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NOVEMBER, 1861 DOUGLASS' MONTHLY. 549

TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ROCHESTER LADIES' ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.

OFFICERS FOR THE YEARS 1861-62.

Mrs. C. E. MARSH, President; Mrs. McLEAN, Vice President; MARIA G. PORTER, Treasurer; A. M. C. BARNES, Secretary; Directresses—Mrs. E. SNOW, Mrs. LAING, Mrs. E. TIPPETS, Mrs. D. SLIE.

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

In preparing a Report of the year, the Secretary feels that there is very little to record: it has been one of such unusual political and financial circumstances, that the various means used in former years for raising money and disseminating anti-slavery doctrines, have been unsuited to the times, or dangerous in execution.

During the Fall, while the Southern bravado was at its height, "Compromise" was the cry of the North, and mob spirit (the child of "Compromise") was rampant in the land. A meeting, held in our city for the furtherance of the cause, had been broken up, and it was deemed best to five up a sale for which arrangements has been made. Through the winter, the season for Lectures, the same spirit prevailed, and the Society made no effort to have any speakers. When the Southern Rebellion really showed its face in the cowardly attack on Fort Sumter, the tide of feeling changed, and anti-slavery sentiments were on every lip. The season for a successful sale had gone by, and the ladies of the Society, with their sister all over the North, were busy fitting out Volunteers. The War—an anti-slavery war as they regard it—was first in their hearts. The meetings of the Society have been less regularly attended, and very little work has been accomplished. Private sales have been made during the year, but from our own efforts very little has been added to the funds of the Society.

Our foreign friends have proved themselves friends indeed by their faithful and constant efforts in our behalf; and to them we owe nearly all our power to carry on the great work of the Society--the aid of fugitives. A large number have been helped on their way during the year, and some clothing furnished to those in need.

We have gratefully to acknowledge the kind exertions of Mr. WM. S. FALLS, of this city, in collecting moneys for the aid of fugitives, having by his own efforts, at various time during the year, raised over fifty dollars, which have been paid out to the hapless victims of our "peculiar institution," while on their way to freedom in Canada.

A donation was made to Mr. WM. S. BAILEY, proprietor of "The Free South" of Newport, Kentucky, to assist in reestablishing his printing press, which had been destroyed by a mob. Also, a donation to Mr. HIRAM WILSON, of St. Catherines, C. W., to be devoted to the comfort of such fugitives as reached him in want.

The "Frederick Douglass' Paper" has been aided as usual.

The public feeling now would make the holding of a Bazaar safe, but the War is such a drain on the resources of the people, and the utter stagnation of all kinds of business, would make it useless to attempt anything of the kind at present. It was proposed to make a box of goods for the coming sale in England, but the home work for Volunteers has occupied the ladies to the exclusion of everything else, and we have but to hope that the day when our work will be the elevation of a free people, instead of the liberation of a nation enslaved, is rapidly approaching.— And that however little it may be in the plans of politicians, the spirit of the men who make our armies, and that of those who work at home to give them support, will sweep from the land not only the hydra, Secession, but the fouler, blacker, blot of Slavery.

To us, the first shell that fell upon Sumter sounded the death-knell of Slavery; and though saddened by a defeat in the one great clashing of our armies, our faith is unshaken in the ultimate end. The slave system may struggle for a while; it may and will find advocates in the North; "Compromise" may again rear its head for its defence, but it must die. Its end is made more sure by every Northern success; and its death-groans come to us in the voice of the People, which every day becomes more distinct in its enunciation: "The root of rebellion is Slavery." And may God in his good Providence hasten the day which shall at once free our beloved country from Slavery and from War!

MRS. C.E. MARSH, Pres't.
A. M. C. BARNES, Sec'y.
ROCHESTER, October, 1861.

TREASURER'S REPORT.

By credit, Fugitives, | $341 75
" [[ditto for: By credit,]] Frederick Douglass, | 75 00
" [[ditto for: By credit,]] Printing and Postage, 16 37
" [[ditto for: By credit,]] Express,| 2 00
" [[ditto for: By credit,]] Mr. Bailey, | 25 00
" [[ditto for: By credit,]]Working Materials, | 27 88
By Balance in Treasury, | 671 31
- | $1,159 31
MARIA G. PORTER, Treasurer.

The following are the names of the various Foreign Societies which have made us donations during the part year, the amount of which is embodied in the Treasurer's Report:

Clogher Anti-Slavery Society, | £10 0 0
Montrose " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 6 0 0
Birmingham " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 3 1 0
Liverpool " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 5 0 0
Berwick-on-Tweed " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 5 0 0
Aberdeen " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 5 0 0
Bristol " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 4 0 0
Chelmsford " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 3 10 0
Doncaster " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 5 9 0
Breechin " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 4 14 0
Edinburgh " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 5 0 0
Sheffield " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 6 0 0
Dalkeith " " [[dittos for: Anti-Slavery Society,]] | 3 0 0

LETTER FROM THE OLD WORLD----NO.LXXVII

THE CROFTS, near STRATFORD-ON-AVON, Sept. 21.

MY DEAREST FRIEND:—I have dispatched epistles to you from the regions of BURNS, the home of BYRON, and the land of SCOTT, but never until now, from Shakespearian regions. I know you visited Warwick Castle, and Kenilworth Castle some years ago, but I do not think you ever made a pilgramage to the birthplace of the bard of Avon, or saw the spot where all that is mortal of an immortal poet peacefully rests, (and undisturbed shall rest,) until the resurrection morn shall dawn; for what defiant hand dare remove the stone on which is inscribed the ominous words:

"Good Friend! for Jesus' sake forbeare
To digg the dust enclosed here;
Blest is the man that spares these bones,
But CURST is he that moves these stones."

Whether or not the above inscription was written by SHAKSPEARE himself, or by a friend of his, appears left in doubt—the fact remains that, in the chancel of the venerable church of Stratford, which rises on the banks of the winding Avon, beneath a ponderous stone, inscribed as above, with his wife, ANN HATHAWAY, by his side, lie the mortal remains of our SHAKSPEARE, THE WORLD'S SHAKSPEARE, and that hither people throngs from every country and every clime, and will continue to do so while the English language lasts.

It is long ago since I first visited the pretty little town of Stratford, and stood for the first time, in the room where SHAKSPEARE was born. I have travelled many thousand miles since then, looked on many scenes of intense interest, and visited many shrines of the great and the good, but I can distinctly recall to memory my sensations on first entering that little chamber, and on first standing on that last resting place. Since then the house has been purchased by the Shakspearian Society, which Society, it is much to be regretted, did not spring into existence years ago, before that surly tenant occupied the dwelling, who cut down SHAKSPEARE'S mulberry tree, and did his best to destroy the house! Shame on him, whoever he was!—The few tables and chairs in the rooms, tho' of ancient date, are not those of SHAKSPEARE'S time. Every inch of the walls, the ceiling, and the window is covered, crossed, and recrossed with the names of the people who have been here. I never saw but one other room so lined with signatures—that was the room in which BURNS first saw the light. Some of the most famous names have been lost by those small people, who have been eager to transcribe their unknown names largely.— Thus, BYRON, MOORE, WELLINGTON, WASHINGTON IRVING are swallowed up and seen no more! Happily, Sir WALTER SCOTT'S name, (written by himself on a pane of glass in the chamber window,) thus far is apparent and highly prized, I understand. "You've seen the painting in the back room, of course?' (said the good lady, who now is appointed to show the house.) I had not even heard of this portrait, and was, therefore, as much astonished as delighted to find myself opposite to a likeness of SHAKSPEARE, at once so noble and so attractive that I cannot doubt its being a genuine portrait of him. "Where did it come from?" "Who was the artist?" were, of course my questions, and more easily asked than answered. The value of the painting

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