“A nigger’s just as good as a white man now,” argumentatively observed a bottle-nosed member of the Legislature, “but I give my Sam t’other day to understand that he wasn’t a d——d bit better. He came into my room without taking off his hat. ‘Take off your hat, you dirty black scoundrel, or I’ll cut your throat,’ I yelled at him. D——n him, he had the impudence to stand up and say he was free, and he wouldn’t do it unless he pleased. I jumped at him with my knife, but he run. Bimeby he came sneakin’ back, and said he was sorry. ‘Sam,’ says I, ‘you’ve got just the same rights as a white man now, but not a bit better. And if you come into my room without takin’ off your hat I’ll shoot you!’” This Bowie-knife and pistol style of talk pervaded all the conversations of these people about their late affectionate bondsmen. Nothing less gunpowdery, it seemed, would serve to express their feelings. I fancy, however, that, as with all such talkers, there was a great amount of throat-cutting in words to a very small percentage of actual performance.[61] Nor must it be forgotten that the provocations were not wholly on one side. The negroes would be more than human, if suddenly enfranchised, clothed in the army blue, and taught to use the muskets in their hands, they should not strain the bounds of prudent freedom. They were not always respectful in their bearing toward men who talked of cutting their throats; and sometimes they had an indiscreet way of pressing claims, which it had been wiser for them to waive. “Get out of this car, you black puppy,” shouted a young blood, who evidently bemoaned the loss of the right to larrup his own nigger, as a handsome negro sergeant, fully equipped, modestly established himself in the corner of a first class car. The negro stood his ground but made no reply. Presently some one else ordered him to the negro car, quietly explaining that no negroes were allowed in the ladies’ car. “Ise paid my passage, same as de rest of ye. Ise goin’ on Government business, and Ise got as good right to what I pays for as anybody else.” The logic might have been hard to answer; but the conductor, who by this time had been summoned, didn’t trouble himself with logic. “I expect you’re on the Major General’s business, cuffee, but if you don’t get out of here mighty quick, bag and baggage, I’ll have you pitched off the train.” As there was but one against a train full of white men, he succumbed, though with an exceedingly bad grace. I have heard of other cases, where several soldiers were together, in which they stood their ground.