y pardon those who have denounced me as ambitious and
presumptuous, in view of my persistence in this enterprise. I was but
nine years from slavery. In point of mental experience, I was but nine
years old. That one, in such circumstances, should aspire to establish
a printing press, among an educated people, might well be considered,
if not ambitious, quite silly. My American friends looked at me with
astonishment! "A wood-sawyer" offering himself to the public as an
editor! A slave, brought up in the very depths of ignorance, assuming to
instruct the highly civilized people of the north in the principles of
liberty, justice, and humanity! The thing looked absurd. Nevertheless,
I{306} persevered. I felt that the want of education, great as it was,
could be overcome by study, and that knowledge would come by experience;
and further (which was perhaps the most controlling consideration).
I thought that an intelligent public, knowing my early history, would
easily pardon a large share of the deficiencies which I was sure that
my paper would exhibit. The most distressing thing, however, was the
offense which I was about to give my Boston friends, by what seemed to
them a reckless disregard of their sage advice. I am not sure that I
was not under the influence of something like a slavish adoration of my
Boston friends, and I labored hard to convince them of the wisdom of
my undertaking, but without success. Indeed, I never expect to succeed,
although time has answered all their original objections. The paper
has been successful. It is a large sheet, costing eighty dollars per
week--has three thousand subscribers--has been published regularly
nearly eight years--and bids fair to stand eight years longer. At any
rate, the eight years to come are as full of promise as were the eight
that are past.

It is not to be concealed, however, that the maintenance of such a
journal, under the circumstances, has been a work of much difficulty;
and could all the perplexity, anxiety, and trouble attending it, have
been clearly foreseen, I might have shrunk from the undertaking. As it
is, I rejoice in having engaged in the enterprise, and count it joy to
have been able to suffer, in many ways, for its success, and for the
success of the cause to which it has been faithfully devoted. I look
upon the time, money, and labor bestowed upon it, as being amply
rewarded, in the development of my own mental and moral energies, and in
the correspondin