Dear Madam,

Replying to your review in the Nashville Star, I beg to say that I lived in the South a number of years when a child, and extending into manhood, and have kept pretty closely in touch all my life with the literature of the South – I have read Mr. Page and Mr. Harris with interest, and you are right to read “The Conjure Tales” as having been written in relation. I can’t say, however, that I have been compelled by any “law” to do so – so few laws apply to Whites and Negroes alike! 

While I thank you for your kind observation that my information regarding the character of the region nevertheless appears “carefully garnered,” I’m afraid this Yankee must confess that his methods are not quite so pure: I can assure you I have never yet learned of authentic instance of the practice of “hoodoo” among the Negro populations, after or “befoah th’wyah.” Though these superstitions linger in the remoter part of the South, they are little more than the current superstitions of ignorant white people in the same part of the county – perhaps this is the “false note” you detect? Of course, there is a certain dramatic value to that sort of thing in fiction, if one possesses the shrewdness enough to tell the difference.

Cordially yours,

Chas. W. Chesnutt

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