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to earthly dates, there still seems to be the same relative distance between us, as to the point of time, that existed when she was here in the body.
The
Christmas holidays were again spent by him
1 New York, and he came back apparently much brightened and refreshed by the week with his children and grandchildren there.
Both in December and January he plied
2 his pen busily.
The suppression of the colored vote at the
South, and the helplessness of the blacks under the new regime, constantly engaged his thoughts, and four letters from him on the subject were printed during January.
3 In these he urged that the cry of “the bloody shirt,”
Boston Advertiser, Jan. 13, 1879. that ‘awful symbol (yet but faintly expressive) of the gory tragedies that have been performed at the sacrifice of a hecatomb of loyal
white and
colored victims,’ be made the rallying cry of the Republican party in the next Presidential campaign.
The time has come to make this device return to “plague the inventors,” by furnishing the occasion for such a fresh