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Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals by Maria Mitchell
page 71 of 291 (24%)
leave it to the North, and the North seems to be capable of doing it.'

"The reason for this is, that they are in no hurry. The Southern
character is opposed to haste. Safety is of more worth than speed, and
there is no hurry.

"Every one at the South introduces its 'peculiar institution' into
conversation.

"They talk as I expected Southern people of intelligence to talk; they
lament the evil, and say, 'It is upon us, what can we do? To give them
freedom would be cruel.'

"Southerners fall back upon the Bible at once; there is more of the
old-fashioned religion at the South than at the North; that is, they are
not intellectual religionists. They are shocked by the irreligion of
Massachusetts, and by Theodore Parker. They read the Bible, and can
quote it; they are ready with it as an argument at every turn. I am of
course not used to the warfare, and so withdraw from the fight.

"One argument which three persons have brought up to me is the superior
condition of the blacks now, to what it would have been had their
parents remained in Africa, and they been children of the soil. I make
no answer to this, for if this is an argument, it would be our duty to
enslave the heathen, instead of attempting to enlighten them.

"We hear some anecdotes which are amusing. A Judge Smith, of South
Carolina, moved to Alabama, and became a prominent man there. He was
sent to the Senate. He was violently opposed by a young man who said
that but for his gray hair he would challenge him. Judge Smith said,
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