The Ladies' Fair

The proposed Anti-Slavery Fair was held on Thursday, the 22d of December. The choice of that day was accidental; but it was a pleasant and appropriate manner of celebrating the Anniversary of the Pilgrims. The convenient and well-lighted hall called the Artist's Gallery, was duly prepared for our reception, and we had not the slightest reason to complain of reluctance or want of courtesy on the part of the proprietor. The Hall was filled with visitors at an early hour, and continued full until late in the evening. Very many of these were not abolitionists, but belonged to a large and increasing class of the community, who have been strongly abolitionized by Anti-Slavery efforts. Not a few of the wives and daughters of 'gentlemen of property and standing' were among the purchasers. A piece of the old oak of the Constitution was offered for sale; and we regretted that we had not placed beside it the relics of the Anti-Slavery Sign, destroyed by a Patrician Mob in 1834.

Around the Hall was placed in large letters the motto: 'On this day did our FATHERS land on the ROCK OF FREEDOM; let us stand firmly on this Rock.'

The cake-table was loaded with varieties of cake, made of sugar not manufactured by slaves, and near it was placed the motto, FREE LABOR, One of our friends sent a jar of deliciously fresh Grapes, and a dozen Pomegranites, accompanied by a very pleasant note, expressing the hope that 'the enslaved children of Africa might soon be enabled to sit under their own vine and fig-tree, with none to molest or make them afraid.'

There was great variety in the articles, and many of them were very handsome and tasteful. The ladies have ever regarded the pecuniary benefit derived from these sales as but one of several reasons in their favor. The main object is to keep the subject before the public eye, and by every innocent expedient to promote perpetual discussion. We wish to bring Truth and Falsehood in continual juxtaposition, for we know full well that 'truth never came off the worse in a fair and open encounter.'

To promote this favorite object, various mottoes and devices were stamped upon the articles offered for sale. Bunches of quills bore the label, 'Twenty-five Weapons for Abolitionists.' On the wafer-boxes was written, 'The doom of Slavery is sealed.' On one side of the pen-wipers was inscribed, 'Wipe out the blot of Slavery;' on the other, 'Plead the cause with thy Pen.' On some needle-books was printed, 'May the use of our needles prick the consciences of slaveholders;' others were made in the form of small shoes, and on the soles was written, 'Trample not on the Oppressed.' Some watch-cases bore the inscription, 'The political economist counts time by years, the suffering slave reckons it by minutes;' on others was written, 'The greatest friend of Truth is Time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice.' Small silken bags of perfume, for bureau drawers, bore the motto, 'The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.' The iron-holders were marked,
'Anti-Slave-Holders.' Small hearts cut from a knot of white oak were called, 'Hearts of Oak for Abolitionists.' A cradle-quilt was made of patch-work in small stars; and on the central star was written with indelible ink;

'Mother! when around your child
You clasp your arms in love,
And when with grateful joy you raise
Your eyes to God above—
Think of the negro-mother,
When her child is torn away—
Sold for a little slave— oh, then,
For that poor mother pray!'

Ornamental stands for alumets, to light candles, bore the motto, 'LIGHT, whether material or moral, is the best of all Reformers.' Book-marks of various colored ribbons were printed with sentences similar to the following: 'Speak the Truth in Love;' 'Remember those in Bonds.' There were some very handsome Contribution-boxes, of bronzed copper: they were surmounted by a kneeling slave; on one side was the open Bible, and the rays that emanated from it were melting the links of a chain; on the other side was inscribed the motto, 'God loveth a cheerful giver.' The candy, and various other articles of confectionary for children, were wrapped in paper, on which were printed the following verses:

Come, little ones! for the sweets ye see,
Were made by the labor of the FREE;
And freely to-day ye may partake,
Even for the toil-worn bondman's sake!

For the price you pay perchance may save
From the cruel scourge some tortured slave:—
(Your friends will explain how a single cent
May cause the steeled heart to relent.)

And year after year, as Christmas comes,
With its papers of pleasant sugar-plums,
Ever be careful to enquire
Respecting the fact of the LABORER'S HIRE.

Work-bags were manufactured in commemoration of little Med's case, decided by Judge Shaw, in a manner so honorable to himself and his country. On one side was the representation of a Slave kneeling before the figure of Justice; underneath, these sentences were printed in golden letters: 'Slavery was abolished in Massachusetts, by the adoption of the Bill of Rights as a part of the Constitution, A.D. 1780.' Slavery says of this law, 'Lo, 'tis cold and dead, and will not harm me.' Anti-Slavery replies, 'But with my breath I can revive it!' Then follows, 'The adjudication on the case of a slave brought into Massachusetts from another State, fifty-six years afterward, Aug. 26, A.D. 1836.' On the other side of the bag, the Arms of Massachusetts surmount the following lines:

'Old Massachusetts yet
Retains her earlier fires!
Still on our hills are set
The altars of our sires!

Our 'fierce democracies'
Have yet their strength unshorn!
And giant power shall see
Its Gaza-gates uptorn.'

August 26, A.D. 1836,

There was a small 'Thermometer of the Heart,' fastened upon a pillar of white sugar. The glass tube was filled with rose-colored spirits of wine, which rose with the warmth of the hand. The scale from freezing point upward was thus graduated:

The ladies wish to return their warm acknowledgments to friends in neighboring towns, and to several gentlemen for their kind donations and active assistance. Among these gentlemen we would gratefully remember John E. Fuller, Orra Goss, and John C. Smith. DONATIONS—

East Bradford, $23,75; Lynn, $50; Amesbury, $5; Bedford, $37; Hingham, $6; Andover, $13; Haverhill, $20; Reading, in money, $5; 2 Ladies from Washington, D.C., $2; South Weymouth, $7,08; Weymouth, 6,28; Juvenile
Anti-Slavery Sewing Circle, $25,61; Cambridge-port, $38.

The amount of money received was $550;* and the next morning the ladies paid all that remained of their pledge of one thousand dollars to the Massachusetts Society!

L.M.C