Year: 1860

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Afro, King Georges Co., Va,


Nov IL, 1859.


Do you read your Bible, Mrs. Childl If
you do, read there "Woe unto you, hypo-
critics." and take to yourself with two-fold
damnation that terrible sentence; for rest
assured, in the day of judgment it shall be
more tolerabe for those thus scathed bv the
awful denunciation of the Son Of God, than
! for you You would soothe with sisterly
and motherly care the hoary headed mur-
derer of Harper's Ferry! A man whose
aim and intention was to incite the horrors
of servile war--to condemn women of your
own race ere death closed their eyes on
their sufferings from violence and outrage,
I to see their husbands and fathers murdered;
their children butchered, the ground strew-
cd with the brains of their babes. The an
tecedents of Browns band prove them to
have been the offscourngs of the earth and
what would have been our fate had they
! found rs many sympathisers in Virginia as
they seem to have in Massachusetts,


Now, compare yourself with those your
sympathy" would devote to such ruthless
ruin, and say on your sword of honor, which
never has been broken" would you stand by
tho bedside Of an old negro, dying of hope
less disease, to alleviate his sutferings as far
as human aid could9 Have you ever
watched the last, lingering illness of con-
sumptive, TO soothe, as for as in you lay, the
inevitable fatei Do you soften the pangs
of maternity in those around you by all the
care and comfort you can give9 Do you
| Grieve with those near you, even though
their sorrows resulted from their own mis-
conduct Did you ever sit up until the
"wee hours" to complete dress for moth
erless child, that she might appear on Christ
mas day in new one along with her more
fortunate companions9 We do these and
more for our servants, and why3 Because
we endeavor to do our duty IN that state of
life IL has pleased God to place us. In His
revealed word we read our dnties to them
theirs TO us are there also-"Not only to
the good and gentle. but to the froward."
peter ii l9) Go thou and do likewise,
and keep away from Charlestown. If the
stories read in the public prints be true, of
the sutferings of the poor Of the North, you
need not go far for objects of charity
"Thou hypocrite take first the beam out OF
thine own eye then shalt thou see clearly to
pull the mote out of thy neighbor's" But
il, indeed, you do lack objects of sympathy
near you, go to Jefferson County, to the
family of George Turner, true-hearted
man, whose devotion to his friend, (Col
Washington causing him to risk his life,
was shot down like dog. Or that Of old
Beckham, whose grief at the murder Of his
negro subordinate made him needlessly ex-
pose himself to the aim of the assassin
Brown. And when you can equal in deeds
of love and charity to those around you, what
is shown by nine-tenths of the Virginia
plantations, then by your sympathy" whet
the knives for our throats and kindle the
torch that fires our homes. You reverence
Brown for his clemency to his prsoners!-
Prisoners! and how taken? Unsuspectine
workmcn going to their daily duties; unarm
ed gentlemen, taken from their beds at the
dead hours of night, by six men doubly and
trebly armed Suppose he had hurt hair
of their heads, DO you think one Of the band
of deSperadoes would have left the engine
house alvei And did not he know tha
his treatment OF them was his only hope o.
life then, or of clemency afterwardl o
course he did. The United States troops
could not have saved him from being tori
limb from limb.


| will add in conclusion, no Southerne
ought, after your letter to Gov. Wise and t
Brown, to read u line of your composition
or to touch q magazine which bears you
name in its list of contributors; and in thi
we hope for the sympathy" at least of thos
at the North who deserve the name Of wo
man. M. J. G. MASON.