"The discourse was almost ludicrous at times, and at times was pathetic.
I saved up a few specimens:
"'O God, you have said that where one or two are gathered together in your name, there will you be; if anything stands between us that you can't come, put it aside.'
"'God wants a kingdom upon earth with which he can coin-cide, and that kingdom are your heart.'
"'God is near you when you are at the wash-tub or the ironing-table.'
"'Brethren, I thought last Sabbath I wouldn't live to this; a man gets such a notion sometimes.'
"April 9, Alabama River. Some lessons we of the North might learn from the South, and one is a greater regard for human life. I asked the captain of our boat if they had any accidents in these waters. He said, 'We don't kill people at the South, we gave that up some years ago; we leave it to the North, and the North seems to be capable of doing it.'
"The reason for this is, that they are in no hurry. The Southern character is opposed to haste. Safety is of more worth than speed, and there is no hurry.
"Every one at the South introduces its 'peculiar institution' into conversation.
"They talk as I expected Southern people of intelligence to talk; they lament the evil, and say, 'It is upon us, what can we do? To give them freedom would be cruel.'
"Southerners fall back upon the Bible at once; there is more of the old-fashioned religion at the South than at the North; that is, they are not intellectual religionists. They are shocked by the irreligion of Massachusetts, and by Theodore Parker. They read the Bible, and can quote it; they are ready with it as an argument at every turn. I am of course not used to the warfare, and so withdraw from the fight.