Mr. Garrison's presence in the printing-office was “like sunshine in a shady place.” The “art preservative of all the arts” is not commonly attended by many of the aesthetic graces, and the Liberator office was no exception to the general rule. Lowell's description of it in his early days as “ dark,2 unfurnitured, and mean ” fitly characterized it until its removal to the Washington Building [on Washington, opposite Franklin Street], in 1860, when, for the first time, even the cheap luxury of gas was enjoyed. But the poor and dingy surroundings were little heeded by those who served under its editor, who, from the master-workman to the office-boy, felt “e'en drudgery divine” in such service, and daily labor became a daily delight. So uniformly cheerful was he, so patient, so careless of his own ease, and so considerate of the feelings and comfort of others,
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1 Mrs. J. G. Swisshelm relates, in her “ Half a Century,” p. 60 (circa 1838): ‘To a white woman in Louisville, work was a dire disgrace, and one Sabbath four of us sat suffering from thirst, with the pump across the street, when I learned that for me to go for a pitcher of water would be so great a disgrace to the house as to demand my instant expulsion’ (Cf. Niles' Register, 41: 131). ‘Mrs. Trollope says a Virginia gentleman told her that ever since he had been married he had been accustomed to have a negro girl sleep in the same chamber with himself and wife, and that, being asked why he had this nocturnal attendant, he replied: “ Good Heaven, if I wanted a glass of water during the night, what would become of me!” ’ (Lib. 2: 107).
2 Ante, 1.245.
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