' That vow, never recanted or
forgotten, became the text of his life. It interprets all his
vagaries and reconciles what else were hopeless inconsistencies.
It was a devout obsession which made him a wanderer all his days,
and in the end carried him to prison and to death. To a child a
great call had come, and a child's voice had replied, 'Speak,
Lord, Thy servant heareth.' And ears and heart tingled at
messages that seemed to come from the Unseen.
CHAPTER III
THE LONG WAITING-TIME
For over thirty years did this man both 'hope and quietly wait
for the salvation of the Lord' to come for the slaves of his
land. The interval is full of interest for those who care to
watch the development of a life-purpose. Only for three, or four
years was he destined to figure in the eyes of the world. Those
years, as we shall hereafter see, were crowded with events; but
for a generation he felt an abiding conviction of impending
destiny.
There is something fateful about the constant indications of this
spirit of readiness. His commercial pursuits were multifarious,
but none of them was greatly successful. At Hudson, Ohio, till
1825, and afterwards at Richmond, Pennsylvania, he was tanner,
land-surveyor, and part of the time postmaster.
Pages:
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32