Loom and spindle : $b or life among the early mill girls with a sketch of "the Lowell offering" and some of its contributors — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Loom and spindle : $b or life among the early mill girls with a sketch of "the Lowell offering" and some of its contributors
John Stuart Mill · en
Let us see whether the “Southern slaves are better off than the
Northern operatives.” As I have said, we have all that is necessary
for health and comfort. Do the slaves have more? It is in the power of
every young girl who comes here to work, if she has good health and no
one but herself to provide for, to acquire every accomplishment, and
get as good an education as any lady in the country. Have the slaves
that privilege? By giving two weeks’ notice we can leave when we
please, visit our friends, attend any school, or travel for pleasure
or information. Some of us have visited the White Mountains, Niagara
Falls, and the city of Washington; have talked with the President,
and visited the tomb of him who was greatest and best. Would that
our present rulers had a portion of the same spirit which animated
him; then would misrule and oppression cease, and the gathering storm
pass harmless by. Can the slaves leave when they please, and go
where they please? are they allowed to attend school, or travel for
pleasure, and sit at the same table with any gentleman or lady? Some
of the operatives of this city have been teachers in institutions of
learning in your own State. Why do your people send here for teachers
if your slaves are better off than they? Shame on the man who would
stand up in the Senate of the United States, and say that the slaves
at the South are better off than the operatives of New England; such
a man is not fit for any office in a free country. Are we torn from
our friends and kindred, sold and driven about like cattle, chained
and whipped, and not allowed to speak one word in self-defence? We
can appeal to the laws for redress, while the slaves cannot.... And
now, Mr. Clemens, I would most earnestly invite you, Mr. Foote, and
all other Southern men who want to know anything about us, to come
and see us. We will treat you with all the politeness in our power. I
should be pleased to see you at my boarding-place, No. 61 Kirk Street,
Boott Corporation. In closing, I must say that I pity not only the
slave, but the slave-owner. I pity him for his want of principle, for
his hardness of heart and wrong education. May God, in his infinite
mercy, convince all pro-slavery men of the great sin of holding their
fellow-men in bondage! May he turn their hearts from cruelty and
oppression to the love of himself and all mankind! Please excuse me
for omitting the “Hon.” before your name. I cannot apply titles where
they are not deserved.
CLEMENTINE AVERILL.
Miss Averill had many letters of congratulation upon this letter,
from different parts of the country; and among them was one from the
celebrated Quaker philanthropist, Isaac T. Hopper, who indorsed her
words, as follows:--
NEW YORK, 3d mo., 19th, 1850.