[Journeyings and Journalings Among] The Green Mountains

Dear Douglass—I have returned from my second campaign for the paper. My first meeting was at North Harrisburgh, Sunday the 7th. The attendance was good, and the audience seemed to take a deep interest in the matter. I met there friend Miles, a delegate from the Peace Society of this State, to the Peace Convention of 1851. He made some remarks in favor of Free labor Produce.

Monday, 8th—Held meeting at [Vergennes]. This is a hard place for anti-slavery. The attendance, however, was pretty good. I was here [illegible] with opposition in the person of P. C. Tucker, Esq., one of the oldest and ablest lawyers in the town. Mr. Tucker's answers to certain questions, [propounded] him in relation to how he should act if members of his own family were chained, and his declaration that he believed parson [illegible] lied in his professed willingness to send relatives into slavery, brought down laughter upon his head. Upon the whole, I am indebted to Mr. Tucker for adding to the interest of the meeting. He is a courteous though subtle opponent, but I prefer his course to that of those who stay away.

Tuesday, 7th—At Weybridge. Had a good meeting. The people here listened with the utmost attention. I put up with [...], who, together with his wife, are staunch abolitionists of the old Liberty Party stamp, but, unlike the first standard bearer of that party, they retain their faith in the power of God, through the instrumentality of truth, to remove prejudice without removing the victims of it.

Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again;
The eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes with pain,
And dies [amid] his worshippers.

Wednesday, 10th. At Middlebury. Had a good meeting for this place. Stopped with Mr. Kenworthy, an Englishman, who, true to his national instincts, hates slavers. I am indebted to E. D. Barker, Esq., for circulating notice.

Rutland, 11th—Meeting here small, notwithstanding the efforts of [R. R. Thrall], Esq., and his clerk, Edward Hodges, to get up a good attendance. Mr. Thrall is a whole souled man. Mr. Hodges deserves to be an abolitionist, and if he continues in his present course will get to be one.

Williston, 22d—Here had a good meeting. Was listened to with apparent interest to the end. I am indebted to E [illegible] Stansbury for publishing notice.

J. C. H.Holly, Joseph Cephas

Joseph Cephas Holly (1825–55), the elder brother of emigrationist James Theodore Holly, was a pragmatic black abolitionist who identified himself as a Garrisonian yet supported political abolitionists, including Douglass. Born to free black parents in Washington, D.C., Holly moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1844 and became a shoemaker. Among the early subscribers to the North Star, Holly wrote five articles on American slavery for the paper between February and June 1848. He addressed antislavery appeals to northern blacks and whites and to southern nonslaveholders, linking the rights of poor whites with those of blacks. In 1850 Holly moved to Burlington, Vermont, and established a bootmaking business with the financial backing of Lewis Tappan. He embarked upon tours of Vermont, serving as an agent for Douglass’s newspaper and speaking on a number of issues related to the needs and rights of African Americans. Although Holly and his brother James held divergent views on colonization and emigration, they lectured together, debating the issues publicly. Shortly after Joseph moved to Rochester in 1853, he was a delegate to the black national convention that assembled there, and he published a volume of poetry, Freedom’s Offering (1853). NS, 4, 18 February, 10 March, 7 April, 9 June 1848, 6 July 1849, 1 February 1850; FDP, 22 January, 5 February, 23 March, 1, 15 April 1852, 17 June, 22 July, 28 October 1853, 12 January 1855; David M. Dean, Defender of the Race: James Theodore Holly, Black Nationalist Bishop (Boston, 1979), 3–20; Geraldine O. Matthews, Black American Writers, 1773–1949: A Bibliography and Union List (Boston, 1975), 148; Miller, Search for a Black Nationality, 108–10; Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 4:25–26n

Burlington, March 22d, 1852