A Daughter of Maryland — page 81: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

64 A DAUGHTER OF MARYLAND. right, though I may be wrong in saying as much. Father and Robert both say the South could not get along without their slaves, and that the North has no right to take them away from their owners. ’’ ‘‘In a certain sense it has no right to do so, neither has _ the South any right to hold a race in bondage. Our con- stitution declares that all men are created equal, and then | it directly breaks it by allowing slavery. But this is nota pleasant subject for us to discuss. Of course I have lived North so long in a very hotbed of abolitionism’ that I have naturally become imbued with something of their spirit. But grave trouble is sure to arise from this ques- tion, and war seems inevitable. God pity poor Maryland in that hour, for she is sure to become the battleground of the contending armies. ’’ | | ‘‘T hope it will never come. Why can’t this be settled without going to war? But you may be mistaken in regard to the negro I found here being a runaway slave. He told me he was free.’’ | ‘*So the poor fellow hoped he was. I happened to know about his case, as I found him hiding at Graymont when I got there. He begged of me not to give him up, asking that I would kill him instead. I learned that he had belonged to Jason Evans over in Wirtzburg, and from his account he had been through enough to kill an ordinary man. He showed me the wounds on his body, where he had been beaten by his unmerciful master. Ah, it is such men as Jason Evans that arouse the feelings of all disin- terested persons against slavery. I gave the nearly starved fellow some food, and helped him to get here. Well, I sup- pose I might as well be honest to you, I was intending to get him over the line to-night into the free States. But this has sadly disarranged my plans. ’’ ‘“‘T am sorry I unintentionally interfered with your plans, though he could not have remained there much longer. _ But do you realize the fearful risks you are taking in doing what you are?’’