ne the object dearer to you than
all the world beside,--one whom you had solemnly sworn to love, cherish,
and protect until death,--the light of your dwelling,--the mother of
your children,--the mutual sharer of all your joys and sorrows,--the
richest and most precious treasure heaven ever gave you!--there she goes
in an agony of wo, to toil under a burning sun, compelled to call
another man her husband, or, it may be, to grace her master's seraglio!
Merciful God! what meaneth this? What horde of barbarians from the dark
corners of the earth have found their way hither to lay waste all that
is beautiful and lovely! What fiend from the pit has been let loose to
enter this little Paradise to destroy and bear away all the good that
was left of the primitive Eden!

No ruthless band of barbarians from benighted lands have found their way
to this Christian domestic sanctuary,--no malignant spirit from below
has been here to snatch the only type of Heaven that escaped his grasp
six thousand years ago. "Think it not strange," brother, "concerning
this fiery trial as though some strange thing had happened to you." This
is only the legitimate working of the patriarchal system of government
under which we live. Be calm,--this is all done according to law, and
with as much kindness as the circumstances will permit. No stripes are
inflicted, and no more force is exerted than is absolutely necessary to
secure the object, and prevent a useless outcry; no ill-will is
entertained toward the victims of these outrages,--it is only because
the finances of the government are low, and must be replenished, and
this is the most convenient, and perhaps at present the only practical,
way of raising the money!

Now, my brother, what should you and I think of living under a
government where such things were permitted by the laws? It would not
reconcile us to the administration to be told, that such proceedings as
I have supposed are of rare occurrence, and that the general character
of the government is kind, that it dislikes exceedingly to sell its
subjects, and especially that it has a great repugnance to separating
husbands and wives, and breaking up of families, and does it only when
severely pressed by pecuniary necessity. To your and my mind this would
be altogether unsatisfactory; it would not change our opinion of the
system. No matter if the heart-rending scene I have supposed were
witnessed only once a year, or once in ten years,--I thi