15. Grove Terrace
Leeds, 15^th April

My dear Friend,

Many of your
friends have been very anxious
about you for some time past; &
very welcome was your letter of
23^rd March, which did not
reach us until this morning—It
seems to have been longer on the
road than usual—& I began to fear
you had ventured too far South—
Be ever careful when you are
near the borders of slavery, I pray
you—The contents of your letter
my dear Friend are most in
teresting—& encourage us to
hope that all is going forward
in the right direction—I mark
all you say; & shall send an
extract from your letter to the
Leeds Mercury, as I did before—
& then I ordered two dozen copies
& circulated them in all directions

The particulars of the checque
I now enclose are inscribed
on the paper in which it is
folded—I wish the sums
were larger; but I expect to
send you more soon—& having
had the Edinburgh money
by me for some time, & the
Aberdeen also, I will send
without further delay, though
I fear you will be off to Maine
before this reaches Rochester—

Please hand the £5— to our
friend Mis Porter, with my
kind regards—it is from
the Edinburgh Society—I felt myself
but ill pleased when their
last Reports came to me, with
out a line, & without one word
in their report of the founder
of their Society, without whose
devotion to their interests this
cause would never have brought
before the British friends at all,
& without whom consequently
they would never, as a Society
have received any donations
from the old country—Some of
them seem to me strangely to
have forgotten this!!—There is
great difficulty to obtain any
donations for any other object
than the "Freedmen"—but
I have marked what you say
concerning the "Washington
Freedman's Aid Society"—& the
money now sent you for "Contrabands," please, send them, if
you still approve that Society—a few lines about them that
I may copy & send round to some of the friends will be very
acceptable—The Aberdeen folk are very strict & will expect
a receipt from head quarters
for their £6—I mean from the Washington Secretary, or Treasurer—

In looking over my papers with
accounts of monies sent I find
that at two separate times,

the sums of £3—17—6 & £3—15—6
towards the proposition you made
concerning the piano—From the
present amount I have deducted
£7—10— making, in all £15—3— to
wards the proposed £40—I have
been blamed by AuntGriffiths, Mary Powis

Mary Powis Griffiths (c. 1789–1877), with whom Julia Griffiths; her husband, the Reverend Henry O. Crofts; and three stepdaughters (Elizabeth, Saley, and Martha Crofts) were sharing their home in both 1861 and 1871. 1861 England Census, Halifax, Yorkshire, 110; 1871 England Census, Gateshead, Durham County, 41; Janet Douglas, “A Cherished Friendship: Julia Griffiths Crofts and Frederick Douglass,” Slavery and Abolition, 33:265–74 (June 2012). very much about
the piano—& I blame myself
that I did not deduct the
whole in 4 instalments, as you
requested—but be that as it
may all will be quite right I
doubt not—there is a sad
blank in the loss of the paper—
and so many friends enquire &
still will have it that you are
gone south to fight, that I have
much to do to assure them you
yet live in Rochester—& lecture,
as usual—A letter to me relative
to this would help me in my
efforts in your behalf very much—
I do wish you would resume
the paper—its stoppage was a
great mistake—I hope you
have let the Halifax friends
know, by the same mail that

Donations Sent—April 15^th /64