Lydia Maria Child, Letters of Lydia Maria Child
John Greenleaf Whittier, Wendell Phillips, Harriet Winslow Sewall, Ed.

[249] House, was present with a large number of his slaveholding guests, who had come to Boston to make their annual purchases of the merchants. Their presence seemed to inspire Mr. Thompson. Never, even from his eloquent lips, did I hear such scathing denunciations of slavery. The exasperated Southerners could not contain their wrath. Their lips were tightly compressed, their hands clenched; and now and then a muttered curse was audible. Finally, one of them shouted, “If we had you down South, we'd cut off your ears.” Mr. Thompson folded his arms in his characteristic manner, looked calmly at the speaker, and replied, “Well, sir, if you did cut off my ears, I should still cry aloud, ‘ he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.’ ”

Meanwhile my heart was thumping like a sledgehammer, for, before the speaking began, Samuel J. May had come to me and said in a very low tone, “Do you see how the walls are lined by stout truckmen, brandishing their whips? They are part of a large mob around the entrance in Federal Street, employed by the Southerners to seize George Thompson and carry him to a South Carolina vessel in waiting at Long Wharf. A carriage with swift horses is at the door, and these Southerners are now exulting in the anticipation of lynching him. But behind that large green curtain at the back of the platform there is a door leading to the chamber of a warehouse. We have the key to that door, which leads to a rear entrance of the building on Milk Street. There the abolitionists have stationed a carriage with swift horses and a colored driver, who of course will do his best for George Thompson. Now as soon as Mr. Thompson ceases speaking, we want the anti-slavery women ”