Grace as to the officials), telling his wife 'to go to that lady,
who would take care of her.' Miss Grace represented the extreme hardship
of the case; they had no friends or connections in the South, and her
mother's health was far from strong. Finally, she gave her own positive
assurance that there was not the faintest foundation for the charge.
Colonel Fish did not scruple to reply 'that he considered an anonymous
document evidence' strong enough to bear down a lady's proffered word of
honor. If, after this provocation, the spirit of the fair pleader was
roused, and she spoke somewhat unadvisedly with her lips, few will be
disposed to impute to her anything more than imprudence. The Provost
Marshal closed the discussion very promptly and decidedly--'Your mother
will go South within the fortnight; and you, for your insolence, will
accompany her.' When women and weaklings are before them, the
_argumentum bacculinum_ seems favored by the Republican chivalry.
"The country is not much better off than the city. The same system of
espionage and coercion prevails there; especially since that fatal
proclamation has sown distrust between master and slave, it is hard to
say how many spies there may be in any man's household. Large landed
proprietors, who have shown no sign of Southern proclivity, beyond
abstaining from taking the oath, cannot obtain the commonest
necessaries, such as groceries, &c.
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