From the Hon. FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

WASHINGTON, D. C., June 15, 1880.

Rev. M. J. Savage:

:—It give you my best thanks for the invitation. Few things, were it by convenient, would be more agreeable to my wishes than to be present at the dinner proposed to be given in Boston on the twenty-fifth in honor of Mr. Francis E. Abbot, a gentleman for whom I entertain sentiments of highest respect and esteem. He has not only done much to break the fetters of religious superstition, for which he is entitled to gratitude, but he has with singular ability and earnestness enforced those lessons of personal rectitude without the observance of which there can be no solid happiness in the world. I have often risen form the perusal of his editorials in , deeply impressed with their wholesome, bracing, and elevating tendency; and with many others, I regret that his vigorous pen is soon to be withdrawn from its accustomed work. I am not quite sure that I cannot be with you on the 25th of June: but, if not present on that occasion, please express to Mr. Abbot my best wishes for his health, posterity, and happiness, and for his speedy return to the field in which he has been a most sturdy and valuable laborer. Very truly yours,

FRED’K DOUGLASS