FREDERICK DOUGLASS                       7




                          II
          FREDERICK DOUGLASS AT SPRINGFIELD, MO.

             A PIECE OF UNWRITTEN HISTORY.

    At the close of The World's Columbian Exposition at
Chicago in the fall of 1893, Frederick Douglass, who repre-
sented the Haytian Government as its Commissioner, was
urgently invited by the people from all sections of the coun-
try to deliver addresses. People who had not heard him for
nearly a half century, and the thousands who had heard him
on all sorts of occasions during the life of the Exposition,
were alike eager to hear the man who had no equal in forensic
power. During the whole of those interesting six months on
the Exposition grounds he was the popular hero. He was
wonderfully interesting both to look upon and to listen to.
Though past seventy years, he seemed to be rejuvenated by
the glorious panorama of the civilized world so gloriously
epitomized on the shores of Lake Michigan.
    Except for his whitened hair, there was nothing to sug--
gest that he was a battle-scared hero of more than fifty years
of strenuous warfare for the rights of men. His step was
alert and strong. His carriage was as erect as an army officer,
his manner buoyant and his speech as clear, resonant and
magnetic, as it was in the 50's. To the credit of all classes
of people, who visited the Fair Grounds, Mr. Douglass was




			

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 23, Num. 1

Frederick Douglass at Springfield, Mo.

Laing

Volume:  23
Issue Number:  01
Page Number:  07
Date:  07/1906