An English gentleman who has for many years resided there, and who has recently visited Washington, told me that they were the most miserable, helpless human beings he had ever seen. In fact he said, "They were nuisances, and the people of Canada would be truly thankful to see them out of their country." He had never heard of "a good missionary" mentioned by Mrs. Stowe, "whom Christian charity has placed there as a shepherd to the outcast and wandering." He had seen no good results of emanc.i.p.ation. On one occasion he hired a colored man to drive him across the country.
"How did you get here?" he said to the man. "Are you not a runaway?"
"Yes, sir," the man replied. "I came from Virginny."
"Well, of course you are a great deal happier now than when you were a slave?"
"No, sir; if I could get back to Virginny, I would be glad to go." He looked, too, as if he had never been worse off than at that time.
The fact is, liberty like money is a grand thing; but in order to be happy, we must know how to use it.
It cannot always be said of the fugitive slave,--
"The mortal puts on immortality, When mercy"s hand has turned the golden key, And mercy"s voice hath said, Rejoice, thy soul is free."
The attentive reader will perceive that I am indebted to Mrs. Stowe for the application of this and other quotations.
The author of Uncle Tom"s Cabin speaks of good men at the North, who "receive and educate the oppressed" (negroes). I know "lots" of good men there, but none good enough to befriend colored people. They seem to me to have an unconquerable antipathy to them. But Mrs. Stowe says, _she_ educates them in her own family with her own children. I am glad to hear she feels and acts kindly toward them, and I wish others in her region of country would imitate her in this respect; but I would rather _my_ children and negroes were educated at different schools, being utterly opposed to amalgamation, root and branch.
She asks the question, "_What_ can any individual do?" Strange that any one should be at a loss in this working world of ours.
Christian men and women should find enough to occupy them in their families, and in an undoubted sphere of duty.
Let the people of the North take care of their own poor.
Let the people of the South take care of theirs.
Let each remember the great and awful day when they must render a final account to their Creator, their Redeemer, and their Judge.
THE END
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