"Much haste, little speed," so I teach & so I have experienced last Friday in not directing my letter to you instead of your father & so yesterday in not looking to see that my note to you was returned as well as that to your father . I send it back that you may see that my answer to your last is still the same. Only since it was written, Sam has told me that you did not make a mistake. This testing me seems to me inter nos, rather laughable. I am no politician, no statesman. I hope I love my country. So I did the M.P. until Mr Holden in the Convention of '61 told me it was not my country. Then I tried to love the Confederacy. I must confess I did not succeed very well. Now I am not well pleased with the Yankees. Had my Church treated me as well as yours has treated you I might feel differently. I congratulate you heartily on the good prospect before you Episcopalians & wish for the good of our country, that we Presbyterians, Methodists & Baptists had the same prospect of doing our country good. Dr McGuffey writes me that he found the feeling against us so strong in Ohio that he refused to preach for his old friends while visiting them this summer. He thinks the position he took did good, for it revealed the folly of making that when dead (slavery) a test of Christian Communion which was not so held while it was alive & had hopes of life. Any attempts at reconstruction, on our part, just now, will, I am sure do more harm than good. What we want is unity, not mere uniformity. Quiet must reign in the land ere we can here begin to revive among ourselves, or succeed in introducing fresh life from abroad. I look with interest to see whether white folks will come to live among so many negroes. We need much at the South the stimulus of a dense population to keep our folks awake to make them resist the relaxing influence of our climate. Man, white or black, will not work unless he is made to work. In order to live rigorously he must struggle for life. So these I am for crying, "Every body run heree."!! Patriotism, with us, must, to secure this population, be stronger & purer than it is in the new States. There, many could sell much of their land cheaply & become rich by the rest. Here but few can do so, & those who sell at first must see others benefited by their sacrifices. So to them patriotism will not be profitable. But after all, will Northerners & Foreigners of the right sort come to live amidst these ruins of slavery for years to come? We must do our best to induce them to come.

I wrote in too big a hurry yesterday to remember that Gov. S. was in Raleigh & that I ought to send that letter to the Provostto him as more intimately concerned in its contents than you were. If you have not presented N. let him do so. I hope that you have thought it more of his business than of yours & put it on him. The whites have had so much of the worse in this strife with the blacks, and the folly of continuing it is so clear that I think the troubles of last week will not be repeated. The Students see that their own Halls are at the mercy of the evil-minded. Mr Rives improves slowly, but his memory is sadly at fault. He cannot recall the names of even his club-mates. His education is in danger of being lost, as Dr Mallett thinks it will be weeks, if not months before he will be himself again. He was struck just behind the ears.

So many skillful financiers without consultation agree in recommending this plan of borrowing Money whereby the Univ. can liquidate that immense debt, that, I suppose, it must be looked on as a prudent scheme. One question occurs to me. Has the Univ. enough income bearing property to provide for the interest on what it borrows, or must this come out of the Tuition fees, as well as our salaries? Patriotism that is pure is glorious. But Patriotism that pays suits better the bellies & backs of our families. Men who have some private means may consent & be able to stay here & work to pay interest & float the University. But what can those do who have no such means & have large families growing up that demand food & clothing, both for body & mind? Laura McKee expects to go home on Friday, leaving C. H. at 1 Pm.1 Mother B. is somewhat brighter today. But I fear that she is in a bad way. Four score years is an incurable disease, & Mother B. dreads death so, that sometimes I think she will, in mercy to her, be taken off suddenly. It has not been settled whether Dr Hubbard can go to Philad. He was careless of his promises to return when he went to Augusta, & so when he went to Raleigh last week. The voice of our Univ. was heard in settling the Church troubles among Episcopalians. If Dr. H. goes neither my Father nor I can go either to Presbytery or to Synod, both of which meet in Oct., for Gov. S. will be absent too. Yet both visits are now of great importance to us here. It seems to me that we ought to advertise the beginning of our next session in the S. W. papers largely right away, so that those who can & will patronize us may be stirred up to do so. When you return the money in your hands take out all that I owe you. The box from Miss Bettie N. came safe. With love to all —

1. McKee was probably visiting her maternal grandmother, Mary Palmer Johnston Battle, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.