Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 3

[194] and a fine fellow of great energy and spirit), and others— where we had a most cordial welcome from Milo A. Townsend and his wife and parents, Dr. Weaver, Timothy White, etc., etc. Milo is one of the truest reformers in the land, and wields a potent reformatory pen, but his organ of hope is not quite large enough. There seems to be no branch of reform to which he has not given some attention.

New Brighton is a small village of eight hundred inhabitants, but there are several other villages in its immediate neighborhood. There have been a good many lectures on slavery given in it by our leading anti-slavery lecturers such as Stephen and A. K. Foster, Burleigh, Pillsbury, Douglass, etc.; but the people¹ generally remain incorrigible. The secret is, they are much priest-ridden—thus confirming afresh the assertion of the prophet, ‘like people, like priest.’ The Hicksite Quakers² have a meeting-house here, but they are generally pro-slavery in spirit. No place could be obtained for our meeting excepting the upper room of a large store, which was crowded to excess, afternoon and evening, several hundred persons being present, and many other persons not being able to obtain admittance. In the evening, there were some symptoms of pro-slavery rowdyism outside the building, but nothing beyond the yelling of young men and boys. Over our heads in the room, were piled up across the beams many barrels of flour; and while we were speaking, the mice were busy in nibbling at them, causing their contents to whiten some of our dresses, and thinking, perchance, that our speeches needed to be a little more floury. . . . The meetings were addressed at considerable length by Douglass and myself, and also by Dr. Delaney, who spoke on the subject of prejudice against color in a very witty and energetic manner. Douglass was well-nigh run down, and spoke with much physical debility. . . .

Saturday forenoon, Milo [Townsend], Dr. Peck, Dr. Weaver,³ Charles Schirras, and myself, ascended a very steep eminence across the river, three hundred feet high, where we had a beautiful prospect, reminding me somewhat of the view from the top of Mount Holyoke, at Northampton, though it was not so fine or extensive, of course. . . . On reaching Milo's house, I was thoroughly tired out, and wet through and through by the perspiration. Indeed, throughout our journey, the weather has been uniformly and exceedingly warm, and I have been ‘wet to the skin’ nearly all the time. To make frequent and long harangues, under such circumstances, is