FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92  
93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   >>   >|  
nd justice for all_." "That's the oath of allegiance!" cried Carl, Mary, and Tim in chorus, as they leaped to their feet and stood at salute. "We say it at school every morning," continued Tim, "but I never knew before what it meant." "You will know better now, won't you?" Captain Dillingham replied. "Every time you say those words remember the brave men of the South who really believed they had a right to establish a government of their own and protect the prosperity of their part of this great land. If you do this you will learn to honor both sides alike, each of which fought so devotedly for the cause he cherished. And now that the war is over the entire country has the South to thank for one of its greatest sources of wealth--cotton. The South raises it; the North, with its many mills, transforms the raw product into a finished commodity. How is that for team work? Could there be better proof of how vitally each section needs the other?" CHAPTER X A LESSON IN THRIFT That evening Carl resumed the cotton-raising subject by idly remarking, "I suppose since the invention of the cotton gin and the abolition of slavery most of the drudgery connected with the cotton industry has disappeared." His uncle smiled. "Hardly that, I am afraid, sonny," replied he. "Even under the best possible conditions the cultivation and gathering of the cotton crop entails drudgery. This cannot be helped. In the first place cotton demands steady heat to make it grow; and you know what it means to work all day in the broiling sun. Of course the negroes are to a certain degree accustomed to this; and moreover they belong to a race that finds hot weather less hard to bear than do many other persons. Nevertheless heat is heat, and say what you may, a hot sun pouring down on one's head does not make for comfort. In addition there is the monotony of the harvesting. As I told you before, this has to be done by hand--there is no escape from that; and since it must be, the dullness of the task is an unavoidable evil." Carl mused thoughtfully for a moment. "I don't see," observed he presently, "that after all the negroes are much better off than they were in slave days." "Oh, yes, they are," Captain Dillingham instantly responded. "Remember they now receive wages; their hours of work have also been shortened and regulated; and overseers have become more humane and now invent little ways of breaking the monotony and maki
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92  
93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
cotton
 

drudgery

 

Dillingham

 

replied

 

negroes

 
Captain
 
monotony
 

humane

 
broiling
 

weather


overseers

 

belong

 
accustomed
 

degree

 
regulated
 

shortened

 
conditions
 
cultivation
 

gathering

 

afraid


breaking

 

steady

 

demands

 

entails

 

helped

 

invent

 

unavoidable

 

dullness

 

escape

 

thoughtfully


moment

 
observed
 

presently

 

Hardly

 

pouring

 
Remember
 

responded

 
Nevertheless
 

receive

 
persons

harvesting
 

addition

 
instantly
 
comfort
 

establish

 

government

 
protect
 

believed

 
remember
 

prosperity