Brown demanded that the man from Missouri be expelled. The citizens of
Tabor refused. And the old man sullenly took his seat.
Stevens, the murderer, sprang to his feet and in his superb bass voice shouted:
"So help me, God, I'll not sit in council with one who buys and sells human flesh."
Stevens led the disciples out of the church.
At the close of the discussion the citizens of Tabor unanimously adopted the resolution:
"Resolved, That while we sympathize with the oppressed and will do all that we conscientiously can to help them in their efforts for freedom, nevertheless we have no sympathy with those who go to slave states to entice away slaves and take property or life, when necessary, to attain this end.
"J. SMITH, Sec. of Meeting." Tabor, Feb. 7, 1857.
John Brown shook the dust of Tabor from his feet after a long prayer to his God which he took pains to make himself.
At Grinnell, Iowa, his reception was cordial and he began to feel the confidence which his exploit would excite in the still more remote East. His caravan had moved Eastward but fourteen days' journey from Tabor and he had been received with open arms. The farther from the scene of action Brown moved, the more heroic his rugged patriarchal figure with its flowing beard loomed.
On reaching Boston his triumph was complete. Every doubt and fear had vanished. Sanborn, Higginson, Stearns, Howe, and Gerrit Smith, in a short time, secured for him more than four thousand dollars and the Great Deed was assured.