AMERICAN JOURNEY. 



[Chap. V. 



to her unobtrusive nature, and she would only accept it as 

 the Channing Home* Philip had a deep religious sympathy 

 with the spirit she displayed. They both felt great delight in 

 good Cardinal Cheverus, whose Memoir was published in 

 Philip's boyhood. The Cathedral where he ministered was 

 very near Dr. Channing's church, and Philip made a pilgrimage 

 to see the altar which he built, and the pulpit where he 

 preached. He called on his successor, who had been a poor 

 Irish boy brought up in the common schools of Boston, and 

 saw the portrait of Cheverus. They had a good deal of con- 

 versation on slavery, which the Bishop stoutly defended. 



Among those whom he most wanted to see were his Anti- 

 slavery friends — Mrs. Follen, Mrs. Chapman, H. C. Wright, 

 and, above all, W. L. Garrison. He was delighted to hear his 

 " beautiful gentle talk" in his home, among his family, to 

 whom Philip felt much drawn. He would not speak in public 

 on the subject that was so near his heart, till he had taken his 

 tour in the South : he also refused to preach \ but his earnest 

 and confidential conversations with many whom he met pro- 

 bably left a deeper impression than sermons. 



At the suggestion of Dr. Gannett (Dr. Channing's colleague 

 and successor), an invitation was sent to him to speak at the 

 Unitarian festival, which is annually held in May. He declined, 

 however, in a note to the chairman ; since he did not feel 

 himself one, either of the Unitarian or clerical body, and 

 could not be true to himself while on the " slave-catchers' 

 hunting-ground," without saying what would not add to the 

 harmony of the meeting. He expressed respectful thanks for 

 the courtesy offered him, and went as a spectator. He made 

 no arrangement to sit with any of the friends with whom he 

 might have had pleasant intercourse, but found his way to the 



* Dr. Garmett's daughter, Mrs. Wells, who (like her father) is pro- 

 minent in the philanthropies of Boston, informs me that " The Home is 

 maintained on the same plan on which it was started ; but Miss Ryan has 

 died of consumption. She married some years before her death, but still 

 gave her time to the Home. She was its genius and its founder, and it 

 still does well its good work. She was a sincere religious Roman Catholic, 

 with a nurse's bent in her mind. However, she married a Unitarian 

 minister, but, I think, kept to her own faith. She was truly liberal." 



