Talks for the times, p. 36

12

TALKS FOR THE TIMES.

gence. There was in his very presence something

that instantly indicated these. An eminent divine

said some years ago that Douglass's escape from sla¬

very wTas a very fortunate thing for the South, as in

any uprising of slaves he must have proved a very

formidable leader. " He had," said he, u the mind

to plan, the heart to dare, and the hand to execute,"

and added, " If you were to see him sitting in Exeter

Hall in the midst of a sea of faces, you would in¬

stantly recognize in him a man of extraordinary force

of character."

Such was the impressiou that Douglass commonly

made on people, and such was the impression he made

on me at my first sight of him. It was in Faneuil

Hall, in the summer of 1872. The colored people of

New England were assembled in political convention.

Their best speakers, not only of New England, but

of other States, were present. Langston was there,

eloquent, scholarly, and logical. There, too, was

Douglass, just returned from Maine, where he had

been speaking in the Grant and Greeley campaign.

Entering the hall in the midst of one of their morn¬

ing sessions, the first object that met my eyes was the

old hero himself on the rostrum. There he stood

y