Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 233
Frederick Douglass. And I find God in one as
much as the other. And, I think, of all the men
in his generation, so momentous of great events,
so influential upon future humanity, no man is
more to be congratulated—could human congratulations
reach him — than this man who
now sleeps in death's marble before us. God
made him great; yes, but God also gave him a
great opportunity, and that opportunity began
when he was born a slave.
I feel the pathos of it, in every fiber of my
being, when this boy, without father, without
mother—save as once or twice in his memory she
walked twenty-four miles, between sunset and sunrise,
to give her son a few clandestine kisses,—yes,
without beginning of days, for Mr. Douglass
never knew the day of his birth, was, in that
prison-house of bondage, slowly emerging to consciousness
of himself and to consciousness of his
surroundings. But that was his schooling for
years to come. It was the only way in which he
could become a swift witness against the great
wrong which was crushing the bodies and souls
of millions. It was the secrets of that prisonhouse
of despair which the world needed to
know. And God had given him the tongue of
the eloquent to tell them. Fascinating as is the
masterpiece of Harriet Beecher Stowe, beautiful,
and touching as are the scenes depicted, dramatic