not find it.

"That is another matter," he repeated. "Here you have started as
black, and must remain so. But if you wish to move away, and sink your
past into oblivion, the case might be different. Let us see what the
law is; you might not need it if you went far enough, but it is well
enough to be within it--liberty is sweeter when founded securely on the
law."

He took down a volume bound in legal calf and glanced through it. "The
color line is drawn in North Carolina at four generations removed from
the negro; there have been judicial decisions to that effect. I
imagine that would cover your case. But let us see what South Carolina
may say about it," he continued, taking another book. "I think the law
is even more liberal there. Ah, this is the place:--

"'The term mulatto,'" he read, "'is not invariably applicable to every
admixture of African blood with the European, nor is one having all the
features of a white to be ranked with the degraded class designated by
the laws of this State as persons of color, because of some remote
taint of the negro race. Juries would probably be justified in holding
a person to be white in whom the admixture of African blood did not
exceed one eighth. And even where color or feature are doubtful, it is
a question for the jury to decide by reputation, by reception into
society, and by their exercise of the privileges of the white man, as
well as by admixture of blood.'"

"Then I need not be black?" the boy cried, with sparkling eyes.

"No," replied the lawyer, "you need not be black, away from Patesville.
You have the somewhat unusual privilege, it seems, of choosing between
two races, and if you are a lad of spirit, as I think you are, it will
not take you long to make your choice. As you have all the features of
a white man, you would, at least in South Carolina, have simply to
assume the place and exercise the privileges of a white man. You
might, of course, do the same thing anywhere, as long as no one knew
your origin. But the matter has been adjudicated there in several
cases, and on the whole I think South Carolina is the place for you.
They're more liberal there, perhaps because they have many more blacks
than whites, and would like to lessen the disproportion."

"From this time on," said the boy, "I am white."

"Softly, softly, my Caucasian fellow citizen," returned the judge,
chuckling with quiet amusement. "You are white in the abstract, before
the law.