Cambridge Sept 14. 1863
My dear Mrs. Gibbons
Even now I can hardly
bring myself to believe that your
pleasant home has been sacked
by an infuriated mob, & that
so many objects dear to you
from long-cherished recollections
have been plundered or destroyed.
The fact & the circumstances
attending it have all the inconveniences
& inconsistencies of a
distressing dream. I read Mr
Frothingham’s sermon on the
morality of the Mob with great
satisfaction; but I could not
follow him in all his attempts
to palliate the conduct of its
wretched instruments. The lowest
of them entered into the work
with a heartiness, which shows
that they were animated by a
satanic spirit. After all what
is [struck through: Divine] truly Divine in man
is not what he is by nature
but what he is by training
& culture. Say what we will
of the dignity of human nature,
a wild man is a wild beast,
& a beast of prey. It is this
grain of truth misunderstood.
which has enabled the [?]
dogma of hereditary & total [?]
to maintain its power
so long on the people's mind.
Of course, this is only another
reason for regarding the degraded
subjected slaves with
compassion, as well as with
concern & anxiety. Still if a
man (or woman) [underlined] is [/underlined] a devil,
I do not see why we should
not call him one, merely
because we can account for
his being one; & this too,
though we are ready to labor
& suffer & die to make him
otherwise.
But all such moralizing
seems like a mockery of your
trouble, in which, I can assure
you, we have taken the
deepest sympathy I hope to
hear soon of your being happy
"at home" again. At
best, this whole affair is a
strange mystery; & the mystery
will indeed be inscrutable,
if it should have the effect
in the end to abridge your
name either of comfort or
of charity.
glad to know that you, & all
your family, progress the [?]
which the exigency calls
for, women which will turn
evil into good. Our activities
do much; but our sufferings
do more; not only for ourselves,
but also for others. One
of the best proofs of Christianity
is, that this doctrine runs
through it, & is the key of its
Founder's life & influence.
I am happy to learn that so
many of the souvenirs of your
son, so dearly prized & so tenderly
cared for, have been preserved;
I regret extremely that those
of your father are gone. A
fellow feeling enables me to enter
keenly into your husband's
mourning for his books. But
if he will pardon me the
paradox, the thoroughness of
the destruction has spared him
one comfort; nothing has
been left & reminded him of
his loss. I say this seriously.
Nobody can love his books
more than I do mine; yet
in thinking of the contingency
of the house being burnt, I
have almost wished that,
in that event, they might all
be burnt together; so that
I might not afterwards have
this sight of an odd or scorched
volume to renew my grief.
We are sorry that you
could not pass a part of
the summer in this neighborhood;
as we should have
given you a hearty welcome.
My wife joins with me in the
kindest remembrances to all
your family.
Very truly your friend
Mrs Gibbons James Walker
P.S. I sent a few days ago
my [?] in a pamphlet form;
but as in your unsettled state
it may have failed to reach
you, I send another herewith.
