While it was not in the power of Mr. Johnston and his coadjutors, to
render any great amount of material aid to the Committee, as they had
not been largely blessed with this world's goods, nevertheless, the
sympathy shown was as highly valued, as if they had given thousands of
dollars. Not unfrequently has the image of this singularly faithful
minister entered the writer's mind as he once appeared when visiting the
Synod of his church in Philadelphia. Having the Underground Rail Road
cause at heart, he brought with him--all the way from Vermont--his trunk
well filled with new shirts and under-clothing for the passengers on
that Road. It was characteristic of the man, and has ever since been
remembered with pleasure.
From another quarter, hundreds of miles from Philadelphia, similar
tokens of interest in the cause of the fleeing bondmen were manifested
by a Ladies' Anti-slavery Society, in Western New York, which we must
here record. As the proffered aid was wholly unsolicited, and as the
Committee had no previous knowledge whatever of the existence of the
society, or any of its members, and withal, as the favors conferred,
came at times when the cause was peculiarly in need (the Committee
oft-times being destitute of clothing or money), the idea that the
Underground Rail Road was providentially favored, in this respect, was
irresistible.
We therefore take great pleasure in commemorating the good deeds of the
society, by copying the following letters from its president, Mrs. Dr.
Brooks:
ELLINGTON, Nov. 21st, 1859.
MR. WILLIAM STILL:--Dear Sir:--In the above-named place, some
five years since there was formed a Ladies' Anti-slavery
Society, which has put forth its feeble endeavors to aid the
cause of "breaking every yoke and letting the oppressed go
free," and we trust, through our means, others have been made
glad of heart. Every year we have sent a box of clothing,
bedding, etc., to the aid of the fugitive, and wishing to send
it where it would be of the most service, we have it suggested
to us, to send to you the box we have at present. You would
confer a favor upon the members of our society, by writing us,
giving a detail of that which would be the most service to you,
and whether or no it would be more advantageous to you than some
nearer station, and we will send or endeavor to, that which
would benefit you most.
William Wells Brown visited our place a short time since,
recommending us to send to you in preference to Syracuse, where
we sent our last box.
Please write, letting me know what most is needed to aid you in
your glorious work, a work which will surely meet its reward.
Direct, Ellington, Chautauqua county, N.Y.
Your sister, in the cause,
Mrs. M. BROOKS.
ELLINGTON, Chautauqua Co., N.Y., Dec. 7th, 1859.
MR. STILL:--Dear Sir:--Yours of the 29th, was duly and
gratefully received, although the greater portion of your
epistle, of a necessity, portrayed the darker side of the
picture, yet we have great reason to be thankful for the growing
interest there is for the cause throughout the free States, for
it certainly is on the increase, even in our own locality. There
are those who, five years since, were (ashamed, must I say it!)
to bear the appellation of "_Anti-slavery_," who can now
manfully bear the one then still more repellant of
_Abolitionist_. All this we wish to feel thankful for, and wish
their number may never grow less.
The excitement relative to the heroic John Brown, now in his
grave, has affected the whole North, or at least every one who
has a heart in his breast, particularly this portion of the
State, which is so decidedly Anti-slavery.
At a meeting of our Society, to-day, at which your letter was
read, it was thought best that I should reply to it, a request
with which I cheerfully comply. We would like to hear from you,
and learn the directions to be given to our box, which will be
ready to send as soon as we can hear from you. Please give us
all necessary information, and oblige our Society.
You have the kind wishes and prayers of all the members, that
you may be the instrument of doing much good to those in bonds,
and may God speed the time when every yoke shall be broken, and
let the oppressed go free.
Yours, truly,
Mrs. DR. BROOKS.
P.S. I have just learned that John Brown's body passed through
Dunkirk, a few miles from this place, yesterday. A funeral
sermon is to be preached in this place one week from next
Sabbath, for the good old man.
Mrs. DR. B.
ELLINGTON, Jan. 2d, 1860.
WILLIAM STILL:--Dear Sir:--Enclosed are $2,00, to pay freightage
on the box of bedding, wearing apparel, etc., that has been sent
to your address. It has been thought best to send you a schedule
of the contents of said box. Trusting it will be acceptable, and
be the means of assisting the poor fugitive on his perilous way,
you have the prayers of our Society, that you may be prospered
in your work of mercy, and you surely will meet with your reward
according to your merciful acts.
Two bed quilts, 32, $8,00; five bed quilts, 24, $15,00; one bed
quilt, 28, $3,50; two pairs cotton socks, 3, 75 cents; three
pairs cotton stockings, 4, $1,50; one pair woolen stockings, 6,
75 cents; one pair woolen stockings, 4, 50 cents; three pair
woolen socks, 2, 75 cents; five pair woolen socks, 3, $1,88;
eight chemise, 32, $4,50; thirteen men's shirts, 66 cents,
$8,58; one pair pants, 12, $1,50; six pair overall pants, 80
cents, $4,80; three pair pillow cases, $1,00; three calico
aprons, 2, 75 cents; three sun-bonnets, 2, 75 cents; two small
aprons, 1, 25 cents; one alpaca cape, 8, $1,00; two capes, 1, 25
cents; one black shawl, 4, 50 cents. Total, $56,51.
The foregoing is a correct list of the articles and the
appraisal of the same. Please acknowledge the receipt of the
letter and box, and oblige the Anti-slavery Society of
Ellington.
Mrs. DR. BROOKS.
The road was doing a flourishing business during the short time that
this station received aid and sympathy from the Ladies' Anti-slavery
Society of Ellington, and little did we dream that its existence would
so soon be rendered null and void by the utter overthrow of Slavery.
We have great pleasure in stating that beyond our borders also, across
the ocean, there came help to a laudable degree in the hour of need. The
numbers of those who aided in this special work, however, were very few
and far between, a hundred per cent. less (so far as the receipts of the
Philadelphia Committee were concerned), than was supposed by
slave-holders and their sympathizers, judging from their oft repeated
allegations on this subject.
It is true, that the American Anti-slavery Society and kindred
associations, received liberal contributions from a few warm-hearted and
staunch abolitionists abroad, to aid the great work of abolishing
Slavery. In reference to the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, we are
safe in saying, that, except from a few sources, no direct aid came. How
true this was of other stations, we do not pretend to know or speak, but
in the directions above alluded to, we feel that the cause was placed
under lasting obligations. The Webbs of Dublin, and the Misses Wighams,
of Scotland, representatives of the Edinburgh Ladies' Emancipation
Society, were constantly in correspondence with leading abolitionists in
different parts of the country, manifesting a deep interest in the
general cause, and were likewise special stockholders of the Underground
Rail Road of Philadelphia. In common with stockholders at home, these
trans-atlantic investors were willing to receive their shares of
dividends in the answer of a good conscience, or, in other words, from
the satisfaction and pleasure derivable from a consciousness of having
done what they could to alleviate the sufferings of the oppressed
struggling to be free. Having thus shown their faith by their works it
would be unjust not to make honorable mention of them.
Last, though not least, at the risk of wounding the feelings of one who
preferred not to let the left hand know what the right hand doeth, we
may contemplate the philanthropic labors of one, whose generosity and
benevolence knew no bounds; whose friendship devotion and liberality,
were felt in all the principal stations of the Underground Rail Road;
whose heart went out after the millions in fetters, the fleeing
fugitive, the free, proscribed, the ignorant deprived of education;
whose house was the home of the advocate of the slave from the United
States, especially if he wore a colored skin or had been a slave. We
would not venture to say how many of the enslaved this kind hand helped
to purchase (Frederick Douglass and many others, being of the number.)
How many were assisted in procuring an education, how many who pined in
slave prisons were aided, how many fleeing over the perilous Underground
Rail Road were benefited, the All-seeing Eye alone knoweth;
nevertheless, we are happy to be able to give our readers some idea of
the unwearied labors of the friend to whom we allude. Here again we are
compelled to resort to private correspondence which took place when
Cotton was King, and the Slave-power of the South could boastingly say,
in the language of the apocalyptic woman, "I sit as a queen, and shall
see no sorrow," when that power was maddened to desperation, by the
heroism of the martyr, John Brown, and the fettered bondmen were ever
and anon traveling over the Underground Rail Road. In this "darkest
hour, just before the break of day," the heart of the friend of whom we
speak, was greatly moved to consider the wants of the oppressed in
various directions.
How worthily and successfully her labors gave evidence of an earnest
devotion to freedom, the mode and measures adopted by her, to awaken
sympathy in the breast of the benevolent of her own countrymen, and how
noble her example, may be learned from a small pamphlet and explanatory
letters which, when written, were intended especially for private use,
but which we now feel constrained to copy from a sense of justice to
disinterested philanthropy.