THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT - The University of Texas at Arlington

inches high in standard alphabetic order, from the abolitionist to the zealous man, with
each letter followed by its quatrain. The text alphabetizes the cultural terrain of slavery
including the products of slave labor. For example, “M” represents the northern
merchant “Who buys what slaves produce” while “R” and “S” represent the rice and
sugar, which the slave “Is toiling hard to make.” Reinforcing the role of children in
abolitionism, the final two quatrains call for children to take an active role:
Y is for Youth — the time for all
Bravely to war with sin;
And think not it can ever be
Too early to begin.
Z is a zealous man, sincere,
Faithful, and just, and true,
An earnest pleader for the slave —
Will you not be so too? 72
Townsend leaves her readers with this heroic image of the child abolitionist, the final
question urging the reader’s participation. 73
Juvenile anti-slavery societies developed in response to abolitionist children’s
literature. While the editor of The Slave’s Friend credited the publication with inspiring
the creation of juvenile abolitionist groups, juvenile anti-slavery societies actually pre-
Oxford University Press, 1992), 157-171. Elizabeth Margaret Chandler’s poem, “The Sugar-Plums” was
reprinted in The Slave’s Friend in 1836.
72 Hannah Townsend, The Anti-Slavery Alphabet (Philadelphia: Printed for the Anti-Slavery Fair,
Merrihew & Thompson, 1847). Deborah De Rosa reprinted the text of the alphabet. See Deborah C. De
Rosa, Into the Mouths of Babes: An Anthology of Children’s Abolitionist Literature (Westport: Praeger,
2005), 73-76.
73 De Rosa, Domestic Abolitionism and Juvenile Literature, 117.
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