Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-07-05
LETTER FROM A LADY IN MARYLAND.

Mr.. RoBINsoN-D edr Sir: / herewith send YOU
a private letter, which l received some time ago
from u most estimable lady, who resided a
short time in Ohio, but who has returned to the
land of her nativity, which to the disgrace of our
country, is a land of Slavery. 1t will show the
reader tho Importance of throwing around the
youths of our country, correct moral influences.
Had this lady remained where she had been rails.
ed, amid the demoralizing and corrupting %infuen-
ces of Slavery, she never would have experienced
the pleasurable emotions arising from n generous
recognition of the rights Of others, and the friends
of humanity would have missed the promise they
now have, of her future usefulness in their great
struggle for universal freedom. You are ut liberty
If you deem proper, to publish extracts from it.
W. Il. L.
DEAR SIR: Situated MS | have been since my
return to this land of Slavery, my heart, more
than before longs tor the sympathy of the friends
of Freedom and Progress. My eyes once opened
to the light of truth, are not again to be blinded
by the mists and shadows of oppression's night,
but here among the scenes of cruelty and hypocri-
sy which (though perhaps in their mildest form
always characterize the land of slavery, the want
of those who sympathize with me in Anti-Slavery
sentiments is keenly felt. l feel my short resi-
dence in Ohio to have been the one great bright
spot OF my life; the time upon which | shall ever
look back as being that which opened my eyes to
the dark character of the "sum of all villianies."
Previously | had always acknowledged slavery to
be an evil, a curse upon the land, but because |
heard others say so, and could not help seeing in
the state of things around me, sufficient to justify
the assertion; l thought also that the system had
its bright side; that, although there were evils
there were also counterbalancing advantages, but
that illusion has been dspelled and | see now that
slave and master are alike degraded by the rela-
ton; and that dusky skin and curly hair cannot be
before God an excuse for crime. That whatever
claims to power or wisdom one man may hold
above another, yet in the sight of omnipotent jus.
tice, "a mans q man for ~ that"
l am now here where the boast of the people is
that slavery exists in its mildest form, where we
do not see one slave legally so, among q dozen OF
the race, yet if such is true, if the horrors Of the
system increase in proportion to the distance from
what are called the free States. | do not wish to
penetrate further, | have seen enough. All that
Anti.Slavery men and women tell us of its horrors.
N 'HS Z tut
most sacred relations, Of its brutalizing influences;
all this have seen and that repeatedly, and |
know too, that what is nominally the free negro"
is scarcely less Il slave than the one who acknowl-
edges a master. But popular sentiment is against
me, such views openly stated win only opposition
and hatred, yet | cannot bring myself to feel that
the favor or respect of those base enough to be the
propagandists and a~pologists of such n system, is
any especial blessing. have the sympathy of my
husband and that cen sustain me together with
the consciousness of right, even were l prosecuted
for q cause in which long to do something more
than to stand an interested spectator. My oppor-
tunities for reading of a liberal nature are rather
limited, though most of what we procure is of
that description have read Douglass, and it is
circulated round amongst those who are liberal
enough to read il, and from whom it has met with
considerable appreciation. 4 & x
XOur Er;opI