I scarcely need tell the reader, that I did my _very best_ to imbue the minds of my dear friends with my own views and feelings.

Thoroughly awakened, now, and with a definite vow upon me, all my little reading, which had any bearing on the subject of human rights, was rendered available in my communications with my friends.

That (to me) gem of a book, the _Columbian Orator_, with its eloquent orations and spicy dialogues, denouncing oppression and slavery--telling of what had been dared, done and suffered by men, to obtain the inestimable boon of liberty--was still fresh in my memory, and whirled into the ranks of my speech with the aptitude of well trained soldiers, going through the drill.

The fact is, I here began my public speaking.

I canvassed, with Henry and John, the subject of slavery, and dashed against it the condemning brand of God's eternal justice, which it every hour violates.
My fellow servants were neither indifferent, dull, nor inapt.