“Southern fire-eaters!” observed the doctor with a smile.
“And Northern interference,” said the other. “Of course, the question was not a simple one between slavery and freedom, but was complicated by demagogy and sectional prejudice, as well as the old story of Cavalier and Puritan. But, leaving these points out of sight for the moment, it seems to me that the fault of the war lay chiefly with the side which on other grounds I sympathize with most cordially, the abolition party.”
“Do you think it well to discuss those old questions?” asked Alice. “The war is over and done with, and in my opinion ought to be forgotten.”
“If it were done with,” said Mr. Clare. “But ought the past ever to be forgotten? For my part, I can never look upon it as a ‘dead past,’ but as a wise, living teacher, whose lessons are very necessary and full of significance. But, of course, no subject can be discussed at your table that is disagreeable to you,” he added courteously.
“Oh! I was merely speaking generally,” she said, smiling; “don’t let me interrupt you. Dr. Richards’s pessimism is contagious, perhaps; but if the war can really teach us any valuable lessons, it would be a pity not at least to know what they are.”
Ernest Clare looked at her very gravely, very kindly before he replied. There was to him something infinitely touching in the atmosphere of this home, its intellect, its refinement, purity, and brave self-devotion, and its utter hopelessness. After a moment he said gently,—
“We should be poor indeed without the past, Mrs. Richards; our own individual past, I mean. Don’t you remember Dickens’s ‘Haunted Man’?” Then, with a sudden change of tone,—
“I think I learned my horror of organization from the abolitionists, though I am not sure that that was their mistake. If every man’s motives had been pure, and every man’s heart full of love to white and black brother alike, they might have organized and welcome; but it is hard to have a party without party spirit, and with every member added the difficulty as to loving the sinner and hating the sin increases in a geometrical ratio.”
“That’s because it’s so much aisier to love the sin and hate the sinner,” put in Father McClosky, whose orator’s appetite was, by this time, partially satisfied.
“I should not object to a party,” said Dr. Richards thoughtfully, “nor to party spirit, provided it kept within bounds. But I think we ought to have followed England’s example, and indemnified our slave-holders.”