For Frederick Douglass' Paper.

GERRY, Jan. 11th, 1855

FRIEND DOUGLASS:—Meeting one of our citizens on Wednesday evening, such an one as our intelligent Board of Excise, in the plenitude of its wisdom, has pronounced a man of "good moral character," I hailed him with a good evening, "Are you going to attend the lecture of Mr. Watkins this evening?" "No! I am not," was the answer; "I can't have the patience to listen to such nonsense as Abolitionism"—I was led to reflect upon the probable condition of the poor oppressed slave one hundred years from now. Did his chance for freedom depend upon the efforts and sympathies of those engaged in the rum traffic, the rattle of his chains and his groans would then be heard as now; for the man who has the better nature and humanity at all in his heart will not debase his fellows for the sake of gain, riveting the bonds of a fearful habit, by feeding them with rum; nor will he lose his patience in hearkening to the claims of those upon whose necks the yoke of slavery bears heavily and unmercifully. We listen in vain for a responsive note, when Liberty calls from him, whose heart is callous to the widow's petition and the orphan's wail, or who heeds not the demands of a truthful public sentiment.

Arriving at the Church where the lecture
was to be given, I found it filled to over
flowing; and it never has been my pleasure
to listen to a more powerful and eloquent
appeal in behalf of the down trodden and
oppressed than that that which I then heard.—
The lecturer proved the utter inconsistency,
unconstitutionality and debasing influence,
of that most foul plague spot, which, to its
shame, is the virtual coat of arms of these
United States of America.

Men, stuck in the political mire of the day,
were there. Temperance and Liberty men
and women, too, were there; and from the
whispers and looks of satisfaction at its
close, as well as the ample display of
material aid, we felt that an impress had been
made upon the hearts of all, that would not
soon be effaced.

Oh! had that rumseller been there; if
not his patience, his conscience, if he had
any, would have been severely tried, though
the mind that is bedimed by rum can
hardly be satisfied of even so great an
enormity as slavery. The truth is, these two
great Reforms of the day are handmaids,
and upon them is based the issue of an
hastening political revolution. The comparatively
petty questions of foreign and catholic
influence, may, as is the evident design,
postpone the event, but it will come; the
harvest is ripening for the sickle. The result
is with God. With the hope, that we may
often be visited by such agents as Mr. Watkins,
for the great Home Missionary cause.

I remain, yours fraternally,

W.