecca of the wise. +Well done! Oh, well done!" + +Mr. Wright was followed by Robert F. Walcutt, Lucy Stone, and Wendell +Phillips. + +"The women of to-day," said Lucy Stone, "owe more than they will ever +know to the high courage, the rare insight, and fidelity to principle +of this woman, by whose suffering easy paths have been made for them. +Her example was a bugle-call to all other women. Who can tell how many +have been quickened in a great life purpose by the heroism and +self-forgetting devotion of her whose voice we shall never hear again, +but who, 'being dead, yet speaketh.'" + +The remarks of Wendell Phillips were peculiarly affecting, and were +spoken with a tenderness which, for once at least, disproved the +assertion that his eloquence was wanting in pathos. + +"Friends," he said, "this life carries us back to the first chapter of +that great movement with which her name is associated,--to 1835, '36, +'37, '38, when our cities roared with riot, when William Lloyd +Garrison was dragged through the streets, when Dresser was mobbed in +Nashville, and Macintosh burned in St. Louis. At that time, the hatred +toward abolitionists was so bitter and merciless that the friends of +Lovejoy left his grave long time unmarked; and at last ventured to +put, with his name, on his tombstone, only this piteous entreaty: _Jam +Parce Sepulto_, 'Spare him now in his grave.' + +"As Friend Wright has said, we were but a handful, and our words beat +against the stony public as powerless as if against the north wind. We +got no sympathy from most northern men: their consciences were seared +as with a hot iron. At this time a young woman came from the proudest +State in the slave-holding section. She came to lay on the altar of +this despised cause, this seemingly hopeless crusade, both family and +friends, the best social position, a high place in the church, genius, +and many gifts. No man at this day can know the gratitude we felt for +this help from such an unexpected source. After this[9] came James G. +Birney from the South, and many able and influential men and women +joined us. At last John Brown laid his life, the crowning sacrifice, +on the altar of the cause. But no man who remembers 1837 and its +lowering clouds will deny that there was hardly any contribution to +the anti-slavery movement greater or more impressive than the crusade +of these Grimke sisters through the New England States. + +"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." + + [9] A mistake. James G. Birney was one of the most widely known and + influential leaders in the abolition cause at the time Angelina came + into it. + +At the close of Mr. Phillips' remarks a hymn was read and sung, +followed by a fervent prayer from Mr. Morrison, when the services +closed with the reading and singing of "Nearer, my God to Thee." Then, +after the last look had been taken, the coffin-lid was softly closed +over the placidly sleeping presence beneath, and the precious form was +borne to Mount Hope, and tenderly lowered to its final resting-place. +There the sisters, inseparable in life, lie side by side next the +"Evergreen Path," in that "dreamless realm of silence." + +A friend, describing the funeral, says:-- + +"The funeral services throughout wore no air of gloom. That sombre +crape shrouded no one with its dismal tokens. The light of a glorious +autumn day streamed in through uncurtained windows. It was not a house +of mourning,--no sad word said, no look of sorrow worn. The tears that +freely fell were not of grief, but tears of yearning love, of +sympathy, of solemn joy and gratitude to God for such a life in its +rounded completeness, such an example and testimony, such fidelity to +conscience, such recoil from all self-seeking, such unswerving +devotion to duty, come what might of peril or loss, even unto death." + +Florence Nightingale, writing of a woman whose life, like the lives of +Sarah and Angelina Grimke, had been devoted to the service of the +poor, the weak, the oppressed, says at the close:-- + +"This is not an _in memoriam_, it is a war-cry such as she would have +bid me write,--a cry for others to fill her place, to fill up the +ranks, and fight the good fight against sin and vice and misery and +wretchedness as she did,--the call to arms such as she was ever ready +to obey." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Grimke Sisters, by Catherine H. 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