e is
only a pet animal in your estimation. Tell me truly, Mrs. Dalton, do you
believe that a negro has a soul to be saved?"

"I think it doubtful!"

"And you the wife of a Christian minister?" said Flora, reproachfully.

"If they had immortal souls and reasoning minds, we should not be
permitted to hold them as slaves. Their degradation proves their
inferiority."

"It only proves the brutalizing effects of your immoral system," said
Flora, waxing warm. "I taught a black man from the island of St. Vincent
to read the Bible fluently in ten weeks. Was that a proof of mental
incapacity? I never met with an uneducated white man who learned to read
so rapidly, or who pursued his studies with the ardour of this
despised, soulless black. His motive for this exertion was a noble one,
which I believe cost him his life--the hope of carrying the glad tidings
of salvation to his benighted countrymen, which he considered the best
means of improving their condition, and rendering less burdensome their
oppressive yoke."

"This was all very well in theory; but it will never do in practice. If
the British Government, urged on by a set of fanatics, who, in reality
are more anxious to bring themselves into notice, than to emancipate the
slaves, madly persist in adopting their ridiculous project, it will
involve the West Indies in ruin."

"It were better that the whole group of islands were sunk in the depths
of the sea," said Flora, vehemently, "than continue to present to the
world a system of injustice and cruelty, which is a disgrace to a
Christian community--a spectacle of infamy to the civilized world. And
do not think that the wise and good men who are engaged heart and hand
in this holy cause, will cease their exertions until their great object
is accomplished, and slavery is banished from the earth."

Mrs. Dalton stared at Flora in amazement. She could not in the least
comprehend her enthusiasm. "Who cares for a slave?" she said,
contemptuously. "You must live among them, and be conversant with their
habits before you can understand their inferiority. One would think
that you belonged to the Anti-Slavery Society to hear the warmth with
which you argue the case. Do you belong to that odious society? for I
understand that many pious women make themselves vastly busy in publicly
discussing the _black_ question."

"I have many dear friends who are among its staunch supporters, both men
and women; whose motives are purely bene