ty for the firm and faithful maintenance of our
Christian testimony against oppression. We proceeded, the same evening,
to Amesbury, where the family of my friend and companion John G.
Whittier reside, in whose hospitable and tranquil retreat we remained
till the 25th. Here I found myself in a manufacturing district, and paid
a visit to a large woollen mill, and was much pleased with the
cleanliness and order displayed, and with the evident comfort and
prosperity of the working people, who are chiefly young women, none of
whom are admitted under sixteen years of age. Any person given to
intoxication would be instantly discharged. All the manufactories in
this place are joint-stock companies, and the mills are worked by water
power, of which there is an abundant supply.

I had agreed, on my return to Boston, to meet my abolition friends at a
tea party, and found an entertainment provided from the Marlborough
Hotel, in a large room adjoining one of the chapels, on a scale of great
profusion, a little to my disappointment, as I had anticipated one of a
social rather than of a public character, though I could not but feel
the kindness which it was intended to manifest. Charles Stewart Renshaw,
from Jamaica, was opportunely present, and his information on the state
of that Island added much interest to the evening, the proceedings of
which, I hope, gave pretty general satisfaction. In condescension to my
wish, my valued friend, Nathaniel Colver, suggested to the company to
dispense with the usual form of public prayer, and substitute an
interval of silence, after the reading of a portion of scripture, which
was kindly complied with.

Before leaving Boston, I had a long interview with William Lloyd
Garrison. His view of "women's rights" is so far a matter of conscience
with him, as to be made an indispensable term of union; yet though
widely differing on this, and other important points, we parted, I
trust, as we met, on personally friendly terms; and certainly on my part
with a desire to promote a spirit of forbearance, and with a deeper and
stronger conviction that the friends of the bleeding and oppressed
slave, should not spend their strength in unprofitable contention upon
points in regard to which both parties claim to act conscientiously,
while the common cause requires their undivided energies.

On the 28th I left Boston for the beautiful town of Worcester, about
forty miles distant, on the principal line of railway