It is very natural, but I think unwise."
"Nimbus owns the land, don't he?" asked the sheriff.
"No, He gave that for school and church purposes, and, except that
they have a right to use it on the Sabbath, it is in my charge as
the principal teacher here," she replied, wilh dignity.
"And you do not desire the election held here?" asked Captain
Pardee.
"I am sorry to discommode the voters around here, white or black,
but I would not balance a day's time or a day's walk against the
more important interests of this school to the colored people. They
can walk ten miles to vote, if need be, but no exertion of theirs
could replace even the building and its furniture, let alone the
school which it shelters."
"That is very true," said the officer, thoughtfully.
So the project was abandoned, and Melton remained the nearest
polling-place to Red Wing.
As they rode away the two representatives of antipodal thought
discussed the scenes they had witnessed that day, which were equally
new to them both, and naturally enough drew from them entirely
different conclusions. The Northern man enthusiastically prophesied
the rapid rise and miraculous development of the colored race
under the impetus of free schools and free thought. The Southern
man only saw in it a prospect of more "sassy niggers," like Nimbus,
who was "a good enough nigger, but mighty aggravating to the white
folks.
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