"Well," said my companion at length, "what do you think of it all, Sir Richard? Moral, religious, and social, isn't it? Ha, ha, ha! We Americans are strange people, and take the oddest of all possible ways to arrive at our ends. We gather together a whole heap of men, women, and children, at night, in the midst of a forest--make two-thirds of them as drunk as possible--stimulate the passions of the others by every kind of exciting and enthusiastic discourse, and hug and fondle the young women, all for the purpose of promoting religion and morality." "That part of the subject, I have long made up my mind upon," I replied, "from the description of others, and from what I have seen in fanatical meetings, where excitement was not carried to anything like the same pitch. But that which astonished me the most, was to hear so many men, in the very heart of a slave-holding state, preach doctrines perfectly adverse to its most cherished institutions, and to see such doctrines listened to, not only with patience, but with assent. I expected every moment to behold worthy Mr. McGrubber heartily pommelled for his pains." "Oh, you are quite mistaken as to our state of feeling," said Mr. Wheatley, with one of his short laughs. "Virginia is well-nigh an abolition state. There is hardly a man here who would not emancipate all his slaves, if he could do so without utter ruin to himself and great danger to the State. Perhaps you are not aware that in the last session of our legislature, a bill for general emancipation was introduced, and lost, I think, only by one vote. Next session 'twill be carried, to a certainty, if my Northern friends will let it." "I should think," I replied, "if the negroes hear many more such sermons as that of the Rev. Mr. McGrubber, they will take the matter into their own hands, and free themselves, with a vengeance."