Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 275
but even people to whom he was entirely unknown
were quickly attracted by his remarkable
appearance.
Intellectually, what a splendid specimen of a
man he was! His intellect was of a very high
order. He possessed a mind of remarkable acuteness
and penetration, and of great philosophical
grasp. It was wonderful, how readily he resolved
effects into their causes, and with what ease he got
down to the underlying facts and principles of
whatever subject he attempted to treat. Hence,
he was always a formidable antagonist to encounter.
No man ever crossed swords with him
who was not forced to acknowledge, even when
he did not agree with him, his transcendent ability.
He had the faculty of seeirig at a glance
the weak points in an opponent's position, and
with the skill of a trained dialectician knew how
to marshal all the forces at his command, in the
form of facts and principles, in refutation of the
same. It was to me a constant delight to witness
the play of his remarkable powers of mind,
as they came out in his great speeches and published
articles. He had a strong, mighty intellect.
They called him the Sage of Anacostia:
and so he was,—all that that term implies,—wise,
thoughtful, sound of judgment, discriminating,
far seeing.
Morally, what a splendid specimen of a man