American history. I refeh, suh, to those times when the
plantahs of the black prairie belt of Alabama lived like princes, in the
heart of an enchanted empire!"

"A very interesting period, Captain," said the General. "It is a pity
that the industrial basis was one which could not endure!"

"In the midst of fo'ests, suh," went on the Captain, "we had ouah
mansions, not inferio' to this--each a little kingdom with its complete
wo'ld of amusements, its cote, and its happy populace, goin' singin' to
the wo'k which supported the estate!"

"Yes," said the General, "I thought, when we were striking down that
state of things, that we were doing a great thing for that populace. But
I now see that I was only helping the black into a new slavery, the
fruits of which we see here, around us, to-night."

"I hahdly get youah meaning, suh--"

"Well," said the General, looking about at the little audience. (It was
in the smoking-room, and those present were smokers only.) "Well, now,
take my case. I have some pretty valuable grounds down there where I
live. When I got them, they were worthless. I could build as good a
mansion as this or any of your ante-bellum Alabama houses for what I can
get out of that little tract. What is that value? Merely the expression
in terms of money of the power of excluding the rest of mankind from
that little piece of ground. I make people give me the fruits of their
labor, myself doing nothing. That's what builds this house and all these
great houses, and breeds the luxury we are beginning to see around us;
and the consciousness that this slavery exists, and is increasing, and
bids fair to grow greatly, is what is making men crazy over these little
spots of ground out here in the West! It is this slavery--"

"Suh," exclaimed the Captain, rising and grasping the General's hand,
"you have done me the favo' of making me wisah! I nevah saw so cleahly
the divine decree which has fo'eo'dained us to this opulence. Nothing so
satisfactory, suh, as a basis and reason foh investment, has been
advanced in my hearing since I have been in the real-estate business!
Let us wo'k this out a little mo' in detail, if you please, suh--"

"Let us escape while there is yet time!" said Cornish; and we fled.

After supper there was a cotillion. The spacious ballroom, with its roof
so high that the lights up there were as stars, was a sight which could
scarcely be reconciled with the village community which he had found a