"Gentlemen, do we owe the negro any grudge? What has he himself done to provoke our hostility? Shall we be angry with him because freedom has been forced upon him? Shall it excite our animosity because he has been suddenly and without an effort on his part torn loose from the protection of a kind master? He is proud to call you master yet. In the name of humanity let him do so. He may have been the companion of your boyhood. He may be older than you and perhaps carried you in his arms when an infant. You may be bound to him by a thousand ties which only the Southern man knows, and which he alone can feel in all its force. It may be that when only a few years ago you girded on your cartridge box and shouldered your trusty rifle to go to meet the invaders of your country, you committed to his care your home and your loved ones, and when you were far away upon the weary march, upon the dreadful battle field, in the trenches and on the picket line, many and many a time you thought of that faithful old negro and your heart warmed toward him." There was at the end of the war and is now a strong and steadfast affection between the old slaves of the South and their former masters. If that feeling of confidence had been allowed to continue without the evil influence of the carpet-bagger all would have been well. The Southern white man is the only man on earth who understands the negro character, and he is the only man who is now fitted to solve the intricate race relations of the future. The reconstruction period found the negro free. His freedom was not the result of his own efforts, although in most instances it was his desire to be free. By reason of the entire absence of self-reliance, his want of experience and his failure to understand or appreciate his changed condition, the negro after his emancipation was helpless. At this critical time the carpet-bagger invaded the South intent upon nothing but gain. At best the pathway toward better things was blocked by many difficulties. The coming of the carpet-bagger and the evil influence he gained over the negro, by causing him to lose faith in his best friends, was the crowning sorrow and humiliation of the South. The picture of conditions existing in the South during the period of reconstruction may strike those who know nothing of it as too dark. Some thinking and impartial men of the North are inclined to believe that Southern men overdraw the darkness of the night of reconstruction. At this time--twenty-five years after--in the light of the facts of history the student of that period, whose opinions are not embittered by the trials of the times, stands in astonishment and marvels at the patience and long suffering of a brave and chivalrous people. Therefore the unprejudiced reader will be in sympathy with a brief, impartial account of reconstruction conditions.