In his letter to
Mrs. L. Maria Child, John Brown says:
I
have at home a wife and three young daughters, the youngest but little over
five years old, the oldest nearly sixteen. I have also two daughters-in-law,
whose husbands have both fallen near me here. There is also another widow, Mrs.
Thompson, whose husband fell here. Whether she is a mother or not, I cannot
say. All these, my wife included, live at North Elba, Essex County, New York. I
have a middle-aged son, who has been, in some degree, a cripple from his
childhood, who would have as much as he could do to earn a living. He was a
most dreadful sufferer in Kansas, and lost all he had laid up. He has not
enough to clothe himself for the winter comfortably. I have no living son, or
son-in-law, who did not suffer terribly in Kansas.
Now,
dear friend, would you not as soon contribute fifty cents now, and a like sum
yearly, for the relief of those very poor and deeply-afflicted persons? To
enable them to supply themselves and their children with bread and very plain
clothing, and to enable the children to receive a common English education?
Will you also devote your own energies to induce others to join you in giving a
like amount, or any other amount, to constitute a little fund for the purpose
named?
Friends of Freedom at the North, to these simple and touching words nothing more effective and affecting can be added. The story is here in its simplest and saddest form. Widows and fatherless children! all for liberty! Slain for a principle! The heads of the entire family slain! All the male members cut off! And this in the Nineteenth Century, and this amid a free people!
If there be any
braver man in the country than John Brown, let him criticise John Brown at
Harper's Ferry. If not, let another generation pass upon the fact and its
author. Our duties now are with and for the living. God and history will have a
care for the dead. Friends at the North, what will you do for John Brown's
family? I have a photograph of the old man, presented to me by his own hands,
an admirable likeness. Let all who sympathize in the purpose send each a
dollar, and I will forward for each such sum an exact copy of the original, and
with it, if possible, John Brown's autograph. The proceeds from ten thousand
such copies will produce a fund of eight thousand dollars for the benefit of
the helpless and afflicted ones, whom the Kansas hero so touchingly commends to
our sympathies and care. Suitable acknowledgment of funds received and applied,
will be made from time to time through the columns of the N. Y. Tribune. The
photographs can be sent by mail, as music is sent, at the expense of a stamp,
which may be enclosed with the order. Address me at New York.
No comments:
Post a Comment