So it was comparatively a
light affliction for me to remember that I had been called by such hard
names. "Putty-headed!" said he. I infer, dear Aunty, that he must have
worked in the painter's department, and had been familiar with putty;
hence he drew the epithet, into whose signification I did not care to
inquire. "White-birch-looking!" I suppose he referred to the impression
of imbecility which we have in seeing a perfectly white tree in the
woods among the deep green of the sturdier trees. He may have referred
to the effect of sedentary habits on my complexion. However, I soon
forgot the particulars of his insulting address, retaining only the
impression that I had suffered, and that willingly, in the bleeding
cause of freedom.
It was a great relief to me that, just at that moment, a very fine dog
approached me and fawned upon me, then ran ahead, and seemed afraid that
I should send him back. After a while I tried to drive him away, but he
insisted on following me, and I have no doubt that I might have secured
him, had I wished to do so. I was not a little inclined, at one time, to
take him home with me, and to keep him as a companion in my walks.
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