Frederick Douglass: “Alexander, a Democrat, and, I believe, once a slaveholder, had not only the courage, but the magnanimity to give me fair…”

It was in the air, and men breathed it and were permeated by it, often when they were quite unconscious of its presence.

But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause.

A son of toil himself, he was linked in brotherly sympathy with the sons of toil in every loyal part of the republic.

The friendless and hungry boy, in his extremest need, found himself in the strong protecting arms of his mother.