Shady Hill, Sunday, 9 February, 1862.
. . . Jane and I went to hear Frederic Douglass. It was a
sad though interesting performance. He said very little to the purpose, and
nothing that was of worth as helping toward clearer conclusions in regard to
the future of the black race in America. There was a want of earnestness and
true feeling in his speech. It was discursive, shallow, personal, and though he
said some clever things and displayed some power of humorous irony, it was on
the whole a melancholy exhibition, for neither the circumstances of the time,
nor the immeasurable importance of the topic were enough to inspire him with
wise or sincere counsel. I could not but think how far he was from such honesty
of purpose and depth of feeling as were in John Brown's heart. There were
several eloquent and well meant passages in his lecture, but most of it was
crude and artificial. We could not but come away disappointed and even
disheartened.
How good the news is from Tennessee!1 We have
waited so long for success that we may well be glad when it comes. I trust that
this is a blow to be followed up. . . .
_______________
1 Fort Henry had just been taken, and Fort Donelson
was about to fall
SOURCE: Sara Norton and M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters
of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 251
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