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Show 42 'I'IIE SrzE o'' SouLs. that he really belongs to the natural yaricty of aristocratic humanity. IIc has tl>c g~ocl taste to refuse condescension sufficient to allow him to cat at table with a Frederick Douglass, a Samuel H. \Varcl, or a Dr. Pennington. Poor light little soul I I t can barTow a pair of flea's legs, and, hopping up to the magnillccnt lights of public opinion~ sit looking down upon tho whole colored race in sovereign contempt. 1,akc oll' the thin veneering of a. wltltc skin, substi~ tute in its stead the real African ebony, and then place him side by side with one of tl,c above-men· tioned men. Measure intellect with intellect-eloquence with eloquence! Mental and moral infancy stand abashed in the presence of nature's noblemen! So, mere complexion is elevated above cl>aractcr. Sensible mcri and women arc not asl>amcd of the ac· knowlodgment. 'I'he fact has a popular endorsement. People sneer at you if yotl arc not ready to comprehend the fitnc~ of the thing. If you cannot weigh mind in a balance with a moiety of coloring matter, and still let the mind l.Jc found wanting, expect, in America, to lose cast yourself for want of approved taste. If sin is capable of being made to look mean, TnE SrzE oF SouLs. 43 narrow, contemptible-to exhibit itself in its character of thorough, unmitigated bitterness-it is when exhibited in the light of our "peculiar" prejudices. Mind, Gocliikc, immortal mind, with its burden of deathless thought, its comprehensive and discriminating reason, its brilli::mt wit, its gcnb.t humor, its store-house of tln·illing memories-a voice of m·inglcd power and pn.tbo:::., words burning with the unconsuming flrc of genius, virtues gathering in ripened beauty upon a br::wc heart, ancl moml integrity preeminent over all else-all this could not make a black man the social equal of a white coxcomb, m·cn though his brain were as blank as white paper, and his heart as black as dm·kncss couccntratecl. May _heaven alleviate our undiluted stupidity I .AK'l'OINET'l'E L. BHOWX. |