To Miss Sarah Shaw, upon receiving a donation to the Anti-slavery cause.
I am so great an advocate of individual freedom that I would have everything done voluntarily, nothing by persuasion. But Miss S- assures me that you gave of your own accord, and this, though very unexpected, surprised me less than it would if I had not so frequently heard your brother speak of the kindness of your disposition.
We have good encouragement of success in the humble and unostentatious undertaking to which you have contributed. The zeal of a few seems likely to counterbalance the apathy of the many.
Posterity will marvel at the hardness of our prejudice on this subject, as we marvel at the learned and conscientious believers in the Salem witchcraft. So easy is it to see the errors of past ages, so difficult to acknowledge our own!
With the kindest wishes for your happiness and prosperity.