Then, the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table
might be received with gratitude, and, if any but the dogs came to
tend the beggar's sores, such might be received as angels. But the
institutions which sustained such ideas have fallen to pieces. It is
understood, even In Europe, that
"The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The man's the gowd for a' that,
A man's a man for a' that."
And being such, has a claim on this earth for something better than
the nettles of which the French peasantry made their soup, and with
which the persecuted Irish, "under hiding," turned to green the lips
white before with famine.
And if this begins to be understood in Europe, can you suppose it is
not by those who, hearing that America opens a mother's arms with the
cry, "All men are born free and equal," rush to her bosom to be
consoled for centuries of woe, for their ignorance, their hereditary
degradation, their long memories of black bread and stripes? However
little else they may understand, believe they understand well _this
much_. Such inequalities of privilege, among men all born of one
blood, should not exist. They darkly feel that those to whom much has
been given owe to the Master an account of stewardship.
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