I was the chief of sinners.  Blushing, and confusion of face were mine, and I thought the walls of a prison would have been preferable to such an exposure.  Then, again, to have my name, not so much my name as the name of Grimke, associated with that of the despised Garrison, seemed like bringing disgrace upon my family, not myself alone.  I felt as though the name had been tarnished in the eyes of thousands who had before loved and revered it.  I cannot describe the anguish of my soul Nevertheless, I could not blame the publication of the letter, nor would I have recalled it if I could.

“My greatest trial is the continued opposition of my precious sister Sarah.  She thinks I have been given over to blindness of mind, and that I do not know light from darkness, right from wrong.  Her grief is that I cannot see it was wrong in me ever to have written the letter at all, and she seems to think I deserve all the suffering I have brought upon myself.”

We approach now the most interesting period in the lives of the two sisters.  A new era was about to dawn upon them; their quiet, peaceful routine was to be disturbed; a path was opening for them, very different from the one which had hitherto been indicated, and for which their long and painful probation had eminently prepared them.  Angelina was the first to see it, the first to venture upon it, and for a time she travelled it alone, unsustained by her beloved sister, and feeling herself condemned by all her nearest friends.

CHAPTER XI.

All through the winter of 1835-36, demonstrations of violence continued to be made against the friends of emancipation throughout the country.  The reign of terror inaugurated in 1832 threatened to crush out the grandest principles of our Constitution.  Freedom of press and speech became by-words, and personal liberty was in constant danger.  A man or woman needed only to be pointed out as an abolitionist to be insulted and assaulted.  No anti-slavery meetings could be held uninterrupted by the worst elements of rowdyism, instigated by men in high position.  In vain the authorities were appealed to for protection; they declared their inability to afford it.  The few newspapers that dared to express disapproval of such disregard of the doctrine of equal rights were punished by the withdrawal of subscriptions and advertisements, while the majority of the public press teemed with the vilest slanders against the noble men and women who, in spite of mobs and social ostracism, continued to sow anti-slavery truths so diligently that new converts were made every day, and the very means taken to impose upon public opinion enlightened it more and more.[3]