I had vague, indistinct yearnings to be a sort of emancipator,--to free my native land from this spot and stain.

All young men have had such fever-fits, I suppose, some time,--but then--" "Why didn't you ?" said Miss Ophelia;--"you ought not to put your hand to the plough, and look back." "O, well, things didn't go with me as I expected, and I got the despair of living that Solomon did.

I suppose it was a necessary incident to wisdom in us both; but, some how or other, instead of being actor and regenerator in society, I became a piece of driftwood, and have been floating and eddying about, ever since.

Alfred scolds me, every time we meet; and he has the better of me, I grant,--for he really does something; his life is a logical result of his opinions and mine is a contemptible _non sequitur_." "My dear cousin, can you be satisfied with such a way of spending your probation ?" "Satisfied! Was I not just telling you I despised it?
But, then, to come back to this point,--we were on this liberation business.

I don't think my feelings about slavery are peculiar.