e negroes in slavery," said Harry in amazement.

"Keepin the niggers ez slaves ain't the question at all. We folks air ez
fur from bein' Abolitionists ez ennybody. Hit's a battle now with a lot
uv 'ristocrats who'd take our rights away."

"I don't quite understand your position," said Harry.

"Hit's bekase ye don't understand the country. The people down heah air
divided into three classes. Fust thar's the few very rich fam'lies that
hev big farms over in the Blue Grass with lots o' niggers ter work 'em.
Then thar's the middle class--like the Fortners an' the Brills--thet hev
small farms in the creek vallies, an' wharever thar's good land on the
mounting sides; who hev no niggers, an' who try ter lead God-fearin',
hard-workin' lives, an' support ther fam'lies decently. Lastly thar's
the pore white trash, thet lives 'way up in the hollers an' on the
wuthless lands about the headwaters. They've little patches o' corn ter
make ther breadstuff, an' depend on huntin', fishin', an' stealin' fur
the rest o' their vittles. They've half-a-dozen guns in every cabin, but
nary a hoe; they've more yaller dogs then the rest o' us hev sheep, an
they find hit a good deal handier ter kill other folks's hogs than ter
raise ther own pork."

"Hardly desirable neighbors, I should think," ventured Harry.

"Hit's war all the time between our kind o' people, and them other
kinds. Both on 'em hates us like pizen, an' on our side--well, we air
Christians, but we recken thet when Christ tole us ter love our inimies,
an' do good ter them ez despitefully used us, he couldn't hev hed no
idee how mean people would git ter be long arter he left the airth."

Harry could not help smiling at this new adaptation of Scriptural
mandate.

"The low-down white hates us bekase we ain't mean an' ornery ez they
air, an' hold ourselves above 'em. The big-bugs hates us bekase we won't
knuckle down ter 'em, ez ther niggers an' the pore whites do. So hit's
cat-an'-dog all the time. We don't belong ter the same parties, we
don't jine the same churches, an' thar's more or less trouble a-gwine on
batween us an' them continnerly."

"Then when the war broke out you took different sides as usual?"

"Of course! of course! The big nigger-owners an' the ornery whites who
air just ez much ther slaves ez ef they'd been bot an' paid fur with
ther own money, became red-hot Secessioners, while our people stuck ter
the Union. The very old Satan hisself seemed ter take poss