I took their
names, the times of their imprisonment, and obtained
permission to release them. I was thanked for my
trouble. Again, a cadet's father wishes to see him.
He is in arrest. I get permission for him to visit
his father at the guard tents. I go to his tent
and tell him, and start back to my post of duty.
He calls me back and thanks me. Must I call that
natural aversion for the negro, or even prejudice?
Perhaps it is, but I cannot so comprehend it. It
may have that construction, but as long as the other
is possible it is generous to accept it. And again,
I am ordered to report a cadet. I do it. I am
stigmatized, of course, by some of the low ones (see
that case under "Treatment"); but my conduct, both
in obeying the order and subsequently, is approved
by the better portion of the corps. The commandant
said to me: "Your duty was a plain one, and you
discharged it properly. You were entirely right in
reporting Mr.--." What is the conduct of this cadet
himself afterwards? If different at all from what it
was before, it is, in my presence at least, more
cordial, more friendly, more kind. Still there is no
ill-treatment, assuming of course that my own conduct
is proper, and not obtrusive or overbearing. And so
in a multitude of ways this fact is proved. I have
noticed many things, little things perhaps they were,
but still proofs, in the conduct of all the cadets
which remove all doubt from my mind.
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