Just now territory and railroads are not so strong, or
will not be so strong pretty soon as the cry for emancipation." "I am
glad to hear you say these things," I said. "Douglas is only
thirty-seven; he will not fully mature his powers for ten years yet. I
have talked with him many times and have known him intimately and I
think I understand the man. He is distrusted in the South simply because
he will not bend all law making to the slave interests. He has just been
written down in Chicago on the law of God doctrine. And yet he stands
his ground against both the North and the South without flinching. He
defies his enemies. He has the very sanity that you have extolled here
at this table. I think he has the only rational solution for this
slavery question. He is a very great man in my opinion."
"What do you think of Barnum?" asked Aldington. Abigail looked up and
said: "Yes, I would like to hear a little about Barnum and less about
Douglas. I hear that Jenny Lind is coming to town." "It's to-day," said
Dorothy. "And don't we want to see her arrive? I do, let's go."
And we all hurried forth to witness the greetings given to the Swedish
nightingale.
CHAPTER XLIV
Barnum had been taken by De Quincey as an epitome of America: "A great
hulk of a continent, that the very moon finds fatiguing to cross,
produces a race of Barnums on a pre-Adamite scale, corresponding in
activity to its own enormous proportions.
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