CHAPTER Fourth.
"O, what a state is guilt! how wild! how wretched!" -- HAVARD.
The war had wrought many changes in the neighborhood where our friends resided; some who had been reared in the lap of luxury were now in absolute want, having sacrificed almost their last dollar in the cause of secession; to which also in numerous instances, the husbands, sons and brothers had fallen victims.
Though through the clemency of the Government there had been no executions for treason, no confiscation of property, many plantations had changed hands because of the inability of the original owners to work them, for lack of means to pay the laborers.
Elsie's tender sympathies were strongly enlisted for these old friends and acquaintances, and their necessities often relieved by her bounty when they little guessed whence help had come.

Her favors were doubled by the delicate kindness of the manner of their bestowal.
The ability to give largely was the greatest pleasure her wealth afforded her, and one in which she indulged to the extent of disposing yearly in that way, of the whole surplus of her ample income; not waiting to be importuned, but constantly seeking out worthy objects upon whom to bestow that of which she truly considered herself but a steward who must one day render a strict account unto her Lord.
It was she who had repaired the ravages of war in Springbrook, the residence of Mr.Wood, her pastor; she who, when the Fosters of Fairview, a plantation adjoining Ion, had been compelled to sell it, had bought a neat cottage in the vicinity and given them the use of it at a merely nominal rent.

And in any another like deed had she done; always with the entire approval of her husband, who was scarcely less generous than herself.
The purchaser of Fairview was a Mr.Leland, a northern man who had been an officer in the Union army.

Pleased with the southern climate and the appearance of that section of country, he felt inclined to settle there and assist in the development of its resources; he therefore returned some time after the conclusion of peace, bought this place, and removed his family thither.
They were people of refinement and culture, quiet and peaceable, steady attendants upon Mr.Wood's ministry, and in every way conducted themselves as good citizens.
Yet they were not popular: the Fosters, particularly Wilkins, the only son, hated them as their supplanters, and saw with bitter envy the rapid improvement of Fairview under Mr.Leland's careful cultivation.

It was no fault of his that they had been compelled to part with it, and he had paid a fair price: but envy and jealousy are ever unreasonable; and their mildest term of reproach in speaking of him was "carpet-bagger." Others found fault with Mr.Leland as paying too liberal wages to the negroes (including Mr.Horace Dinsmore and Mr.Travilla in the same charge), and hated him for his outspoken loyalty to the Government; for though he showed no disposition to seek for office or meddle in any way with the politics of others, he made no secret of his views when occasion seemed to call for their expression.