ors of this hall,[62] where
we are now assembled, opened to us, and here our fair was held,
with great success, during the remainder of the week. In the
stormiest seasons of our enterprise these saloons have never been
closed against anti-slavery meetings; and our fair of 1860 was
welcomed to them amidst the loud threatenings of a mob which were
seeking to appease the angry South, then just rising in open
rebellion against the United States Government. The experience of
those four days of December spent in these rooms will never be
forgotten by us. It was a season of trial, of rejoicing, and of
victory. The veterans of our cause, long accustomed to the
threats and the presence of mobs, found reason for rejoicing in
the courage and serenity with which the young recruits in our
ranks faced the peril of scenes so new to them, and proved their
faith in the principles of our cause and their devotion to the
right. Our victory was complete, our right of peaceful assemblage
maintained, without any active demonstration of hostility from
the indignant citizens who had fiercely resolved that the
Anti-Slavery Fair should be suppressed. Such demonstrations were,
doubtless, restrained by a knowledge of the fact that they would
be met by vigorous and effectual opposition by the Mayor of the
city, who, upon that occasion, as upon many other similar ones,
was faithful to the responsibility of his office.

In the year 1862 the nation was convulsed with the war consequent
upon the Southern Rebellion; our soldiers, wounded and dying in
hospitals and on battle-fields; claimed all possible aid from the
community; anti-slavery sentiments were spreading widely through
the North, and it was believed to be feasible and expedient to
obtain the funds needful for our enterprise by direct appeal to
the old and new friends of the cause. Therefore, our series of
fairs closed with the twenty-sixth, in December, 1861.

The money raised by this Society in various ways amounted to
about $35,000. Nearly the whole of this revenue has been expended
in disseminating the principles of our cause, by means of printed
documents and public lectures and discussions. In the earlier
years of this Society, a school for colored children, established
and taught by Sarah M. Douglass, was parti