Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-07-07
CHAPTER XXI.

watched the house where this wonderful
thing had happened to him.
CHAPTER XII.
SIMON LEGREE.
In the death of Mr.. Lincoln. group of
radical politicians hitherto suppressed,
saw their supreme opportunity to obtain
control OF the nation In the crisis OF an
| approaching presidential campaign.
Now they could fasten their schemes of
prescription, confscation and revenge
upon the south!
Mr.. Lincoln had held these wolves at
bay during his life by the power of his
great. personality. But the lion was
dead and the wolf who had snarled and
snapped at him in life, put on his skin
and claimed the heritage of his power.
| The wolf whispered his message of hate,
and in the hour of partisan passion be-
came the master Of the nation.
Busy feet had been hurrying back and
/ forth from the southern states to Wash
| ington whispering in the VOLTS ear the
stories OF sure success, II only the plan
/ OF prescription, Acknowledgement OF whites
and Acknowledgement of blacks were car
ried out.
This movement was inaugurated two
years after the war, with every southern
state In profound peace. and in a life and
death struggle with nature to prevent
4 famine. The new revolution destroyed the
| Union a SECOND time, paralyzed every IN
| dustry In the south and transformed ten
peaceful states into roaring hells of an
| archy. We have easily outlived the sor-
| rows of the war. That was surgery
| which healed the body. But the child
/ has not yet been born whose children's
children will live to see the healing of
1 the wounds from those four years OF
chaos, when fanatics blinded by passion,
| arme millions of ignorant negroes and
| thrust them into mortal combat with the
i proud bleeding half-starving Anglo
i Saxon race of the SOUTH Such deed
once done can never be undone. It fixes
/ the status OF these races for thousand
/ years II not for eternity.
The south was now rapidly gathering
into two hostile armies under these in
/ fiuences, with race marks as uniforms
i the black against the white.
| The negro army was under the command
/ of a triumvirate, the carpet-bagger from
the north, the native scalawag and the
/ negro demagogue.
/ Entirely distinct from either of these
i was the genuine Yankee soldier settler in
i the south after the war, who came be-
cause he loved its genial skies and kindly
people.
Ultimately some of these northern set
Il tiers were forced into politics by con-
/ ditlons around them and they constituted
i the only conscience and brains visible in
4 public life during the reign OF terror
/ which the reconstruction" regime inaugu-
4 rated.
In the winter of 1866 the Union league at
Hambright held meeting of special i'm
portance. The attendance was large and
4 enthusiastic
Amos Hogg, the defeated candidate for
governor in the last election. now the
president of the fedefation of Loyal
| Leagues" had sent special ambassador
| to this meeting to receive reports and
| give instructions.
/ This ambassador was none other than
the famous Simon Legree, of Red River,
who had migrated to North Carolina, at
tracted by the first proclamation of the
president. announcing his plan for read
| hitting the state to the Union. The ru-
| mors of his death proved mistake. He
had quit drink and set his mind on greater
| vices.
In his face were the features of the
| distinguished ruffian whose cruelty to his
slaves had made him unique in infamy in
the annals of the south. He was now pre-
| eminently the type of tn truly loyal"
! At the first rumor Of war he had sold his
negroes and migrated nearer the border
| land, that he might the better avoid ser
/ vice in either army. He succeeded in do
| ing this. The last two years of the war.
| however, the enlisting officers pressed
him hard. until finally he hit on brilliant
scheme.
He shaved clean and dressed as a Ger
| man emigrant woman. He wore dresses
for two years, did homework, MIXED the
cows and cut wood for good natured old
| German. He paid for his board and pass
ed for a sister. Just from the old country.
When the war closed he resumed male
| attire became a violent Union man, and
| swore that he had been bounded and per-
secuted without mercy by the secessionist
/ rebels.
He was looking more at ease now than
| ever in life. He wore silk hat and a
| new suit of clothes made by fashionable
| tailor in Raleigh. He was little older
looking than when he killed Uncle rom
4 on hts farm some ten years before, hut
| otherwise unchanged. He had the same
short. muscular body round bullet head,
| light gray eyes and shaggy eyebrows.
| but his deep chestnut, bristly hair nad
| been trimmed by barber. His coarse
thick lips dropped at the corners OF ms
| mouth and emphasized the crook IN MS
| nose. His eyes, we'll set apart, as Of old,
| were bold commanding, and flashed with
the cold light of glittering steel. His
| teeth that once were pointed IKE the
| fangs of a wolf had been filed by dent
ist. But It required more than the file
of a dentist to smooth out Of that face
| the ferocity and cruelty that years OF dis
/ solute habits had fixed.
| He was only forty-two years old, but
the fiabby flesh under his eyes and his
enormous square cut jaw made him look
1 fuily nItys
1t was a spectacle for gods and men,
| TO see him harangue that Union league
IN the plititudes of loyalty to the Union,
| and to watch the crowd of negroes hang
breathless on his every word as the In
| spired gospel of Godl The only notable
| change in him from the old days was In
his speech He had hired man to teach
| him grammar and pronunciation. He had
| high ambitions for the future.
"Be OF good cheer, beloved!" he said 10
the negroes "A great day is coming for
YOU. You are to rule this land. Your
old masters are to dig in the fields and
| YOU are to sit under the shade and be
| gentlemen Old Andy Johnson will be
kicked out of the white house or hung, and
and the farms you's worked on so long
will be divided among you. You can rent
them to your old masters and live in ease
the balance OF your Hfel"
''Glory to Godi" shouted an old negro.
''I have Just been to Washington for our
| great leader Amos Hogg. I've seen Mr..
| Sumner. Mr. Stevens and Mr.. Butler.
have shown them that we can carry any
state in the south II they will only give
| YOU the ballot and take IL away from
! enough rebels. We have promised them
the votes in the presidential election and
they are going 10 give us what we want!
"Hallelujah! Amenl Vas Lawd!' The
fervent EXPLANATIONS came from every