pursuits; we must elevate the character of labour; we must encourage the mechanic, and give tone to his pursuits; and, more than all, we must arrest the spread of conventional nonsense, and develope our natural resources by establishing a system of paid labour, and removing the odium which attaches itself to those who pursue such avocations as the slave may be engaged in.  My word for it, Mr. Scranton, there’s where the trouble lies.  Nature has been lavish in her good gifts to the south; but we must lend Nature a helping hand,—­we must be the women of the south for the south’s good; and we must break down those social barriers clogging our progress.  Nature wants good government to go along with her, to be her handfellow in regeneration; but good government must give Nature her rights.  This done, slavery will cease to spread its loathsome diseases through the body politic, virtue will be protected and receive its rewards, and the buds of prosperity will be nourished with energy and ripen into greatness.”

Mr. Scranton suggests that the nigger question was forced upon him, and thinks it better to change the conversation.  Mr. Scranton was once in Congress, thinks a deal of his Congressional experience, and declares, with great seriousness, that the nigger question will come to something one of these days.  “Ah! bless me, madam,” he says, adjusting his arms, “you talk-very-like-a-statesman.  Southerners better leave all this regenerating of slaves to you.  But let me say, whatever you may see in perspective, it’s mighty dangerous when you move such principles to practice.  Mark me! you’ll have to pull down the iron walls of the south, make planters of different minds, drive self out of mankind, and overthrow the northern speculator’s cotton-bag love.  You’ve got a great work before you, my dear madam,—­a work that’ll want an extended lease of your life-time.  Remember how hard it is to convince man of the wrong of anything that’s profitable.  A paid system, even emancipation, would have been a small affair in 1824 or 1827.  Old niggers and prime fellows were then of little value; now it is different.  You may see the obstacle to your project in the Nashville Convention or Georgia platform-”

“Nashville Convention, indeed!” exclaims Mrs. Rosebrook, her face infused with animation, and a curl of disdain on her lip.  “Such things!  Mere happy illustrations of the folly of our political affairs.  The one was an exotic do-nothing got up by Mister Wanting-to-say-something, who soon gets ashamed of his mission; the other was a mixture of political log-rolling, got up by those who wanted to tell the Union not to mind the Nashville Convention.  What a pity they did not tell the Union to be patient with us!  We must have no more Nashville Conventions; we must change Georgia platforms for individual enterprise,—­southern conventions for moral regeneration.  Give us these changes, and we shall show you what can be done without the aid of the north.”  Several servants