“Thy letter, my beloved Sarah, was truly acceptable as an evidence of thy love for us, and because it told us one of our Lord’s dear children had been comforted in being with us.  It would have been truly grateful to have had thee a longer time with us, and we hope thy next visit may be less brief.  By the way, dear, as I love frankness, I am going to tell thee what I have thought in reading thy note.  It seemed to me thy proposal ‘to spend a day’ with us was made under a little feeling something like this:  ’Well, after all, I am not quite certain I shall be an acceptable visitor.’  I can only say that it is no surprise to me that thou shouldst be beset with such a temptation, but set a strong guard against this entrance to thy heart, lest the adversary poison all the springs of comfort.  I want thee to rise above the suspicions which are so naturally aroused.  They are among the subtle devices of Satan, by which he alienates us from Jesus, and makes us go mourning on our way with the language in our hearts:  ’Is there not a cause?’”

Angelina adds:—­

“MY DEAR SARAH,—­I can fully unite with my precious sister in all she has said relative to thy late visit to us.  Theodore and I both felt surprised and disappointed that thou proposedst spending but one day with us when we had expected a visit of a week.  It was indeed a comfort to receive such a letter from thee, dear, and yet there was much of pain mingled in the feeling.  Thou thankest us for our ‘Christian conduct.’  In what did it consist?  In receiving and treating thee as an equal, a sister beloved in the Lord?  Oh, how humbling to receive such thanks!  What a crowd of reflections throng the mind as we inquire, Why does her full heart thus overflow with gratitude?  Yes, how irresistibly are we led to contemplate the woes which iron-hearted prejudice inflicts on the oppressed of our land, the hidden sorrows they endure—­the full cup of bitterness which is wrung out to them by the hands of professed followers of Him who is no respecter of persons.  And oh, how these reflections ought to lead us to labor and to pray that the time may soon come when thou canst no longer write such a letter!  The Lord in his mercy has made our little household one in sentiment on this subject, and we know we have been blessed in the exercise of those Christian feelings which He hath taught us to cherish, not only towards the outraged people of color, but towards that large class of individuals who serve in families, and are, at the same time, almost completely separated from human society and sympathy so far as their employers are concerned.

“Let me tell thee, dear Sarah, how much good it did me to find that thy visit had made thee love my precious husband as a brother, and afforded thee an opportunity to feel what manner of spirit is his.  Now I greatly want thy dear mother to know him too, and cannot but believe she will come and visit us next summer.”