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who have been regarded, since the settlement of the country, as
the friends and protectors of this oppressed race. Pioneers in
the great movement which freed the Northern States from the
sin and blight of slavery, Friends have long since washed their
hands of the iniquity of slave holding, and haye, with more or
less faithfulness, borne aloft before the nation a testimony
against it. In an official capacity, the Society has not been
wanting in repeated and urgent appeals to those in authority,
‘to let the oppressed go free,” that so the sword of the avenger
- might remain unsheathed, and it has also labored in the past to
educate and improve the free people of: color, and to remove
those disabilities which have obstructed their:progress in the pur-
suits of civilized life.

The example of some of our predecessors in religious profes-
sion, who, through good and evil report, labored in the meek-
ness of wisdom, and with unflinching firmness, as advocates of
human rights and as friends of the friendless negro, should be
cherished by us as incentives to the work of our day. When the
panting fugitive escaped from the house of bondage and came to
their doors—a stranger in a strange land,—they took him in;
finding him hungry, they fed him; thirsty, they gave him drink ;
naked, they clothed him, and like the good Samaritan, sent him
on his way, rejoicing. Shall we then hesitate to enter into their
labors, in the wider field which is now opening before us ?

There are those among us, of both sexes, in the vigor of life, .
who feel a deep interest in this cause, and who may be so sit-
uated as to spend a portion of their time in the active prosecu-
tion of the work in which we are enlisted. If some of this des-
cription, who have enjoyed the advantages of home culture and
its refining influences, were willing to make the necessary sacri-
fices and dwell among them, even for a short time, imparting the
elements of knowledge, and teaching them the arts of civilized
life, they would surely find their own spirits quickened by inter-
course with a race so full of simple faith and love, and their
characters elevated and strengthened as they were brought to
realize ‘‘that it is more blessed to give than to receive.”