Ask the Scholar

May reports the tardy arrival of both Bristol boxes and informs Estlin that the anti-slavery women are determined to hold a special exhibition and sale of the items. May comments on Abby Kelley Foster's portrait in Howitt's journal and tells Estlin that Dr. Joseph Hutton defended George Edward Ellis from "Quincy's censorious abuse." May says he would prefer Train's line of packet ships to the steamers. He was somewhat discouraged by a letter from James Martineau to William James, wherein Martineau showed a weakened anti-slavery attitude. May discusses "The English Gentlewoman" and similar works. He offers advice as to the best way of shipping small sums of money. May describes the funeral of John Quincy Adams. He retracts some of his statements about William Greenleaf Eliot and denies the rumor of a quarrel between Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. May states that he knows nothing of Andrew Jackson Davis' "The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind," but supposes that Garrison may like it, given his strong leaning toward spiritualism.