Allan Pinkerton, The spy in the rebellion; being a true history of the spy system of the United States Army during the late rebellion, revealing many secrets of the war hitherto not made public, compiled from official reports prepared for President Lincoln , General McClellan and the Provost-Marshal-General .

“Well,” finally observed the old gentleman, “it is hard that one dare not speak their own sentiments in a country like this; my grandfather fought in the revolution, my father in the war of 1812, and I, myself, took a hand in the brush with Mexico; but I never dreamed of seeing the day when a man dared not speak his honest convictions, for fear of having his roof burnt from over his head, and, worse than all, endanger even his own life, and those dearest to him.”

“I have always told you, William,” replied his good wife, “that the day would come when this fearful curse of slavery would have to be wiped out in blood, and you all know now that I prophesied truly. And,” she added, “as for me, I have no fears for the result. Our only mistake has been in casting our lot and settling in the South, and in the very presence of an evil we could not avert.”

“True, mother,” rejoined her husband, “but you know I have ever been outspoken against slavery, and its attendant curses. I also flatter myself that I have had some influence in mitigating, at least, the condition of not a few of the black race. You remember Colonel Singleton liberated his slaves at the very outset of this war.”

“And was compelled to flee to the North to save his own life,” answered his wife; “and had we been wise, we would have gone to a country more congenial to our views, and while we could have done so ”