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STILL'S
UNDERGROUND RAIL ROAD RECORDS,
REVISED EDITION.
(Previously Published in 1879 with title: The Underground Railroad)
WITH A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
NARRATING
THE HARDSHIPS, HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES AND DEATH STRUGGLES
OF THE
SLAVES
IN THEIR EFFORTS FOR FREEDOM.
TOGETHER WITH
SKETCHES OF SOME OF THE EMINENT FRIENDS OF FREEDOM, AND
MOST LIBERAL AIDERS AND ADVISERS OF THE ROAD
BY
WILLIAM STILL,
For many years connected with the Anti-Slavery Office in
Philadelphia, and Chairman of the Acting
Vigilant Committee of the Philadelphia Branch of the Underground
Rail Road.
Illustrated with 70 Fine Engravings
by Bensell, Schell and Others,
and Portraits from Photographs from Life.
Thou shalt not deliver unto his
master the servant that has escaped from his master unto thee. -
Deut. xxiii 16.
SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION.
PHILADELPHIA:
WILLIAM STILL, PUBLISHER
244 SOUTH TWELFTH STREET.
1886
pp. 642 - 654
DANIEL GIBBONS.
Page 642
A life as uneventful as the one whose story we are about
to tell, affords little scope for the genius of the
biographer or the historian, but being carefully
studied, it cannot fail to teach a lesson of devotion
and self-sacrifice, which should be learned and
remembered by every succeeding age.
Daniel Gibbons, son of James and Deborah
(Hoopes) Gibbons, wa sborn on the banks of Mill
creek, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 21st
day of the 12th month (December), 1775. He was
descended on his father's side from an English ancestor,
whose name appears on the colonial records, as far back
as 1683. John Gibbons evidently came with
or before William Penn to this "goodly heritage
of freedom." His earthly remains lie at Concord
Friends' burying-ground, Delaware county, near where the
family lived for a generation or two. The
grandfather of Daniel Gibbons, who lived near
where West Town boarding-school now is, in Chester
county, bought for seventy pounds, "one thousand acres
of land and allowances," in what is now Lancaster
county, intending, as he ultimately did, to settle his
three sons upon it. This purchase was made about
the year 1715. In process of time, the
eldest son, desiring to marry Deborah Hoopes, the
daughter of Daniel Hoopes, of a neighboring
township in Chester county, the young people obtained
the consent of parents and friends, but it was a time of
grief and mourning among young and old. The young
Friends assured the intended bride, that they would not
marry the best man in the Province and do what she was
about to do; and the elder dames, so far relaxed the
Puritanic rigidity of their rules, as to allow the
invitation of an uncommonly large company of guests to
the wedding, in order that a long and perhaps last
farewell, might be said to the beloved daughter, who,
with her husband, was about to emigrate to the "far
West." Loud and long were the lamentations, and
warm the embraces of these simple minded Christian
rustics, companions of toil and deprivation, as they
parted from two of their number who were to leave their
circle for the West; the West being then thirty-six
miles distant. This was on the sixth day of the
fifth month, 1756. More than a century has passed
away; all the good people, eighty-nine in number, who
signed the wedding certificate as witnesses, have passed
away, and how vast is the change wrought in our midst
since that day!
Joseph Gibbons was so much pleased with the
daring enterprise of his son and daughter-in-law, that
he gave them one hundred acres of land in his Western
possessions more than he reserved for his other and
younger sons, and to it they immediately emigrated, and
building first a cabin and the next year a store-house,
began life for themselves in earnest.
It is interesting, in view of the long and consistent
anti-slavery course
[pg. 643]
which Daniel Gibbons pursued, to trace the
influence that wrought upon him while his character was
maturing, and the causes which led him to see the
wickedness of the system which he opposed.
The Society of Friends in that day bore in mind the
advice of their great founder, Fox, whose last
words were: "Friends, mind the light." And
following that guide which leads out of all evil and
into all good, they viewed every custom of society with
eyes undimmed by prejudice, and were influenced in every
action of life by a belief in the common brother hood of
man, and a resolve to obey the command of Jesus, to love
one another. This being the case, slavery and
oppression of all kinds were unpopular, and indeed
almost unknown amongst them.
James Gibbons was a republican, and an
enthusiastic advocate of American liberty. Being a
man of commanding presence, and great energy and
determination, efforts were made during the Revolution
to induce him to enlist as a cavalry soldier. He
was prevented from so doing by the entreaties of his
wife, and his own conscientious scruples as a Friend.
About the time of the Revolution, or immediately after,
he removed to the borough of Wilmington, Delaware,
where, being surrounded by slavery, he became more than
ever alive to its iniquities. He was interested
during his whole life in getting slaves off. And
being elected second burgess of Wilmington during his
residence there, his official position gave him great
opportunities to assist in this noble work. It is
related that during his magistracy a slave-holder
brought a colored man before him, whom he claimed as his
slave. There being no evidence of the alleged
ownership, the colored man was set at liberty. The
pretended owner was inclined to be impudent; but
James Gibbons told him promptly that nothing
but silence and good behaviour on his part would prevent
his commitment for contempt of court.
About the year 1790, James Gibbons came
back to Lancaster county, where he spent twenty years in
the practice of those deeds which will remain "in
everlasting remembrance;" dying, full of years and
honors, in 1810.
Born in the first year of the revolution and growing up
surrounded by such influences, Daniel Gibbons
could not have been other than he was, the friend of the
down-trodden and oppressed of every nationality and
color. In 1789 his father took him to see General
Washington, then passing through Wilmington.
To the end of his life he retained a vivid recollection
of this visit, and would recount its incidents to his
family and friends. During his father's residence
in Wilmington, he spent his summers with kinsmen in
Lancaster county, learning to be a farmer, and his
winters in Wilmington going to school.
At the age of fourteen years he was bound an
apprentice, as was the good custom of the day, to a
Friend in Lancaster county to learn the tanning
business. At this he served about six years, or
until his master ceased to follow the business.
During this apprenticeship he became accustomed to
[pg. 644]
severe labor, so severe indeed that he never recovered
from the effects thereof, having a difficulty in walking
during the remainder of his life, which prevented him
from taking the active part in Underground Rail Road
business which he otherwise would have done. His
father’s estate being involved in litigation caused him
to be put to this trade, farming being his favorite
employment, and one which he followed during his whole
life.
In 1805 he took a pedestrian tour, by way of New York,
Albany, and Niagara Falls to the State of Ohio, then the
farm West, coming home by way of Pittsburg, and walking
altogether one thousand three hundred and fifty miles.
In this trip he increased the injury to his feet, so as
to render himself virtually a cripple. Upon the
death of his father he settled upon the farm, on which
he died.
About the year 1808 on going to visit some friends, who
has removed to Adams county, Pennsylvania, he became acquanted
with Hanna Wierman, whom he married on the fourth
day of the fifth month, 1815. At this time
Daniel Gibbons was about forty years old, and his
wife about twenty-eight, she having been born on the
ninth of the seventh month, 1787. A life of one
after their union, would be incomplete without
some notice of the other.
During a married life of thirty-seven years, Hannah
Gibbons was the assistant of her husband in every
good and noble work. Possessed of a warm heart, a
powerful, though uncultivated intellect, an excellent
judgment, and great sweetness of disposition, she was
fitted both by nature and training to endure without
murmuring the inconvenience of trouble incident to the
reception and care of fugitives and to rejoice that to
her was given the opportunity of assisting them in their
efforts to be free.
The true measure of greatness in a human soul, is its
willingness to suffer for its own good, or the good of
its fellows, its self-sacrificing spirit. Granting
the truth of this, one of the greatest souls was that of
Hannah W. Gibbins. The following incident
is a proof of this:
In 1836, when she was no longer a young woman, thee
came to her home, one of the poorest, most ignorant, and
filthiest of mankind. - a slave from the great valley of
Virginia. He was foot-sore and weary, and could
not tell how he came, or who directed him. He
seemed indeed, a missive directed and set by the hand of
the almighty. Before he could be cleansed or
recruited, he was taken sick, and before he could be
removed (even if he could have been trusted at the
county poor house), his case was pronounced to be
small-pox. For six long weeks did this good angel
in human form, attend upon this unfortunate object.
reasons were found why no one else could do it, and with
her own hands, she ministered to his wants, until he was
restored to health. Such was her life. This
is merely one case. She was always ready to do her
duty. Her interest in good, never left her, for
when almost dying, she aroused from her lethargy and
asked if Abraham Lincoln was elected president of
the United States, which he was a few days after
[pg. 645]
wards. She always predicted a civil war, in the
settlement of the Slavery question.
During the last twenty-five years of her life she was
an elder in the Society of Friends, of which she had
always been an earnest, consistent, and devoted member.
Her patience, self-denial, and warm affection were
manifested in every relation of life. As a
daughter, wife, mother, friend, and mistress of a family
she was beloved by all, and to her relatives and friends
who are left behind, the remembrance of her good deeds
comes wafted like a perfume from beyond the golden
gates. She survived her husband about eight years,
dying on the sixteenth of the tenth month, 1860.
Three children, sons, were born to their marriage, two
of whom died in infancy and one still (1871) survives.
To give some idea of the course pursued by Daniel
and Hannah Gibbons, I insert the following letter,
containing an account of events which took place in
1821:
"A short time since, I learned that my old friend,
William Still was about to publish a history of the
Underground Rail Road. His own experience in the
service of this road would make a large volume. I
was brought up by Daniel Gibbons, and am asked to
say what I know of him as an abolitionist. From my
earliest recollection, he was a friend to the colored
people, and often hired them and paid them liberal
wages. His house was a depot for fugitives, and
many hundreds has he helped on their way to freedom.
Many a dark night he has sent me to carry them victuals
and change their places of refuge, and take them to
other people's barns, when not safe for him to go.
I have known him start in the night and go fifty miles
with them, when they were very hotly pursued. One
man and his wife lived with him for a long time.
Afterwards to man lived with Thornton Walton.
The man was hauling lumber from Columbia. He was
taken from his team in Lancaster, and lodged in
Baltimore jail. Daniel Gibbons went to
Baltimore, visited the jail and tried hard to get him
released, but failed. I would add here, that
Daniel Gibbons faithful wife, one of the best women
I ever knew, was always ready, day or night, to do all
she possibly could to help the poor fugitives on their
way to freedom. Many interesting incidents
occurred at the home of my uncle. I will relate
one. He had living with him at one time, two
colored men, Thomas Colbert and John
Stewart. The latter was from Maryland;
John often said he would go back and get his wife.
He said no, for his master knew if he undertook to take
him, he would kill him. He did go and brought his
wife to my uncle's.
While these two large men, Tom and John,
were there along came Robert (other name unknown), and
in bad plight, his feet bleeding. Robert
was put in the barn to thrash, until he could be fixed
up to go again on his
[pg. 646]
journey. But in a few days, behold, along came his
master. He brought with him that notorious
constable, Haines, from Lancaster, and one other
man. They came suddenly upon Robert; as
soon as he saw them he ran and jumped out of the
"overshoot," some ten feet down. In jumping, he
put one knee out of joint. The men ran around the
barn and seized him. By this time, the two colored
men, Tom and John, came, together with my
uncle and aunt. Poor Robert owned his
master, but John told them they should not take
him away, and was going at them with a club. One
of the men drew a pistol to shoot John, but uncle
told him he had better not shoot him; this was not a
slave State. Inasmuch as Robert had owned
his master, Uncle told John h must submit, so
they put Robert on a horse, and started with him.
After they were gone John said: "Mr. Gibbons,
just say the word, and I will bring Robert back."
Aunt said: "Go, John, go!" So John
ran to Joseph Rakestraw's and got a gun (without
any lock), and ran across the fields, with Tom after
him, and headed the party. The men all ran
except Haines, who kept Robert between
himself and John, so that John should not
shoot him. But John called out to Robert
to drop off that horse or he would shoot him. This
Robert did, and John and Tom
brought him back in triumph. My aunt said:
"John, thee is a good fellow, thee has done well."
Robert was taken to Jesse Gilberts barn,
and Dr. Dingee fixed his knee. As Soon as
he was able to travel, he took a "bee-line" for the
North star.
My life with my uncle and aunt made me an abolitionist.
I left them in the winter of 1824 and came to Salem,
Ohio, where I kept a small station on the Underground
Rail Road, until the United States government took my
work away. I have helped over two hundred
fugitives on their way to Canada.
Respectfully,
DANIEL BONSALL,
Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio."
One day, in the winter of
1822, Thomas Johnson, a colored man, living with Daniel
Gibbons, went out early in the morning, to set traps for
muskrats. While he was gone, a slave-holder came to the house
and inquired for his slave. Daniel Gibbons said: "There
is no slave here of that name." The man replied: "I know he is
here. The man we're after, is a miserable, worthless, thieving
scoundrel.' "Oh! very well, then," said the good Quaker, "if
that's the kind of man thee's after, then I know he is not here.
We have a colored man here, but he is not that kind of a man."
The slave-holder waited awhile, the man not making his appearance,
then said: "Well, now, Mr. Gibbons, when you see that man
next, tell him that we were here, and if he will come home, we will
take good care of him, and be kind to him." "Very well," said
Daniel, "I will tell him what thee says, but say to him at
the same time, that he is a very great fool, if he does as thee
requests." The colored man sought, having caught sight of the
slave-
[pg. 647]
holders, and knowing who they were, went off that night,
under Daniel Gibbons' directions, and was never
seen by his master gain. Afterward, Daniel
and his nephew, William Gibbons, went with this
man to Adams county. With his master came the
master of Mary, a girl with straight hair, and
nearly white, who lived with Daniel Gibbons and
his wife. Poor Mary was unfortunate.
Her master caught her, and took her back with him into
Slavery. She and a little girl, who was taken away
about the year 1830, were the only ones ever taken back
from the house of Daniel Gibbons.
Between the time of his
marriage, when he began to keep a depot on the
Underground Rail Road, and the year 1824, he passed more
than one hundred slaves through to Canada, and between
the latter time and his death, eight hundred more,
making, in all nine hundred aided by him. He was
ever willing to sacrifice his own personal comfort and
convenience, in order to assist fugitives. In
1833, when on his way to the West, in a carriage with
his friend, Thomas Peart, also a most faithful
friend of the colored man and interested in Underground
Rail Road affairs, he found a fugitive slave, a woman,
in Adams county, who was in immediate danger. He
stopped his journey, and sent his horse and wagon back
to his own home with the woman, that being the only safe
way of getting her off. This was but a sample of
his self-denial, in the cause of human freedom.
His want of ability to guide in person runaway slaves,
or to travel with them, prevented him from taking active
part in the wonderful adventures and hair-breadth
escapes which his brain and tact rendered possible and
successful. It is believed that no slave was ever
recaptured that followed his directions. Sometimes
the abolitionists were much annoyed by impostors, who
pretended to be runaways, in order to discover their
plans, and betray them to the slave-holders.
Daniel Gibbons was possessed of much acuteness in
detecting these people, but having detected them, he
never treated them harshly or unkindly.
Almost from infancy, he was distinguished for the
gravity of his deportment, and his utter heedlessness of
small things. The writer has heard men preach the
doctrine of the trifling value of the things of a
present time, and of the tremendous importance of those
of a never-ending eternity, but Daniel Gibbons is
the only person she ever knew, who lived that doctrine.
He believed in plainness of apparel as taught by
Friends, not as a form or a rule of society, but as a
principle; often quoting from some one who said that
"The adornment of a vain and foolish world, would feed a
starving one." He opposed extravagant fashions and
all luxury of habit and life, as calculated to produce
effeminacy and degrading sensuality, and as a bestowal
of idolatrous attention upon that body which he would
often say "was here but for a shore time."
Looking only upon that as religion, which made men love
each other and do good to each other in this world, he
was little of a stickler for points of
[pg. 648]
belief, and even when he did look into theological
matters or denounce a man's religious opinions, it was
generally because they were calculated to darken the
mind and be entertained as a substitute for good works.
Pursuing the even tenor of his way, he could as easily
lead the flying fugitive slave by night out of the way
of his powerful master, as one differently constituted
could bestow his wealth upon the most popular charity in
the land.
His faith was of the simplest kind - the Parable of the
prodigal son, contains his creed. Discarding what
are commonly called "plans of salvation," he believed in
the light "which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world," and that if people would follow this light, they
would thus seek "the kingdom of Heaven and its
righteousness and all other things needful would be
added thereunto. He was a devoted member of the
Society of Friends, in which he held the position of
elder, during the last twenty-five years of his life.
That peculiar doctrine of the Society, which repudiates
systematic divinity and with it a paid ministry, he held
in special reverence, finding confirmation of its truth
in the general advocacy of Slavery, by the popular
clergy of his day.
When he was quite advanced in years, and the
Anti-slavery agitation grew war, he was solicited to
join an anti-slavery society, but on hearing the
constitution read, and finding that it repudiated all
use of physical force on the part of the oppressed in
gaining their liberty, he said that he could not assent
to that - that he had long been engaged in getting off
slaves, and that he had always advised them to use
force, although remonstrating against going to the
extent of taking life, and that now he could not recede
from that position, and he did not see how they could
always be got off without the use of some force.
His faith is an overruling Providence was complete.
He believed, even in the darkest days of freedom in our
land, in the ultimate extinction of Slavery, and at
times, although advanced in year, thought he would live
to witness that glorious consummation. It is only
in a man's own family and by his wife and children, that
he is really known, and it is by those who best knew,
and indeed, who only knew this good man, that his
biographer is most anxious that he should be judged.
As a parent, he was not excessively indulgent, as a
husband, one more nearly a model is rarely found.
But his kindness in domestic life, his love for his
wife, his son and his grandchildren, and their
reciprocal love and affection for him, no words can
express.
It was in his father's household in his youth and in
his own household in his mature years, that was fostered
that wealth of love and affection, which, extending and
widening, took in the whole race, and made him the
friend of the oppressed everywhere, and especially of
those whom it was a dangerous and unpopular task to
befriend.
The tenderness and thoughtfulness of his disposition
are well shown in
[pg. 649]
the following incident: Upon one occasion, his son
received a kick from a horse, which he was about to
mount at the door. When he had recovered from the
shock, and it was found that he was not seriously
injured, the father still continued to look serious, and
did not cease to shed tears. On being asked why he
grieved, his answer was: "I was just thinking how
it would have been with thee, had that stroke proved
fatal." Such thoughts were at once the notes of
his own preparation and a warning to others to be also
ready.
A life consistent with his views, was a life of
humility and universal benevolence, and such was his.
It was a life, as it were in Heaven, while yet on earth,
for it soared above and beyond the corrupt and slavish
influences of earthly passions.
His interest in temperance never failed him. On
his death-bed ho would call persons to him, who needed
such advice, and admonish them on the subject of using
strong drinks, and his last expression of interest in
any humanitarian movement, was an avowal of his belief
in the great good to arise from a prohibitory liquor
law.
To a friend, who entered his sick room, a few days
before his death, he said: " Well, E., thee is
preparing to go to the West." The friend replied:
"Yes, and Daniel, I suppose thee is preparing to
go to eternity." There was an affirmative reply,
and E. inquired, "How does thee find it?"
Daniel said: "I don't find much to do, I
find that I have not got a hard master to deal with.
Some few things which I have done, I find not entirely
right." He quitted the earthly service of the
Master, on the 17th day of the eighth month, 1852.
A young physician, son of one of his old friends, after
attending his funeral, wrote to a friend, as follows:
"To quote the words of Webster, ' We turned and paused,
and joined our voices with the voices of the air, and
bade him hail ! and farewell!' Farewell, kind and
brave old man! The voices of the oppressed whom
thou hast redeemed, welcome thee to the Eternal City."
-------------------------
LUCRETIA MOTT.
Of all the women who served the Anti-slavery cause in
its darkest days, there is not one whose labors were
more effective, whose character is nobler, and who is
more universally respected and beloved, than Lucretia
Mott. You cannot speak of the slave
without remembering her, who did so much to make Slavery
impossible. You cannot speak of freedom, without
recalling that enfranchised spirit, which, free from all
control, save that of conscience and God, labored for
absolute liberty for the whole human race. We
cannot think of the partial triumph of freedom in this
country, without rejoicing in the great part she took in
the victory. Lucretia Mott is one of
[pg. 650]
the noblest representatives of ideal womanhood.
Those who know her, need not be told this, but those who
only love her in the spirit, may be sure that they can
have no faith too great in the beauty of her pure and
Christian life.
The book would be incomplete without giving some
account, however brief, of Lucretia Mott's
character and labors in the great work to which her life
has been devoted. To wright it fully would require
a volume. She was born in 1793, in the island of
Nantucket, and is descended from Coffins and
Macys, on the father's side, and from the Folgers,
on the mother's side, and through them is related to
Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Her maiden name was
Lucretia Coffin.
During the absence of her father on a long voyage, her
mother was engaged in mercantile business, purchasing
goods in Boston, in exchange for oil and candles, the
staples of the island. Mrs. Mott
says in reference to this employment: "The
exercise of women's talent in this line, as well as the
general care which devolved upon them in the absence of
their husbands, tended to develop their intellectual
powers, and strengthened them mentally and physically."
The family removed to Boston in 1804. Her parents
belonged to the religious Society of Friends, and
carefully cultivated in their children, the
peculiarities as well as the principles of that sect.
To this early training, we may ascribe the rigid
adherence of Mrs. Mott, to the beautiful
but sober costume of the Society.
When in London, in 1840, she visited the Zoological
Gardens, and a gentleman of the party, pointing out the
splendid plumage of some tropical birds, remarked :
"You see, Mrs. Mott, our heavenly Father
believes in bright colors. How much it would take
from our pleasure, if all the birds were dressed in
drab." "Yes;" she replied, "but immortal beings do
not depend upon feathers for their attractions.
With the infinite variety of the human face and form, of
thought, feeling and affection, we do not need gorgeous
apparel to distinguish us. Moreover, if it is
fitting that woman should dress in every color of the
rainbow, why not man also? Clergymen, with
their black clothes and white cravats, are quite as
monotonous as the Quakers. "Whatever may be the
abstract merit of this argument, it is certain that the
simplicity of Lucretia Mott's nature, is
beautifully expressed by her habitual costume.
In giving the principal events of Lucretia
Mott's life, we prefer to use her own language
whenever possible. In memoranda furnished by her
to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she
says: "My father had a desire to make his
daughters useful. At fourteen years of age, I was
placed, with a younger sister, at the Friends' Boarding
School, in Dutchess county, State of New York, and
continued there for more than two years, without
returning home. At fifteen, one of the teachers
leaving the school, I was chosen as au assist
[pg. 651]
ant in her place. Pleased with the promotion, I
strove hard to give satisfaction, and was gratified, on
leaving the school, to have an offer of a situation as
teacher if I was disposed to remain; and informed that
my services should entitle another sister to her
education, without charge. My father was at that
time, in successful business in Boston, but with his
views of the importance of training a woman to
usefulness, he and my mother gave their consent to
another year being devoted to that institution."
Here is another instance of the immeasurable value of
wise parental influence.
In 1809 Lucretia joined her family in
Philadelphia, whither they had removed. "At the
early age of eighteen," she says, " I married James
Mott, of New York—an attachment formed while at
the boarding-school." Mr. Mott entered
into business with her father. Then followed
commercial depressions, the war of 1812, the death of
her father, and the family became involved in
difficulties. Mrs. Mott was again
obliged to resume teaching. "These trials," she
says, " in early life, were not without their good
effect in disciplining the mind, and leading it to set a
just estimate on worldly pleasures."
To this early training, to the example of a noble
father and excellent mother, to the trials which came so
quickly in her life, the rapid development of Mrs.
Mott's intellect is no doubt greatly due.
Thus the foundation was laid, which has enabled her, for
more than fifty years, to be one of the great workers in
the cause of suffering humanity. These are golden
words which we quote from her own modest notes:
"I, however, always loved the good, in childhood desired
to do the right, and had no faith in the generally
received idea of human depravity." Yes, it was
because she believed in human virtue, that she was
enabled to accomplish such a wonderful work. She had the
inspiration of faith, and entered her life battle
against Slavery with a divine hope, and not with a
gloomy despair.
The next great step in Lucretia Mott's
career, was taken at the age of twenty-five, when,
"summoned by a little family and many cares, I felt
called to a more public life of devotion to duty, and
engaged in the ministry in our Society."
In 1827 when the Society was divided Mrs.
Mott's convictions led her "to adhere to the
sufficiency of the light within us, resting on the truth
as authority, rather than 'taking authority for truth.'"
We may find no better place than this to refer to her
relations to Christianity. There are many people
who do not believe in the progress of religion.
They are right in one respect. God's truth cannot be
progressive because it is absolute, immutable and
eternal. But the human race is struggling up to a
higher comprehension of its own destiny and of the
mysterious purposes of God so far as they are revealed
to our finite intelligence. It is in this sense
that religion is progressive. The Christianity of
this age ought to be more intelligent than
[pg. 652]
the Christianity of Calvin. "The popular doctrine
of human depravity," says Mrs. Mott, "
never commended itself to my reason or conscience.
I searched the Scriptures daily, finding a construction
of the text wholly different from that which was pressed
upon our acceptance. The highest evidence of a
sound faith being the practical life of the Christian, I
have felt a far greater interest in the moral movements
of our age than in any theological discussion."
Her life is a noble evidence of the sincerity of this
belief. She has translated Christian principles
into daily deeds.
That spirit of benevolence which Mrs. Mott
possesses in a degree far above the average, of
necessity had countless modes of expression. She
was not so much a champion of any particular cause as of
all reforms. It was said of Charles Lamb
that he could not even hear the devil abused without
trying to say something in his favor, and with all
Mrs. Mott's intense hatred of Slavery we do
not think she ever had one unkind feeling toward the
slave holder. Her longest, and probably her
noblest work, was done in the antislavery cause.
"The millions of down-trodden slaves in our land," she
says, "being the greatest sufferers, the most oppressed
class, I have felt bound to plead their cause, in season
and out of season, to endeavor to put my soul in their
soul's stead, and to aid, all in my power, in every
right effort for their immediate emancipation."
When in 1833, Wm. Lloyd Garrison
took the ground of immediate emancipation and urged the
duty of unconditional liberty without expatriation,
Mrs. Mott took an active part in the
movement. She was one of the founders of the
Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1834.
"Being actively associated in the efforts for the
slave's redemption," she says, "I have traveled
thousands of miles in this country, holding meetings in
some of the slave states, have been in the midst of mobs
and violence, and have shared abundantly in the odium
attached to the name of an uncompromising modern
abolitionist, as well as partaken richly of the sweet
return of peace attendant on those who would 'undo the
heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free, and break
every yoke."' In 1840 she attended the World's
Anti-Slavery Convention in London. Because she was
a woman she was not admitted as a delegate. All
the female delegates, however, were treated with
courtesy, though not with justice. Mrs.
Mott spoke frequently in the liberal churches of
England, and her influence outside of the Convention had
great effect on the Anti-Slavery movement in Great
Britain.
But the value of Mrs. Mott's anti-slavery
work is not limited to what she individually did, great
as that labor was. Her influence over others, and
especially the young, was extraordinary. She made
many converts, who went forth to spread the great ideas
of freedom throughout the land. No one can of
himself accomplish great good. He must labor
through others, he must inspire them, convince the
unbelieving, kindle the fires of faith in doubting
souls, and in the unequal fight of Right with Wrong make
Hope
[pg. 653]
take the place of despair. This Lucretia
Mott has done. Her example was an inspiration.
In the Temperance reform Mrs. Mott took
an early interest, and for many years she has practiced
total abstinence from intoxicating drinks In
the cause of Peace she has been ever active, believing
in the " ultra non-resistance ground, that no Christian
can consistently uphold and actively engage in and
support a government based on the sword." Yet
this, we believe, did not prevent her from taking a
profound interest in the great war for the Union; though
she deplored the means, her soul must have exulted in
the result. Through anguish and tears, blood and
death America wrought out her salvation. Do we not
believe that the United States leads the cause of human
freedom? It follows then that the abolition of the
gigantic system of human slavery in this country is the
grandest event in modern history. Mrs.
Mott has also been earnestly engaged in aid of the
working classes, and has labored effectively for " a
radical change in the system which makes the rich
richer, and the poor poorer." In the Woman's
Rights question she was early interested, and with
Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
she organized, in 1848, a Woman's Rights' Convention at
Seneca Falls, New York. At the proceedings of this
meeting, "the nation was convulsed with laughter."
But who laughs now at this irresistible reform?
The public career of Lucretia Mott is in
perfect harmony with her private life. "My life in
the domestic sphere," she says, " has passed much as
that of other wives and mothers of this country. I
have had six children. Not accustomed to resigning
them to the care of a nurse, I was much confined to them
during their infancy and childhood.
"Notwithstanding her devotion to public matters her
private duties were never neglected. Many of our
readers will no doubt remember Mrs. Mott
at Anti-slavery meetings, her mind intently fixed upon
the proceedings, while her hands were as busily engaged
in useful sewing or knitting. It is not our place
to inquire too closely into this social circle, but we
may say that Mrs. Mott's history is a
living proof that the highest public duties may be
reconciled with perfect fidelity to private
responsibilities. It is so with men, why should it
be different with women?
In her marriage, Mrs. Mott was fortunate.
James Mott was a worthy partner for such a
woman. He was born in June, 1788, in Long Island.
He was an anti-slavery man, almost before such a thing
as anti-slavery was known. In 1812 he refused to
use any article which was produced by slave labor.
The directors of that greatest of all railway
corporations, the Underground Rail Road, will never
forget his services. He died, January 26, 1868,
having nearly completed his 80th year. "Not only
in regard to Slavery," said the "Philadelphia Morning
Post," at the time," but in all things was Mr.
Mott a reformer, and a radical, and while his
principles were absolute, and his opinions
uncompromising, his nature was singularly gener-
[pg. 654]
ous and humane. Charity was not to him a duty, but
a delight; and the benevolence, which, in most good men,
has some touch of vanity or selfish ness, always seemed
in him pure, unconscious and disinterested. His
life was long and happy, and useful to his fellow-men.
He had been married for fifty-seven years, and none of
the many friends of James and Lucretia
Mott, need be told how much that union meant, nor
what sorrow comes with its end in this world."
Mary Grew pronounced his fitting epitaph when
she said: "He was ever calm, steadfast, and strong in
the fore front of the conflict."
In her seventy-ninth year, the energy of Lucretia
Mott is undiminished, and her soul is as ardent
in the cause to which her life has been devoted, as when
in her youth she placed the will of a true woman against
the impotence of prejudiced millions. With the
abolition of Slavery, and the passage of the Fifteenth
Amendment, her greatest life-work ended. Since
then, she ha« given much of her time to the Female
Suffrage movement, and so late as November, 1871, she
took an active part in the Annual Meeting of the
Pennsylvania Peace Society.
Since the great law was enacted, which made all men,
black or white, equal in political rights—as they were
always equal in the sight of God— Mrs. Mott
has made it her business to visit every colored church
in Philadelphia. This we may regard as the formal
closing of fifty years of work in behalf of a race which
she has seen raised from a position of abject servitude,
to one higher than that of a monarch's throne. But
though she may have ended this Anti-slavery work, which
is but the foundation of the destiny of the colored race
in America, her influence is not ended—that cannot die;
it must live and grow and deepen, and generations hence
the world will be happier and better that Lucretia
Mott lived and labored for the good of all
mankind.
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