Page:The rising son, or, The antecedents and advancement of the colored race (IA risingsonthe00browrich).pdf/533

 *ertheless his good behavior, earnest zeal, and rapid advancement gained him the friendship of both teacher and scholars, and did much to break down the prejudice against the colored race in that vicinity.

By assiduous study and outside aid he became proficient in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and, as age advanced, paid considerable attention to the classics.

The harsh prejudice of race which William Still was called upon to meet in his business intercourse with the whites, early made him deeply interested in the cause of freedom, then being advocated by the Abolitionists, and he became a subscriber to one of their weekly journals. At this time he was the only colored man in the town that took such a paper, and it was hard work, with his small wages, to meet its subscription and postage demands.

Seeing the bad effects of the use of intoxicating liquors in the community, Mr. Still early adopted the principles of temperance, to which he tenaciously clings to the present day.

Well-grounded in moral, religious, and temperance views, William Still, at the age of twenty-three years, went to the city of Philadelphia to reside.

Although the temptations of the great Babel were laid before him, his early convictions kept him from yielding.

The long connection of William Still with the anti-*slavery office in Philadelphia, his intimate relationship with the Pennsylvania Abolitionists, a body of men and women of whom too much cannot be said in their praise, and the deep interest he felt in the fleeing bondmen passing through that city to Canada, has