We took tea by invitation with Dr. L----, for whom I had preached in
the morning. There we met with his nice wife, nice deacon, nice little
daughters, and nice nieces,--but a most intolerable nephew. This man
professed to be greatly opposed to slavery, and yet was full of
contempt for "niggers." He talked and _laughed_ over divisions in
certain churches, and told the company how he used occasionally to go
on Sunday nights to hear a celebrated minister, just "for the sake of
hearing him _talk_--ha--ha--ha!" And yet this was a professor of
religion!
On the subject of slavery the following conversation took place:--
_Nephew._--"If I were in a Slave State, I would not hold slaves."
_Aunt._--"Ah! but you would."
_Nephew._--"No! that I would not."
_Aunt._--"You could not live there without."
_Dr. L._----(gravely).--"Well, I _guess_ we had better pray, 'Lead us
not into temptation.'"
_Aunt._ (devoutly)--"I _guess_ we had."
By-and-by one of the young ladies said to my wife, "I guess we had
better go and fix our things, and get ready for church." This was the
signal for the breaking up of our social enjoyment, which would have
been one of unmingled pleasure, had it not been for this noisy,
conceited, talkative nephew.
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