"I have been so much accustomed for a long time to read in our
papers about 'enormous wrong,' 'stupendous injustice,' 'the
slave-breeders,' 'sum of all villanies,' that, unconsciously, I have
come to think of the South, indiscriminately, as though they were Robin
Hood's men, or"--
"O my dear," said I, "you must have known that there are many good
people at the South, notwithstanding slavery."
"How can there be one good man or woman there," said she, "if all that
those newspapers say of slave-holding be true? Husband, depend upon it
we have been believing a great lie. Just think of that letter. What a
tale many of those words reveal. When the infants of our former servants
die, do our ladies write such letters about them? I should judge that
owning a fellow-creature softens and refines the heart, if this letter
is any sign, instead of making them all barbarians. All the newspapers
and novels in the world cannot do away the impressions which that
letter has made on my mind. I tell you, husband, having slaves is not
the unmitigated curse to owners nor to slaves that we have been taught
to believe."
"Perhaps," said I, interrupting her, "you would like to live at the
South, and own a few.
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