“I don’t know; on’y dey say so.”
“You think, then, it was a good thing that the Confederacy got used up and slavery abolished?”
“It mought be a good thing. All I know is, it’s so, and it can’t be ho’ped” (helped). “It suits me well enough. I’ve been gitt’n’ thirty dollars a month dis summer, and that’s twicet mo’e ’n I ever got befo’e.”
I could not discover that this youth of seventeen had ever given the great questions involving the welfare of his country a serious thought. However, the vague belief he had imbibed regarding better times coming in consequence of emancipation, interested me as a still further evidence of the convictions entertained by the poorer classes on this subject.
As we rode over the hills behind Fredericksburg, a young fellow came galloping after us on a mule.
“Whar ye go’n’, Dick?”
“I’m go’n’ to de battle-field wi’ dis gentleman.”
“He’s from the No’th, then,” said the young fellow.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Because no South’n man ever goes to the battle-fields: we’ve seen enough of ’em.” He became very sociable as we rode along. “Ye see that apple-tree? I got a right good pair o’ pants off one o’ your soldier’s under that tree once.”