The trustees thought it
would be better to be cautious, and save the college for the good it
might do in the future. Such a union as ours was, in fact, but one of
the logical results of the very principles on which the college was
founded. I do not profess to sit in judgment, and therefore attempt no
comment. They were now evidently anxious that I should resign, though,
of course, they did not express so much to me in words.
I also came to the further conclusion that I could no longer, under the
circumstances, whatever I might be able to do in future, hold my
position in the country. For, however willing I might be to endure all
things in my own person, I felt that I ought not to expose to any
further danger one who already suffered so much and so heroically for my
sake. I knew several of the lady's friends who were bitterly opposed to
our union, solely on account of my color, and who were prepared, if the
occasion should require it, to go to desperate lengths. They would not
have hesitated to have sworn her into the lunatic asylum. I therefore
decided not only to resign my professorship in the college, but also to
leave the country.
Our plans being now quietly arranged, the lady returned to Fulton, and
it was then supposed that all communication between us was for ever
broken off. The mob had ordered that it should be so, and doubtless
thought it was so. The most mistaken idea they ever entertained. The
lady remained for a short time in Fulton, and then retired into the
interior of the state of Pennsylvania.
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