eman as compared with
his northern contemporary. We must, of course, reprobate in every
way the evil consequences of this state of mind; but the question
as to the propriety of that extreme devotion to continued mundane
existence which is so manifest in our modern civilization is
certainly open to debate. Irrational and brutal as are the ways in
which the old-fashioned gentleman of the South shows that his
regard for his own honor or that of his household outweighs his
love of life, it must be remembered that the same condition existed
in the richest ages of our race--those which gave proportionally
the largest share of ability and nobility to its history.

"As long as men are more keenly sensitive to the opinions of their
fellows than they are to the other goods which existence brings
them, as long as this opinion makes personal valor and truthfulness
the jewels of their lives, we must expect now and then to have
degradation of the essentially noble motives. It is, undoubtedly, a
dangerous state of mind, but not one that is degraded."--(_North
American Review_, October, 1890.)

"The motives of two centuries ago" are the motives of present-day
Appalachia. Here the right of private war is not questioned, outside of
a judge's charge from the bench, which everybody takes as a mere
formality, a convention that is not to be taken seriously. The argument
is this: that when Society, as represented by the State, cannot protect
a man or secure him his dues, then he is not only justified but in duty
bound to defend himself or seize what is his own. And in the mountains
Society with the big _S_ is often powerless against the Clan with a
bigger _C_.

CHAPTER XV

THE BLOOD-FEUD

In Corsica, when a man is wronged by another, public sentiment requires
that he redress his own grievance, and that his family and friends shall
share the consequences.

"Before the law made us citizens, great Nature made us men."

"When one has an enemy, one must choose between the three
S's--_schiopetto, stiletto, strada_: the rifle, the dagger, or
flight."

"There are two presents to be made to an enemy--_palla calda o ferro
freddo_: hot shot or cold steel."

The Corsican code of honor does not require that vengeance be taken in
fair fight. Rather should there be a sudden thrust of the knife, or a
pistol fired point-blank into the enemy's breast, or