This was enough.

The vindictive bitterness, the marked caution, the studied reverse, and the cumbrous ambiguity, practiced by our white folks, when alluding to this subject, was now fully explained.

Ever, after that, when I heard the words "abolition," or "abolition movement," mentioned, I felt the matter one of a personal concern; and I drew near to listen, when I could do so, without seeming too solicitous and prying.

There was HOPE in those words.

Ever and anon, too, I could see some terrible denunciation of slavery, in our papers--copied from abolition papers at the north--and the injustice of such denunciation commented on.