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of my life, as the Butman riot in Worcester, with some power?’
It was a time when fugitive slaves frequently needed assistance, and the Underground Railroad was in full operation.
Mr. Higginson was always eager to lend a hand to these escaping wretches.
In the Boston ‘Liberator’ and Worcester newspapers of the period, communications over his signature frequently appeared, asking for financial aid, sometimes for a distressed family which was trying to buy its own freedom.
‘Now this sum must be raised speedily,’ he declared.
‘Let every man choose once for all, between his love for freedom, and for a full pocket; for, as far as I have observed, in this land of liberty it is difficult to combine both.’
In other cases he attempted to find work or hiding-places for the refugees.
In one instance a home was sought for two boys who had been emancipated by their Kentucky master on condition that they should be cared for in a free State.
This note of introduction, written by Mr. Higginson to ‘Mr. F. B. Sanborn or Mr. R. W. Emerson,’ is given as a sample of the correspondence between the active abolitionists of that day:—
Books for libraries press. Freeport, New York. 1914.
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