The distinctive characteristics of this individual were so admirably
portrayed in the newspapers and other periodicals published at the time
of his death, that we shall make free use of them without hesitation. He
was distinguished from his early life by his devotion to the relief of
the oppressed colored race. He was an active member of the old
Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and labored zealously with Dr. Benjamin
Rush, Dr. Rogers, Dr. Wistar, and other distinguished philanthropists of
the time. No man at that day, not even eminent judges and advocates, was
better acquainted with the intricacies of law questions connected with
slavery. His accurate legal knowledge, his natural acuteness, his ready
tact in avoiding dangerous corners and slipping through unseen
loop-holes, often gave him the victory in cases that seemed hopeless to
other minds. In many of these cases, physical courage was needed as much
as moral firmness; and he possessed these qualities in a very unusual
degree.
Being for many years an inspector of the public prisons, his practical
sagacity and benevolence were used with marked results. His enlarged
sympathies had always embraced the criminal and the imprisoned, as well
as the oppressed; and the last years of his life were especially devoted
to the improvement of prisons and prisoners. In this department of
benevolence he manifested the same zealous kindness and untiring
diligence that had so long been exerted for the colored people, for
whose welfare he labored to the end of his days.
He possessed a wonderful wisdom in furnishing relief to all who were in
difficulty and embarrassment. This caused a very extensive demand upon
his time and talents, which were rarely withheld when honestly sought,
and seldom applied in vain.
Mrs. Kirkland prepared, under the title of "The Helping Hand," a small
volume, for the benefit of "The Home" for discharged female convicts,
containing a brief description of the institution, and a detail of facts
illustrating the happy results of its operation. Its closing chapter is
appropriately devoted to the following well-deserved tribute to the
veteran philanthropist, to whose zeal and discretion that and so many
other similar institutions owe their existence, or to a large degree
their prosperity.
"Not to inform the public what it knows very well already, nor
to forestall the volume now preparing by Mrs. Child, a kindred
spirit, but to gratify my own feelings, and to give grace and
sanctity to this little book, I wish to say a few words of Mr.
Hopper, the devoted friend of the prisoner as of the slave; one
whose long life, and whose last thoughts, were given to the care
and succor of human weakness, error, and suffering. To make even
the most unpretending book for the benefit of 'The Home,'
without bringing forward the name of Isaac T. Hopper, and
recognizing the part he took in its affairs, from the earliest
moment of its existence until the close of his life, would be an
unpardonable omission. A few words must be said where a volume
would scarcely suffice.
"'The rich and the poor meet together, and the Lord is the
Father of them all,' might stand for the motto of Mr. Hopper's
life. That the most remote of these two classes stood on the
same level of benevolent interest in his mind, his whole career
made obvious; he was the last man to represent as naturally
opposite those whom God has always, even to the end of the
world, made mutually dependent. He told the simple truth to each
with equal frankness; helped both with equal readiness. The
palace owed him no more than the hovel suggested thoughts of
superiority. Nothing human, however grand, or however degraded,
was a stranger to him. In the light that came to him from
heaven, all stood alike children of the Great Father; earthly
distinction disappearing the moment the sinking soul or the
suffering body was in question. No amount of depravity could
extinguish his hope of reform; no recurrence of ingratitude
could paralyze his efforts. Early and late, supported or
unsupported, praised or ridiculed, he went forward in the great
work of relief, looking neither to the right hand, nor to the
left; and when the object was accomplished, he shrank back into
modest obscurity, only to wait till a new necessity called for
his reappearance. Who can number the poor, aching, conscious,
despairing hearts that have felt new life come to them from his
kind words, his benignant smile, his helping hand. If the record
of his long life could be fully written, which it can never be,
since every day and all day, in company, in the family circle,
with children, with prisoners, with the insane, 'virtue went out
of him' that no human observation could measure or describe,
what touching interest would be added to the history of our poor
and vicious population for more than half a century past; what
new honor and blessing would surround the venerated name of our
departed friend and leader!
"But he desired nothing of this. Without claiming for him a
position above humanity, which alone would account for a
willingness to be wholly unrecognized as a friend of the
afflicted, it is not too much to say that no man was ever less
desirous of public praise or outward honor. He was even
unwilling that any care should be taken to preserve the
remembrance of his features, sweet and beautiful as they were,
though he was brought reluctantly to yield to the anxious wish
of his children and friends that the countenance on which every
eye loved to dwell, should not be wholly lost when the grave
should close above it. He loved to talk of interesting cases of
reform and recovery, both because those things occupied his
mind, and because every one loved to hear him; but the hearer
who made these disclosures the occasion for unmeaning
compliment, as if he fancied a craving vanity to have prompted
them, soon found himself rebuked by the straightforward and
plain-spoken patriarch. Precious indeed were those seasons of
outpouring, when one interesting recital suggested another, till
the listener seemed to see the whole mystery of prison-life and
obscure wretchedness laid open before him with the distinctness
of a picture. For, strange as it may seem, our friend had under
his plain garb--unchanged in form since the days of Franklin, to
go no further back--a fine dramatic talent, and could not relate
the humblest incident without giving it a picturesque or
dramatic turn, speaking now for one character, now for another,
with a variety and discrimination very remarkable. This made his
company greatly sought, and as his strongly social nature
readily responded, his acquaintance was very large. To every one
that knew him personally, I can appeal for the truth and
moderation of these views of his character and manners.
"A few biographical items will close what I venture to offer
here.
"Isaac T. Hopper was born December 3, 1771, in the township of
Deptford, Gloucester county, New Jersey, but spent a large
portion of his life in Philadelphia, where he served his
apprenticeship to the humble calling of a tailor. But neither
the necessity for constant occupation nor the temptations of
youthful gaiety, prevented his commencing, even then, the
devotion of a portion of his time, to the care of the poor and
needy. He had scarcely reached man's estate when we find him an
active member of a benevolent association, and his volume, of
notes of cases, plans and efforts, date back to that early
period. To that time also, we are to refer the beginning of his
warm Anti-slavery sentiment, a feeling so prominent and
effective throughout his life, and the source of some of his
noblest efforts and sacrifices. For many years he served as
inspector of prisons in Philadelphia, and thus, by long and
constant practical observation, was accumulated that knowledge
of the human heart in its darkest windings, that often
astonished the objects of his care, when they thought they had
been able cunningly to blind his eyes to their real character
and intentions. After his removal to New York, and when the
occasion for his personal labors in the cause of the slave had
in some measure, ceased or slackened, he threw his whole heart
into the Prison Association, whose aims and plans of action were
entirely in accordance with his views, and indeed, in a great
degree, based on his experience and advice. The intent of the
Prison Association is threefold: first to protect and defend
those who are arrested, and who, as is well known, often suffer
greatly from want of honest and intelligent counsel; secondly,
to attend to the treatment and instruction of convicts while in
prison; and thirdly, on their discharge to render them such
practical aid as shall enable the repentant to return to society
by means of the pursuit of some honest calling. The latter
branch occupied Mr. Hopper's time and attention, and he devoted
himself to it with an affectionate and religious earnestness
that ceased only with his life. No disposition was too perverse
for his efforts at reform; no heart was so black that he did not
at least try the balm of healing upon it; no relapses could tire
out his patience, which, without weak waste of means still
apostolically went on 'hoping all things,' while even a dying
spark of good feeling remained.
Up to February last did this venerable saint continue his
abundant labors; when a severe cold, co-operating with the decay
of nature, brought him his sentence of dismissal. He felt that
it was on the way, and with the serious grace that marked
everything he did, he began at once to gather his earthly robes
about him and prepare for the great change which no one could
dread less. It was hard for those who saw his ruddy cheek and
sparkling eye, his soft brown hair, and sprightly movements to
feel that the time of his departure was drawing nigh: but he
knew and felt it, with more composure than his friends could
summon. It might well be said of this our beloved patriarch,
that his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. To the
last of his daily journeyings through the city, for which he
generally used the rail road, he would never allow the drivers
to stop for him to get on or off the car, feeling, as he used
smilingly to observe, 'very jealous on that point.' Few ever
passed him in the street without asking who he was; for not only
did his primitive dress, his broad-brimmed hat, and his antique
shoe buckles attract attention, but the beauty and benevolence
of his face was sure to fix the eye of ordinary discernment. He
was a living temperance lecture, and those who desire to
preserve good looks could not ask a more infallible receipt,
than that sweet temper and out-flowing benevolence which made
his countenance please every eye. Gay and cheerful as a boy, he
had ever some pleasant anecdote or amusing turn to relate, and
in all perhaps not one without a moral bearing, not thrust
forward, but left to be picked out by the hearer at his leisure.
He seemed born to show how great strictness in essentials could
exist without the least asceticism in trifles. Anything but a
Simeon Stylites in his sainthood, he could go among 'publicans
and sinners' without the least fear of being mistaken by them
for one of themselves. An influence radiated from him that made
itself felt in every company, though he would very likely be the
most modest man present. More gentlemanly manners and address no
court in Christendom need require; his resolute simplicity and
candor, always under the guidance of a delicate taste, never for
a moment degenerated into coarseness or disregard even of the
prejudices of others. His life, even in these minute
particulars, showed how the whole man is harmonized by the sense
of being
'Ever in the Great Taskmaster's eye.'
"He died on the 7th of May, 1852, in his eighty-first year, and
a public funeral in the Tabernacle brought together thousands
desirous of showing respect to his memory."
Mrs. Child has written a full, and in many respects, an exceedingly
interesting biography of the subject of this memoir, towards the close
of which she says:
"From the numerous notices in papers of all parties and sects, I
will merely quote the following. 'The New York Observer' thus
announces his death:
"'The venerable Isaac T. Hopper, whose placid,
benevolent face has so long irradiated almost every
public meeting for doing good, and whose name,
influence, and labors, have been devoted with an
apostolic simplicity and constancy to humanity, died on
Friday last, at an advanced age. He was a Quaker of that
early sort illustrated by such philanthropists as
Anthony Benezet, Thomas Clarkson, Mrs. Fry, and the
like.
"'He was a most self-denying, patient, loving friend of
the poor, and the suffering of every kind; and his life
was an unbroken history of beneficence. Thousands of
hearts will feel a touch of grief at the news of his
death; for few men have so large a wealth in the
blessings of the poor, and the grateful remembrance of
kindness and benevolence, as he.'
"'The New York Times' contained the following:
"'Most of our readers will call to mind, in connection
with the name of Isaac T. Hopper, the compact, well-knit
figure of a Quaker gentleman, apparently about sixty
years of age, dressed in drab or brown clothes of the
plainest cut, and bearing on his handsome, manly face
the impress of that benevolence with which his whole
heart was filled.
"'He was twenty years older than he seemed. The fountain
of benevolence within freshened his old age with its
continuous flow. The step of the octogenarian was
elastic as that of a boy, his form erect as a mountain
pine.
"'His whole physique was a splendid sample of nature's
handiwork. We see him now with our mind's eye, but with
the eye of flesh we shall see him no more. Void of
intentional offence to God or man, his spirit has joined
its happy kindred in a world where there is neither
sorrow nor perplexity.'
"I sent the following communication to 'The New York Tribune':
"In this world of shadows, few things strengthen the
soul like seeing the calm and cheerful exit of a truly
good man; and this has been my privilege by the bedside
of Isaac T. Hopper.
"He was a man of remarkable endowments, both of head and
heart. His clear discrimination, his unconquerable will,
his total unconsciousness of fear, his extraordinary
tact in circumventing plans he wished to frustrate,
would have made him illustrious as the general of an
army; and these qualities might have become faults, if
they had not been balanced by an unusual degree of
conscientiousness and benevolence. He battled
courageously, not from ambition, but from an inborn love
of truth. He circumvented as adroitly as the most
practiced politician; but it was always to defeat the
plans of those who oppressed God's poor; never to
advance his own self-interest.
"'Few men have been more strongly attached to any
religious society than he was to the Society of Friends,
which he joined in the days of its purity, impelled by
his own religious convictions. But when the time came
that he must either be faithless to duty in the cause of
his enslaved brethren, or part company with the Society
to which he was bound by the strong and sacred ties of
early religious feeling, this sacrifice he also calmly
laid on the altar of humanity.
"'During nine years that I lived in his household, my
respect and affection for him continually increased.
Never have I seen a man who so completely fulfilled the
Scripture injunction, to forgive an erring brother, 'not
only seven times, but seventy times seven.' I have
witnessed relapse after relapse into vice, under
circumstances which seemed like the most heartless
ingratitude to him; but he joyfully hailed the first
symptom of repentance, and was always ready to grant a
new probation.
"'Farewell, thou brave and kind old Friend! The prayers
of ransomed ones ascended to Heaven for thee, and a
glorious company have welcomed thee to the Eternal
City.'"