Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography; Feminists -- United States -- Biography; Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910
Mr. Sanborn, not having suffered this limitation, and having had many
documents at his disposal, has been able to add much interesting matter
to what I was only able to give in outline. An even fuller biography
than his will be published ere many years, by our children, but the best
record of the great philanthropist's life remains in the new influences
which he brought to bear on the community. Traces of these may be found
in the improved condition of the several classes of unfortunates whose
interests he espoused and vindicated, often to the great indignation of
parties less enlightened. He himself had, what he was glad to recognize
in Wendell Phillips, a prophetic quality of mind. His sanguine
temperament, his knowledge of principles and reliance upon them,
combined to lead him in advance of his own time. Experts in reforms and
in charities acknowledge the indebtedness of both to his unremitting
labors. What the general public should most prize and hold fast is the
conviction, so clearly expressed by him, that humanity has a claim to be
honored and aided, even where its traits appear most abnormal and
degraded. He demanded for the blind an education which would render them
self-supporting; for the idiot, the training of his poor and maimed
capabilities; for the insane and the criminal, the watchful and
redemptive tutelage of society. In the world as he would have had it,
there should have been neither paupers nor outcasts. He did all that one
man could do to advance the coming of this millennial consummation.
My husband, Dr. Howe, was my senior by nearly a score of years. If I
mention this discrepancy in our ages, it is that I may acknowledge in
him the superiority of experience which so many years of the most noble
activity had naturally given him. My own true life had been that of a
student and of a dreamer. Dr. Howe had read and thought much, but he had
also acquired the practical knowledge which is rarely attained in the
closet or at the desk. His career from the outset had been characterized
by energy and perseverance. In his college days, this energy had found
much of its vent in undertakings of boyish mischief. When he came to
man's estate, a new inspiration took possession of him. The devotion to
ideas and principles, the zeal for the rights of others which go to make
up the men of public spirit--those leading traits now appeared in him,
and at once gave him a place among the champions of human freedom.
The love of adventure and the example of Lord Byron had, no doubt, some
part in his determination to cast in his lot with the Greeks in the
memorable struggle which restored to them their national life. But the
solidity and value of the services which he rendered to that oppressed
people showed in time that he was endowed, not only with the generous
impulses of youth, but with the forethought of mature manhood.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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