yourself, provided it costs you nothing," said the colonel.

"We make them free," said Mr. Kent. "They have their right to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They are no longer enslaved, body
and soul. If I see a man with his hands and feet chained, and I break those
chains, it is all that God expects me to do; let him earn his own living."

"But suppose he does not know how to do so," said Mrs. Moore, "what then?
The occupations of a negro at the South are so different from those of the
people at the North."

"Thank God they are, ma'am," said Mr. Kent, grandly. "We have no overseers
to draw the blood of their fellow creatures, and masters to look on and
laugh. We do not snatch infants from their mothers' breasts, and sell them
for whisky."

"Neither do we," said Mrs. Moore, her bosom heaving with emotion; "no one
but an Abolitionist could have had such a wicked thought. No wonder that
men who glory in breaking the laws of their country should make such
misstatements."

"Madam," said Mr. Kent, "they are facts; we can prove them; and we say that
the slaves of the South shall be free, cost what it will. The men of the
North have set out to emancipate them, and they will do it if they have to
wade through fire, water, and blood."

"You had better not talk in that style when you go South," said Captain
Moore, "unless you have an unconquerable prejudice in favor of tar and
feathers."