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things which exercised influence over them of a softening kind, despite
the master grievance of hard bondage and its occasional cruel hardships.
For example, Booker Washington, at a very early age, undertook such
service as he could perform in his master's house; and it was not only a
possibility, it frequently happened, that a young servant, whether a lad
or a girl, became a favourite with the members of the family. The
younger white people would sometimes favour or protect a slave when he
got into trouble, and thus something like genuine affection would be
kindled in the hearts of the subject race. What animated conversations
respecting the two great armies in the field such a boy as Booker
Washington would hear at his master's table while he was engaged in
keeping the room as clear as possible of flies! This was another way of
getting the current news by those who did not form any part even of the
fringe of the newspaper constituency. Then, of course, there was the
constant occurrence of the usual casualties of war. Bitter sorrow and
mourning, like angels of darkness, would steal into the luxurious homes
of the planters when the master himself, or a son of the household, was
returned invalided or so sorely wounded as to be maimed for life. It was
still worse when, as it actually happened, one or another of these chief
people of the Southern Confederacy was killed. There was then the
anguish of mourning in the household akin to that which afflicted the
people of Egypt when the first-born of each family was slain. In many
cases, whether the fallen or the wounded might belong to the older or
the younger generation, the slaves themselves were touched by the
affliction of the family, because they never forgot the good deeds of
those who had befriended them. It seems to be the belief of Booker
Washington that, in any case, if, as trusted servants, they had been
left in charge of a house by night or day, they would never have
surrendered to the enemies of their owners, even though the invaders
might have been men of the Northern battalions who were practically
fighting for the freedom of the oppressed race. Still, it is thought
with good reason that both the white and the coloured races were losers
by slavery. As was inevitable, it turned out that one race cannot
oppress another without being affected for the worse. Over the best of
the plantations there seemed to hover a shadow, as though something were
wanting to make th