William Lloyd Garrison, the AbolitionistGrimké, Archibald Henry
History
William Lloyd Garrison, the Abolitionist
Grimké, Archibald Henry
Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879
Garrison, to his honor, did not allow the exceeding candor of his mentor
to disturb their friendship. The pioneer was not wholly without defence
to the impeachment. He might have pleaded ill health, of which he had
had _quantum suf._ since 1836 for himself and family. He might have
pleaded also the dissipation of too much of his energies in consequence
of more or less pecuniary embarrassments from which he was never wholly
freed; but, above all, he might have pleaded his increasing activity as
an anti-slavery lecturer. His contributions to the movement against
slavery were of a notable character in this direction, both in respect
of quantity and quality. He was not alone the editor of the _Liberator_,
he was unquestionably besides one of the most effective and interesting
of the anti-slavery speakers--indeed in the judgment of so competent an
authority as James Russell Lowell, he was regarded as the most effective
of the anti-slavery speakers. Still, after all is placed to his credit
that can possibly be, Quincy's complaints would be supported by an
altogether too solid basis of fact. The pioneer was much given to
procrastination. What was not urgent he was strongly tempted to put off
for a more convenient time. His work accumulated. He labored hard and he
accomplished much, but because of this habit of postponing for to-morrow
what need not be done to-day, he was necessarily forced to leave undone
many things which he ought to have done and which he might have
accomplished had he been given to putting off for to-morrow nothing
which might be finished to-day.
The pioneer was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, but never
was he wholly cast down by his misfortunes. His cheerful and bouyant
spirit kept him afloat above his sorrows, above his griefs. The organ of
mirthfulness in him was very large. He was an optimist in the best sense
of that word, viz., that all things work together for good to them that
love goodness. In the darkest moments which the Abolition cause
encountered his own countenance was full of light, his own heart pierced
through the gloom and communicated its glow to those about him, his own
voice rang bugle-like through reverse and disaster.
In his family the reformer was seen at his best. His wife was his friend
and equal, his children his playfellows and companions. The dust of the
great conflict he never carried with him into his home to choke the love
which burned ever brightly on its hearth and in the hearts which it
contained. What he professed in the _Liberator_, what he preached in the
world, of non-resistance, woman's rights, perfectionism, he practiced in
his home, he embodied as father, and husband, and host. Never lived
reformer who more completely realized his own ideals to those nearest
and dearest to him than William Lloyd Garrison.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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