Then the contrast between
the common, every-day aims they encountered, and the teachings of their
Eagleswood mentors, was forced upon them. Forgotten lessons of truth and
honesty and purity were remembered, and the wavering resolve was stayed
and strengthened; worldly expediency gave way before the magnanimous
purpose, cringing subserviency before independent manliness.
Then came the war. In 1862 Mrs. Weld published one of the most powerful
things she ever wrote,--"A Declaration of War on Slavery." We have not
the space to follow the course of the sisters' lives farther; and, were
it otherwise, the events narrated would be all too familiar. Sarah,
after a somewhat prolonged illness, died on the 23d of December, 1873,
at Hyde Park, Mass. The funeral services were conducted by the Rev.
Francis Williams, and eloquent remarks were made also by Wm. Lloyd
Garrison. On the 26th of October, 1879, Angelina passed quietly away,
and the last services were in keeping with the record of the life then
commemorated. We close this writing with a passage from the remarks
which Wendell Phillips made on that occasion. No words could possibly
be more touching or more eloquent:--
When I think of Angelina there comes to me the picture of the spotless
dove in the tempest, as she battles with the storm, seeking for some
place to rest her foot.
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