Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1873-04-25
FRRDsasCx DOUGL.sss.

American history, Is now far on In life.
He stands six feet or more, broad-shoul
dered and well-formed his face pale yel-
low. and his features striking in every part;
his hair still thick and busby, is blanched
by the frosts of time and toll.
This man has came up from the lowest
depths. He was born slave on one of the
plantations of Maryland. His mother was
a Mandingo-a proud race with European
features, wavy hair, erect and stately forms,
instinct with intelligence and sensibility,
vigorous and brave. His father was a
white man, whom he never knew. In a
nameless hovel this child of their inter-
course first saw the light, and there,
herded with hundreds of others as abject
as himself he passed the tirst years of his
life. Torn from his mother as soon as he
was born, she never saw him half dozen
times. She was worked on field twelve
miles away. She could only visit him at
night-walking this distance to hold him
in her arms for an hour, and then walking
back to begin her morning task at four
o'clock. And yet she did this more than
once, though she had nothing to bring him
Dut nti iONc. Sut COulu utitUeT
raiment, nor food, nor bed; she could not
even mend or wash the little tow shirt
which was his only garment.
In a brief space she ceased to come at all
she was broken and dying-she passed
away to the invisible realm!
The boy grew on. He saw the pains Of
slavery on every hand. Intelligent and
thoughtful, he began to revolve the bitter
question, why am 1 a SLAYER When ten
years old, he was sent to Baltimore TO be a
house servant with Mrs. Sophia Aud.
This kind hearted woman began to teach
him his letters. He made rapid progress,
and she was proud of her charge. She was
going to make him proficient, at least in
reading the Bible. The husband found 1t
out and interposed. But the boy had
tasted enough to create desires that moth
ing could repress. With a spelling book
in is bosom, he pursued his studies. At
length he made money enough to purchase
"Columbian Orator. In this volume he
found "the fanaticism of liberty" Here
was the immortal language of the Declar-
alton of our Independence; here was one
of the mastery speeches of Sheridan. He
could resist it o longer. He ran away!
The story of his escape has been recently
and freshly told. He came to New Bedford,
on Buzzards' Bay, in old Massachusetts.
The air was full of liberty, and he eAulted.
He found work and kept his own wages.
He sawed wood, dug cellars, shoveled
coal, rolled oil-casks on the wharves;'' he
worked Sin candle works and brass foun-
dries," and was living in a new world. He
began 10 bear of Garrison, and subscribed
for the "Liberator.'
He read what books he could reach
among them Scott's La y of the Lake."
Charmed in the character of the noble
maid, he cast away the name of his former
bondage and henceforth called himself
"Fredcrick Douglass''-a name whose re-
nown will long linger among men.
1t was here that he married and began to
plant family of his own. He mingled
with the crl' red people that had gathered
under the northern stars. He ventured to
speak in their meetings, and the fire Of
his eloquence kindled to a flame. In lS41
a great convention assembled at Nantuck-
et; Douglass appeared and addressed the
upward. He was Immediately employed
as an agent of the American Anti-Slavery
Society, and thus his long career as the
champion of freedom for his race began.
Though in danger of recapture, he lectured
everywhere in the North. He went to
England, where his course was an ovation.
There he found friends who gave him the
funds (fl5O) to purchase the bond of bis
liberty. Returning to America, he settled
in Rochester, Western New York, and es-
tablished his paper" which became pow
er in the cause TO which he had devoted
his life.
He saw the rising storm of civil war,
which the madness of slavery finally
brought on. He heard the first thunders
of that awful tempest, and sent two Of his
sons into the strife, who bore themselves
bravey till the day was won.
He was the personal friend of Lincoln,
and when johnson succeeded to the White
House, Douglass came to plead with him
for those civil rights of the black men which
were still withheld. His speech on that
occasion will live in the story of those days.
As he and his associates turned away he
said, "Mr. President, we will take our ap-
peal to the people," 1t was noble answer
to the sophism with which the delegation
had been Knocked. 1t was in the winter of
| 1866: Douglass remained in the city, and
was invited to deliver his famous lecture
| on the ASSASSINATION of President Lin
coin" He stood on the platform of the
| old First Presbyterian church, then the on
H., t,a
molested, and swayed the vast and crowded
audience with Websteran power. The on
| ly allusion to the course of President John
son WEIGH escaped him was climax OF
| one of his mastery passages, which thrill
ed every heart when he said: "Had Mr..
| Lincoln lived he would have been the
| friend and counsellor of the black man.
He would not have begun by playing the
role Of Moses and ended by playing the
role of Pharaoh
Mr.. Douglass was subsequently designat-
ed to accompany the famous commission
TO Santo Domingo at the instance of Presl-
dent Grant, and when he returned he added
the weight of his great influence to the
views of the commissioners, and in support
of the patriotic sentiments and efforts Of
| the administration.
He stands to- day among his people, and
among all Americans, one Of the foremost
men. In the new arrangements tor the
| Presidential term before us he deserves
some recognition commensurate with his
| great abilities and his distinguished labors.
Washington Republic.
| JIM LANE-THE HERO OF THE BORDER
RItERIA u A - Old linn 1 etnLd al