Of my riding companion there would be little else to report were it not for the presence of another passenger--the one that would finally provoke him. This strange little character sat to our left, alternately balling himself up with clenched teeth and double fists; then relaxing, craning his head into the aisle and smiling at us reverentially. I attributed this unusual behavior to old age, and did not expect anything to be meant from his pointed curiosity.

One of the finer points of public transportation is that it allows for productive work in the time one would normally be driving. To this end I rather enjoy a long commute. I had with me a collection of historical documents that dated back to Reconstruction; indeed, the first was a report by an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau, who had been tasked to administer relief for those displaced by the war and initiate programs aimed at the peaceful integration of former slaves into the economy of the south. In reviewing the period one cannot escape the elemental role the federal government played in safeguarding the welfare of southern blacks against violence sanctioned by the localities. It's the same message, repeated a half-century later, by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath: The collusion of local authorities with wealthy landowners creates a unique need for federal intervention on behalf of starving Midwestern families who flooded California during the Great Depression.