Anti Slavery Bugle

Assembly Rooms, Philadelphia,
December 21, 1848.

To the Editors of the Bugle.

Dear Friends:—It is 2 o'clock, P. M. of a wet day. I am in the saloon of the Assembly Building, corner of Chestnut and Tenth streets, sitting by the Byberry table, attended by Harriet Purvis, wife of Robert Purvis, in the Anti-Slavery Fair. There are twelve tables, besides the provision table, covered with a choice and valuable collection of useful and fancy articles—for most part the handy work of the anti-slavery women of this State. As we enter the Hall on the right, near the door, is the Toy table, covered with an almost countless number of toys for children. A kind of childland universe is there. Our friend Abby Kimber is there, to wait on the happy little ones that gather around that table. I know not how it is, nor do I care to know, that I feel a deeper sympathy with that table, and the bright eyes and happy young spirits that gather around it, than with all else in this Hall. I wish all the children, whom I met at the Pic Nics in Salem, in Marlboro, and on the Lake Shore in Geneva, could walk into yonder door, all bright and happy and kind as I saw them in Ohio, and gather about that toy table. I would soon make one of their number, and I doubt if we could resist the temptation to have a romp and a hearty, joyous laugh together in this, for the present, Anti-Slavery Saloon.

At the south end of the saloon directly opposite the door of entrance, is the Provision Table, covered with all sorts of wholesome and rich food—apples, grapes, jellies, oranges, oysters pickled and stewed, and above all, Ice Cream, which has come to be the favorite luxury of Philadelphians. You would laugh to see, as you doubtless have seen our sweeps, covered with the soot and dust of chimneys, in Market street, eating ice cream. The provision table is well patronized about this time of the day.

The Fair was opened on the evening of the 19th, and continued yesterday, the 20th and is to continue till the evening of the 22d. An Anti-Slavery Convention commenced yesterday in an adjoining Hall at the north end of the building. There was a goodly attendance yesterday afternoon and this forenoon, and we have warm and interesting discussions. In the evening all came into the Fair to buy, to see, to chat, or to partake in some way in this pleasant and most profitable gathering. There are choice and noble spirits at work in Pennsylvania for the American slave. Too much praise cannot be given to the women, who, by contriving heads, warm and loving hearts, and active hands, have created this scene. There cannot be much less than $2,000 dollars worth of goods on and around the tables in this Fair. It is truly good to witness this display of purely domestic manufacture.—

This, dear friends, is the temple of Humanity. It is good to come here and worship at her altar. It is, I believe, the altar of Christianity and of God. But more this evening,

Evening, 8 o'clock, Dec. 21, '48.

Again am I in the Anti-Slavery Saloon. I broke off to go into the other end of the building to attend the Convention. Resolutions were offered, and speeches made by Mary Grew, C. C. Burleigh, Lucretia Mott, Thomas Whitson and others. We had a spirited and interesting discussion. Convention adjourned at 6, and the people, many of them, came into the Saloon to spend the evening in the Fair. It is deeply interesting to sit here, and see and hear. Many men, women and children are moving about from table to table, examining and purchasing the things; and the women who have the care of the tables are kept busy showing the things and telling their prices. The men and women walk slowly and staidly; the children move with a hop, skip and jump, up and down the room. Then the clatter of feet and of tongues! Ten thousand tones, from the deep base of some tall, strong man, to the shrill, merry tone of some laughing child, exclaiming and wondering. All sorts of subjects are being discussed.

Over the entrance to the Saloon is a banner, surrounded with a wreath of evergreens, and on it is the glorious watchword of freedom. 'No Union With Slaveholders!!'

At the South end of the Saloon is another banner on which is the picture of old Liberty Bell, and on it the words, 'Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land.' Over the rows of tables on each side of the Saloon are 12 beautiful banners; a banner over each table, and on each side of each banner is an appropriate motto. On one side of one of the banners is this:

'We dedicate our fair and lofty Hall,
Pillar and arch, entablature and wall,
As virtue's shrine, as Liberty's abode,
Sacred to Freedom and to Freedom's God.'

On another is this

'Deep let our pledges be,
Freedom: Forever!
Truce with Oppression—
Never, No, Never!'

I wish I could send more of these, but cannot without prolonging my hasty letter. The Saloon is illuminated with six large Gasaliers.

Now, I wish you and other Ohio friends could look in upon us here. Your hearts would be encouraged, as ours are. You would feel, that such a gathering as this, if it did no more than pay its expenses by the sale of things, would be of great service to the Heaven-guided cause of Abolition, by bringing the friends of the slave together to mingle thoughts and feelings in social intercourse. Human Brotherhood is the world-wide watchword of our righteous cause, and here we feel that all men are brethren, and that God is our Father!

Through the Bugle, let me, in conclusion, express my deep-felt gratitude to the many men, and women, and children of Ohio, who contributed so essentially to my comfort and happiness and usefulness, so far as I was useful, during the past summer. My heart is with them, to cheer them on, and if my life and health be spared I mean to be with them, as early as possible next spring. It is good for me to be in Ohio. I love to mingle and labor with such spirits as I found there. To their confidence, untiring zeal, and ready and prompt co-operation, is attributed whatever of good I was enabled to do in Ohio. I have not forgotten, nor shall I forget my promise to the children of Salem, Marlboro, and other places, to hold more Pic Nics with them next summer, to tell them how to live without quarrelling once in their whole lives.— My associations with Ohio are pleasant and only pleasant. I am a wiser, a better and happier man for having spent a season there. But the crowd around me increases, and I will stop and mingle my sympathies, thoughts and words with others, to swell the orderly confusion.

H. C. WRIGHT.