He forthwith
bethought him of Whittier on his farm in Haverhill, and enjoined his old
friend to fail not to appear in Philadelphia. But while the young poet
longed to go to urge upon his Quaker brethren of that city "to make
their solemn testimony against slavery visible over the whole land--to
urge them, by the holy memories of Woolman and Benezet and Tyson to come
up as of old to the standard of Divine Truth, though even the fires of
another persecution should blaze around them," he feared that he would
not be able to do so. The spirit was surely willing but the purse was
empty, "as thee know," he quaintly adds, "our farming business does not
put much cash in our pockets." The cash he needed was generously
supplied by Samuel E. Sewall, and Whittier went as a delegate to the
convention after all. The disposition on the part of some of the poorer
delegates was so strong to be present at the convention that not even
the lack of money was sufficient to deter them from setting out on the
expedition. Two of them, David T. Kimball and Daniel E. Jewett, from
Andover, Mass., did actually supplement the deficiencies of their
pocket-books by walking to New Haven, the aforesaid pocket-books being
equal to the rest of the journey from that point.
About sixty delegates found their way to Philadelphia and organized on
the morning of December 4th, in Adelphi Hall, the now famous convention.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193