IRRIGATION, POLITICS, AND SECTIONALISM 101 



to dwell on those exceptional negroes who 

 have shown themselves capable of something 

 higher than servile imitation of a superior 

 race, as it would be easy to enlarge on the 

 errors of a book which set the Northern 

 world on fire, which owed much of its success 

 to the fact that both author and readers had 

 never penetrated beyond the outermost rim 

 of Southern life, and which sowed seeds of 

 as bitter a feeling as the world has ever seen 



a feeling which to this day, whatever may 

 be said to the contrary by those unacquainted 

 with the actual truth, still maintains its vitality. 

 It was but recently that further proof, if 

 further proof were wanted, was presented to 

 me regarding the still existing ignorance, in 

 certain portions of the North, of Southern 

 modes of thought. Duelling has been prac- 

 tised even in Virginia during my residence 

 in that State ; and I have heard more than 

 one Southern man declare that nothing but 

 stringent States laws stamped out the custom 



that the sentiment in favour of it was very 

 far from dead. Be this as it may, certain 

 occurrences falling under my immediate ob- 

 servation are by no means opposed to this 



