The Denver star., 1917-03-24
WIBECAN LAUDS
DOUGLASS WORK
Well Known Citizen Delivers
Centenary Grafton.
LESSON FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

erookIynitss Take Pride In Honorins
Memory Of Famous Anti. slavery Ad-
! voeats-The Pathos Of His Life Has
No Parallel In the History Of the
J Worlds Great Men.
| Brooklyn.-The recent celebration of
the centenary of the birth of Frederick
Douglass by the colored citizens of this
city had in 1t big lesson for the
young people Of this municipality. The
celebration was held in the auditorium
of the Boys high school. Besides the
members of our own race, who deliver
ed timely addresses, DR.. John F. Car
son delivered an interesting speech, in
which be showed that the white people
were quite well informed on the strug-
giles and achievements of our great
leader.
DR.. G. P. Cole presided, and Mr..
George f. Wibecan delivered the ora
ton, in which he in part said:
The story of Douglass life is familiar to
every schoolboy and is a striking story OF
| courage, achievement and service. The
pathos Of his life has no parallel in the
history Of great men throughout the world
or annals of mankind The brutality Of
the civilization of his times is manifest In
the events which shaped his birth and
the experience of his enslavement.
Education was refused him, and he Sc
cured the fragments Of learning from
dirty pieces Of paper in cutters or wher
ever he might find them. He was sent
from Tuckahoe. Nd. his birthplace, to
Baltimore to learn the ship caulker's
trade. Here he got his first conception of
letters seen in the names on ships. He
was forced to divide his pay with his mas
ter. Such was the price that slavery lev
led on the slave. We are familiar with his
ultimate escape disguised as a sailor. His
experience as runaway slave in New
York. denied food and a place to sleep.
accommodation in cars, mobbed in the
streets, Douglass lived to enjoy. honors
that no other colored man has enjoyed In
our history.
He destroyed such an Impeachment OF
race by tho power of his oratory and be
came the most striking and remarka BILE
figure of all the orators Of his time and at
a period when 1t was the golden age OF
oratory in America. 1t was said of De-
mosthenes that he took such delight in the
history of Thucydides that he obtained
familiar and perfect mastery Of his style
and recopied his history eight times. That
scipio Africanus was made hero by the
writing Of xenophon: Alexander the
Great carried n copy OF Homer in a golden
casket with him in all his wars and oon-
quests; Liebnitz, the great German. read
books by heart; Rousseau, who laid
the foundations Of the French revolution.
got his Inspiration from Plutarch, Mon
taigne and Locke, and 30 with Douglass
the Columbian Orator" was his guide.
philosopher and friend" from which he re-
.ceived his style.
Douglass a. an orator gave strength and
life to tho abolition movement. Without
his aid 1t would have played a less impor-
tant part in the work Of anti-slavery agi-
tation. Race CONSEQUENCES was the ideal
and lesson Of his life: he epitomized hie
whole existence and the status of his race
when he replied that he Should be Judged
by the heights to which he attained and
not the depths from which he sprang."
The genius OF his leadership was in
achievements which not only helped tc
free tho slave. but which laid the founda-
ton Of the slave citizenship through the
three war amendments. The story Of his
life 10 interviewer with the history of our
country during its darkest hour. period
made glorious by his labors. the work Of
the abolitionists and the civil war
Born q slave he died Possessed Of ma
lures greatest gifts; from the -obscurity
Of slavery he reached the loftiest heights
Of citizenship. His alphabet was taught
him by his grandmother, Betty Bailey.
and the Bible lesson of Miss Aud, his
mistress who was forbidden to teach him
any longer. His mother walking twenty
four miles to see him, and the influence
upon his life because he was not permit
ted to see her when she lay dead was ter
ribe His wife. whom he married when
he reached the north. encouraged him to
escape slavery and financed him. The
help Of the sanity Abby Kelly. the aboli-
ZIONIST. who in spite Of deriSion. insult and
scorn, rendered such valued service to
Douglass and freedom, and of Mrs. Ellen
Richardson of Newcastle, England. who
raised $50 to pay for the manumission Of
Douglass and who raised the sum Of
$3.50 among friends to enable him to start
his newspaper. the North Star. and. hnal-
ly. the last speech of his career was made
tho day Of his death at a convention OF
women in Washington, In which he de-
manded equal suffrage for women.
The influence of the North Star was far
reaching. 1t penetrated America and Eu-
rope with q radiance that illumed all the
vile, dark spots Of slavery. and for seven
teen years the nation trembled with the
exposure that the North Star made Of the
abominations and cruelties OF slavery. 1t
stirred the hearts Of the people at home
and abroad and weakened the already
tumbling pillars of slavery. gave encour-
agement to the abolItionists, put hope into
the hearts of the slaves and helped ts
bring on the civil war. When the war
clouds darkened and the south was win
ming battles and the north was in despair,
when northern depots were crowded high
with bodies Of Union soldiers slain In bat
tie, when the hateful hand OF secession
was reaching out to snatch the flag, when
the mob was running mad In the streets
Of New York and other cities carrying
bloodshed and ruin in Its wake. protestinS
against being drafted to tight for "nig-
gers" Douglass was urging Lincoln TO
arm the black man.
not be preserved unless the hands Of the
men Of color were raised in defense Of the
flag. He cried, Liberty won by white
men would lose half its luster." "Whc
would be fres themselves must strike the
blow" Better even to die free than to
die slaves" by every consideration
which binds, you to your enslaved fellow