"
Perhaps they are right. In Europe we see fortunes crippled by a
passion for statues, or for pictures, or for books, or for gems;
for all and every of the artificial wants that give grace to
life, and tend to make man forget that he is a thing of clay.
They are wiser in their generation on the other side the
Atlantic; I rarely saw any thing that led to such oblivion there.
Soon after Dr. Caldwell's departure, another lecturer appeared
upon the scene, whose purpose of publicly addressing the people
was no sooner made known, than the most violent sensation was
excited.
That a lady of fortune, family, and education, whose youth had
been passed in the most refined circles of private life, should
present herself to the people as a public lecturer, would
naturally excite surprise any where, and the nil admirari of the
old world itself, would hardly be sustained before such a
spectacle; but in America, where women are guarded by a seven-
fold shield of habitual insignificance, it caused an effect that
can hardly be described. "Miss Wright, of Nashoba, is going to
lecture at the court-house," sounded from street to street, and
from house to house. I shared the surprise, but not the wonder;
I knew her extraordinary gift of eloquence, her almost unequalled
command of words, and the wonderful power of her rich and
thrilling voice; and I doubted not that if it was her will to
do it, she had the power of commanding the attention, and
enchanting the ear of any audience before whom it was her
pleasure to appear.
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