Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1854-05-26
rsop our KENTUCKY CORRESPONDENT
kESTucMASs AsD sLAyEaY.
.sNcsr ACADEMY, GsnRaRD CO.. Kr..1
April -, 1854.

iiAsNcsr AckDEHY, ,GsRRARD CO.. Kr..1
April -, 1854.
FarrxD GooDwIx:-I have BEEN a
greeably disappointed. ia tras<ling
through Kentucky, at the sentiments
| have heard expressed on the subject
Of slavery. have heard several ex-
press themselves pretty fully, most Of
them in conversation with Kcntuckians.
when they did not know that any but
Kentuckians were present. OF the
right or soron9 of holding human beings
in tondage, YOU will seldom hear any
thing said; that question they seem
studlously to avoid; but OF the erge-
diency OF slavery. | have heard but
one expression. 0pinionson that point
have been freely expressed. and both
those with whom ] have coaverspd,
aud those whom / have overheard.
have agreed, that /, IS the cause
Of bad farming that il checks i'm
provement. both public and private !:
and that il leads to idleness. exGrava-
gance. and dissipation, with all their
inseparsble evils. All these are ac-
knowgedged evils, and 10 these are to
be added those exclusively moral. and
all the dark catalogue OF wrong and
outrage against the enslaved race
The citizens Of this Sla'e feel and
keenly regret. that she is moi keeping
pace, especially in her railroads and
other puolic Improvements, with he
sister States upon the North-Ohio.
and Indiana. and Illinois---and they
cannot conceal from themselves the
reason OF the inferioriiy. Yet, in
these improvements. she is as far IN
advance OF her more Southern neigh
bors, as she is behind those on the
North.
Though they see and admit. and
many oil them deplore, the evil, yet
they neglect TO take measures for the
removal Of is cause. Could they but
get the prejudice out OF their minds
against certain kinds Of labor, such
as washing, cooking. DC, great step
would be taken towards the removal
Of the evii; but now, except in few
OF the poor counties, every family
must have at least one or two slaves
TO do those certain kinds Of work. and
for waters. Horses and cows and
sheep and hogs cas be dispensed with.
bat awailer, att from 400 70 $1,000. .nusf
be had. And then when you come to
the table, you cannot follow the good
old way Of helping yourself, or Of
helping others. but must wait to be
helped, and see every dish passed bat
the one you want, or you must outrage
castom--And you know whsta "tyranl'
cnstom is said to be. al this IS
disagrecable 10 a man raised in the
North. They are kind social. generous
and attentive to a stranger in a re-
markable degree. as much 50 perhaps
as any people; il is only their customs
and institutions TO which object.
The old men say that the young
men are wild, extrayagant. and reck-
less. and that RS soon as the fathers
are gone the sons will bring everything
speedily to destruction: that the pres
ent state OF things forbids any great
mental development. and that with
the fathers will pass away the palmy
days OF Kentucky's intellectual great
ness. The young men say that the
old men are old fashioned, behind the
age--to use an Objectionable political
term. "old fogies." The same is, /
suppose, TO considerable extent,
elsewhere, and has long
since been expressed by the poet in
the following couplet:
We think our fathers fools. 50 wise werrow.
Oar wiser sons, perhsps, will ihink us ~.
| have always heard, and presume
il is true. that slaves are better treated
in Kentucky than in any other slave
holding State. They are probably
not abused ia any other States. but is
il not enough that they are denied the
benefits Of education, and that very
few Of them are instructed in even the
leading truths of the Christian religion?
How terrible must be the account of
those who thus deprive them Of the
"bresd Of Ifsi" ]. B.