As the elder had suffered beneath the weight of the established order, so the younger showed the disturbing effects of a freedom which had resulted from a too rapid change in economic conditions rather than from the more gradual evolution of class.

When political responsibility was thrust on the plainer people instead of sought by them, it was but natural that the process of adjustment should appear rough rather than smooth.

The land which had belonged to the few became after the war within reach of the many.
At first the lower classes had held back, paralyzed by the burden of slavery.

The soil, impoverished, wasted, untilled, rested under the shadow of the old names--the old customs.

This mole-like blindness of the poorer whites persisted still for a quarter of a century; and the awakening was possible only after the newer authority was but a shadow; the past reverence but a delusion.