Entered According to Act of Congress, in the year of our Lord 1887,
By FRANCIS FONTAINE,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

To the disabled Confederate veterans, this book is respectfully dedicated by a fellow-soldier, with the hope that it may be the means of inaugurating a practical sympathy for them commensurate with their necessities.

You confronted nearly three millions of enlisted men, during four years of the bloodiest war on record, with a patriotism and heroism unsurpassed in history. Of these 3,000,000 men enlisted in the armies of the United States, 303,843 were killed during the war, and the average of killed and wounded in battle, on one side or the other, frequently exceeded thirty per cent. of the forces engaged.

Neither Waterloo, nor Wagram, nor Lodi, nor any of the great battles fought by Napoleon, show as great percentage of losses as the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, Chickamauga and Atlanta, Gettysburg or Shiloh.

At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 54,000 men fell; at Chickamauga , Georgia, 33,000 men were killed and wounded. Malice can find no lasting place in a hero's heart, and these figures are presented, not to revive bitter memories of the past, but that the reader may appreciate the enormous number of helpless, aged, and crippled veterans throughout the Southern States. While twelve millions of dollars a month are paid as pensions to the Federal soldiers, whether wounded or not, no government pensions these Southern soldiers, and no public charities have been organized for their benefit.

LET VETERAN'S HOMES BE BUILT FOR THOSE THAT ARE HELPLESS.

Philanthropy had never a nobler field of labor, and a patriot's gratitude cannot find more worthy recipients than these maimed heroes who yielded all in defence of their country.

We of the South owe it to them as a sacred duty, and the great heart of the American people will esteem it a debt worthily bestowed "

The soldier's spirit greets the soldier's call,
There is no hate between the brave and brave,
And he whose hand in battle labored first,
When darkness falls will labor first to save.
 

As a slight contribution to building a Veteran's Home in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, one-half of the proceeds of this book will be applied to that purpose.

Scene.-- A Book-store in New York City.

Visitor--"Have you any book treating of the negro as a slave and as a freedman and citizen? Any book that describes the domestic life of the Southern people under the régime of slavery?"

Bookseller--"Oh, yes, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' is very popular."

Visitor--"I know that, and deservedly so. I have seen that book all over Europe, translated into half a dozen languages. But that treats of slavery as it was thought to be by the Abolitionists before the late war between the States; it describes the horrors, but not the brighter phases of slavery."

Bookseller--"We have The Impending Crisis,' by Helper. It was recommended for circulation by sixty-eight members of Congress, and also by the Secretary of State, when it was published."

Visitor--"That is not what I want, either. Like 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' it pandered to the prejudices of the Abolitionists and advocated the confiscation of slave property without compensation to the owners. It used the following language, which shows the animus of the book:

"Frown, sirs; fret, foam, prepare your weapons, threaten, strike, shoot, stab, bring on civil war; dissolve the Union. You can neither foil nor intimidate us; we have determined to abolish slavery, and, so help us God, abolish it we will! Compensation to slave-owners for negroes! Preposterous idea; the suggestion is criminal, the demand unjust, wicked, damnable, monstrous. Shall we fee the curs of slavery to make them rich at our expense?"

Such is the language used. That is not what I want."

Bookseller "Then what do you want? Ah! I have it, 'The Fool's Errand' will suit you."

Visitor--"No; I have read that, too. That is worse than the others, because it is written by a 'carpet-bagger' who settled in the South after the war to make all he could for himself out of the woes

Bookseller--"There is no such book printed, and, in my judgment, there will never be. You may as well give up the search."

Visitor (sotto voce)--"We will see. Such a book is needed, and I will write it."

And thus this unpretentious book has been written that the reader may appreciate the motives which actuated the Southern States in seceding from the Union.

In the light of experience, sufficient time has already passed to justify the assertion that the great Republic has been purified in the fiery crucible of war.

It is also evident that the Southern States, in the next half century, will have advanced far more in all the arts, sciences and appliances of civilization without slavery than with it. But one can read all the histories from Northern sources that have been written, and in none of them will be found the unprejudiced, truthful description of the motives, sacrifices, triumphs and losses of the Southern people during the four years of war between the States. To give a faithful picture of life as it was under the régime of slavery, "with malice to none and charity for all," the author submits this simple story to the public.

CONTENTS OF CHAPTERS.