Thou hast sent two
beautiful children to linger in the wickedness of slavery,--to die
stained with its infamy! Thou hast robbed many a fair one of her
virtue, stolen many a charm; but thy foulest crime is, that thou
drivest mothers and fathers from the land of their birth to seek
shelter on foreign soil. Would to God thou could'st see thyself as
thou art,--make thy teachings known in truth and justice,--cease to
mock thyself in the eyes of foreign tyrants, nor longer serve
despots who would make thee the shield of their ill-gotten power!
Within those malarious prison walls, where fast decays a father who
sought to save from slavery's death the offspring he loved, will be
found a poor, dejected negro, sitting at the bedside of the
oppressed man, administering to his wants. His friendship is true
unto death,--the oppressed man is his angel, he will serve him at
the sacrifice of life and liberty. He is your true republican, the
friend of the oppressed! Your lessons of democracy, so swelling, so
boastfully arrayed for a world's good, have no place in his
soul,--goodness alone directs his examples of republicanism. But we
must not be over venturous in calling democracy to account, lest we
offend the gods of power and progress. We will, to save ourselves,
return to our narrative.
Marston, yet in gaol, stubbornly refuses to take the benefit of the
act,--commonly called the poor debtor's act. He has a faithful friend
in Daddy Bob, who has kept his ownership concealed, and, with the
assistance of Franconia, still relieves his necessities.
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