competent teachers, and the proper application of the educational fund, all of which needed immediate and careful attention. For three years he continued in this position, and then, like a true pioneer, retired to let other men till the field he had prepared for service. The masses were not fully prepared to adopt at once all the suggestions he offered, but he lived long enough to see them all put in force, and to feel that Ohio, though but a younger sister of the confederation, had a system of education second to none, and of which she had good reason to be proud. A sketch like this affords no room for detail; but we think enough has been given to show that the title of "Father of Common Schools in Ohio," was an honor bravely won and richly deserved.

Great and widely spread as were the results of his labors in the cause of education, the events of the last twenty years of his life show him in a still brighter light. The soil on which he dwelt, dedicated to freedom from its earliest history, was yet to be a grand battle-ground for the slave-power. Although "the peculiar institution" found no entrance, its supporters demanded that discussion of its merits should be entirely prohibited, and found sympathizers enough in the residents of Ohio, who determined the demand should be obeyed. It would be useless here to repeat the reasoning with which they urged their cause; the argument, if argument it can be called, was not peculiar to Ohio, and is ever the same shallow, flimsy pretext which the humblest child of liberty is able to refute. Had the question rested upon reason, Samuel Lewis would hardly have been known as the advocate of freedom; but when force was used to compel submission, he came lustily to the help of the weak against the mighty, and rested not till the victory was won.

In 1836 the Philanthropist, an anti-slavery paper, was published in Cincinnati. Its editor, a southern man who had emancipated his slaves, and taken up his residence in a northern state, thoroughly acquainted with the bearings of the subject, dealt trenchant blows against the abominable system. Its articles were not, perhaps, so smooth as might have been desired, and unpleasant truths were told in a plain straightforward way that made them doubly disagreeable; but as neither logic nor facts could be got rid of, it was resolved to expel the intruder by a process more summary than those of the law are wont to be, and the press and type of the Philanthropist found a resting-place beneath the placid waters of the Ohio. Never was a greater mistake made. A mob is a fearful thing anywhere, but especially in a republic, where the execution of the laws rests upon the will of the citizens. In vain the daily press exultingly told the story of its destruction; in vain meetings were

held, and resolutions denouncing its incendiary character were passed; in vain its opponents openly approved its demolition, and threatened worse treatment should attempt be made for its restoration; the fact that the majesty of the law had been violated, private rights invaded, and personal liberty endangered, was too palpable to be overlooked, and the florid rhetoric had little other effect than to draw the attention of thinking men to the subject. Need we say the paper was re-established on a firmer basis, and, though again and again mob-law was put in force against it, held its ground till its work was done and its mission accomplished.

Among those whom these occurrences directed to a careful consideration of slavery and its associations, Samuel Lewis was one of the most prominent. Hitherto he had regarded it as a leprosy peculiar to the South, and with which he had little or nothing to do. Indeed, at that time, none professedly regretted its existence more than those upon whom it was fastened, and he would have dismissed all idea of outside influence being brought to bear on him, a citizen of a free state, as a fantasy at once insulting to that state's sovereignty and to himself; but the truth soon became apparent that a battle was to be fought, and as neither in his New England education nor in his career at the West had he learned to yield when right was on his side, he boldly buckled on his armor and entered upon the contest.

The arrogance with which the apologists of slavery asserted their demands was not likely to find much favor with the sturdy freemen of the West. Accustomed to regard the Declaration of Independ ence as the magna charta of their rights, it is not surprising that they watched with jealous care every move of those who seemed bent on violating its principles. Hitherto they had been engaged in the cause of humanity, and while they demanded the separation of the general government from slavery, and urged the inconsistency of setting ourselves up as the champions of liberty while the clank of the slave-gang fetters was a familiar sound in our national city, they at the same time fully recognized the right of each state to regulate its own domestic affairs, and only endeavored, by argument and suasion, to induce those holding slaves to provide for their emancipation, and join the free states in their onward march. Now, however, it was self-preservation that nerved their arms and stirred all their energies. Their enemies, confident in their numbers and in their strength, pressed them on all sides, and, forgetful that the battle is not always to the strong, expected an easy victory.

For years the South had been advancing its claims and occupying the chief position in the government, lamenting with hypocritical

countenance the misery it had been compelled to endure by the imposition in early years of negro servitude. While the men of the North, ashamed of no labor which brought an adequate return, had explored new territories and founded new states, spreading the arts of civilization far into the wilderness, and opening an asylum for the overworked and underpaid millions of the Old World, those of the South had been fattening on the spoils of office, which they looked upon as their sole heritage. Emboldened by the quiet habits and rustic manners of the free-state citizens, the chivalrous lords of the slave states, who, professing to be the embodiment of American refinement and honor, did not hesitate to steal the hardearned wages of their servants, or shrink from flogging a woman, threw away the mask and showed their true designs. The right of petition denied in the national councils, the harsh interdiction of all discussion of the subject, the murder of some, as of Lovejoy in Illinois, who were so contumacious as to disregard their commands, the destruction of public presses, and the importation of ruffians to parade the streets of those cities of the free states which bordered on slave territory, if it did not give evidence of concerted action, yet showed most plainly the extent of the feeling, and the necessity of an urgent defense, if the rights of freemen were to be of any value. Various were the weapons used in this crusade against liberty; the power of the Church was brought to bear upon it, and so fearful were the ecclesiastical authorities of those ruptures that afterward did occur, that its severest censures were hurled at those of its ministers who lent their aid to the cause, and they found themselves in great danger not only of being sent to Coventry, but to a place more renowned for its heat than agreeableness, so far as Church anathema could accomplish the object.

It was at this time that Samuel Lewis fully identified himself as an antislavery man, and won the then most degrading title of Abolitionist. He did not pledge himself to independent political action till convinced there was no other way to reach the goal. All parties, eager to propitiate the South, turned a deaf ear to their entreaties, and neither Whig nor Democrat would have accepted their alliance. Sacrifices of no ordinary nature were, made by Lewis in thus defining his position; his political friends were men of standing and influence, his popularity unbounded, and honors, the very highest in the power of the state to bestow, seemed to beg his acceptance; but he threw them all aside for the sake of doing right, and freely cast his lot with those who had taken refuge beneath the canopy of freedom. From this time he entered on a new sphere. Deserted by old friends, and treated as a very pariah of society, new

associations were to be formed; yet he never regretted the step, nor faltered in the high resolve he had taken.

His first public address on the subject of slavery took place in 1841, at a convention held in Cincinnati over which he was called to preside. The school system, now in successful operation, needed not his energy and care, so that nothing called him from the duty of preserving the liberties of the state. His arguments were for the most part calm and dispassionate, though he well knew how to mingle invective and pathos in his appeals. His illustrations were such as the commonest rank of mind could comprehend, and always terse and to the point. Comparisons were easily instituted; across the river lay a noble state; she had the advantage of age, climate, and fertility, yet her northern sister had taken the third place in the Union, and still Kentucky dragged slowly along, blessed with a thousand blessings, all overshadowed and neutralized by the one great curse, involuntary servitude. The deduction was inevitable, and scarce needed the mighty force with which he sent the arrow home.

In September of this same year occurred another scene of violence. Goaded by the unceasing attacks of the friends of liberty, a story of some boys maltreated by negroes was whispered about and soon filled all ears, and a fearful riot was the consequence. The rabble of the opposite villages, Covington and Newport, joined in the cry, and crossed the river to assist in the outrages. The negro quarter was regularly besieged, but driven to desperation a stubborn defense was made, and the rioters were forced to retire three blocks in utter defeat; nor did the mob succeed in their efforts till a cannon had been planted at the entrance of the street, and several rounds fired. The press of the Philanthropist again found a home at the bottom of the river, and by request of the governor, who hurried to the scene, all male negroes were taken to the jail for safety. For days anarchy took possession of the Queen City, and the remembrance of that period's disgrace did much toward opening the eyes of the inhabitants to the true spirit of slavery. Not an antislavery man was frightened from the path, and such as Samuel Lewis only. planted their feet the firmer that they might the better resist the force of the current. As on the seas, when the gale blows the hardest, the waves seem to gather in a mighty effort to submerge the gallant ship which rides unharmed upon their foaming crests, and bursting upon it, strike with fearful force, only to find themselves broken and raging in its wake, so these billows of popular fury spent their strength in vain, while the bark of freedom sailed on to brighter skies and calmer seas.

We have no space to go into the history of the movement. A separate political action having been determined on, nominations were made and resolutely supported. Samuel Lewis was nominated first for Congress and then for governor, and passed through both campaigns with unabated vigor, though without the slightest probability of success. Meetings were held in the market-places, and many who were drawn thither by curiosity remained to hear, charmed with the eloquence of this dauntless candidate. The vote seemed ridiculously small, yet the little party kept their place at the polls, boldly asserting their rights as citizens and freemen. Who shall despair of doing his duty when we contemplate the result? Having put his hands to the plow he was not the man to turn back; difficulties only nerved him to renewed action, and his labors knew no bounds but physical inability. The noble edifices, built by his diligence, and in which thousands of children enjoyed the advantages of his system, were at once monuments to his services and witnesses to his patriotism, and to them he could proudly point when demagogues slandered his character or assailed the purity of his motives. Each new demand of oppression met in him a determined foe, and he lived long enough to know that Ohio had taken a noble position among her sister states, from which she should depart nevermore. He lived to see the principles advocated by the Philanthropist avowed and promulgated by the daily press in terms far exceeding in severity those which had made it the victim of popular vengeance. He lived to see Ohio so free that a fugitive was as safe within her borders as in the brave old state from which he emigrated; and on the 28th of July, 1854, he ended his work and went hence in peace.

Dead, his virtues were at once recognized; eulogies were pronounced by all parties, and it was felt that a man had fallen; but the best and truest record that can be given of him is, that he was an honest man, a valiant soldier for the right, and a true lover of his country.