The battle-scarred veterans of the North have been meeting in memorable reunions the survivors of those who followed Johnston and Forrest and Jackson and Lee; and the most touching and inspiring scenes have been witnessed at these encampments where the South and the North recognized each other’s honesty, valor and generosity, and each section vied with the other in the glorious work of harmonizing the nation. At the grave of General Grant it was the presence of our Southern soldier, John B. Gordon, which testified to the North the sympathy of the South. And only a few days ago President Roosevelt inquired diligently into the circumstances of the widowed Mrs. Gordon to know whether or not an appointment as Postmaster for the city of Atlanta would be acceptable to her. During the Spanish war the South sprang into the ranks under the old flag, at the tap of the drum, and the blood of a Southern boy was the first that was shed in the conflict. It was the ranking cavalry leader of the expiring Confederacy who steadied the lines before Santiago, prevented a retreat, and brought from Mr. Roosevelt the manly acknowledgment that to General Joseph Wheeler, more than to any other man, was due the fact that we won the victory. It was a Southern boy who took his life in his hands in the effort to block the Spanish harbor, and worthily earned the title of “The Hero of the _Merrimac_.” It is sad to think that all this patriotism may not have made a deep impression upon the country. It is sad to realize that the work of such men as Alexander H. Stephens, Benjamin H. Hill, Senator Lamar, Thomas Nelson Page and Henry W. Grady has left so much still to be done before that man, North or South, who endeavors to inflame the passions of the sections shall be made to feel that he has excited for himself the contempt and disgust which he deserves. In a recent issue of the New York _Independent_ comes Albert Bushnell Hart, Professor of History at Harvard University, distilling as much bitterness and gall as ever fell from the lips of John J. Ingalls or Thaddeus Stevens. He writes an article called “Conditions of the Southern Problem,” and a more thoroughly exaggerated and libelous contribution to public discussion has not been made during the last twenty years. The average reader will get some idea of the value of Mr. Hart’s conclusions when he comes upon the sober statement that “white mountaineers (of the South) have been known _to take their children out of school because the teacher would insist that the world is round_.” Who stuffed Dr. Hart with that old joke? What credit does he do to himself when he shows to the world that he accepts such worn-out jests as facts? Does he not know that there are plenty of wags all over the world—even in Pullman cars—who take a delight in playing upon the credulous?