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his memory with great tenderness, and seldom spoke of him without expressing his conviction that if he had lived he would have become a highly acceptable minister in the Society of Friends; a destiny which would have been more agreeable to his parental feelings, than having a son President of the United States.
Soon after this melancholy event, Friend Hopper went to Maryland, to visit two sisters who resided there.
He was accompanied in this journey by his wife's brother, David Tatum.
At an inn where they stopped for refreshment, the following characteristic incident occurred: A colored girl brought in a pitcher of water.
‘Art thou a slave?’
said Friend Hopper.
When she answered in the affirmative, he started up and exclaimed, ‘It is against my principles to be waited upon by a slave.’
His more timid brother-in-law inquired, in a low tone of voice, whether he were aware that the mistress was within hearing.
‘To be sure I am,’ answered Isaac aloud.
‘What would be the use of saying it, if she were not within hearing?’
He then emptied the pitcher of water, and went out to the well to re-fill it for himself.
Seeing the landlady stare at these proceedings, he explained to her that he thought it wrong to avail himself of unpaid labor.
In reply, she complained of the ingratitude of slaves, and the hard condition of their masters.
‘It is very inconvenient to live so near a ’
Boston, J. P. Jewett and Company; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington; London; Low and Company, 1854.
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