foundation of a nation stretching its arms over the oppressed of all lands that they should find here an asylum and a home, unmolested in the enjoyment of freedom of conscience, and he grew impatient of himself and longed to be another Washington. Full of these reflections he left this favorite Mecca of the Americans, undisturbed in his delightful reverie until he reached his hotel in Washington. There he overheard two gentlemen discussing a slave auction that was to take place the next day, one of whom was lately from the North and apparently a novice in such matters, to whom the other was giving instructions how to proceed to secure a good bargain in the pound of human flesh. His revolting details of personal examinations, and the heartlessness with which he described the shrewdness necessary to elude the deceptions of the slave-trader on the one hand, and the pretended sensibilities of his victims on the other, clashed greatly with Walter's ideas of the sacredness of humanity.
The next day he attended the sale, which was not calculated to allay his excited feelings. He saw there beauty, that the aristocratic circles of his native city might envy; children whose saddened countenances indicated the weight of years rather than the buoyancy of childhood; aged men and women, whose bowed heads betokened the utter despair of their hearts. Around them was a motley crew, mostly vulgar and brutal; yet occasionally, one of gentlemanly bearing stood a little apart like himself, as if ashamed and disgusted at this nefarious exhibition of depraved passions and filthy lucre. Foremost
