human
My name is Hamilton Noble, he said;
gpt
I'm the census enumerator for this district. I presume you are Colonel Egerius?
human
Yes, Mr. Noble, the old Confederate leader replied.
gpt
Ephraim sent me word that you were here, and I received a letter a week ago from the supervisor, whom I have known for some time, telling me that you were a friend of his. I wanted to bid you welcome, sir, and to express the hope that we shall have the pleasure of seeing you at dinner with us to-night.
human
I shall enjoy coming, Colonel Egerius, he said.
gpt
At what hour?
human
Six-thirty, the Colonel replied,
gpt
he added,
human
No, sir, the boy answered,
gpt
I started out with my schedules bright and early.
human
I purpose to hold an inquiry after lunch, the planter continued.
gpt
You are lunching at Ephraim's of course?
human
Yes, Colonel Egerius,
gpt
Very well, was the reply,
human
I will join you in half an hour, Colonel Egerius, he said,
gpt
You play a good knife and fork, I trust,
human
Almost good enough to do justice even to Southern hospitality, answered Hamilton with a smile. The old soldier nodded approvingly.
gpt
Remember now, he said, as he rode away,
human
I was surprised, he said,
gpt
There's nothing surprising in that, the Colonel answered.
human
How could they do anything different? I have shown them every step they were to take; all that they had to do was to continue.
gpt
You mean they couldn't have done it by themselves?
human
The negro never has done anything by himself, the old Confederate replied.
gpt
He has lived as far back as time goes in one of the most fertile and well-watered countries of the world,--Africa--and he never had enough initiative to rise out of tribal conditions.
human
But he seems to be doing all right now, suggested Hamilton.
gpt
I hear the negro is getting to own quite a share of the cotton crop.
human
He has not done so well as appearances would show, the soldier replied;
gpt
I thought Booker T. Washington was a pure negro!
human
He is not, was the emphatic reply.
gpt
In his own writings he states that his father was a white man. His mother was a negress. He gets his brains from his father and his color from his mother.
human
Do you think that the negroes will ever marry enough with the white to become all white?
gpt
Not now, the Southerner answered.
human
It is a crime in many States and punishable with imprisonment.
gpt
Then what's going to be done?
human
I'm unreconstructed yet, the old Colonel said grimly.
gpt
I think still the negroes were better off as slaves. They're always going to be slaves, anyway, whether in name or not. And as for their relation to the cotton crop. You say they are succeeding in it. Perhaps. But did they learn the uses of cotton, did they develop machinery to clean and spin it, or devices for weaving? Was it negroes who worked out the best means of cultivating the cotton or experimented on the nature of the most fertile soils? Not a bit of it. They simply grow cotton the way the white folks showed them.
human
But they seem to be getting a big share of it!
gpt
I see you've been talking to Ephraim. What good would it do the negroes if they owned every foot of the cotton land? They would still have to depend on the man that buys the crop, and the cotton exchange wouldn't be run for the benefit of the negro. In slavery days, too, there was some one to take an interest in the negro and help him. Now he's got to do it for himself, and he can't do anything but go on in the same old groove.
human
You think it was better in the old days?
gpt
In some ways for the negro, yes. But it was harder for the people of the South. There was always trouble of some kind in the slave quarters. Before the war you had to support all the old, the sick, the children, and the poor workers. Under present conditions you hire just whom you want. The cost is about even, and the responsibility is less. Now, he added, lunch being over,
human
he called,
gpt
Yas, sah, answered the old negro.
human
He's hyar.
gpt
Bring him in, then.