CHAPTER XII.
SCHOOL-GIRL NOTIONS.
During Iola's stay in the North she found a strong tide of opposition against slavery.

Arguments against the institution had entered the Church and made legislative halls the arenas of fierce debate.

The subject had become part of the social converse of the fireside, and had enlisted the best brain and heart of the country.

Anti-slavery discussions were pervading the strongest literature and claiming, a place on the most popular platforms.
Iola, being a Southern girl and a slave-holder's daughter, always defended slavery when it was under discussion.
"Slavery can't be wrong," she would say, "for my father is a slave-holder, and my mother is as good to our servants as she can be.

My father often tells her that she spoils them, and lets them run over her.
I never saw my father strike one of them.