The lesson of Minnie's sacrifice is this, that it is braver to suffer
with one's own branch of the human race,--to feel, that the weaker and
the more despised they are, the closer we will cling to them, for the
sake of helping them, than to attempt to creep out of all identity with
them in their feebleness, for the sake of mere personal advantages, and
to do this at the expense of self-respect, and a true manhood, and a
truly dignified womanhood, that with whatever gifts we possess, whether
they be genius, culture, wealth or social position, we can best serve
the interests of our race by a generous and loving diffusion, than by a
narrow and selfish isolation which, after all, is only one type of the
barbarous and anti-social state.
Notes
1. The following two paragraphs are for the most part illegible. I have
reproduced below as much of the text as can be deciphered.
The whole South is in a state of excitement [ ... ]
[ ] nurture
[ ] and re-
[ ] high
[ ] be for
[ ] they are [ ] and only remember they are rebels[? ].
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