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Show 334 Mrs. Ma1on & Mrs. Child. as far as in you lay, the inevitable fate? Do you soften the pangs of maternity in those around you by all the care and comfort you can give? Do you grieve with those near you, e\·cn thouOo 'h their sorrows resulted from their own mis-conduct? Did yon ever sit up until the "wee hours" to complete a dress for a motherless child, that she might appear on Christmas day in a new one, along with her more fortunate companions? We do these and more for our servants; and why? Because we endeavor to do our duty in that state of life it has pleased God to place us. In !lis revealed word we read our duties to them- theirs to us are there also" Not only to the good and gentle, but to the froward." (Peter ii: 18.) Go thou and do likewi e, and keep away from Charlestown. If the stories read in the public prints be true, of the sufferings of the poor of the North, you need not go fitr for objects of charity. "Thou hypocrite ! take first the beam out of thine own eye, then shalt thou sec clearly to pull the mote out of thy neighbor's." But if, indeed, you do lack objects of sympathy ncar you, go to J efferson County, to the family of George Turnet·, a noble, true-hearted man, whose devotion to his friend (Colonel lVashington) cau ing him to risk his life, was hot down like a dog. Or to that of old Beckham, whose grief at the murder of his negro subordinate made him needle· ly expose himself t.o the aim of the assassin BrO\vn. And when you can equal in deeds of love and charity to those around you what is shown by nine-tenths of the Virginia plantations, then by your "sympathy" whet the knives for om· throats and kindle the torch that fires our homes. l rou reverence Brown for his clemency to his prisoners! Prisoners! and how taken? Unsu pecting workmen, going to their daily duties; unarmed gentlemen, taken from their beds at the dead hour of the night, by six men doubly and trebly armed. Suppose he had hurt a hair of their heads; do you think one of the band of desperadoes would have left the engine-house ali vc ? And did not he know that his treat- Mrs. Mafon & Mrs. Child. 335 ment of them was his only hope of life then, or of elemcncy afterwards? Of course he did. The United States troops c.ould not have prevented him from being torn limb from limb. I will add, in conclusion, no Southerner ought, after your letter to Governor Wise and to Brown, to read a line of your composition, or to touch a magazine which bears your name in its list of contributors; and in this we hope for the " sympathy" at least of those at the North who deserve the name of woman. To :Mns. L. MARIA CHILD. REPLY OF MRs. CHILD 'VAYLAND, MAss., Dec. 17, 1859. • PROLONG ED absence from home has preY en ted my answermg your letter so soon as I intended. I lmve no dispo ition to r:tort upon you the "two-fold damnation," to which you cons1gn me. On the contrary, I sincerely wish you well, both in this world and the next. If the anathema proved a safety-valve to your own boiling spirit, it did some good to y~u, ·while it fell harmless upon me. Fortunately for all. ot us, the Ilcaven1y Father rules his universe by laws whJCh the .passions or the prejudices of mortals have no power to ch[lnge. As for John Brown, his reputation may be safely trusted to the impartial pen of History; and his motives will be ri o-hteously judged by Ilim who knoweth the secrets of all he:rts. Men, however great they may be, are of small consequence in comparison with principles; and the principle for which John Brown died is the question at issue between us. |