The one was
the Honorable Washington Goodspeed, M.C., and the other was Hesden
Le Moyne.
"Well, Mr. Le Moyne," said the former, after a long and thoughtful
pause, "is there any remedy for these things? Can the South and the
North ever be made one people in thought, spirit, and purpose? It
is evident that they have not been in the past; can they become
so in the future? Wisdom and patriotism have thus far developed no
cure for this evil; they seem, indeed, to have proved inadequate
to the elucidation of the problem. Have you any solution to offer?"
"I think," replied Le Moyne, speaking slowly and thoughtfully, "that
there is a solution lying just at our hand, the very simplicity of
which, perhaps, has hitherto prevented us from fully appreciating
its effectiveness."
"Ah!" said Goodspeed, with some eagerness, "and what may that be?"
"Education!" was the reply.
"Oh, yes," said the other, with a smile. "You have adopted, then,
the Fourth of July remedy for all national ills?"
"If you mean by 'Fourth of July remedy,'" replied Hesdeu with some
tartness, "that it is an idea born of patriotic feeling alone, I
can most sincerely answer, Yes. You will please to recollect that
every bias of my mind and life has been toward the Southern view
of all things. I doubt if any man of the North can appreciate the
full force and effect of that bias upon the minds and hearts of
those exposed to its operation.
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