Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 303
from the foundation of the world: for I was an
hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and
ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took
me in: naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and
ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came unto
me." And this is what we can all say to-day, as
a race, as we think of this man. He has been
all that is here implied to us. In our distress
and suffering, in our hours of loneliness and
despondency, when we have felt discouraged and
sick at heart, he has stood by us, and watched
over us, and ministered to our necessities, and
cheered us by his voice and presence. What is
it that he hasn't done ? In what way has he not
manifested his interest ? What more could he
have done than he has done ?
There are many other things that I should like
to speak of had I the time. I should like to
speak of some of his personal traits and characteristics
; of his gentleness, his sympathetic nature,
his tenderness, his generosity, his great-heartedness.
There was nothing mean, or close-fisted, or
penurious about him. God blessed him with
means, and he used it for the glory of his Maker,
and the good of his fellow-men. He was all the
time giving to some good cause, or reaching out
a hand to help the needy. We went to him
when we started the movement for the purchase