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124 & ••••••••• 52 • ECS to SBA 26 West Sixty-first Street, New York, Feb. 13, 1897. 1 Dear Miss Anthony: For noble Frederick Douglass 2 I have varied memories ; sad for all he suffered from cruel prejudices against his race and the insults to his proud nature; and pleasant for the tender love and friendship of his noble soul. I loved him as he loved me, for the indignities we alike endured. I am happy to learn that the people of Rochester, who would never treat him as a social equal when living,purpose to build a monument to his memory at last. On a visit once at Peterboro, Douglass came there, too. Some Southern women guests wrote a note to Mr.Smith 3 to know “if Douglass would sit in the parlor and at the dining table; if so they would remain in their rooms.” My cousin replied: “Certainly he will. I feel honored to have the greatest man that ever graduated from the ‘Southern Institution’ under my roof.” When Douglass arrived,Cousin Gerrit met him with open arms and kissed him on either cheek. He stayed with us two weeks, and all that time the two ladies took their meals in their apartments, while the rest of us walked about the grounds, sat under the trees, played games and sang songs with Douglass,he playing the accompaniments on the guitar.Our ladies,in their solitude, no doubt often regretted that they were voluntary exiles from all our enjoyments. I met Douglass for the last time in Paris, when he and his wife 4 dined with my son Theodore. On parting he said, “You have been denied the rights of an American citizen because of your sex, I because of my color! I hope we shall stand on equal ground with the angels in heaven!” “Alas!” said I,“we better not be too sure of that; earthly prejudices die hard.There may be those who will write Peter a note to know if you and I are to be there—and if so they will take their meals in their own apartments!” How hateful any prejudice looks in retrospection! I am thankful I never had but that one, and that one I have sedulously cultivated year by year. When I reach heaven I shall write a note to Peter to know if there are any religious bigots there—and if so to request them to stay in their own apartments, 13 february 1897 ^ 125 leaving the negroes,women,infidels,Socialists,Jews,Chinese and Indians free to roam whithersoever they will. When in Paris, my son took Douglass to the Chamber of Deputies and introduced him to the member who had banished slavery from all the French colonies. 5 His name I cannot recall. He is always spoken of as the William Lloyd Garrison 6 of the chamber. When he met Douglass, he, too threw his arms about him and kissed him on either cheek. “Ah!” said he, “you are the one American above all others I have longed to see!” Think of such a man born a slave in this republic! A political non-entity, a social pariah! inferior in position to all ignorant white men and women! Then think of seventy-five years in such an atmosphere! It is a depressing thought to estimate his feelings; but infinitely worse to have been one of the number who helped thus to degrade a man. I never felt more deeply this hateful prejudice of color than when witnessing in an Episcopal church the administering of the communion: After a succession of white men and women had knelt at the altar, a splendid black man, who, dressed in new livery,looked like an African prince,so stately was his carriage as he walked up the aisle and knelt alone to receive the communion. A little white child under his care slowly followed and seated herself beside him. When the service ended, hand in hand they walked back to the negro pew! He was a man of unblemished virtue, respected by the whole community, loved and honored by the family he served; yet no Christian could celebrate the last supper in memory of Jesus by his side! 7 I sincerely wish the monument Rochester proposes to build in honor of Douglass might be a schoolhouse or a tenement for the poor. It seems a pity to raise so many useless shafts of marble and granite, while the homes of the poor, the schools...

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