Chapter IX


"Friend Carpenter, I have brought a friend to see you. He is a real
hot-headed Southerner, and I have been trying to convert him, but have
been almost ready to give it up as a hopeless task. I thought as you are
so much better posted than I am on the subject, _you_ might be able to
convert him from the error of his ways. He is a first-rate fellow, my
College chum. He has only one fault, he will defend Slavery. Cure him of
that, and I think he will be as near perfect as young men generally
are."

Friend Carpenter smiled at this good-natured rally, and said, "It takes
time for all things. Perhaps your friend is not so incorrigible as you
think he is."

"I don't know," said Charley, "but here he is; he can speak for
himself."

"Oh the system is well enough of itself, but like other things, it is
liable to abuse."

"I think, my young friend," said Thomas, "thee has never examined the
system by the rule of impartial justice, which tells us to do to all men
as we would have them do to us. If thee had, thee would not talk of the
abuses of Slavery, when the system is an abuse itself. I am afraid thee
has never gauged the depth of its wickedness. Thy face looks too honest