TENDER WORDS FROM LOVING HEARTS. MY DEAR MRS. DOUGLASS : NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, ENGLAND, February 21, 1895. How shall I write to you, in view of this deep sorrow? I know not what words can convey all I feel,-but you will understand better than any expression of mine, the sympathy I feel for your very sudden bereave ment. Truly, stroke after stroke has come upon you, lately. I share very deeply with you in the loss of our dear Frederick. How unexpected that he should be taken away before me. His beautiful letter which came with yours is a prize. His last words to me, so full of deep feeling,-and again, his letter to my cousin, Caroline Richardson, read to me this morning-his closing words so nobly expressed, as his always were, are a legacy. I write in bed and must be brief. I have been, indeed, very ill; I am now relieved from pain, but weak, still. * * * * My thoughts dwell with you. To think of dear Frederick stretched on a bed of death! * * * * Dear Madam: It is with profound sorrow that I hear of the transition of your illustrious husband. In my native State he has many friends who will mourn his death. But he is not dead, but has awakened to life eternal. His labors for his race and for every good cause testified that his spirit was not of the earth, earthy. The liberty-loving citizens of Massachusetts loved and honored this great apostle of liberty and truth, in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. Garrison, Phillips, George Thompson, and all great men, loved him as a brother. "The storm and peril overpast, The howling hatred shamed and still, The place which thou alone can fill. "Not for thyself, but for the slave Thy words of thunder shook the world; No selfish griefs or hatred gave The strength wherewith thy bolts were hurled. "From lips that Sinai's trumpet blew, We heard a tenderer undersong; Thy very wrath from pity grew; From love of man, thy hate of wrong. "Go, leave behind thee all that mark Or suffering spirits urge their plea, (Whittier's poem sent to the funeral of Garrison.) Sincerely yours, FRANCIS B. WOODBURY, Secretary, National Spiritualists' Association of the U. S. America. "THE CONCORD," MRS. FREDERICK DOUGLASS. WASHINGTON, D. C., February 21, 1895. My dear Madam: We are greatly shocked this morning at the news of the death of Mr. Douglass last evening. How sudden! It is difficult to realize that we are to meet his familiar presence no more among us. What a loss to his family, to the race, to the country, nay, to the world! A veritable prince among men has fallen! What a record he has left behind him! Where is there a parallel? I first met him on the occasion of one of his earliest visits to Concord, New Hampshire. How many incidents illustrative of his noble life are brought to mind? In 1864 difficulties connected with my duties in the war compelled me to seek their solution in Washington, and I came by way of Toledo, Ohio, where I arrived in season to hear a part of an evening address by Mr. Douglass. I talked with him a moment after he closed, and again the next morning, and was deeply impressed with the fact that he misunderstood the President. When going over my business with Mr. Lincoln I alluded to the fact that I heard Mr. Douglass and mentioned his misapprehensions. The President questioned me about them and expressed a desire to know Mr. Douglass, and said, that considering the condition from which he had arisen and the obstacles that he had overcome, and the position to which he had attained that he regarded him as one of the most meritorious men, if not the most meritorious man, in the United States, and wondered whether Mr. Douglass knew of his letter to Governor Hahn-a copy of which he took from his private drawer and read to me-and wondered too, whether he would be willing to see him. I replied, telling him what I knew of Mr. Douglass' movements. The interview was speedily arranged. Mr. Douglass, while in town, stopped at the house of a wealthy colored man. Immediately after the interview, I called upon him and found him with pen, ink and paper on the table, pacing the parlors, and concentrating his thoughts, in a state of marked satisfaction. He no longer misunderstood the President, and was to pen for him his views on some of the difficulties of the situation. He could hardly find language to express his favorable impression of the great Emancipator. With much emphasis, he said there was nothing in Mr. Lincoln's manner to make him feel that he was black or that there was any difference in their color. The friendship that followed is well known. Mr. Douglass won the confidence and admiration of the greatest and best men the more they knew him. Those nearest him may feel his loss more keenly, but they cannot mourn him more sincerely than the multitudes of every race and clime, who were familiar with his lifelong struggles, and the exertion of his great powers for the liberation and elevation of the oppressed. He was a true man. Who can fill his place? Heartily sympathizing with you in this great bereavement, I am, Very truly yours, etc., John Eaton MY DEAR MRS. DOUGLASS: Cedarhurst, UNIVERSITY HILL, February 21, 1895. My first duty is to write you, and tell you how much I regret the departure of your great and noble husband. To a singular degree, my heart has always gone out to him in reverence and love. The question of race has never entered into our relations; I have always thought of him as a man so remarkable in gifts and endowments and achievements, that, whatever his nationality, my heart must hasten to pay him homage. It is very pleasant to me to recall many of his kind words and deeds, and to feel that he appreciated, and in some measure reciprocated, my attach ment. It is a severer stroke to you, because of your recent afflictions. May the Lord comfort you! To the university he is a great loss. I had a partial promise from him, that he would speak at the opening of our new chapel. But, his great heart has felt its last throb. His great voice has thrilled with its last wise utterance. His counsel must now come only from memory. To a singular and unique degree, God has kept him in such ways, that to call him a sage, as to all the great and agitating questions which have been presented to him, is not exaggeration. And now he is gone, as though the Lord of Elijah had sent Elijah's chariot of glory, so that he saw no decay of his faculties, no loss of his vigor; his eye still undimmed, and his natural force unabated. I am thankful for that! I wish to think of him as the tall oak, that yields to no decay, but is felled by a single stroke, not of wrath, but of infinite love. Please regard me as one who wishes to enter the circle of personal mourners with you, and does not stand aloof in the general grief. Very truly, J. Rankin President Howard University. MRS. FREDERICK DOUGLASS. WASHINGTON, D. C., February 21, 1895. Dear Madam: A great man has gone! The news of your lamented husband's death came to me this morning with a great shock. He was among the earliest to be present at the District Suffrage Meeting, on last Monday night, and spoke with his usual feeling and emphasis. In introducing him at the District Suffrage Meeting, held in last January, I spoke of his labors in the cause of freedom, and trusted that he would long be spared to us, to assist in the cause of justice and equal rights in this District. Our loss is irreparable, and is only mitigated by the reflexion that he leaves behind him a hallowed memory of good deeds and a hallowed life. Yours in hearty sympathy, ང་ལ་པ ངའི་་ག་་ |