Sorry
to trouble you, sir, but my cup was so full that I could not use my
hands."
"I suppose," said I, "madam, if you will allow me to detain you a
moment,"--
"I am afraid my drink in the cup will get cold, sir, but"--
"Only a moment, madam," said I; (for I did not feel at liberty to walk
with her;) "only a moment; I am led to think, by your kindness to this
poor woman, of the millions of bond-people in our Southern country who
never feel the hand of love ministering to their sick and dying"--
"O you ignorant thing!" said she, pouring the contents of the cup into
the mug, and then setting the cup on the mug, all without looking at me;
"where were you born and bred? You must be an abolitionist. Southern
ladies are the very best of nurses; and as to their slaves when they are
sick,--why their hearts are overflowing--why!" said she, "I could tell
you tales that would make you cry like a baby--the idea! millions of
slaves sick and neglected! Do you belong to ---- College?"
"Yes, madam," said I.
"Sophomore?" said she.
"Yes, madam." But it was a cutting question. She had an arch look as she
asked it.
"Well sir," said she, with a graceful air, in a half averted direction,
"you have some things to learn about your fellow-countrymen which are
not put down in your Moral Philosophies.
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