Page:Behind the scenes, or, Thirty years a slave and four years in the White House.djvu/243

Rh graveyard—into it, and thus impair its beauty. After spending a few weeks with the family, I returned to St. Louis, and then came North. The war broke out, and I lost all trace of the Garlands. Often, during my residence in Washington, I recalled the past, and wondered what had become of those who claimed my first duty my first love. When I would mention their names and express interest in their welfare, my Northern friends would roll up their eyes in surprise. "Why, Lizzie, how can you have a kind thought for those who inflicted a terrible wrong upon you by keeping you in bondage?" they would ask. "You forget the past is dear to every one, for to the past belongs that golden period, the days of childhood. The past is a mirror that reflects the chief incidents of my life. To surrender it is to surrender the greatest part of my existence—early impressions friends, and the graves of my father, my mother, and my son. These people