_My much esteemed friend, Clementine Averill_,--I call thee so on the strength of thy letter of the 6th inst., addressed to Senator Clemens, which I have read in the _Tribune_ of this morning with much satisfaction. I ought to apologize for thus intruding upon thy attention, being an entire stranger; but really I experienced so much gratification on reading it that I could not resist the inclination I felt to tell thee how much I was pleased with it. The information it contained, though perhaps not very gratifying to the advocates of slavery, may be useful, as it so clearly exhibits the wide difference there is between liberty and slavery, and it shows the ignorance of the Southern people as to the condition of the Northern operatives. I think Senator Clemens must have been greatly surprised in reading thy letter, not only at its statement of facts, but at the talent displayed by a “factory-girl” in answering his questions. Some years ago I attended a meeting appointed at Lowell by a minister of the Society of Friends, at which it was said there were about three hundred “factory-girls;” and I have often expressed the satisfaction I felt in observing their independent and happy countenances and modest and correct deportment. I saw nothing like gloom or despondency. Indeed, I think in a general way they would not suffer by a comparison with the daughters of the Southern slaveholders. I believe it would be found, that, for refinement, intelligence, and for any qualification that is requisite to constitute an agreeable companion, the “factory-girls” are not inferior to any class of women in the South, notwithstanding the slurs that are often flung at them. It is surely true, that as the benign spirit of the gospel pervades the minds of men, slavery will be seen in its true character, and be finally abolished from every community professing Christianity. I would not limit the mercy of our beneficent Creator, but I am free to confess that I am unable to see what claim a slaveholder can have to the name of Christian. Avarice and an undue love of the world blinds the eyes and hardens the hearts of many. The speech of Daniel Webster, from whom the friends of liberty had a right to expect much, has disappointed them, and has not pleased his pro-slavery coadjutors. He has manifested himself to be a _timeserver_, a character not very desirable. If he had possessed as much Christian principle and independence of mind as thy letter exhibits, he would have given utterance to sentiments that would have gained him the applause of the wise and good, and have been a lasting honor to himself. “With the talents of an angel a man may make himself a fool.” The subject of slavery is not new to me. I have been instrumental in rescuing from the hand of the oppressor some hundreds, and now in my declining years I can look back upon those labors with unmingled satisfaction. I don’t