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[303] extraordinary exodus of indigent colored people from Louisiana and Mississippi, who fled en masse to Kansas as a promised land in which they could find work at fair wages, and the protection in their legal and political rights denied them in their old homes. Thousands obtained transportation by river as far as St. Louis, and thence made their way to Kansas, aided by the contributions which the reports of their utter destitution elicited from many quarters. An announcement by Mr. Garrison in the Boston papers that he would receive and forward any sums for these unfortunate people until a committee should be formed for the purpose, brought him numerous offerings from old anti-slavery friends, and again increased his correspondence in a pleasant manner. Several hundred dollars were acknowledged and transmitted by him to the efficient committee in St. Louis before Boston moved in the matter. He was too unwell to attend the meeting held in Faneuil Hall on the 24th of the month,1 and the letter which he addressed to this and to a similar meeting in New York was his last published utterance:

The spectacle of thousands of half-naked, empty-handed,2 despairing men, women, and children fleeing as for their lives from one part of the country to another, and preferring to risk starvation and death by the way rather than remain where they naturally belong, is one calculated to move pitying Heaven, and to awaken all that is sympathetic and generous in the human breast. Their claims for immediate charitable relief are equally just and imperative; and it is most gratifying to perceive a disposition in various directions to minister to the wants of these poor outcasts. By nothing that they have done, on the score of idleness, dissipation, or disorderly conduct, have they brought this suffering and exposure upon themselves. On the contrary, they have been the only industrious, unoffending, law-abiding, and loyal portion of the population in that quarter, with but few exceptions; and yet their safety is only in flight!

While, therefore, grave, exciting, and relatively important as the present exodus of a few thousands of colored refugees from Mississippi and Louisiana may be, it is only an incident of the hour, demanding succor and aid in various forms until they have time to select their dwelling-places. But what of the four

1 April, 1879.

2 Boston Traveller, Apr. 24, 1879.

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