The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1897-06-10

Wucu tuc war OtOko out, 0uO u0 Will
tell you of tho struggle of con-
science that decided the latter
against his worldly interests to .
course that some partisan historians
have fippantly stigmatized as
treachery-a treachery that very
often gave up comfort and future
honors, friends and professional de-
votion, for the cause their native
State had seen fit to embrace,
whose hOpelessness was far better
realized by such mon than by their
civilian and untraveled brethren at
home. He was killed at Shiloh, and
his sword hangs in the hall; while
our friend, his brother, who had
never seen anything till then but a
militia muster, rose to be general.
1t IS common fallacy to credit
the Southern planter with an un-
usual amount of profanity. What
ever may be the case in the extreme
South, the ordinary conversation of
the Vlrginian of all classes is more
free from bad language than that of
any AngloSaxon community on
either side of the Atlantic l have
ever come across. The general is
certainly no exception to this rule,
and as fair specimen of his class,
has a strong reverence for religion.
The general still reads the lessons
on Sundays, and when some unusu-
ally ancient and "good old tune" is
sung, his deep voice may be heard
booming Justify above the piercing
notes of the rustic choir. Here Upon
the verandah, with his legs crossed
end his chair tilted back against the
wall, he will talk to you of the glo-
rious days Of old, of the hundred ne
groes of all ages and sizes that every
Christmas assembled beneath his
roof, and when barn and cabin echo
ed to the thud of their stamping feet
and to the banjo's twang, when q
gentleman was gentleman, aud
people knew how to ''place' one an
other. OF how mest of his old
friends who sat upon the bench of
the county court with him in the
old days when magistrates were gen-
tlemen of influence and property,
now dead, or gone to the great cities,
and the country homes with which
their names have been associated
passed into other hands. Il know
it's FOOLISH" says he, "but somehow
hate to see the old Virginia ways
and fashions passing away. The
war was necessary; We were a parcel
of fools together, and got well whip
ped for our pains, though we gave
the Yankees some trouble to do it.,
and l own everything turned out for
the best; but tell you, gentlemen, l
wish the old arrangement had lasted
my time any how. There were no
happier people on earth than we
we're. Take this country"-and as
the general says this, he drops the
front legs of his chair and his feet
simultaneously on to the porch floor,
and waves his hand out to where the
moonlight is streaming over the
lawn and the woods behind, and the
stubble-felds and the pastures and
the winding stream in valley be-
neath-"there were perhaps dozen
such places as this, owned by people
of our class. We were all brought
up more or less together. We
fought and scuffled at the local
school when we were youngsters,
and followed one another as young
men to the University of Virginia,
fox hunted and shot together,
danced, raced, and intermarried, till
we had lost all count of our rela.
tionships. We rarely Travelled
abroad, because we couldn't leave
our large households of slaves and
the responsibilities entailed by them
for so long; and to tell you the truth
we were not very flush of money al
a rule. To say that we were gener
ally in debt, though true, wouli
leave a false impression. Our plan
tations, dear to us though they were
were of nothing like the value of oul
slave property, whose increase W,
preferred to borrow money upo1
rather than to sell, from motives o.
pride and kindliness towards our de
. pendents; but we were heavily over
stocked, and often lived for years OF
paper.
81 know we were provincial ant
egotistic. We thought ourselve
bigger men than we really were, bu
our political control at Washington
did much in saving US from tn
!: mental stagnation that our bare lit
erary record might imply.
Whatever else we were, we wer
always farmers. and country gentle
men, but. Nin addition, were oftel
r judges, senators. bankers, physi
clans; that the. Yankees. when tn
war broke ont, thought We were en-
I ervated by luxury, is . proof of ho'
I little the two sections knew of on
q another in those days (and I some
q times think they don't know muc
more now) There never was luxur
!. in your sense of the word in Vii
L gin;s. Such as you see my home t
:, day it has always been, and th
y meal my wife gave you tonight yo
Q would have got in 1860,-for than
70 God and good plantation and
# taste for farming, 1 have never sine
st the year after the war had to wal
l. for the ordinary comforts of life.
n pay more attention to grass and in
proved cattle than of old. hay
ID seeded much of my alluvial 10
b ground to timothy, ana cut all Il
8, hay I require every year from then
,f and the rest produces as heavy cro]
al of Indian corn per acre as the Oh
II valley, and has done SO from tin
le immemorial. Upon the poorer n
er lands I range my cattle, and gro
10 what wheat and oats my own peop
A. and horses require. I have set o.
I'd q vineyard which is fast coming in
is bearing, and have planted sever
is hundred peach and apple trees,
n the benefit, if not of myself, at II
e. rate of those that come after m
Ill Negro tenants cultivate the odd @