Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/314

Rh Nor is it unusual to meet with married pairs without children at all.

But I must now tell you something about South Carolina, because South Carolina is resolved at this moment to be a State for itself, apart from the other States. It is, in fact, extremely incensed by the injustice which it considers that the Southern States suffered in the last Congress, from the compromise between the Free and the Slave States on the Californian question; and a large convention of the wise men of the State has just been held at Charleston, at which, after having eaten and drunk together, they with great enthusiasm took the heroic resolution of seceding from the Union, and assuming a hostile attitude against its northern States. The Palmetto State seems to have calculated on meeting with co-operation from the other southern States, but it appears that she is mistaken in this respect. Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, and several others, have openly declared themselves for the Union, and I have read in the Florida papers keen disapprobation of the proceedings of the Palmetto State. Mississippi is now the only one which seems to stand undetermined whether or not it shall declare itself for the Union, or against it and for South Carolina.

In the meantime it seems as if South Carolina itself, like the great Emperor Philip of ancient memory, is of a different state of mind during the feast and after the feast, and that the good brothers who ate and drank together at Charleston, and there declared themselves for war, were, notwithstanding, much less inclined for hostilities when they had left Charleston and found themselves each one sitting quietly at home. Nor are there wanting wise and good citizens who openly declare themselves opposed to the heroic declarations of the great convention, over which people now make themselves merry. In one of the newspapers of the city I read to-day the following quotation