Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-01-07
A MEETING.

a After the conclusion Of the funeral services Of
Edwin Coppock, and the adjournmen: Of the meet
ing, We ster ped upon the platform, and taxing
Mr.. Thome by the hand, said ado you remember
little Clarkscn Hall in Philadelphia" Indeed l
do" was his reply. "Were you there when /
spoke in it twenty-five years ngoH" We had not
met Mr.. Thome from that time until this. We
had both Of us then just been born into the anti
slavery Kingdom. lie. the son Of a Kentucky
stakeholder and The prospective heir Of slave pro-
porty, had sacrificed all his worldly prospects to
the cause Of freedom, and taking his life in his
hanG had gone forth to plead for the bondman's
deliverance. With the zeal of a new convert,
with the enthusiasm of q southern temperament,
and with the practical experience and observation
Of a Shareholders son, lie stood before the little
band Of Philadelphia abolttionists, and touchingly
plead for the enfranchismen of the slave. He
wns one of tho threescoro students who went to
Lane Seminary to study theology. but left the in
. %stitution that they might preach humanity.
The Lane Seminary experiment, while one OF
mans stupendous failures, was one of Gods emil
nent successes. 1: had been proposed to build up
.agreat theological institution, which should give
to the Mississippi valley its religious teachers,
and stamp its character upon the growing West.
But unfortunately for the success of mans pro-
jects, a little leaven Of anti-slayery had by some
means been introduced into the institution, and
speedily leavened the whole lump. The spirit Of
free discussion became too strong for even DR..
Beecher to control, and the result was, that some
sixty or seventy Students, rather than relinquish
free thought and free speech, forsook their alma
Mater, aud Lane Seminary became a,failuro. Aye,
q failure! But James A. Thome, and Theodore
ID. Weld, and Marius r. Robinson, and Amos
Dresser, and Henry Il. Stanton and other Of the
g''irrepressable" students were scattered like burn
ing brands throughout the country, and lighted
up an anti-slavery fire which has continued to burn
lunquenched and undimned. God be thanked
for such failures, for they convert students of the,
ology into advocates of practical righteousness,
and call their minds from the cOntemp %lation OF
divisions and subdivisions of belief, and center
their thoughts and direct their attention to the
imperioue demands Of tho present-to the needs
of the p~eristing humanity Of to day.
Mr.. Thome has not forgotten his early visi, to
Philadelphia, and spoke with interest and deep
feeling of the persons he there met. lie mention.
ed a LITTLE iacident which produced a lasting i'm.
preston upon him, and We refer to it here to illus.
trate the effect Of a word spoken in season. Eve.
ry abolitionist in Philadelphia Of ten years stand.
ing remembers good old Esther Moore-not as q
great woman as the world esteems greatness, and
yet truly great, because truly good. She took Mr.
Thome one day into her room, and gave him some
kind and ~motherly advice; told him that as he was
a young man just commencing public life, she fell
it right to warn him against the injurious effect,
of aattery or praise-that what he did should bt
done for the slare's sake, and that be should guard
against being wrongly Influenced by either thu
praise or the censure Of men. God bless hel
advice to me-" said Mr.. Thome, land l feel it,
influence to this day" And after our parting il
Philadelphia. and a quarter O. a century had born
its record to the Infinite. We again met, and in tn
Wos.. The somewhat! divergent paths we had If =
brought US again together beside the grave Of one q
Virg:nia's victims. that we might do fitting homo
to the young martyr who fell in defence of Free
dom, and sealed with his life his devotion to thu
bondman's cause. Who cannot readily imagine
that while the occasion was sad, the meeting wa.
PLEASANT