Julia G[riffiths] Crofts to Frederick Douglass, September 24, 1861

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Julia G[riffiths] Crofts to Frederick Douglass. PLSr: DM, 4:582-83 (January 1862). Describes agricultural celebrations in England; criticizes Abraham Lincoln for revoking the Frémont Proclamation.

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LETTERS FROM THE OLD WORLD.

NUMBER LXXVIII.

The Crofts, near Stratford-on-Avon,

September 24th, 1861.

MY DEAR FRIEND:—We have just returned from the first public celebration of 'Harvest Home' at which I was every present;—so the bright, joyous scene on which I have been for some hours looking to-day, had the additional charm of novelty to one of the spectators at least. Although the weather has been showery, this day of rural festivity, so long looked forward to by laboring men, women and children in this district, has passed off most happily to them, if I could judge by the man smiling faces around me, and quite satisfactorily to the excellent Pastor or the village, and those kind members of his family and friends who, for some time past, have labored assiduously to bring about this harmonious and joyous re-union of to-day, where farmers and their employees, with the neighboring gentry, and some of the nobility, met in the house of God, to return thanks for an abundant harvest, and then assembled around bountifully provided tables and partook of the good cheer prepared for them.

A drive of two miles took us to the village church of Alveston, and reaching there before the hour at which services was to commence, we stood in the church yard to see the procession of laborers enter the church. Two and two they marched, to the sound of music, dressed in their best, carrying banners. In the foreground, four (or six) of them bore upon their shoulders the 'first fruits' of the season—sheaves of wheat, and barley, and oats, beautifully decorated with acorn boughs and evergreens. This rural offering they reverently placed in the portico of the church, and then entered. The interior of the edifice was very prettily, tastefully and appropriately decorated. Over the communion table, composed of evergreens and white roses, was the inscription, 'Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness.' On either side, miniature sheaves reared their heads; while olive branches, laurels, china asters and clymatis were formed into various devices, and combined to form a harmonious and elegant decoration, peculiarly appropriate to the occasion. The choir was good, and heartily sounded forth that fine anthem of praise, 'Oh! give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever!'

The selections were all extremely suitable; an excellent thanksgiving sermon was preached from the words, 'The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat in due season.' After service, the large congregation adjourned to an adjoining field, where tents had been erected, and every preparation made for the coming festivities. Soon the laborers were all seated round the well-spread tables, and were promptly supplied with 'roast beef and plum pudding,' (those never failing dishes of old England,) and well waited on by the managers and their assistant visitors.

The arrangements were admirable throughout, and good order was kept. By three o'clock a number of women and children arrived for tea, and amusements of various kinds were introduced to the villagers by the ladies, to whom too much praise cannot be rendered for their ingenuity in devising entertainment for the masses, for their kindness and courteousness to all, and for the spirited energy with which they personally assisted to carry out their benevolent plans. Mrs. BARNARD, (the wife of the Rector,) and the Hon. Misses TOWNSEND might be seen in all directions, never weary with making others happy, even when the rain fell, and they had to crowd into the tents for shelter. We bade adieu to this rural scene at 6 o'clock, and weary as I must own I now am, I would not have missed this happy picture of English agricultural life—this successful restoration of an old English custom, viz., closing the year's labors with a day of public thanksgiving and universal festivity—a Christian way (it seems to me) of carrying out the Jewish command, 'When ye shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord.'

Early associations have attached me strongly to the county of Warwick; so it was very pleasant to me to join a number of dear old friends at the County Agricultural and Horticultural Show, which was last week held in the grounds of the old Manor House of Stratford-on-Avon. A more beautiful September morning could not have dawned on our (so often foggy) island! The neat, quiet, little town was all alive; people poured in from all quarters, and were warmly welcomed; the arrangements of the local committee were capital. After surveying the animals and implements, and chief of all, (so far as the ladies were concerned,) the fine collections of flowers, fruits and vegetables, the visitors congregated in groups under the delightful shade of the widely branching trees, and there, comfortably seated, they listened while the Coldstream Band and others, less famous, by turns, discoursed sweet music. Mine being a decidedly non-official report of the proceedings, I need not detail who did the business of the association, (nor who didn't,) who had prizes, and who had none! Suffice it that, at three o'clock, we adjourned to an immense tent, in which more than 800 ladies and gentlemen dined, presided over by the Early of Warwick, and joined by a number of the country nobility, including the excellent Lord Leigh, Lord and Lady Willoughby, and other notables, &c., &c.

Although there was nothing remarkably clever in the after dinner speeches, the evening, as well as the day passed off very pleasantly, and evidenced the exceeding good feeling existing between the several classes met for one common object. The party walls (built up in years gone by) between the various sections of our people, are gradually but surely lowering; the real English nobleman is a true gentleman, not content with being polite on the surface; his politeness is dictated by true kindness and courteous deference to the feelings and wishes of others. Our people understand this, and receive a refining influence from these pleasant associations with the upper classes, without losing any portion of their native independence, or being patronized by the great. The exceeding simplicity of some of our aristocracy is as striking as it is agreeable.

November 25th.

These hastily penned jottings have been lying by unfinished, by dear friend, some weeks, since my return to Leeds. Severe illness, domestic and personal, for some time prevented my being able to write a line, not absolutely necessary; and now, alas! the time when the recorded rural doings were enacted, seems long past, and the scene afar; yet I shall send this fragmentary epistle forward, regretting that it does not reach you in time immediately to follow the letter published in your November journal, to which it is but a sort of postscript.

This number of your Monthly met me first at our mutual friends in Halifax, last week. At the railway station that morning, Dr. C. pointed out to me a placard on which was printed, in ominously large letters, 'Withdrawal of Gen. Fremont by the Government.' Your article, headed 'Freemont and Freedom—Lincoln and Slavery,' confirmed the ill tidings. With such a timorous, compromising Government, I know not what to hope for my colored friends, humanly speaking; but be it ever remembered, that 'man`s extremity is God`s opportunity.' We are sometimes apt to forget this, especially when we see no bright spot in the horizen. The truly excellent venerable Rev. Dr. MARSH says, in a note I lately received from him, 'I could weep for the President; he should know better.' He states that he sends his subscription for your 'uncompromising paper' 'with great pleasure,' and adds, 'may his person be protected and his work prosper. Deliverance must come, though we know not the day, nor the hour.'

One cheering fact I find standing out in your last journal, viz, Mr. Seward having given a passport to Mr. GARNET, and thereby having indisputably established, on behalf of the present American Government, the manhood of the negro! This is a little streak of light, amidst all the darkness! There is one colored citizen of the States, at any rate!—I should fear this memorable his passport. If Hon. W. H. SEWARD would but come boldly out for freedom, what could he not effect with his clear head, generous sympathy and correct judgment! I mourn and deplore that he, of whose friendship I have been so proud, should at such a time take low ground, a give occasion to some of our leading public men to assert (and with just cause, too) that slavery has little or nothing to do with the present quarrel between the North and the South. While the acts of the Lincoln Cabinet amount to a repudiation of anti-slavery sentiments, how can the Northern people foolishly prate about want of sympathy and obtuseness of vision on the part of the British people? Were the war what we wish it to be—one of principle—the case would be far, FAR different, and a warm-hearted nation's sympathy would flow only to the people who fought for the freedom of the slaves, as well as for the slaves themselves.

My blood almost boils as I write, and in my mind contrast what the North is, and what it might be. But, you and I have to deal with things and people as they are, and to 'act in the living present,' my dear friend, 'Heart within, and God o'erhead.' While we 'labor' for the redemption of the bondman, we must learn also to 'wait.'

May God sustain you, and all my dear colored friends, preserving you from all danger,

Last edit 3 months ago by W. Kurtz
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and sparing you, if it be His gracious will, to see the day of freedom dawn on the four millions of poor oppressed ones, on whose behalf you have so long and so faithfully labored. With united kindest regards, I remain, as always,

Your friend, most truly,

JULIA G. CROFTS.

Last edit 5 months ago by Frederick Douglass Papers
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