of the
Confederacy that he might spend a week with the Bartons and yet be in
ample time for the inauguration at Montgomery.

He boarded the steamer at the Davis landing and floated lazily down to
Baton Rouge.

From Briarfield he carried an overwhelming impression of the folly of
Slavery from its economic point of view. The thing which amazed his
orderly New England mind was the confusion, the waste, the sentimental
extravagance, the sheer idiocy of the slave system of labor as
contrasted with the free labor of the North.

The one symbol before his vivid imagination was the sight of old Uncle
Bob and Aunt Rhinah seated in their rocking chairs gravely listening to
the patriarchal farewell of their master. The ancient seers dreamed of
Nirvana. These two wonderful old Africans had surely found it in the new
world. No wave of trouble could ever roll across their peaceful breasts
so long as their lord and master lived. He was their king, their
protector, their physician, their almoner, their friend. The burden of
life was on his shoulders, not on theirs. Their working days were over.
He must feed and clothe, house and care for their worthless bodies unto
the end. And the number of these helpless ones were constantly
increased.

He marveled at the folly that imagined such a system of labor possible
in a real world where the iron laws of economic survival were allowed
free play. He ceased to wonder why it still flourished in the South. The
South was yet an unsettled jungle of bewildering tropical beauty. One
might travel for miles and hundreds of miles without the sight of a
single important town. Vast reaches of untouched forests stretched away
in all directions. Apparently the foot of man had never pressed them.
Rich plantations of thousands of acres were only scratched in spots to
yield their marvelous harvests of cotton and cane, of rice and corn.

The idea of defending such a territory, extending over thousands of
miles, from the invading hosts of the rich and densely populated North
was preposterous. His heart leaped with the certainty of swift and sure
triumph for the Union should the question be submitted to the test of
the sword.

As the boat touched her landing at Baton Rouge, Jennie waved her welcome
from the shore. The graceful figure of her younger brother stood
straight and trim by her side in his new volunteer uniform. Whatever the
political leaders might think or do, these Southern people meant to
fight