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Bridport Dorsetshire March 25th 1865
My dear Mr Douglass
It is an immense time since we have either heard from you or written to you—I have thought many times that I would have a little chat with you, & there it has ended;—now I am resolved not to delay any longer, but to tell you a little of our life & movements for the last few months, in the hope of extracting a reply from you, & some accounts of your much more exciting life & doings since we last heard from you. Of course we now & then hear of you through the Papers—& were extremely interested with the report of your visit to Baltimore, & your meeting with your sisters.—you must both have been children when you parted—how much you must each have had to tell & hear—what an intensely exciting time it must have been!
In spite of all drawbacks and shortcomings what rapid progress has been made in the last two or three years by both your Government & people on the subject of freedom for the Negroes—I suppose we may all hope now to see the —end of slavery,—& that before many years have passed,—and then (as indeed now) the great subject of interest will be the condition of the freed-people, their education & preparation for the freedom so long withheld.—I am sure you will be working and living for this object as you have always done for the good of your race in whatever way seemed open to you. The accounts of the freed people—their readiness to work steadily for fair wages,— & their eagerness for education are most interesting. We have been thinking chiefly of these people for the last few weeks, & trying to interest our friends in this neighbourhood about them—Mr Carpenter gave a lecture here on their condition a short time ago, in order to stir people up to do something for them—The subject is almost new to the people here, so they really wanted enlightenment as well as stimulus & I think the lecture did good.—I believe we posted a paper with a report of it to you,—not to enlighten you—but to show you that we have not lost interest in the welfare of the Colored people—We have collected money & materials from friends at Bridport & elsewhere, & I hope that next week we shall send off boxes of clothing worth between £35 & £40. We think of sending to the Philadelphia Society of Friends, & I hope we shall soon hear of the safe arrival of our box—There are now such good arrangements made for facilitating the sending of help to the freed people that I suppose there is no danger of its going wrong but last year we took a great deal of trouble to get a box sent freely from Halifax—& thro' some mistake it was delayed at New York for months—indeed we have only lately known that it has reached it destination—Our Halifax friends are now busy preparing clothing for the same object. Your friend Mrs. J. Smithson (Miss Morris of Manchester) has taken the office of Secretary to the Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society at Halifax in my place. She is a clear sensible woman, & I hope will not let them go to sleep!
But I have not told you of our removal from Halifax.—About six months ago Mr. Carpenter received a very cordial invitation from the Unitarian Congn in this place to become their Minister. We were very comfortable at Halifax & had no reason to suppose that any wish was felt for a change amongst our friends there but I had always felt a good deal the separation, from my own family,- & when this opportunity offered of settling again in their midst (comparatively speaking) I felt strongly drawn to the plan. Bridport is quite a small town on the coast of Dorsetshire— the congregation here is of about the same size as the one we left at Halifax, & is a more important one in proportion to others in the town—both as to numbers & the social position of its members. We have seen very nice people cultivated & wealthy, & a good many intelligent men & women of the working class. I think we shall find plenty to do here—& I hope that Mr. Carpenter will not find it very dull after the life & stir of the West Riding. I have already enjoyed an exchange of visits with my mother & sisters since we came here which we could not have had in Yorkshire—the older we get the more we feel drawn to our early friends. I think we are now within 20 miles of my eldest sister's home with whom my mother lives in the country—& we are com near to both Bridgwater and Bristol compared with the distance from Halifax. Whenever you come to England you must come & stay with us of course,—I wonder when that time will be. The neighborhood of Bridport is very pretty, & our house, a large and not very convenient one, is within two miles of the sea.—We hope to find a house that will suit us better some day, but we may have long to wait for it as the Bridport builders are not very enterprising, & houses are very scarce. We are in a wide street, but at our front door can see the hills at each end of the street & from our upper windows have a view of the sea.
We were very sorry on many accounts to leave Halifax, where we had many kind friends & many to whom we were much attached, especially
amongst the poor—but you know the saying "blood is thicker than water["]—& we were very much isolated from both our families and I don't think we shall ever regret the change.
Our brother Philip Carpenter intends to go to Canada in May with the idea of settling there if, after spying the land, he finds any suitable home & opening; in that case his wife and adopted son will follow in the course of the summer.
I must congratulate you on your new dignity as Grandpapa, I hope the little Annie thrives! I am sure she will contribute not a little to your happiness. I hope that you will soon write & tell us something of your present position & occupations.—Are you in any office under the Government, or what are you doing? how & where are your sons?
Miss Carpenter of Bristol is staying with us She has lately published a rather large work on "Our Convicts,"—& since that has been interesting & exerting herself a good deal about the establishment of a Working Men's Institute at Bristol,—& has quite overdone herself, & needs rest & change, so she came to us to be very quiet & out of the way of business, which always besets her in Bristol. She was much pleased with the beautiful photograph of you wch you gave me, & wch hangs over the dining room chimney piece—& Mr Carpenter has written to the Glasgow photographer to send us another copy, which we think will be an acceptable gift to his sister on her birthday i.e. next Monday. I shall be very sorry if we cannot get it—but the artist is sure I think to have preserved the negative.
With affectionate remembrances in which Mr. & Miss Carpenter join me I remain dear Mr. Douglass very sincerely your friend
Mary Carpenter
