Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-10-06
T r S.
From Sydney Ho,oard Gay.
COMMITTEE
SALEM, County of Columbiana, !
September 24th, 1919.

OLIVER JoHNsON:
Nh Dear Friead-I wish it were in my
power TO reply III person rather than by let
ter to the kin invitation you send me, on
behalf of your Committee, to attend the APP
preaching Convention of the Young Adolf
tionists of Ohio. 1t is something more than
ten years since when, calling myself by that
name, | met for the first time, with a small
room-full of Anti-Slavery people in my ma
tive town, and | know of no decade celebra-
lion of that event that | should so much like
10 make as TO renew among the hearty and
vigorous Abolitionists of the West, in one
oftheir great, enthusiastic, outdoor meetings,
the silent pledge of that night. Your great
gathering now represents the Anti-Slavcry
cause at this moment, as our little monthly
meeting then did the cause of ten years ago.
For my part, however, l do not feel that
l have, on that account, less to do now than
then. They lose the race who stop short
of the goal whether near its beginning or its
end. That you, in Ohio, mean to come in
N is very evident.
Will your Convention pardon me a word
of eXhortation in place of the usual declama-
nation which is thought appropriate for let
ters written for such an occasion? You are
fortunate, probably, in bringing together the
Abolitionists in larger numbers than at any
previous time; do not separate until YOU
have done more for the cause than has ever
been done before in your State. know
that the principles of Anti-Slavery will be
set forth clearly and eloquently, and that all
will go home from your meeting more deep
ly impressed than ever with their truth, more
firmly persuaded of their duty in maintain
ing and spreading them, their faith, in every
way, quickened and confirmed, and their
zeal and energy strengthened and increased.
This is a great deal, but it is not all. 1t is
the foundation upon which to erect the build
ing, but it is not the building itself. The ed
Ifice you mean to erect will not rise above
that foundation unless every worker goes to
his place not only determined to do the
work, but with a clear understanding of what
his share of it is to be, and with a firm con-
viction that however silent and solitary his
labor may be, there arc thousands working
like him alone, that each is necessary to ali,
and all to each, and that the sum of their la
Dor only will make a complete whole. In
II word-ORGANIZE. Establish through
OUT the length and breadth of your State a
complete communication with each other,
from one central point, so that the necessi-
ties OF any section, however remote or unen-
hghtened, may never be unknown or un-
needed, and all that is done, be it a great
thing or a small one, may be done with the
VIII and the might of the whole. Moral
power, with us, is every thing, but we want
physical power as well; and that moral pow
er is increased by concentration, as that
physical power cannot exist without il. il as
true as Arithmetic. No great enterprise was
ever conducted TO a successful issue without
cooperation, and it is prominently the fault
of Abolitionists that in theirs it is, in a great
measure, disregarded.
pray you consider this matter; and when
your Convention separates, may it not dis
solve itself into its original elements of indi-
vidual atoms, but be considered in peren-
nial session all over the State, in the homes
of every one of its members, to be filled
with faith and good works till Slavery be
abolished. / remain, your friend,
SYDNEY HOWARD GAY.
New YORK, Sept. 10, 1649.