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158 I sometimes repeat the remarks of persons I casually met, without noticing whether I accept or disagree with the statements they contain, or the spirit which appears to animate them, because what I thought about the matter is of no consequence, while by reporting casually what I heard I enable often to form some idea of what unclear in the mind of the people I came in contact with. For this uncleartherefore?I will report what a fellow passenger said to me one night on our way through the interminable forest in Alabama. I had several times during the day had some talk with the gentleman, & had been much struck with him interested in what he said. He was a handsome man a very noble-looking specimen of humanity; & his manners and ideas corresponded to his appearance. At night we were seated together talking about the war, & the prospects of the country, when he gave me the following account of himself. He was a Virginian, & before the war had possessed a good property. Though disliking the Yankees (I am giving his own words) & their interference with the internal affairs of the Southern States , he had at first opposed the war. But when his state had decided for it, he took up his rifle and, & joined it unreservedly. Every thing he had possessed had been lost in the war; but he was determined neither to complain; nor to be beholden to any man. It was not a pleasant thing, for one who had lived as a gentleman, to work for others, but that was what he was now doing, for he had become travelling clerk for a large mercantile house. The period of his agreement had nearly expired & if it was not renewed, and he could get nothing better, he would drive a...