It proved, as to its immediate effect, a great mistake, for my carefully studied and written address, full of learned quotations, fell dead at my feet, while a few remarks I made extemporaneously at collation, were enthusiastically received.
Reflecting on his experience giving a commencement address, Douglass contrasts the reception of his prepared speech with his extemporaneous remarks.
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More from Frederick Douglass
I wished it was possible I could remain small all my life, knowing that the sooner I grew large the shorter would be my time to remain with them.
We could not but believe that there existed at the South a latent and powerful Union sentiment which would assert itself at last.
The good to be sought and the evil to be shunned were flung in the balance and weighed against each other.
Treason had shot its poisonous roots deeper, and had spread its death-dealing branches further than any northern calculation had covered.