PREFACE.
Events of every-day life are constantly occurring,
which, if recorded, would make more thrilling histories
than many of the volumes which aspire to have
no other character than that of romantic interest,
produced at the sacrifice, if needs be, of every other
quality.
In the present volume, a truthful story of Southern
life has been conscientiously recorded,—one not
unusual in the country of its location, yet most
deeply interesting, for the many morals its details
naturally suggest.
It is the privilege and the duty of the living
and responsible actors upon the stage of life to learn
from the experience of the past, and make inferences
of what may naturally occur in the future.
If any thing be set down in the pages that follow
this imperfect preface which creates surprise in the
reader,—developes an unexpected phase in society,
—or exhibits an heretofore unfamiliar sentiment,—
the question that arises, can these things be true?
should be seriously thought over; and then should
come the inquiry, what are the extraordinary causes
that produce them in the organization of society?
What may be the effect of the “Master's
House” upon the reader, the author cannot anticipate;
his own understanding of the purposes intended
is clear, and if he has failed, it has been
from a determination on his part to soften his pictures,
rather than to give them in their true, but
not unexaggerated colors.
It would sometimes seem as if the influence of
Christianity was fading from the world, or that its
ministers had lost their influence, when its plainest
precepts can be violated, without rousing a spirit of
condemnation, which, if impotent to entirely prevent,
might at least protest against the disregard of the
plainest precepts of the moral law.
This volume is dedicated to the lovers of mankind,—to
those who desire the highest development,
and would, by having the evils of society exposed,
learn where to commence the necessary reform.
There are defects in our social and political systems
that are working evils, which, if not checked, and
finally eradicated, must accomplish universal ruin.
The remedies, if of the right kind, are neither instant
in their operation, nor revolutionary in their
character; the first advancement, is the admission
that reform is needed, and then the manner of its
accomplishment will readily suggest itself.
