I refer to his interest in the Southern white people.
Before this I had had the thought that General Armstrong, having
fought the Southern white man, rather cherished a feeling of
bitterness toward the white South, and was interested in helping only
the coloured man there. But this visit convinced me that I did not
know the greatness and the generosity of the man. I soon learned, by
his visits to the Southern white people, and from his conversations
with them, that he was as anxious about the prosperity and the
happiness of the white race as the black. He cherished no bitterness
against the South, and was happy when an opportunity offered for
manifesting his sympathy. In all my acquaintance with General
Armstrong I never heard him speak, in public or in private, a single
bitter word against the white man in the South. From his example in
this respect I learned the lesson that great men cultivate love, and
that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred. I learned that
assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; and
that oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.
It is now long ago that I learned this lesson from General
Armstrong, and resolved that I would permit no man, no matter what his
colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.
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