[p. 92] and dry goods at the ‘Free Store,’ but, unfortunately, free sugar was not always so free from other taints as from that of slavery, and ‘free’ calicoes could seldom be called handsome; free umbrellas were hideous and free candies an abomination. (I have with me a free umbrella and a pocket made of nankeen cotton, free and high priced.) May I recall an incident? The children at a small birthday party had, as part of the ‘goodies,’ some ‘secrets’—candies with mottoes, wrapped in bright paper, in much favor then with children. Imagine their disappointment on opening the packages to find, instead of the usual delightfully silly couplets, a set of good, improving anti-slavery sentiments, such as
If slavery comes by color, which God gaveThe ‘secrets’ had been bought at the ‘Free Store.’ Children were as human then as now, and preferred good candy to consistent convictions. But to their elders, whose sympathy with the oppressed had become a religion, apparent trifles became of grave importance, and these were upheld with a heroism that derision could not laugh down nor persecution dismay.
Fashion may change and you become the slave.'Tis not expedient the slave to free?
Do what is right. That is expediency!
James Mott did his part bravely. He was not one to shrink from any step which duty demanded, but he was cautious, and slow to move, and the struggle in his mind was long and painful. It was no easy matter to turn from a newly found prosperity and face again the doubtful chances of an unfamiliar business, but finally, about 1830, he quitted the profitable trade, that could be carried on only at the loss of self-respect, and entered the wool commission business. In this he remained, with various successes and reverses, until he retired in 1852 with a moderate competency.
He was a man ‘calm, sensible and clear-sighted, one who feared not the face of man, and whom nothing could move to the slightest bitterness.’ What a blessed complement
