Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/38

Rh earnestly expresses her conviction, that slavery is a curse, and on this subject we are perfectly harmonious.

Octavia le V. and I have agreed to go together to Cuba. In the morning therefore we set off to New Orleans, in order early the following day, the 14th, to go on board the steamer, “Pacific,” which proceeds thither at that time. The palms of Cuba shall fan Octavia's dejected countenance, and call fresh roses into her cheeks; her beautiful, kind eyes shall grow brighter as they raise themselves to that cloudless heaven; and there will I calmly talk to her of those subjects which can make her happy when I am no longer near her.—Such is my dream and my hope.

And now before I leave Alabama, and the pretty little city in which I have enjoyed so much kindness, I will merely tell you that Alabama is a cotton-growing state, and has in the south, plantations, sandy-tracts, and apparently thick forests, and in the north beautiful highlands; the Alleghany mountains become more depressed, and cease, and the prairies also; the scenery along its navigable rivers is celebrated, in particular on the river Mobile, on which Montgomery, the capital of the state, is situated. I have been greatly tempted to make a journey thither. But time! time! Railroads, steam-boats, schools, academies have begun, during the later years, to diffuse light and vigorous life within the slave state, the white lady citizens of which, it is said, have, here and there, still a custom of seeking for a higher life's enjoyment by rubbing their gums with snuff, which produces a sort of intoxication, very stimulating to the feelings, and to the conversation likewise.

The fascinating ladies of Movilla must bear the same relation to the snuff-taking ones, that the magnolia flower does to the flower of the henbane.

Adieu, beautiful, kind Mobile!

Adieu, my Agatha, my own sister friend. More from Cuba.