Letters of Lydia Maria Child, with a biographical introduction by John G. Whittier and an appendix by Wendell Phillips.

258 LETTERS.
loved by such a woman. How dim and cold all the
pictures of the old saints seem, when brought into
comparison with the clear light of her conscience,
and the glowing warmth of her love for her fellowcreatures.
The memory of the early anti-slavery days is very
sacred to me. The Holy Spirit did actually descend
upon men and women in tongues of flame. Political
and theological prejudices and personal ambitions
were forgotten in sympathy for the wrongs of the
helpless, and in the enthusiasm to keep the fire of
freedom from being extinguished on our national
altar.
All suppression of selfishness makes the moment
great; and mortals were never more sublimely forgetful of self than were the abolitionists in those
early days, before the moral force which emanated
from them had become available as a political power.
Ah, my friend, that is the only true church organization, when heads and hearts unite in working for
the welfare of the human race!
And how wonderfully everything came as it was
wanted! How quickly the "' mingled flute and trumpet eloquence" of Phillips responded to the clarion
call of Garrison! How the clear, rich bugle-tones of
Whittier wakened echoes in all living souls! How
wealth poured from the ever-open hands of Arthur
Tappan, Gerrit Smith, the Winslows, and thousands
of others who gave even more largely in proportion
to their smaller means!
How the time-serving policy of Dr. Beecher drove
the bold, brave boys of Lane Seminary into the battle-field! Politicians said, "The abolitionists exaggerate the evil; they do not know whereof they af