to convert all others to her own great, glorious, and successful principles ! When on the "Lord's day,"—they always allowed him one!— the busy hum of industry suddenly ceased, and all useful employments were piously suspended, and the whole people, laying aside their every-day dresses, their every-day conversation, their every-day countenances, and their every-day gait,-proceeded in solemn crowds to the "house of God," headed by their priests, who were distinguished from the rest by costliness of dress and longitude of features;-and when, "filled with solemn awe," the pious crowds entered their respective tabernacles, and seated themselves within the consecrated walls in the order of their wealth, (the rich in the best seats, the poor in the worst, according to the injunction of Jesus!) and when they all listened with devout patience to their spiritual leaders, whose hollow tones indicated so plainly that they were "not of this earth;" and when, added to all this, the little children were as solemn, and as unearthly, as the most practised of their parents,—I say, when all this, and much more, took place once in every seven days, to the entire exclusion of all useful employments, it was thought that the Spirits of Heaven must rejoice in their high spheres, and the Recording Angel drop his pen in extasy of joy at the sight of such a "peculiar " people! And yet all this while there were this being a "peculiar" fact in this "Christian Republic "—two and a half millions of chattel slaves in our midst, and the number daily increasing, yet no one voice among all this "Christian" people to call attention to the fact! Indeed so great was the progress which the “Christians" of America had made in moral science, they had discovered in course of their brilliant career that chattel slavery was a “ BIBLE INSTITUTION," and therefore in keeping with the precepts of Christ, and entitled to their vigorous support. Indeed it was whispered that Professor Stewart, or some other of the great "divines" of the country, had discovered an ancient manuscript giving another of Christ's mountain sermons, in which he proved to the aston ished people that to do unto others as we would they should do to us is in no way inconsistent with buying and selling them in the shambles. And also that a new "table" had been excavated by a recent traveller in the East, on which was written in characters unintelligible to anybody except the learned "divines" of this "Christian Republic: "-" A new commandment give I unto you -that you consign all persons of African descent to eternal slavery, you and your children, and your children's children to the latest generation." Whether this report is true or not, the aforesaid "divines" gave countenance to it by their practice, which, with few exceptions, was to treat slavery with the same parental care which they extended to Missionary Societies, Sunday Schools, and other of their "Institutions." All this thirteen years ago,—when American Piety and United States Godliness were at the flood. About that time, a young printer, in the obscure paths of life, conceived the idea, in his ignorance, that chattel slavery was an unmitigated evil,—and even went so far as to think it inconsistent with the precepts of Jesus Christ. And the more he thought of these things,-being a common sort of man, without any "advantages," the truer and more important they seemed to him, until at last he was compelled by the clamor of his convictions, to utter them. With this intent he published a little sheet called "The Liberator "-and (according to an unfortunate habit he had got into for want of a more thorough religious training) he spoke out his thoughts in plain ungarnished English, calling a man, a man-and a thief, a thief, until he had, in an incredibly short time, woke up the whole nation, and his name was as familiar to every slave-holder in the land as his own. He had also, at the tap of his drum, drawn around him a few faithful followers, who proclaimed the great principles of freedom far and wide, and thus drew upon themselves the scorn and persecution of the whole community, especially that part of it (priests, deacons, elders, &c.) which professed the greatest devotion to the principles of Jesus Christ. The untiring fidelity of this class of persons to the defence and support of slavery, and their bitter persecution of its opponents, entitles them to the affectionate remembrance of every tyrant on earth, and every devil in hell. But despite of persecutions, this young printer continued to put forth his intrepid sheet, which was more terrible to the South than an army with banners;—and its influence was soon felt, and its noble work seen, all over the country. The fatal calm into which the public conscience had subsided was broken up, and every heart not corroded by slavery itself, or stupified by the church, was touched with a sense of the slave's wrongs. Never did God-I do not speak now of the God of the church who is truly enough represented to be himself a slave-holder, but of the one God, our Father-advance a cause more speedily than that which was thus set on foot by WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. Its history is but a succession of the most brilliant triumphs. Commencing with a few despised and unlettered people, it has since had in its ranks some of the most brilliant scholars, orators, poets, and moralists of the land; as the names of Follen, Channing, Rogers, Phillips, Pierpont, Quincy, Whittier, Burleigh, Loring, Chapman, Brown, Child, Hildreth, Bradburn, Mott, Lowell, Weld, Emerson, Grimke, Stetson, and a whole host of other stars which have appeared in the Anti-Slavery firmament, abundantly attest. Despised, at first, by every State in the Union, its influence is now courted in State affairs, and it is annually disgusted with the fawning suppliancy of both the great parties which divide (and devour) the country. Hunted like a felon, a few years since, into "upper chambers," and deserted stables,-and mobbed by five thousand of the most respectable and the highest standing people in Boston, who sought the life of its founder, and came near being successful in their murderous intent,-it now has the free use of the MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE, ay more, of her very "Dome of thought and palace of the soul," old FANEUIL HALL itself. Passed by, but yesterday, with scorn and contempt, by high and low, its Fairs are now crowded by the élite of the nation, and its intrinsic excellencies and brilliant achievements have secured for it that universal respect which must soon lead to universal support. Barred out, at the commencement, of every church in the land, even that “Institution" (always the most malignant foe of human rights) is beginning to relax her persecutions, and open her doors. THE LAY OF THE LABORER. BY THOMAS HOOD. A spade! a rake! a hoe! A pickaxe, or a bill! A hook to reap, or a scythe to mow, And here's a ready hand To ply the needful tool, And skill enough by lessons rough In labor's rugged school. To hedge, or dig the ditch, To lop or fell the tree, To lay the swarth on the sultry field, Or plough the stubborn lea, The harvest stack to bind, The wheaten rick to thatch; And never fear in my pouch to find The tinder or the match. To a flaming barn or farm My fancies never roam ; The fire I yearn to kindle and burn Where children huddle and crouch Where starving children huddle and crouch A-glowing on the haggard cheek, To Him who sends a drought To parch the fields forlorn, The rain to flood the meadows with mud, The blight to blast the corn To Him I leave to guide The bolt in its crooked path, To strike the miser's rick, and show The skies blood-red with wrath. A spade! a rake! a hoe! A pickaxe, or a bill! A hook to reap, or a scythe to mow, A flail, or what ye will The corn to thrash, or the hedge to plash, The market team to drive, Or mend the fence by the cover side, And leave the game alive. Ay, only give me work, And then you need not fear That I shall snare his worship's hare, Or kill his grace's dear— Break into his lordship's house, To steal the plate so rich, Or leave the yeoman that had a purse, Wherever nature needs, Wherever labor calls, No job I'll shirk of the hardest work, Where savage laws begrudge My only claim is this, With labor stiff and stark, By lawful turn my living to earn, |