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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11053-0.txt b/11053-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d80ac45 --- /dev/null +++ b/11053-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3500 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11053 *** + +Transcriber's Note: This document is the text of Minnie's Sacrifice. Any + bracketed notations such as [Text missing], [?], and + those inserting letters or other comments are from + the original text. + +Transcriber's Note About the Author: +Francis Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was born to free parents in +Baltimore, Maryland. Orphaned at three, she was raised by her uncle, a +teacher and radical advocate for civil rights. She attended the Academy +for Negro Youth and was educated as a teacher. She became a professional +lecturer, activist, suffragette, poet, essayist, novelist, and the author +of the first published short story written by an African-American. Her +work spanned more than sixty years. + + + + +MINNIE'S SACRIFICE + +A Rediscovered Novel by + +Frances E.W. Harper + +Edited By Frances Smith Foster + + + + + + +Chapter I + + +Miriam sat in her lowly cabin, painfully rocking her body to and fro; +for a great sorrow had fallen upon her life. She had been the mother of +three children, two had died in their infancy, and now her last, her +loved and only child was gone, but not like the rest, who had passed +away almost as soon as their little feet had touched the threshold of +existence. She had been entangled in the mazes of sin and sorrow; and +her sun had gone down in darkness. It was the old story. Agnes, fair, +young and beautiful, had been a slave, with no power to protect herself +from the highest insults that brutality could offer to innocence. Bound +hand and foot by that system, which has since gone down in wrath, and +blood, and tears, she had fallen a victim to the wiles and power of her +master; and the result was the introduction of a child of shame into a +world of sin and suffering; for herself an early grave; and for her +mother a desolate and breaking heart. + +While Miriam was sitting down hopelessly beneath the shadow of her +mighty grief, gazing ever and anon on the pale dead face, which seemed +to bear in its sad but gentle expression, an appeal from earth to +heaven, some of the slaves would hurry in, and looking upon the fair +young face, would drop a word of pity for the weeping mother, and then +hurry on to their appointed tasks. All day long Miriam sat alone with +her dead, except when these kindly interruptions broke upon the monotony +of her sorrow. + +In the afternoon, Camilla, the only daughter of her master, entered her +cabin, and throwing her arms around her neck exclaimed, "Oh! Mammy, I am +so sorry I didn't know Agnes was dead. I've been on a visit to Mr. Le +Grange's plantation, and I've just got back this afternoon, and as soon +as I heard that Agnes was dead I hurried to see you. I would not even +wait for my dinner. Oh! how sweet she looks," said Camilla, bending over +the corpse, "just as natural as life. When did she die?" + +"This morning, my poor, dear darling!" And another burst of anguish +relieved the overcharged heart. + +"Oh! Mammy, don't cry, I am so sorry; but what is this?" said she, as +the little bundle of flannel began to stir. + +"That is poor Agnes' baby." + +"Agnes' baby? Why, I didn't know that Agnes had a baby. Do let me see +it?" + +Tenderly the grandmother unfolded the wrappings, and presented the +little stranger. He was a beautiful babe, whose golden hair, bright blue +eyes and fair complexion showed no trace of the outcast blood in his +veins. + +"Oh, how beautiful!" said Camilla; "surely this can't be Agnes' baby. He +is just as white as I am, and his eyes--what a beautiful blue--and his +hair, why it is really lovely." + +"He is very pretty, Miss, but after all he is only a slave." + +A slave. She had heard that word before; but somehow, when applied to +that fair child, it grated harshly on her ear; and she said, "Well, I +think it is a shame for him to be a slave, when he is just as white as +anybody. Now, Mammy," said she, throwing off her hat, and looking +soberly into the fire, "if I had my way, he should never be a slave." + +"And why can't you have your way? I'm sure master humors you in +everything." + +"I know that; Pa does everything I wish him to do; but I don't know how +I could manage about this. If his mother were living, I would beg Pa to +set them both free, and send them North; but his mother is gone; and, +Mammy, we couldn't spare you. And besides, it is so cold in the North, +you would freeze to death, and yet, I can't bear the thought of his +being a slave. I wonder," said she, musing to herself, "I wonder if I +couldn't save him from being a slave. Now I have it," she said, rising +hastily, her face aglow with pleasurable excitement. "I was reading +yesterday a beautiful story in the Bible about a wicked king, who wanted +to kill all the little boys of a people who were enslaved in his land, +and how his mother hid her child by the side of a river, and that the +king's daughter found him and saved his life. It was a fine story; and I +read it till I cried. Now I mean to do something like that good +princess. I am going to ask Pa, to let me take him to the house, and +have a nurse for him, and bring him up like a white child, and never let +him know that he is colored." + +Miriam shook her head doubtfully; and Camilla, looking disappointed, +said, "Don't you like my plan?" + +"Laws, honey, it would be fustrate, but your Pa wouldn't hear to it." + +"Yes, he would, Mammy, because I'll tell him I've set my heart upon it, +and won't be satisfied if he don't consent. I know if I set my heart +upon it, he won't refuse me, because he always said he hates to see me +fret. Why, Mammy, he bought me two thousand dollars worth of jewelry +when we were in New York, just because I took a fancy to a diamond set +which I saw at Tiffany's. Anyhow, I am going to ask him." Eager and +anxious to carry out her plan, Camilla left the cabin to find her +father. He was seated in his library, reading Homer. He looked up, as +her light step fell upon the threshold, and said playfully, "What is +your wish, my princess? Tell me, if it is the half of my kingdom." + +Encouraged by his manner, she drew near, perched upon his knee, and +said; "Now, you must keep your word, Pa. I have a request to make, but +you must first promise me that you will grant it." + +"But I don't know what it is. I can't tell. You might want me to put my +head in the fire." + +"Oh no, Pa, you know I don't!" + +"Well, you might wish me to run for Congress." + +"Oh no, Pa, I know that you hate politics." + +"Well, darling, what is your request?" + +"No; tell me first that you will grant it. Now, don't tease me, Pa; say +yes, and I will tell you." + +"Well, yes; if it is anything in reason." + +"Well, it is in reason, let me tell you, Pa. To-day, after I came home, +I asked Annette where was Agnes, and she told me she was dead. Oh I was +so sorry; and so before I got my dinner I hastened to Mammy's cabin, and +found poor Mammy almost heart-broken, and Agnes lying dead, but looking +just as natural as life." + +"She was dead, but had left one of the dearest little babies I ever saw. +Why, Pa, he is just as white as we are; and I told Mammy so, but she +said it didn't matter; 'he is a poor slave, just like the rest of us.' +Now, Pa, I don't want Agnes' baby to be a slave. Can't you keep him from +growing up a slave?" + +"How am I to do that, my little Abolitionist?" + +"No, Pa, I am not an Abolitionist. I heard some of them talk when I was +in New York, and I think they are horrid creatures; but, Pa, this child +is so white, nobody would ever know that he had one drop of Negro blood +in his veins. Couldn't we take him out of that cabin, and make all the +servants promise that they would never breathe a word about his being +colored, and let me bring him up as a white child?" + +"Well," said Mr. Le Croix, bursting into a hearty laugh, "that is a +capital joke; my little dewdrop talk of bringing up a child! Why, +darling, you would tire of him in a week." + +"Oh no, Pa, I wouldn't! Just try me; if it is only for a week." + +"Why, Sunbeam, it is impossible. Who ever heard of such a thing as a +Negro being palmed upon society as a white person?" + +"Negro! Pa, he is just as white as you are, and his eyes are as blue as +mine." + +"Still he belongs to the Negro race; and one drop of that blood in his +veins curses all the rest. I would grant you anything in reason, but +this is not to be thought of. Were I to do so I would immediately lose +caste among all the planters in the neighborhood; I would be set down as +an Abolitionist, and singled out for insult and injury. Ask me anything, +Camilla, but that." + +"Oh, Pa, what do you care about social position? You never hunt, nor +entertain company, nor take any part in politics. You shut yourself up +in your library, year after year, and pore over your musty books, and +hardly any one knows whether you are dead or alive. And I am sure that +we could hide the secret of his birth, and pass him off as the orphan +child of one of our friends, and that will be the truth; for Agnes was +our friend; at least I know she was mine." + +"Well, I'll see about it; now, get down, and let me finish reading this +chapter." + +The next day Camilla went again to the cabin of Miriam; but the overseer +had set her to a task in the field, and Agnes' baby was left to the care +of an aged woman who was too old to work in the fields, but not being +entirely past service, she was appointed as one of the nurses for the +babies and young children, while their mothers were working in the +fields. + +Camilla, feeling an unusual interest in the child, went to the +overseer, and demanded that Miriam should be released from her tasks, +and permitted to attend the child. + +In vain the overseer plead the pressure for hands, and the busy season. +Camilla said it did not matter, she wanted Miriam, and she would have +her; and he, feeling that it was to his interest to please the little +lady, had Miriam sent from the field to Camilla. + +"Mammy, I want you to come to the house. I want you to come and be my +Mammy. Agnes is dead; your husband is gone, and I want you to come and +bring the baby to the house, and I am going to get him some beautiful +dresses, and some lovely coral I saw in New Orleans, and I am going to +dress him so handsomely, that I believe Pa will feel just as I do, and +think it a shame that such a beautiful child should be a slave." + +Camilla went home, and told her father what she had done. And he, +willing to compromise with her, readily consented; and in a day or two +the child and his grandmother were comfortably ensconced in their new +quarters. + +The winter passed; the weeks ripened into months, and the months into +years, and the child under the pleasant dispensations of love and +kindness grew to be a fine, healthy, and handsome boy. + +One day, when Mr. Le Croix was in one of his most genial moods, Camilla +again introduced the subject which she had concealed, but not abandoned. + +"Now, father, I do think it is a shame for this child to be a slave, +when he is just as white as anybody; I am sure we could move away from +here to France, and you could adopt him as your son, and no one would +know anything of his birth and parentage. He is so beautiful, I would +like him for my brother; and he looks like us anyhow." + +Le Croix flushed deep at these words, and he looked keenly into his +daughter's face; but her gaze was so open, her expression so frank and +artless, he could not think that her words had any covert meaning in +reference to the paternity of the child; but to save that child from +being a slave, and to hide his origin was with her a pet scheme; and, to +use her own words, "she had set her heart upon it." + + + + +Chapter II + + +Mr. Bernard Le Croix was the only son of a Spanish lady, and a French +gentleman, who were married in Hayti a few months before the revolution, +which gave freedom to the Island, and made Hayti an independent nation. + +His father, foreseeing the storm which was overshadowing the land, +contrived to escape, bringing with him a large amount of personal +property; and preferring a climate similar to his own, he bought a +plantation on Red river, and largely stocked it with slaves. Only one +child blessed their union; Bernard Le Croix, who grew up sensitive, shy +and retiring, with a taste for solitude and literary pursuits. + +During the troubles in Hayti, his uncle and only daughter escaped from +the Island, leaving every thing behind except the clothing upon their +persons, and a few jewels they had hastily collected. Broken in spirits, +feeble in health, Louis Le Croix reached Louisiana, only to die in his +brother's arms and to leave his orphan daughter to his care. She was +about ten years old and Bernard was twelve, and in their childhood was +commenced a friendship which ripened into love and marriage. Bernard's +father and mother lived long enough to see their first and only +grandchild, and then died, leaving their son a large baronial estate, +500 slaves, and a vast amount of money. + +Passionately fond of literature, aesthetic in his tastes, he devoted +himself to poetry and the ancient classics; filled his home with the +finest paintings and the most beautiful statuary, and had his gardens +laid out in the most exquisite manner. And into that beautiful home he +brought his young and lovely bride; but in that fair house where velvet +carpets hushed her tread, and magnificence surrounded her path, she +drooped and faded. Day by day her cheek grew paler, her footsteps +slower, until she passed away like a thing of love and light, and left +her heart-broken husband and a child of six summers to mourn her loss. + +Bernard, ever shy and sensitive, grew more so after the death of his +wife. He sought no society; seemed to lose all interest in politics; and +secluded himself in his library till he had almost passed from the +recollection of his nearest neighbors. He superintended the education of +his daughter, because he could not bear the thought of being separated +from her. And she, seeing very little of society, and reading only from +the best authors, both ancient and modern, was growing up with very +little knowledge of the world, except what she learned from books. + +Without any female relatives to guide her, she had no other associates +than the servants of her household, and the family of Mr. Le Grange. Her +mother's nurse and favorite servant had taken the charge of her after +her death, and Agnes had been her nurse and companion. + +Camilla, although [adored?] and petted by every one, and knowing no law +but her own will, was still a very lovely child. Her father, wrapped in +his literary pursuits, had left the entire control of his plantation to +overseers, in whom he trusted almost implicitly. And many a tale of +wrong and sorrow came to the ear of Camilla; for these simple-minded +people had learned to love her, and to trust in her as an angel of +mercy. Often would she interfere in their behalf, and tell the story of +their wrongs to her father. And at her instance, more than one overseer +had been turned away; which, coming to the ears of others, made them +cautious how they offended the little lady, for young as she was they +soon learned that she had great influence with her ease-loving father, +who would comply with almost any fancy or request rather than see her +unhappy or fretting. + +And Camilla, knowing her power, insisted that Agnes' child should be +raised as a white child, and the secret of his birth effectually +concealed. At first, Mr. Le Croix thought it was a passing whim that she +would soon forget; that the child would amuse and interest her for +awhile; and then she would tire of him as she had of other things; such +as her birds, her squirrel, and even her Shetland pony. But when he +found that instead of her intention being a passing whim it was a +settled purpose, he made up his mind to accede to her wishes. + +His plan was to take the child North, to have him educated, and then +adopt him as his son. And in fact the plan rather suited him; for then +he could care for him as a son, without acknowledging the relationship. +And being a member of two nations having a Latin basis, he did not feel +the same pride of race and contempt and repulsion for weaker races which +characterizes the proud and imperious Anglo-Saxon. + +The next Summer Mr. Le Croix took a journey to the North, taking Louis +and Camilla with him. He found a very pleasant family school in New +England; and having made suitable arrangements, he left Louis in the +care of the matron, whose kindness and attentions soon won the child's +heart; and before he left the North, Louis seemed perfectly contented +with his new home. + +Camilla was delighted with her tour; the constant companion of her +father, she visited with him every place of amusement or interest they +could find. She was much pleased with the factories; and watched with +curious eyes the intelligent faces of the operatives, as they plied with +ready fingers their daily tasks. Sometimes she would contrast their +appearance with the laborers she had seen wending their way into their +lowly huts; and then her face would grow sober even to sadness. A +puzzled expression would flit over her countenance, as if she were +trying to solve a problem which was inexplicable to her. + +One day on the hunt for some new excitement, her father passed down +Tremont St., and saw advertised, in large letters, on the entrance to +Tremont Temple, "Anti Slavery Meeting;" and never having been in such a +place before he entered, impelled by a natural curiosity to hear what +could be said against a system in which he had been involved from his +earliest recollections, without taking the pains to examine it. + +The first speaker was a colored man. This rather surprised him. He had +been accustomed to colored men all the days of his life; and as such, he +had known some of them to be intelligent, shrewd, and wide awake; but +this was a new experience. The man had been a slave, and recounted in +burning words the wrongs which had been heaped upon him. He told that he +had been a husband and a father: that his wife had possessed (for a +slave) the "fatal gift of beauty;" that a trader, from whose presence +her soul had recoiled with loathing, had marked her as his prey. Then he +told how he had knelt at his master's feet, and implored him not to sell +her, but it was all in vain. The trader was rich in sin-cursed gold; and +he was poor and weak. He next attempted to describe his feelings when he +saw his wife and children standing on the auction block; and heard the +coarse jests of the spectators, and the fierce competition of the +bidders. + +The speaker made a deep impression upon the minds of the audience; and +even Le Croix, who had been accustomed to slavery all his life, felt a +sense of guilt passing over him for his complicity in the system; whilst +Camilla grew red and pale by turns, and clutching her little hands +nervously together, said, "Father, let us go home." + +Le Croix saw the deep emotion on his daughter's face, and the nervous +twitchings of her lips, and regretted that he had introduced her to such +an exciting scene. + +When they were seated in their private parlor, Le Croix said: "Birdie, +I am sorry that we attended that meeting this morning. I didn't believe +a word that nigger said; and yet these people all drank it down as if +every word were gospel truth. They are a set of fanatics, calculated to +keep the nation in hot water. I hope that you will never enter such a +place again. Did you believe one word that negro said?" + +"Why, yes, Pa, I did, because our Isaac used to tell me just such a +story as that. If I had shut my eyes, I could have imagined that it was +Isaac telling his story." + +"Isaac! What business had Isaac telling you any such stories?" + +"Oh, Pa, don't get angry with Isaac. It wasn't his fault; it was mine. + +"You know when you brought him home to drive the carriage, he used to +look so sorrowful, and I said to him one day, Isaac, what makes you so +sad? Why don't you laugh and talk, like Jerry and Sam? + +"And he said, 'Oh Missus, I can't! Ise got a mighty heap of trouble on +my mind.' And he looked so down-hearted when he said this, I wanted to +know what was the matter; but he said, 'It won't do, for a little lady +like you to know the troubles of we poor creatures,' but one day, when +Sam came home from New Orleans he brought him a letter from his wife, +and he really seemed to be overjoyed, and he kissed the letter, and put +it in his bosom, and I never saw him look half so happy before. So the +next day when I asked him to get the pony ready, he asked me if I +wouldn't read it for him. He said he had been trying to make it out, but +somehow he could not get the hang of the words, and so I sat down and +read it to him. Then he told me about his wife, how beautiful she was; +and how a trader, a real mean man, wanted to buy her, and that he had +begged his master not to sell her; but it was no use. She had to go; but +he was glad of one thing; the trader was dead, and his wife had got a +place in the city with a very nice lady, and he hoped to see her when +he went to New Orleans. Pa, I wonder how slavery came to be. I should +hate to belong to anybody, wouldn't you, Pa?" + +"Why, yes, darling, but then the negroes are contented, and wouldn't +take their freedom, if you would give it to them." + +"I don't know about that, Pa; there was Mr. Le Grange's Peter. Mr. Le +Grange used to dress him so fine and treat him so well that he thought +no one would ever tempt Peter to leave him; and he came North with him +every year for three or four summers, and he always made out that he was +afraid of the abolitionists--bobolitionists he used to call them--and +Mr. Le Grange just believed that Peter was in earnest, and somehow he +got Mrs. Le Grange to bring his wife North to wait on her. And when they +both got here, they both left; and Mrs. Le Grange had to wait on +herself, until she got another servant. She told me she had got enough +of the North, and never wanted to see it again so long as she lived; +that she wouldn't have taken three thousand dollars for them." + +"Well, darling, they would have never left, if these meddlesome +abolitionists hadn't put it in their heads; but, darling, don't bother +your brain about such matters. See what I have bought you this morning," +said he, handing her a necklace of the purest pearls; "here, darling, is +a birth-day present for you." Camilla took the necklace, and gazing +absently upon it said, "I can't understand it." + +"What is it, my little philosopher, that you can't understand?" + +"Pa, I can't understand slavery; that man made me think it was something +very bad. Do you think it can be right?" + +Le Croix's face flushed suddenly, and he bit his lip, but said nothing, +and commenced reading the paper. + +"Why don't you answer me, Pa?" Le Croix's brow grew darker, but he tried +to conceal his vexation, and quietly said, "Darling, never mind. Don't +puzzle your little head about matters you cannot understand, and which +our wisest statesmen cannot solve." + +Camilla said no more, but a new train of thought had been awakened. She +had lived so much among the slaves, and had heard so many tales of +sorrow breathed confidentially into her ears, that she had unconsciously +imbibed their view of the matter; and without comprehending the +injustice of the system, she had learned to view it from their +standpoint of observation. + +What she had seen of slavery in the South had awakened her sympathy and +compassion. What she had heard of it in the North had aroused her sense +of justice. She had seen the old system under a new light. The good seed +was planted, which was yet to yield its harvest of blessed deeds. + + + + +Chapter III + + +"What is the matter?" said St. Pierre Le Grange, as he entered suddenly +the sitting-room of his wife, Georgietta Le Grange, and saw her cutting +off the curls from the head of little girl about five years old, the +child of a favorite slave. + +"Matter enough!" said the angry wife, her cheeks red with excitement and +her eyes half blinded with tears of vexation. "This child shan't stay +here; and if she does, she shall never again be taken for mine." + +"Who took her for yours? What has happened that has brought about all +this excitement?" + +"Just wait a minute," said Georgietta, trying to frame her excitement +into words. + +"Yesterday I invited the Le Fevres and the Le Counts, and a Northern +lady they had stopping with Mrs. Le Fevre, to dine with us. To-day I +told Ellen to have the servants all cleaned up, and looking as well as +possible; and so I distributed around more than a dozen turbans, for I +wanted Mrs. King to see how much better and happier our negroes looked +here than they do when they are free in the North, and what should Ellen +do but dress up her little minx in her best clothes, and curl her hair +and let her run around in the front yard." + +"So she overdid the thing," said Le Grange, beginning to comprehend the +trouble. + +"Yes, she did, but she will never do it again," exclaimed Mrs. Le +Grange, her dark eyes flashing defiantly. + +Le Grange bit his lip, but said nothing. He saw the storm that was +brewing, and about to fall on the head of the hapless child and mother, +and thought that he would do nothing to increase it. + +"When Mrs. Le Fevre," continued Georgietta, "alighted from the carriage, +she noticed the child, and calling the attention of the whole party to +her, said, 'Oh, how beautiful she is! The very image of her father.' +'Mrs. Le Grange,' said she, after passing the compliments of the day, 'I +congratulate you on having such a beautiful child. She is the very image +of her father. And how large she is for her age.' Just then Marie came +to the door and said 'She's not my sister, that is Ellen's child.' I saw +the gentlemen exchange glances, and the young ladies screw up their +mouths to hide their merriment, while Mrs. Le Fevre, with all her +obtuseness, seemed to comprehend the blunder, and she said, 'Child, you +must excuse me, for my poor old eyes are getting so good for nothing I +can hardly tell one person from the other.' I blundered some kind of +answer, I hardly know what I said. I was almost ready to die with +vexation; but this shall never happen again." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"You see what I have begun to do. I am going to have all this curling +business broken up, and I am going to have her dressed in domestic, like +the other little niggers. I'll let Ellen know that I am mistress here; +and as soon as a trader comes along I mean to sell her. I want a new set +of pearls anyhow." + +Le Grange made no reply. He was fond of the child, but knowing what a +termagant his wife was, he thought that silence like discretion was the +better part of valor, and hastily beat a retreat from her presence. + +"Take these curls and throw them away," said Mrs. Le Grange to Sally, +her waiting-maid. "Move quick, and take this child into the kitchen, and +don't let me see her in the front yard again. Do you hear what I say?" +said Georgiette in a sharp, shrill tone. "Don't you let me see that +child in the front yard again. Here, before you go, darken this room, +and let me see if I can get any rest. I am so nervous, I am almost ready +to fly." + +Sally did as she was bidden; and taking the child to the kitchen, +exclaimed to Milly, the cook, "Hi! Oh! there's been high times upstairs +to-day." + +"What's the matter?" said Milly, wiping the dough from her hands, and +turning her face to Sally. + +"Oh! Missus mad 'bout Ellen's child. She's mad as a March hare. See how +she's cut all her hair off." + +"A debil," said Milly. "What did she do dat for? She is allers up to +some debilment. What did that poor innercence child do to her? I wonder +what she'll get at next!" + +"I don't know, but to-day when Mrs. Le Ferre come'd here she kissed the +child, and said it was the very image of its father, and Missus just +looked mad enough to run her through." + +Milly, in spite of her indignation could not help laughing. "Well, +that's a good joke. I guess Missus' high as ninety. What did Massa say?" + +"He neber said a word; he looked like he'd been stealin' a sheep; and +Missus she jist cut up high, and said she was going to keep her hair cut +short, and have her dressed in domestic, and kept in the kitchen, and +when she got a good chance she meant to sell her, for she wanted a new +set of pearls anyhow. Massa neber said beans. I jist b'lieve he's +feared of her. She's sich a mity piece. I spect some night the debil +will come and fly way wid her. I hope so anyhow." + +To which not very pious wish Milly replied, "I am fraid there is no such +good luck. Nothin' don't s'prise me that Miss Georgiette does 'cause +she's a chip off the old block. Her mother's poor niggers used to be cut +up and slashed all the time; for she was a horse at the mill. De debil +was in dat woman big as a sheep. Dere was Nancy, my fellow servant; +somehow she got a spite agin Nancy's husban', said he shouldn't come +dere any more. Pore Nancy, her and Andy war libing together in dar nice +little cabin, and Nancy did keep ebery ting shinin' like a new pin, +'cause she would work so hard when she was done her task for Missus. But +one day Missus got de debil in her, and sayed Andy shouldn't come der +any more, and she jist had all Nancy's tings took out de cabin and shut +it up, and made her come and sleep in de house. Pore Nancy, she cried as +if her heart would break right in two; and she says why does you take my +husban' from me? and Missus said I did it to please my own self, and den +Nancy kneeled at her feet and said, 'Missus I'll get up before day and +set up till twelve or one o'clock at night and work for you, but please +don't take me from my husban'. An' what do you think ole Missus did? Why +she jist up wid her foot and kicked Nancy in de mouf, and knocked out +two of her teef. I seed her do it wid my own blessed eyes. An' I sed to +myself de debil will never git his own till he gits you. Well she did +worry dat pore cretur almost to death. She used to make her sleep in the +room wid her chillen, and locked de door ebery night, and Sundays she'd +lebe some one to watch her, she was so fraid she'd git to see her +husban'. An' dis Miss Georgiette is de very moral of her Ma, and she's +jist as big as a spitfire." + +"Hush," said Milly, "here comes Jane. Don't say no more 'bout Missus, +cause she's real white people's nigger, and tells all she knows, and +what she don't." + + + + +Chapter IV + + +"I am really sorry, Ellen, but I can't help it. Georgiette has taken a +dislike to the child, and there is no living in peace with her unless I +sell the child or take it away." + +"Oh! Mr. St. Pierre, you would not sell that child when it is your own +flesh and blood?" Le Grange winced under these words. + +"No, Ellen, I'll never consent to sell the child, but it won't do for +her to stay here. I've made up my mind to send her North, and have her +educated." + +"And then I'll never see my darling any more." + +"But, Ellen, that is better than having her here to be knocked around by +Georgiette, and if I die to be sold as a slave. It is the best thing I +can do,--hang old Mrs. Le Fevre's tongue; but I guess it would have come +out some time or the other. I just tell you what I'll do, Ellen. I'll +take the child down to New Orleans, and make out to Georgiette that I am +going to sell her, but instead of that, I'll get a friend of mine who is +going to Pennsylvania to take her with him, and have her boarded there, +and educated. Nobody need know anything about her being colored. I'd +send you both, Ellen, but, to tell you the truth, the plantation is +running down, and the crops are so short this year I can't afford it; +but when times get better, I'll send you up there and tell you where you +can find her." + +"Well, Mr. St. Pierre, that is better than having Missus knocking her +around or selling her to one of those old mean nigger traders, and never +having a chance to see my darling no more. But, Mr. St. Pierre, before +you take her away won't you please give me her likeness? Maybe I won't +know her when I see her again." + +Le Grange consented, and when he went to the city again he told his wife +he was going to sell the child. + +"I am glad of it," said Georgiette. "I would have her mother sold, but +we can't spare her; she is so handy with her needle, and does all the +cutting out on the place." + + + + +Le Grange's Plan + + +"The whole fact is this Joe, I am in an awkward fix. I have got myself +into a scrape, and I want you to help me out of it. You were good at +such things when we were at College, and I want you to try your hand +again." + +"Well, what's the difficulty now?" + +"Well, it is rather a serious one. I have got a child on my hands, and I +don't know what to do with it." + +"Whose child is it?" + +"Now, that's just where the difficulty lies. It is the child of one of +my girls, but it looks so much like me, that my wife don't want it on +the place. I am too hard up just now to take the child and her mother, +North, and take care of them there. And to tell you the truth I am too +humane to have the child sold here as a slave. Now in a word do you +think that among your Abolitionist friends in the North you could find +any one who would raise the child and bring it up like a white child." + +"I don't know about that St. Pierre. There are a number of our people in +the North, who do two things. They hate slavery and hate negroes. They +feel like the woman who in writing to her husband said, they say (or +don't say) that absence conquers love; for the longer you stay away the +better I love you. But then I know some who, I believe, are really +sincere, and who would do anything to help the colored people. I think I +know two or three families who would be willing to take the child, and +do a good part by her. If you say so, I will write to a friend whom I +have now in mind, and if they will consent I will take the child with me +when I go North, provided I can do it without having it discovered that +she is colored, for it would put me in an awkward fix to have it known +that I took a colored child away with me." + +"Oh, never fear," said St. Pierre, slapping his friend on the shoulder. +"The child is whiter than you are, and you know you can pass for white." + +True to his promise, Josiah Collins wrote to a Quaker friend, whom he +knew in Pennsylvania, and told him the particulars of the child's +history, and the wishes of her father, and the compensation he would +give. In a few days he received a favorable response in which the friend +told him he was glad to have the privilege of rescuing one of that fated +race from a doom more cruel than the grave; that the compensation was no +object; that they had lost their only child, and hoped that she would in +a measure fill the void in their hearts. + +Highly gratified with the kind letter of the friend, Le Grange gave the +child into the charge of Josiah Collins, and putting a check for five +hundred dollars in his hand, parted with them at the [station]. + +He went back into the country, and told his wife that he had found a +trader, who thought the child so beautiful, and that he had bought her +to raise as a fancy girl, and had given him five hundred dollars for +her. "And here," said he, handing her a set of beautiful pearls, "is my +peace offering." + +Georgette's eyes glistened as she entertwined the pearls amid the wealth +of her raven hair, and clasped them upon her beautifully rounded arms. + +What mattered it to her if every jewel cost a heart throb, and if the +whole set were bought with the price of blood? They suited her style of +beauty, and she cared not what they cost. Proud, imperious, and selfish, +she knew no law but her own will; no gratification but the enjoyment of +her own desires. + +Passing from the boudoir of his wife, he sought the room where Ellen +sat, busily cutting and arranging the clothing for the field hands, and +gazing furtively around he said, "here is Minnie's likeness. I have +managed all right." "Thank Heaven!" said the sad hearted mother, as she +paused to dry her tears, and then resumed her needle. "Anything is +better--than Slavery." + + + + +Chapter V + + +Before I proceed any further with my story, let me tell the reader +something of the Le Granges, whom I have so unceremoniously introduced. + +Le Grange, like Le Croix, was of French and Spanish descent, and his +father had also been a Haytian refugee. But there the similitude ends; +unlike Le Croix, he had grown up a gay and reckless young man, fond of +sports, and living an aimless life. + +His father had on his plantation a beautiful quadroon girl, named Ellen, +whom he had bought in Richmond because she begged him to buy her when he +had bought her mother, who had been recommended to him as a first-rate +cook. They had been servants in what was called one of the first +families of Virginia, and had been treated by their mistress with more +kindness and consideration than generally fell to the lot of persons in +their condition. As long as she lived, they had been well fed and well +clothed, and except the deprivation of their freedom, had known but few +of the hardships so incident to slave life; but a reverse had fallen +upon them. + +Their mistress had intended to set them free, but, dying suddenly, she +had failed to carry out her intention. Her property fell into the hands +of distant heirs, who sold it all, and divided it among themselves. +Ellen and her mother were put up at auction, when a kindly looking old +Frenchman bought the mother. Ellen stood trembling by; but, when she saw +her mother's new master, she started forth, and kneeling at his feet, +she begged him to buy her. The mother joined in and said, "Do, Massa, +and I'll serve you faithful day and night; there is a heap of work in +these old bones yet." + +Mr. Le Grange told her to be quiet, and he would buy her. And, true to +his word, although the bidding ran high, and the competition was fierce, +he bought her; and the next day, he started with them for his plantation +on Red River. + +His son, Louis, had just graduated, and was spending the winter at home, +in just that mood of which it is said that Satan finds some mischief for +idle hands to do. Milly, who knew the wiles of the world better than +Ellen, tried to keep her as much as possible out of his way; but her +caution was all in vain. She saw her child engulfed, as thousands of her +race had been. + +Mrs. Le Grange, when she became apprised of the condition of things, +grew very angry; but, instead of venting her indignation upon the head +of her offending son, she poured out the vials of her wrath upon the +defenseless girl. She made up her mind to sell her off the place, and +picked the opportunity, while her son was absent, to send her to a +trader's pen in the city. When Louis came home, he found Milly looking +very sullen and distressed, and her eyes red with weeping. + +"What is the matter?" said Louis. + +"Matter enough," said Milly. "Missus done gone and sold Ellen." + +"Sold Ellen! Why, how did that happen?" + +"Why, she found out all about her, and said she should not stay on the +place another day, and so she sent her down to Orleans to the nigger +traders, and my heart's most broke," and Milly sat down, wiping her +tears with her apron. + +"Never mind, Milly," said Louis, "I'll go down to New Orleans and bring +her back. Mother sha'n't do as she pleases with me, as if I were a boy, +and must always be tied to her apron string. I've got some money of my +own, and I mean to find Ellen if I have to look all over the country." + +He entered the dining room, and saw his mother seated at the tea table, +looking as bland and pleasant as a Spring morning, and asked, "Where is +Ellen?" + +The smile died from her lips, and she answered, curtly, "She is out of +_your_ reach [?]. I've sold her." + +"But where have you sold her?" + +"Out of your reach, and that is all I am going to tell you." + +Louis, without saying another word went out to the coachman, and asked +what time the cars left the station. + +"Ten minutes to nine." + +"Can you take me there in time to reach the train? I want to go to the +city tonight." + +"Dunno, massa; my best horse is lame, and what----" + +"Never mind your excuse; here," said he, throwing him a dollar, "hitch +up as quick as possible, and take me there without any 'buts' or 'ifs.'" + +"All right, massa," said Sam, grinning with delight. "I'll have you over +there in short order." + +The carriage harnessed, Samuel found no difficulty with his horses, and +reached the depot almost a half hour before the time. + +Louis arrived in the city after midnight, and the next day he devoted to +hunting for Ellen. He searched through different slave pens, inquired of +all the traders, until at last, ready to abandon his search in +hopelessness, he heard of a private jail in the suburbs of the city. +Nothing daunted by his failure, he found the place and Ellen also. + +The trader eyed him keenly, and saw from his manner that he was in +earnest about having the girl. + +"She is not for sale in this city. Whoever buys her must give me a +pledge to take her out of this city. That was the bargain I made with +her mistress. She made me promise her that I would sell her to no one in +the vicinity of the city. In fact, she wanted me to sell her out of the +way of her son. His mother said she had dedicated him to the Blessed +Virgin, and I reckon she wanted to keep him out of the way of +temptation. Now what will you give me for her?" + +"Will you take a thousand for her?" + +"Now you ain't saying nothing," said the trader, shutting one eye, and +spitting on the floor. + +"How will twelve hundred do?" + +"It won't do at all, not for such a fancy article as that. I'd rather +keep her for myself than sell her at such a low figure. Why, just look +at her! Why, she's pretty as a picture! Look at that neck, and her +shoulders. See how she carries her head! And look at that splendid head +of hair. Why some of our nabobs would give three thousand dollars; but +I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll let you have her for two thousand +dollars; fancy article is cheap at that." + +Louis demurred, but the trader was inexorable, and rather than let the +opportunity to rescue Ellen from him escape he paid the exorbitant +price, and had her brought to his hotel. His next work was to get a +house for Ellen, and have her taken there, installed as his mistress. He +then went back to the plantation as if nothing had happened, and his +mother soon thought he was reconciled about the loss of Ellen. Only +Milly knew his secret, and she kept it as a secret thing. + +"I've got some pleasant news for you, Louis," said Mrs. Le Grange, one +day to her son: "your uncle and cousin are coming down from Virginia, +and I want you to be all attention to your cousin, for she is very rich. +She has a fortune in her right, which was left her by her grandmother, +and besides she will have another one at her father's death, added, to +which they say, she is a very beautiful girl." + +Great preparations were made for the expected guests. Georgiette was +Mrs. Le Grange's brother's child, and having been separated from him +for more than fifteen years she was full of joyful anticipations, when +he apprised her of his intention of visiting her in company with his +daughter. At length the welcome day arrived, and Mrs. Le Grange stood +arranging her jewels and ribbons to receive the guests. + +"You are welcome to Louisiana," said she, removing Georgiette's shawl, +and tenderly kissing her, "and you too, brother," she said, as Mr. +Monteith followed his daughter. "How beautiful Georgiette has grown +since I saw her. Why darling you look charming! I'm afraid I shan't be +able to keep you long for some of the beaux will surely run away with +you." "My son," said Mrs. Le Grange, introducing Louis, who just then +entered the door. + +Louis bowed very low, and expressed his pleasure in seeing them; and +hoped they would have a happy time, and that nothing should be wanting +on his part, to make it so. Very pleasantly passed the time away; +Georgiette was in high and charming spirits; and many a pleasant ride +and delightful saunter she took with her cousin through the woods, or in +visiting other plantations. She was very popular among the planters' +sons; admired by the young men, but feared and envied by the girls. + +And thus the hours passed in a whirl of pleasurable excitement, until +Louis actually imagined himself in love with her, and found himself one +pleasant afternoon offering her his hand and heart. + +She blushed and sighed, and referred him to her papa; and in a few weeks +they were engaged. + +At length the time of their departure came; and Louis, after +accompanying them to New Orleans, returned to make ready for the +wedding. His father made him a present of a large plantation, which he +stocked from his own purse, with three hundred slaves; and installed +Ellen there as housekeeper till the arrival of the new mistress. + + + + +Chapter VI + + +"Thee is welcome to S.," said the cheerful voice of Thomas Carpenter, as +Josiah Collins alighted, bringing with him his charge; "and is this the +little child thee wrote me about? I am heartily glad thee has rescued +her from that dreadful system!" + +"Anna," said he, turning to his wife, who had just entered the room, +"here is our friend, Josiah Collins, and the little girl I told thee +about." + +"I am glad thee has come," said Anna, "sit down and make thyself at +home. And this is the little girl thee wrote Thomas about. She is a +beautiful child," continued Anna, gazing admiringly at the child. "I +hope she will be contented. Does she fret about her mother?" + +"Not much; she would sometimes ask, 'where is mamma?' But the ladies in +the cars were very kind to her, and she was quite at home with them. I +told them I was taking her North; that I thought the North would better +agree with her; and that it was not convenient for her mother to come on +just now. I was really amused with the attention she received from the +Southern ladies; knowing how they would have shrunk from such offices if +they had known that one drop of the outcast blood ran in her veins." + +"Why, Josiah," said Anna, "I have always heard that there was more +prejudice against the colored people in the North than in the South. +There is a difference in the manifestations of this feeling, but I do +not think there is as much prejudice here as there. [Here?] we have a +prejudice which is [formed from?] traditional ideas. We see in many +parts of the North a very few of the colored people, and our impressions +of them have received their coloring more or less from what the +slaveholders have said of them." + +"We have been taught that they are idle, improvident, and unfitted for +freedom, and incapable of progression; and when we see them in the +cities we see them overshadowed by wealth, enterprise, and activity, so +that our unfavorable impressions are too often confirmed. Still if one +of that class rises above this low mental condition, we know that there +are many who are willing to give such a one a healthy recognition." + +"I know that there are those that have great obstacles to overcome, but +I think that while Southerners may have more personal likings for +certain favorite servants, they have stronger prejudices than even we +have, or if they have no more than we have, they have more +self-restraint, and show it more virulently." + +"But I [think?] they do not seem to have any horror of personal +contact." + +"Of course not; constant familiarity with the race has worn away all +sense of physical repulsion but there is a prejudice which ought to be +an American feeling; it is a prejudice against their rising in the scale +of humanity. A prejudice which virtually says you are down, and I mean +to keep you down. As a servant I tolerate you; you are useful as you are +valuable, but rise one step in the scale of being, and I am ready to put +you down. I see this in the treatment that the free colored people +receive in parts of the South; they seem to me to be the outcasts of an +outcast race. They are denied the right to walk in certain public places +accessible to every class unless they go as nurses, and are forbidden to +assemble in evening meetings, and forced to be in the house unless they +have passes, by an early hour in the night, and in fact they are +hampered or hemmed in on every side; subject to insults from any rude, +coarse or brutal white, and in case of outrages, denied their testimony. +Prejudiced as we are in Pennsylvania, we do not go that far." + +"But, Josiah, we have much to blush for in Pennsylvania; colored people +are denied the privilege of riding in our street cars. Only last week +when I was in Philadelphia I saw a very decent-looking colored woman +with a child, who looked too feeble to walk, and the child too heavy for +her to carry. She beckoned to a conductor, but he swept by and took no +more heed of her than if she had been a dog. There was a young lady +sitting in the car, who remarked to her mother, as a very filthy-looking +white man entered, 'See, they will let that filthy creature ride and +prohibit a decent respectable colored person!' The mother quietly +assented. + +"From her dress I took her to be a Quakeress, for she had a lovely dress +of dove-colored silk. The young lady had scarcely uttered the words when +a young man who sat next the mother deliberately arose, and beckoned to +the man with the sooty clothes to take his seat; but fortunately for the +Quakeress, a lady who was sitting next her daughter arose just at that +moment, and left the seat, and the old man without noticing the +manoeuvre passed over to the other side, and thus avoided the contact. I +was amused, however, about one thing; for the young man who gave up his +seat was compelled to ride about a mile standing." + +"Served him right," said Thomas Carpenter; "it was a very contemptible +action, to attempt to punish the hardihood of the young lady by +attempting to soil her mother's dress; and yet little souls who feel a +morbid satisfaction in trampling on the weak, always sink themselves in +the scale of manhood." + +While this conversation was going on, the tea bell rang, and Josiah and +his little charge sat down to a well supplied table; for the Friends, +though plain and economical, are no enemies to good living. + +Anna had brought the high-chair in which their own darling had sat a few +months before, when she had made gladness and sunshine around her +parent's path. + +There was a tender light in the eye of the Quakeress as she dusted the +chair, and sat Minnie at the table. + +"Do you think," said Thomas, addressing Josiah, "that we will ever +outgrow this wicked, miserable prejudice?" + +"Oh, yes, but it must be the work of time. Both races have their work to +do. The colored man must outgrow his old condition of things, and thus +create around him a new class of associations. This generation has known +him as a being landless, poor, and ignorant. One of the most important +things for him to do is to acquire land. He will never gain his full +measure of strength until (like Anteus) he touches the earth. And I think +here is the great fault, or misfortune of the race; they seem to me to +readily accept their situation, and not to let their industrial aspirations +rise high enough. I wish they had more of the earth hunger that +characterizes the German, or the concentration of purpose which we see +in the Jews." + +"I think," said Thomas, "that the Jews and Negroes have one thing in +common, and that is their power of endurance. They, like the negro, have +lived upon an idea, and that is the hope of a deliverer yet to come; but +I think this characteristic more strongly developed in the Jews than in +the Negroes." + +"Doubtless it is, but their origin and history have been different. The +Jews have a common ancestry and grand traditions, that have left alive +their pride of race. 'We have Abraham to our father,' they said, when +their necks were bowed beneath the Roman yoke." + +"But I do not think the negro can trace with certainty his origin back +to any of the older civilizations, and here for more than two hundred +years his history has been a record of blood and tears, of ignorance, +degradation, and slavery. And when nominally free, prejudice has +assigned him the lowest positions and the humblest situations. I have +not much hope of their progress while they are enslaved in the South." + +"Well, Josiah, I have faith enough in the ultimate triumph of our +principles to believe that slavery will bite the dust before long." + +"I don't know, friend Carpenter; for the system is very strongly rooted +and grounded in the institutions of the land, and has entrenched itself +in the strongholds of Church and State, fashion, custom, and social +life. And yet when I was in the South, I saw on every hand a growing +differentiation towards the Government." + +"Do you know, Josiah, that I have more hope from the madness and folly +of the South than I have from the wisdom and virtue of the North? I have +read too 'whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.'" + + + + +Chapter VII + + +Ten years have elapsed since Minnie came to brighten the home of Thomas +Carpenter, and although within the heart of Anna there is a spot forever +green and sacred to the memory of her only child, yet Minnie holds an +undivided place in their affections. + +There is only one subject which is to them a source of concern. It is +the connection of Minnie with the colored race. Not that they love her +less on account of the blood that is in her veins, but they dread the +effect its discovery would have upon the pleasant social circle with +which she is surrounded, and also the fear that the revelation would be +painful to her. + +They know that she is Anti-Slavery in her principles. They have been +careful to instil into her young mind a reverence for humanity, and to +recognize beneath all externals, whether of condition or color, the +human soul all written over with the handmarks of divinity and the +common claims of humanity. + +She has known for years that their home has been one of the stations of +the underground railroad. And the Anti-Slavery lecturer, whether white +or colored, has always been among the welcomed guests of her home. Still +they shrink from the effect the knowledge would have on her mind. They +know she is willing to work for the colored race; but they could not +divine what it cost her to work with them. + +"It seems to me, Anna, that we ought to reveal to Minnie the fact of her +connection with the colored race. I am afraid that she will learn in +some way that will rudely shock her; whereas we might break it to her +in the tenderest manner. Every time a fugitive comes I dread that our +darling will be recognized." + +"Nay, Thomas; thy fears have made thee over sensitive. Who would imagine +he saw in this bright and radiant girl of fifteen the little +five-year-old child we took to our hearts and home? I never feel any +difference between her and the whitest child in the village as far as +prejudice is concerned. And if every body in the village knew her origin +I would love her just as much as I ever did, for she is a dear good +child." + +"Well, dear, if you think it is best to keep it a secret, I will not +interfere. But we must not forget that Minnie will soon be a young lady; +that she is very beautiful, and even now she begins to attract +admiration. I do not think it would be right for us to let her marry a +white man without letting her know the prejudices of society, and giving +her a chance to explain to him the conditions of things." + +"Yes," said Anna, "that is true; I have heard that traces of that blood +will sometimes reappear even in grandchildren, when it has not been +detected in the first. And to guard against difficulty which might arise +from such a course, I think it is better to apprise her of the facts in +the case." + +"It is time enough for that. I want her to finish her education before +she thinks of marrying, and I am getting her ready to go to +Philadelphia, where she will find an excellent school as I have heard it +very highly spoken of. She is young and happy, trouble will come time +enough, let me not hasten its advent." + +But if time has only strewed the path of Minnie with flowers, and +ripened the promised beauty of her childhood, it has borne a heavy hand +upon the destiny of the La Croix family. + +La Croix is dead; but before his death he took the precaution to have +Louis emancipated, and then made him a joint heir with his daughter. The +will he entrusted to the care of Camilla; but the deed of emancipation +he placed in the hands of Miriam, saying, "Here are your free papers, +and here are Louis'. There is nothing in this world sure but death; and +it is well to be on the safe side. Some one might be curious enough to +search out his history; and if there should be no legal claim to his +freedom, he might be robbed of both his liberty and his inheritance; so +keep these papers, and if ever the hour comes when you or he should need +them, you must show me." + +Miriam did as she was bidden; but her heart was lighter when she knew +that freedom had come so near her and Louis. + +Le Croix, before his death, had sold the greater part of his slaves, and +invested the money in Northern bonds and good Northern securities. +Camilla had married a gentleman from the North, and is living very +happily upon the old plantation. She does not keep an overseer, and +tries to do all in her power to ameliorate the condition of her slaves; +still she is not satisfied with the system, and is trying to prepare her +slaves for freedom, by inducing them to form, as much as possible, +habits of self-reliance, and self-restraint, which they will need in the +freedom which she has determined they shall enjoy as soon as she can +arrange her affairs to that effect. But she also has to proceed with a +great deal of caution. + +The South is in a state of agitation and [foment?]. The air is laden +with rumors of a [rising?] conflict between the North and the South, and +any want of allegiance to Southern opinions is punished either as a +crime if the offender is a man, or with social ostracism and insult if a +woman. + +The South in the palmy days of her pride and power would never tolerate +any heresy to her creed, whose formula of statement might have been +written we believe in the divine right of the Master, to take advantage +of the weakness, ignorance, and poverty of the slave; that might makes +right, and that success belongs to the strongest arm.[1] + +Some of her former friends were beginning to eye her with coldness and +suspicion because she would not join in their fanatical hatred of the +North and because she would profess her devotion to the old flag, while +they were ready to spit upon and trample it under foot. + +Her adopted brother was still in the North, and strange to say he did +not share her feelings; his sympathies were with the South, and although +he was too young to take any leading part in the events there about to +transpire, yet year after year when he spent his vacations at home, he +attended the hustings and political meetings, and there he learned to +consider the sentiment, "My country right or wrong," as a proper maxim +for political action. + +This difference in their sentiments did not produce the least +estrangement between them; only Camilla regretted to see Louis ready to +raise his hand against the freedom of his mother's race, although he was +perfectly unconscious of his connection with it, for the conflict which +was then brewing between the North and the South was in fact a struggle +between despotism and idea; between freedom on one side and slavery on +the other. + + + + +Chapter VIII + + +"Commencement over, what are you going to do with yourself?" + +"I don't know; loaf around, I suppose." + +"Why don't you go to Newport?" + +"Don't want to; got tired of it last year." + +"Saratoga?" + +"A perfect bore!" + +"Niagara?" + +"Been there twice." + +"A pedestrian tour to the White Mountains?" + +"Haven't got energy enough." + +"What will you do?" + +"Stay at home and fight mosquitoes." + +"Very pleasant employment. I don't envy you, but I can tell you +something better than that." + +"What is it?" said his companion, yawning. + +"Come, go home with me." + +"Go home with you! Where is that, and what is the attraction?" + +"Well, let me see, it is situated in one of the most beautiful valleys +of Western Pennsylvania, our village is environed by the most lovely +hills, and nestling among the trees, with its simple churches and +unpretending homes of quiet beauty and good taste, it is one of the most +pleasant and picturesque places I ever saw. And, besides, as you love to +hunt and fish, we have one of the finest streams of trout, and some of +the most excellent game in the woods." + +"Is that all?" + +"Why, isn't that enough? You must be rather hard to please this +morning." + +"Think so?" + +"Yes, but I have not told you the crowning attraction." + +"What is it?" + +"Oh, one of the most beautiful girls I ever saw! We call her the lily of +the valley." + +"Describe her." + +"I can't. It would be like attempting to paint a sun beam or doing what +no painter has ever done, sketch a rainbow." + +"You are very poetical this morning, but I want you to do as our +President sometimes tells us, proceed from the abstract to the +concrete." + +"Well, let me begin: she has the most beautiful little feet. I never see +her stepping along without thinking of Cinderella and the glass slipper. +As to eyes, they are either dark brown or black, I don't know which; but +I do know they are beautiful; and her hair, well, she generally wears +that plain in deference to the wishes of her Quaker friends, but +sometimes in the most beautiful ripples of golden brown I ever saw." + +"That will do, now tell me who she is? You spoke of her Quaker friends. +Is she not their daughter?" + +"No, there seems to be some mystery about her history. About ten years +ago, my father brought her to Josiah Carpenter's but he's always been +reticent about her, in fact I never took the pains to inquire. She's a +great favorite in the village, and everybody says she is as beautiful as +she is good, and vice versa." + +"Well, I'd like to see this paragon of yours. I believe I'll go." + +"Well, let us get ready." + +"When do you start?" + +"To-morrow." + +"All right. I'll be on hand." And with these words the two friends +parted to meet again the next day at the railroad station. + +The first of the speakers is the son of Josiah Collins, and his friend +is Louis Le Croix, Camilla's adopted brother. He is somewhat changed +within the last ten years. Time has touched the golden wealth of his +curls with a beautiful deep auburn, and the rich full tones of his voice +tell that departed is written upon his childhood. + +He is strongly Southern in his feelings, but having been educated in the +North, whilst he is an enthusiast in defense of his section, as he calls +the South, he is neither coarse and brutal in actions, nor fanatical in +his devotion to slavery. He thinks the Negroes are doing well enough in +slavery, if the Abolitionists would only let matters rest, and he feels +a sense of honor in defending the South. She is his mother, he says, and +that man is an ingrate who will not stand by his mother and defend her +when she is in peril. + +He and Charles Collins are fast friends, but [on the subject of slavery +they are entirely opposed?]. And so on that point they have agreed to +disagree. They often have animated and exciting discussions, but they +[pass?] and Josiah and Louis are just as friendly as they were before. + +There were two arrivals the next evening in the [quiet?] village of S. +One was Charles Collins, the other his Southern friend, who was received +with the warmest welcome, and soon found himself at home in the pleasant +society of his friend's family. The evening was enlivened with social +chat and music, until ten o'clock, when Josiah gathered his children and +having read the Bible in a deeply impressive manner, breathed one of the +most simple and fervent prayers he had ever heard. + +While they were bending at prayer in this pleasant home, a shabby +looking man came walking slowly and wearily into the village. He gazed +cautiously around and looked anxiously in the street as though he were +looking for some one, but did not like to trust his business to every +one. + +At length he saw an elderly man, dressed in plain clothes, and a broad +brim hat, and drawing near he spoke to him in a low and hesitating +voice, and asked if he knew a Mr. Thomas Carpenter. + +"My name is Carpenter," said the friend, "come with me." + +There was something in the voice, and manner of the friend that +_assured_ the stranger. His whole manner changed. A peaceful expression +stole over his dark, sad face, and the drooping limbs seemed to be +aroused by a new infusion of energy. + +"Come in," said Thomas, as he reached his door, "come in, thee's welcome +to stop and rest with us." + +"Anna," said Thomas,[2] his face beaming with kindness, "I've brought +thee a guest. Here is another passenger by the Underground Railroad." + +"I'm sure thee's welcome," said Anna, handing him a chair, "sit down, +thee looks very tired. Where did thee come from?" + +Moses, that was the fugitive's name, hesitated a moment. + +"Oh, never fear, thee's among friends; thee need not be afraid to tell +all about thyself." + +Moses then told them that he had come from Kentucky. + +"And how did thee escape?" + +He said, "I walked from Lexington to Covington." + +"Why, that was almost one hundred miles, and did thee walk all that +way?" + +"Yes, sir," said he, "I hid by day, and walked by night." + +"Did no one interrupt?" + +"Yes, one man said to me, 'Where's your pass?' I suppose I must have +grown desperate, for I raised my fists and said dem's my passes; and he +let me alone. I don't know whether he was friendly or scared, but he let +me alone." + +"And how then?" + +"When I come to Covington I found that I could not come across the river +without a pass, but I watched my chance, and hid myself on a boat, and I +got across. I'd heard of you down home." + +"How did you?" + +"Oh, we's got some few friends dere, but we allers promise not to tell." + +Anna and Thomas[3] smiled at his reticence, which had grown into a +habit. + +"Were you badly treated?" + +"Not so bad as some, but I allers wanted my freedom, I did." + +"Well, we will not talk about thee any more; if thee walked all that +distance thee must be very tired and we'll let thee rest. There's thy +bed. I hope thee'll have a good night's rest, and feel better in the +morning." + +"Thankee marm," said Moses, "you's mighty good." + +"Oh no, but I always like to do my duty by my fellow men! Now, be quiet, +and get a good night's sleep. Thee looks excited. Thee mustn't be +uneasy. Thee's among friends." + +A flood of emotions crept over the bosom of Moses when his kind friends +left the room. Was this freedom, and was this the long wished for North? +and were these the Abolitionists of whom he had heard so much in the +South? They who would allure the colored people from their homes in the +South and then leave them to freeze and starve in the North? He had +heard all his life that the slaveholders were the friends of the South, +and the language of his soul had been, "If these are my friends, save me +from my foes." He had lived all his life among the white people of the +South, and had been owned by several masters, but he did not know that +there was so much kindness among the white race, till he had rested in a +Northern home, and among Northern people. + +Here kindness encouraged his path, and in that peaceful home every voice +that fell upon his ear was full of tenderness and sympathy. True, there +were rough, coarse, brutal men even in that village, who for a few +dollars or to prove their devotion to the South, would have readily +remanded him to his master, but he was not aware of that. And so when he +sank to his rest a sense of peace and safety stole over him, and his +sleep was as calm and peaceful as the slumber of a child. + +The next morning he looked refreshed, but still his strength was wasted +by his great physical exertion and mental excitement; and Thomas[4] +thought he had better rest a few days till he grew stronger and better +prepared to travel; for Thomas[5] noticed that he was nervous, starting +at the sound of every noise, and often turning his head to the door with +an anxious, frightened look. + +Thomas would have gladly given him shelter and work, and given him just +wages, but he dared not do so. He was an American citizen it is true, +but at that time slavery reigned over the North and ruled over the +South, and he had not the power under the law of the land to give +domicile, and break his bread to that poor, hunted and flying man; for +even then they were hunting in the South and sending out their human +bloodhounds to search for him in the North. + +Throughout the length and breadth of the land, from the summit of the +rainbow-crowned Niagara to the swollen waters of the Mexican Gulf; from +the golden gates of sunrise to the gorgeous portals of departing day, +there was not a hill so high, a forest so secluded, a glen so +sequestered, nor mountain so steep, that he knew he could not be tracked +and hailed in the name of the general government. + +"What's the news, friend Carpenter? any new arrivals?" said Josiah +Collins in a low voice to Thomas. + +"Yes, a very interesting case; can't you come over?" + +"Yes, after breakfast. By the way, you must be a little more cautious +than usual. Charley came home last night, and brought a young friend +with him from college. I think from his conversation that he is either a +Southerner himself, or in deep sympathy with the South." + +Both men spoke in low tones, for although they were Northerners, they +were talking about a subject on which they were compelled to speak with +bated breaths. + +After breakfast Josiah came over, but Moses seemed so heavy and over +wearied that they did not care to disturb him. There was a look of +dejection and intense sadness on the thin worn face, and a hungry look +in the mournful eyes, as if his soul had been starving for kindness and +sympathy. Sometimes he would forget his situation, and speak hopefully +of the future, but still there was a weariness that he could not shake +off, a languor that seemed to pervade every nerve and muscle. + +Thomas thought it was the natural reaction of the deep excitement, +through which he just passed, that the tension of his nerves had been +too great, but that a few days rest and quiet would restore him to his +normal condition; but that hope soon died away. + +The tension, excitement, and consequent exhaustion had been too much. +Reason tottered on its throne, and he became a raving maniac; in his +moments of delirium he would imagine that he was escaping from slavery; +that the pursuers were upon his back; that they had caught him, and were +rebinding him about to take him back to slavery, and then it was +heartrending to hear him beg, and plead to be carried to Thomas +Carpenter's. + +He would reach out his emaciated hands, and say "Carry me to Mr. +Carpenter's, that good man's house," for that name which had become more +precious to him than a household to his soul, still lingered amid +shattered cells. But the delirium spent its force, and through the +tempests of his bosom the light of reason came back. + +One night he slept more soundly than usual; and on the next morning his +faithful friends saw from the expression of his countenance and the +light in his eyes that his reason had returned. They sent for their +family physician, a man in whose honor they could confide. All that +careful nursing and medical skill could do was done, but it was in vain; +his strength was wasted; the silver cord was loosed, and the golden bowl +was broken; his life was fast ebbing away. Like a tempest tossed mariner +dying in sight of land, so he passing away from earth, found the +precious, longed for, and dearly bought prize was just before, but his +hand was too feeble to grasp, his arms too powerless to hold it. + +His friends saw from the expression of his face that he had something to +say; and they bent down to catch the last words of the departing spirit. + +"I am dying," he said, "but I am thankful that I have come this near to +freedom." + +He attempted to say no more, the death rattles sounded in his throat; +the shadows that never deceive flitted o'er his face, and he was dead. +His spirit gone back to God, another witness against the giant crime of +the land. + +Josiah came again to see him, and entered the room just as the released +spirit winged its flight. Silently he uncovered him as if paying that +reverence to the broken casket which death exacts for his meanest +subjects. With tenderness and respect they prepared the body for the +grave, followed him to the silent tomb, and left him to his dreamless +sleep. + + +[Installment missing.] + + + + +Chapter IX + + +"Friend Carpenter, I have brought a friend to see you. He is a real +hot-headed Southerner, and I have been trying to convert him, but have +been almost ready to give it up as a hopeless task. I thought as you are +so much better posted than I am on the subject, _you_ might be able to +convert him from the error of his ways. He is a first-rate fellow, my +College chum. He has only one fault, he will defend Slavery. Cure him of +that, and I think he will be as near perfect as young men generally +are." + +Friend Carpenter smiled at this good-natured rally, and said, "It takes +time for all things. Perhaps your friend is not so incorrigible as you +think he is." + +"I don't know," said Charley, "but here he is; he can speak for +himself." + +"Oh the system is well enough of itself, but like other things, it is +liable to abuse." + +"I think, my young friend," said Thomas, "thee has never examined the +system by the rule of impartial justice, which tells us to do to all men +as we would have them do to us. If thee had, thee would not talk of the +abuses of Slavery, when the system is an abuse itself. I am afraid thee +has never gauged the depth of its wickedness. Thy face looks too honest +and frank to defend this system from conviction. Has thee ever examined +it?" + +"Why, no, I have always been used to it." + +Louis, who liked the honest bluntness of the Quaker, would have +willingly prolonged the conversation, simply for the sake of the +argument, but just then Minnie entered, holding in her hand a bunch of +flowers, and started to show them to her father, before she perceived +that any company was in the room. + +"Oh father," said she, "see what I have brought you!" when her eye fell +upon the visitors, and a bright flush overspread her cheek, lending it +additional beauty. + +Charles immediately arose, and giving her his hand, introduced her to +his friend. + +"I am glad to see you, Minnie; you are looking so well this summer," +said Charles, gazing on her with unfeigned admiration. + +"I am glad you think so," said she, with charming frankness. + +Some business having called friend Carpenter from the room, the young +people had a pleasant time to themselves, talking of books, poetry, and +the current literature of the day, although being students, their +acquaintance with these things was somewhat limited. By the time they +were ready to go, Thomas had re-entered the room and bidding them +good-bye, cordially invited them to return again. + +"What do you think of her?" said Charles to his friend. + +"Beautiful as a dream. The half had not been told. Her _acquaintance_ +pays me for my trip; yes, I would like to become better acquainted with +her; there was such a charming simplicity about her, and such unaffected +grace that I am really delighted with her. How is it that you have never +fallen in love with her?" + +"Oh, I have left that for you; but in fact we have almost grown +together, played with each other when we were children, until she +appears like one of our family, and to marry her would be like marrying +my own sister." + +"How does thee like Charles' friend?" said Minnie, to her adopted +father. + +Thomas spoke slowly and deliberately, and said, "He impresses me rather +favorably. I think there's the making of a man in him. But I hear that +he is pro-slavery." + +"Yes, he is, but I think that is simply the result of former +associations and surroundings. I do not believe that he has looked +deeper than the surface of Slavery; he is quite young yet; his +reflective faculties are hardly fully awakened. I believe the time will +come, when he will see it in its true light, and if he joins our ranks +he will be an important accession to our cause. I have great hopes of +him. He seems to be generous, kind-hearted, and full of good impulses, +and I believe there are grand possibilities in his nature. How do you +like him?" + +"Oh, I was much pleased with him. We had a very pleasant time together." + +In a few days, Charles and Louis called again. Minnie was crocheting, +and her adopted mother was occupied with sewing; while Thomas engaged +them in conversation, the subject being the impending conflict; Louis, +taking a decided stand in favor of the South, and Thomas being equally +strong in his defense of the North. + +The conversation was very animated, but temperate; and when they parted, +each felt confident of the rightfulness of his position. + +"Come, again," said Thomas, as they were leaving; "we can't see eye to +eye, but I like to have thee come." + +Louis was very much pleased with the invitation, for it gave him +opportunity to see Minnie, and sometimes she would smile, or say a word +or two when the discussion was beginning to verge on the borders of +excitement. + +The time to return to College was drawing near, and Louis longed to tell +her how dear she was to him, but he never met her alone. She was so +young he did not like to ask the privilege of writing to her; and yet he +felt when he left the village, that it would afford him great +satisfaction to hear from her. He once hinted to Friend Carpenter that +he would like to hear from his family, and that if he was too busy +perhaps Miss Minnie might find time to drop a line, but Thomas did not +take the hint, so the matter ended; he hoping in the meantime to meet +her again, and renew their very pleasant acquaintance. + + + + +Chapter X + + +[Text missing.] + + + + +Chapter XI + + +"Is Minnie not well?" said Thomas Carpenter, entering one morning, the +pleasant room, where Anna was labelling some preserves. "She seems to be +so drooping, and scarcely eats anything." + +"I don't know. I have not heard her complain; perhaps she is a little +tired and jaded from her journey; and then I think she studies too much. +She spends most of her time in her room, and since I think of it, she +does appear more quiet than usual; but I have been so busy about my +preserves that I have not noticed her particularly." + +"Anna," said Thomas suddenly, after a moment's pause, "does thee think +that there is any attachment between Louis and Minnie? He was very +attentive to her when we were in Boston." + +"Why, Thomas, I have never thought anything about it. Minnie always +seems so much like a child that I never get her associated in my mind +with courtship and marriage. I suppose I ought to though," said Anna, +with the faintest sigh. + +"Anna, I think that something is preying on that child's mind, and +mother, thee knows that you women understand how to manage these things +better than we men do, and I wish thee would find out what is the matter +with the child. Try to find out if there is anything between her and +Louis, and if there is, by all means we must let her know about herself; +it is a duty we owe her and him." + +"Well, Thomas, if we must we must; but I shrink from it. Here she comes. +Now I'll leave in a few minutes, and then thee can tell her; perhaps +thee can do it better than I can." + +"What makes thee look so serious?" said Thomas, as Minnie entered the +room. + +"Do I, father?" + +"Yes, thee looks sober as a Judge. What has happened to disturb thee?" + +"Nothing in particular; only I was down to Mr. Hickman's this morning, +and they have a colored woman stopping with them. She is a very +interesting and intelligent woman, and she was telling us part of her +history, and it was very interesting, but, mother, I do think it is a +dreadful thing to be a colored person in this country; how I should +suffer if I knew that I was hated and despised for what I couldn't help. +Oh, it must be dreadful to be colored." + +"Oh, don't talk so, Minnie, God never makes any mistakes." + +"I know that, mother; but, mother, it must be hard to be forced to ride +in smoking cars; to be insulted in the different thoroughfares of +travel; to be denied access to public resorts in some places,--such as +lectures, theatres, concerts, and even have a particular seat assigned +in the churches, and sometimes feel you were an object of pity even to +your best friends. I know that Mrs. Heston felt so when she was telling +her story, for when Mrs. Hickman said, 'Well, Sarah, I really pity you,' +I saw her dark eyes flash, and she has really beautiful eyes, as she +said, 'it is not pity we want, it is justice.'" + +"In the first place, mother, she is a widow, with five children. She had +six. One died in the army,--and she had some business in Washington +connected with him. She says she was born in Virginia, and had one +little girl there, but as she could not bear the idea of her child +growing up in ignorance, she left the South and went to Albany. Her +husband was a barber, and was doing a good business there. She was +living in a very good neighborhood, and sent her child to the nearest +district school. + +"After her little girl had been there awhile, her teacher told her she +must go home and not come there any more, and sent her mother a note; +the child did not know what she had done; she had been attentive to her +lessons, and had not behaved amiss, and she was puzzled to know why she +was turned out of school. + +"'Oh! I hated to tell Mrs. Heston,' said the teacher; 'but the child +insisted, and I knew that it must come sooner or later. And so, said +she, I told her it was because she was colored.' + +"'Is that all.' Poor child, she didn't know, that, in that fact lay +whole volumes of insult, outrage, and violence. I made up my mind, she +continued, that I would leave the place, and when my husband came home, +I said, 'Heston, let us leave this place; let us go farther west. I hear +that we can have our child educated there, just the same as any other +child.' At first my husband demurred, for we were doing a good business; +but I said, let us go, if we have to live on potatoes and salt. + +"True, it was some pecuniary loss; but I never regretted it, although I +have been pretty near the potatoes and salt. My husband died, but I kept +my children together, and stood over the wash-tub day after day to keep +them at school. My oldest daughter graduated at the High School, and was +quite a favorite with the teachers. One term there was a vacancy in her +room, caused by the resignation of one of the assistant teachers, and +the first teacher had the privilege of selecting her assistants from the +graduates of the High School, their appointment, of course, being +subject to the decision of the Commissioner of Public Schools. + +"'Her teacher having heard that she was connected by blood with one of +the first families of Virginia, told the Commissioner that she had +chosen an Assistant, a young lady of high qualifications, and as she +understood, a descendant of Patrick Henry. + +"'Ah, indeed,' said the Commissioner, 'I didn't know that we had one of +that family among us. By all means employ her;' but as she was about to +leave, she said: 'I forgot to tell you one thing, she is colored.' + +"A sudden change came over him, and he said: 'Do you think I would have +you walk down the street with a colored woman? Of course not. I'll never +give my consent to _that_.' And there the matter ended. And then she +made us feel so indignant when she told us that on her way to Washington +to get her son's pension, she stopped in Philadelphia, and the conductor +tried to make her leave the car, and because she would not, he ran the +car off the track." + +"Oh, father," said she, turning to Thomas, "how wicked and cruel this +prejudice. Oh, how I should hate to be colored!" + +Anna and Thomas exchanged mournful glances. Their hearts were too full; +and as Minnie left the room, Thomas said, "Not now, Anna. Not just yet." +And so Minnie[6] was permitted to return again to school with the secret +untold. + + * * * * * + +"Minnie, darling, what are you doing? moping as usual over your books? +Come, it is Saturday morning, and you have worked hard enough for one +week; got all good marks; so now just put up that Virgil, and come go +out with me." + +"Where do you wish to go?" said Minnie, to her light-hearted friend, +Carrie Wise. + +"I want to go out shopping. Pa has just sent me twenty dollars, and you +know a girl and her money are soon parted." + +"What do you wish to get?" + +"Well, I want a pair of gloves, some worsted to match this fringe, and a +lot of things. Come, won't you go?" + +"Oh, I don't know, I didn't intend going out this morning." + +"Well, never mind if you didn't, just say you will go. Where's your hat +and mantle?" said Carrie, going to her wardrobe. + +"Well, just wait till I fix my hair; it won't take long." + +"Oh, Minnie, do let me fix it for you! If ever I have to work for my +living, I shall be a hair-dresser. I believe it is the only thing that I +have any talent for." + +"What an idea! But do, Minnie, won't you, let me arrange your hair? You +always wear it so plain, and I do believe it would curl beautifully. May +I, Minnie?" + +"Why yes." + +So Carrie sat down, and in a short time, she had beautifully arranged +Minnie's hair with a profusion of curls. + +"Do you know what I was thinking?" said Carrie, gazing admiringly upon +her friend. "You look so much like a picture I have seen of yours in +your father's album. He was showing me a number of pictures which +represent you at different ages, and the one I refer to, he said was our +Minnie when she was five years old. Now let me put on your hat. And let +me kiss you for you look so pretty?" + +"Oh, Carrie, what an idea! You are so full of nonsense. Which way will +we go first?" + +"First down to Carruther's. I saw a beautiful collar there I liked so +much; and then let us go down to Mrs. Barguay's. I want to show you a +love of a bonnet, one of the sweetest little things in ribbon, lace, and +flowers I ever saw." + +Equipped for the journey the two friends sauntered down the street; as +they were coming out of a store, Carrie stopped for a moment to speak to +a very dear friend of her mother's, and Minnie passed on. + +As she went slowly on, loitering for her friend, she saw a woman +approaching her from the opposite side of the street. There was +something in her look and manner which arrested the attention of Minnie. +She was a tall, slender woman about thirty five years old, with a pale, +care-worn face--a face which told that sorrow had pressed her more than +years. A few threads of silver mingled with the wealth of her raven +hair, and her face, though wearing a sad and weary expression, still +showed traces of great beauty. + +As soon as her eyes fell on Minnie, she raised her hands in sudden +wonder, and clasping her in her arms, exclaimed: "Heaven is merciful! I +have found you, at last, my dear, darling, long-lost child. Minnie, is +this you, and have I found you at last?" + +Minnie trembled from head to foot; a deadly pallor overspread her cheek, +and she stood still as if rooted to the ground in silent amazement, +while the woman stood anxiously watching her as if her future were +hanging on the decision of her lips. + +"Who are you? and where did you come from?" said Minnie, as soon as she +gained her breath. + +"I came from Louisiana. Oh, I can't be mistaken. I have longed for you, +and prayed for you, and now I have found you." + +Just then, Carrie, who had finished speaking with her friend, seeing +Minnie and the strange woman talking together, exclaimed, "What is the +matter?" + +Noticing the agitation of her friend, "Who is this woman, and what has +she said to you?" + +"She says that she is my mother, my long-lost mother." + +"Why, Minnie, what nonsense! She can't be your mother. Why don't you see +she is colored?" + +"Where do you live?" said Minnie, without appearing to notice the words +of Carrie. + +"I don't live anywhere. I just came here yesterday with some of the +Union soldiers." + +"Come with me then, and I will show you a place to stop." + +"Why, Minnie, you are not going to walk down the street with that +Nig--colored woman; if you are, please excuse me. My business calls me +another way." + +And without any more ceremony Carrie and Minnie parted. Silently she +walked by the side of the stranger, a thousand thoughts revolving in her +mind. Was this the solution of the mystery which enshrouded her young +life? Did she indeed belong to that doomed and hated race, and must she +share the cruel treatment which bitter, relentless prejudice had +assigned them? + +Thomas Carpenter and Anna were stopping in P., at the house of relatives +who knew Minnie's history, but who had never made any difference in +their treatment of her on that account. + +"Is father and mother at home?" said Minnie to the servant, who opened +the door. She answered in the affirmative. + +"Tell them to come into the parlor, they are wanted immediately." + +"Sit down," said Minnie to the stranger, handing her a chair, "and wait +till father comes." + +Anna and Thomas soon entered the room, and Minnie approaching them said, +"Father, this woman met me on the street to-day, and says she is my +mother. You know all about my history. Tell me if there is any truth in +this story." + +"I don't know, Minnie, I never saw thy mother." + +"But question her, father, and see if there is any truth in what she +says; but tell me first, father, am I white or colored?" + +"Minnie, I believe there is a small portion of colored blood in thy +veins." + +"It is enough," said Minnie, drawing closer to the strange woman. "What +makes you think that I am your child?" + +"By this," said she, taking a miniature from her bosom. "By this, which +I carried next to my heart for more than twelve years, and never have +been without it a single day or night." + +Thomas looked upon the miniature; it was an exact likeness of Minnie +when she first came to them, and although she had grown and changed +since the likeness was taken, there was too close a resemblance between +it and one which had been taken soon after she came, for him to doubt +that Minnie was the original of that likeness. + +Thomas questioned the woman very closely, but her history and narrative +corresponded so well with what he had heard of Minnie's mother, that he +could not for a moment doubt that this was she, and as such he was +willing to give her the shelter of his home, till he could make other +arrangements. + +"But why," said Anna, somewhat grieved at the shock, that Minnie had +received, "did thee startle her by so suddenly claiming her in the +street? Would it not have been better for thee to have waited and found +out where she lived, and then discovered thyself to her?" + +"I'spect it would, 'Mam," said Ellen, very meekly and sorrowfully, "but +when I saw her and heard the young lady say, Minnie, wait a minute, I +forgot everything but that this was my long-lost child. I am sorry if I +did any harm, but I was so glad I could not help it. My heart was so +hungry for my child." + +"Yes, yes," said Anna sadly, "I understand thee; it was the voice of +nature." + +Minnie was too nervous and excited to return to her school that day; the +next morning she had a very high fever, and Thomas concluded it would be +better to take her home and have her mother accompany her. + +And so on Monday morning Anna and Thomas left P., taking Minnie and her +mother along. + +Once again in her pleasant home, surrounded by the tenderest care (for +her mother watched over her with the utmost solicitude) the violence of +her fever abated, but it was succeeded by a low nervous affection which +while it produced no pain yet it slowly unstrung her vitality. + +Ellen hovered around her pillow as if she begrudged every moment that +called her from her daughter's side, and never seemed so well contented +as when she was performing for her some office of love and tenderness. A +skilful nurse, she knew how to prepare the most delicate viands to tempt +the failing appetite, and she had the exquisite pleasure of seeing her +care and attention rewarded by the returning health and strength of her +child. + +One morning as she grew stronger, and was able to sit in her chair, she +turned her eyes tenderly towards Ellen and said, "Mother, come and sit +near me and let me hold your hand." + +"Mother," Oh how welcome was that word. Ellen's eyes filled with sudden +tears. + +"Mother," she said, "It comes back to me like a dream. I have a faint +recollection of having seen you before, but it is so long I can scarcely +remember it. Tell me all about myself and how I came to leave you. I +always thought that there was some mystery about me, but I never knew +what it was before, but now I understand it." + +"Darling," said the mother, "you had better wait till you get a little +stronger, and then I will tell you all." + +"Very well," said Minnie, "you have been so good to me and I am +beginning to love you so much." + +It was touching to see the ripening love between those two +long-suffering ones. Ellen would comb Minnie's hair, and do for her +every office in her power. Still Minnie continued feeble. The suffering +occasioned by her refusal of Louis; the hard study and deep excitement +through which she had passed told sadly upon her constitution; but she +was young, and having a large share of recuperative power she slowly +came back to health and strength, and when the spring opened Thomas +decided that she should return again to her school in P. + + + + +Chapter XII + + +Let us now return to Carrie Wise, whom we left parting with Minnie. + +"Where is Minnie?" said two of her schoolmates, who observed that +Carrie had come home alone. + +"Oh," said she, "one of the strangest things I ever heard of happened!" + +"Well, what was it?" said the girls; and by this time they had joined +another group of girls. + +"Why this morning, Minnie and I walked out shopping, and just as I came +out of Carruthers' I met an old friend of mother's, and stopped to speak +with her, and I said 'Minnie, just wait a minute.'" + +"She passed on, and left me talking with Mrs. Jackson. When I joined +her, I found a colored woman talking to her, and she was trembling from +head to foot, and just as pale as a ghost; and I said, 'Why, Minnie, +what is the matter?'" + +"She gasped for breath, and I thought she was going to faint, and I got +real scared. And what do you think Minnie said?" + +"Why," she said, "Carrie, this woman says she's my mother!" + +"Her mother!" cried a half dozen voices. "Why you said she was colored!" + +"Well, so she was. She was quite light, but I knew she was colored." + +"How did you know? Maybe she was only a very dark-complexioned white +woman." + +"Oh no, she wasn't, I know white people from colored, I've seen enough +of them." + +"A colored woman! well that is very strange; but do tell us what Minnie +said." + +"She asked her where she came from, and where she lived. She said she +came in yesterday with the Union soldiers, and that she had come from +Louisiana, and then Minnie told her to come with her, and she would find +a place for her to stop." + +"And did she leave you in the street to walk with a Nigger?" said a +coarse, rough-looking girl. + +"Yes, and so I left her. I wasn't going to walk down the street with +them!" + +"Well, did I ever?" said a pale and interesting-looking girl. + +"That is just as strange as a romance I have been reading!" + +"Well, they say truth is stranger than fiction. A deceitful thing to try +to pass for white when she is colored! If she comes back to this school +I shan't stay!" said the coarse rough girl, twirling her gold pencil. "I +ain't a going to sit alongside of niggers." + +"How you talk! I don't see that if the woman is Minnie's mother, and +_is_ colored, it makes any difference in her. I am sure it does not to +me," said one of Minnie's friends. + +"Well, it does to me," said another; "you may put yourself on an +equality with niggers, but I won't." "And I neither," chimed in another +voice. "There are plenty of colored schools; let her go to them." + +"Oh, girls, I think it real cruel the way you talk!" + +"How would you like any one to treat you so?" "Can't help it, I ain't a +coming to school with a nigger." "She is just as good as you are, Mary +Patuck, and a great deal smarter." "I don't care, she's a nigger, and +that's enough for me." + +And so the sentiment of the school was divided. Some were in favor of +treating her just as well as usual, and others felt like complaining to +their parents that a Negro was in school. + +At last the news reached the teacher, and he, poor, weak, and +vacillating man, had not manhood enough to defend her, but acted +according to the prejudices of society, and wrote Thomas a note telling +him that circumstances made it desirable that she should not again come +to school. + +In the meantime the news had reached their quiet little village, and of +course it offered food for gossip; it was discussed over tea-tables and +in the sewing circle. Some concluded that Thomas should have brought her +up among the colored people, and others that he did perfectly right. + +Still there was a change in Minnie's social relations. Some were just +as kind as ever. Others grew distant, and some avoided having anything +to say to her, and stopped visiting the house. Anna and Thomas, although +superior people, were human, and could not help feeling the difference, +but some business of importance connected with the death of a relative +called Thomas abroad, and he made up his mind that he would take Anna +and Minnie with him, hoping that the voyage and change of scene would be +beneficial to his little girl, as he still called Minnie, and so on a +bright and beautiful morning in the spring of '62 he left the country +for a journey to England and the Continent. + +Let us now return to Louis Le Croix, whom we left disappointed and +wounded by Minnie's refusal. After he left her he entered his room, and +sat for a long time in silent thought; at last he rose, and walked to +the window and stood with his hands clenched, and his finely chiseled +lips firmly set as if he had bound his whole soul to some great +resolve--a resolve which he would accomplish, let it cost what it might. + +And so he had; for he had made up in his mind within the last two hours +that he would join the Confederacy. "That live or die, sink or swim, +survive or perish," he would unite his fortunes to her destiny. + +His next step then was to plan how he could reach Louisiana; he felt +confident that if he could get as far as Louisville he could manage to +get into Tennessee, and from thence to Louisiana. + +And so nothing daunted by difficulties and dangers, he set out on his +journey, and being aided by rebels on his way in a few weeks he reached +the old plantation on Red River; he found his sister and Miriam there +both glad to see him. + +Camilla's husband was in Charleston, some of the slaves had deserted to +the Union ranks, but the greater portion she still retained with her. + +Miriam was delighted to see Louis, and seemed never weary of admiring +his handsome face and manly form. And Louis, who had never known any +other mother seemed really gratified by her little kindnesses and +attention; but of course the pleasant and quiet monotony of home did not +suit the restless and disquieted spirit of Louis. All the young men +around here were in the army or deeply interested in its success. + +There was a call for more volunteers, and a new company was to be raised +in that locality. Louis immediately joined, and turned his trained +intellect to the study of military tactics; day and night he was +absorbed in this occupation, and soon, although Minnie was not +forgotten, the enthusiasm of his young life gathered around the +Confederate cause. + +He did not give himself much time to reflect. Thought was painful to +him, and he continued to live in a whirl of excitement. + +News of battle, tidings of victory and defeats, the situation of the +armies, and the hopes and fears that clustered around those fearful days +of struggle made the staple of conversation. + +Louis rapidly rose in favor with the young volunteers, and was chosen +captain of a company who were permitted to drill and stay from the front +as a reserve corps, ready to be summoned at any moment. + + + + +Chapter XIII + + +Miriam and Camilla watched with anguish Louis' devotion to the +Confederation, and many sorrowful conversations they had about it. + +At last one day Miriam said, "Miss Camilla, I can stand it no +longer;--that boy is going to lift his hand agin his own people, and I +can't stand it no longer; I'se got to tell him all about it. I just +think I'd bust in two if I didn't tell him." + +"Well, Mammy," said Camilla, "I'd rather he should know it than that he +should go against his country and raise his hand against the dear old +flag." + +"It's not the flag nor the country I care for," said Miriam, "but it is +that one of my own flesh and blood should jine with these secesh agin +his own people." + +"Well, Miriam, if you get a chance you can tell him." + +"Get a chance, Miss Camilla, I'se bound to get that." + +Louis was somewhat reticent about his plans; for he knew that Camilla +was a strong Union woman; that she not only loved the flag, but she had +taught her two boys to do the same; but he understood from headquarters +that his company was to march in a week, and although on that subject +there was no common sympathy between them, yet he felt that he must +acquaint her with his plans, and bid her and Miriam good-bye. + +So one morning he came in looking somewhat flushed and excited, and +said: "Sister, we have got our marching orders; we leave on Thursday, +and I have only three days to be with you. I am sorry that I have seen +so little of you, but my country calls me, and when she is in danger it +is no time for me to seek for either ease or pleasure." + +"Your country! Louis," said Miriam, her face paling and flushing by +turns. "Where is your country?" + +"Here," said he, somewhat angrily, "in Louisiana." + +"My country," said Camilla,[7] "is the whole Union. Yes, Louis," said +she, "your country is in danger, but not from the Abolitionists in the +North, but from the rebels and traitors in the South." + +"Rebels and traitors!" said Louis, in a tone like one who felt the harsh +grating of the words. + +"Whom do you mean?" + +"I mean," said she, "the ambitious, reckless men who have brought about +this state of things. The men who are stabbing their country in their +madness and folly; who are crowding our graves and darkening our homes; +who are dragging our young men, men like you, who should be the pride +and hope of our country, into the jaws of ruin and death." + +Louis looked surprised and angry; he had never seen Camilla under such +deep excitement. Her words had touched his pride and roused his anger; +but suppressing his feelings he answered her coolly, "Camilla, I am old +enough to do my own thinking. We had better drop this subject; it is not +pleasant to either of us." + +"Louis," said she, her whole manner changing from deep excitement to +profound grief, "Oh, Louis, it will never do for you to go! Oh, no, you +must not!" + +"And why not?" + +"Because,"--and she hesitated. Just then Miriam took up the unfinished +sentence,"--because to join the secesh is to raise your hands agin your +own race." + +"My own race?" and Louis laughed scornfully. "I think you are talking +more wildly than Camilla. What do you mean, Miriam?" + +"I mean," said she, stung by his scornful words, "I mean that you, Louis +Le Croix, white as you look, are colored, and that you are my own +daughter's child, and if it had not been for Miss Camilla, who's been +such an angel to you, that you would have been a slave to-day, and then +you wouldn't have been a Confederate." + +At these words a look of horror and anguish passed over the face of Le +Croix, and he turned to Camilla, but she was deadly pale, and trembling +like an aspen leaf; but her eyes were dry and tearless. + +"Camilla," said he, turning fiercely to his adopted sister, "Tell me, is +there any truth in these words? You are as pale as death, and trembling +like a leaf,--tell me if there is any truth in these words," turning and +fixing his eyes on Miriam, who stood like some ancient prophetess, her +lips pronouncing some fearful doom, while she watched in breathless +anguish the effect upon the fated victim. + +"Yes, Louis," said Camilla, in a voice almost choked by emotion. "Yes, +Louis, it is all true." + +"But how is this that I never heard it before? Before I believe this +tale I must have some proof, clear as daylight. Bring me proofs." + +"Here they are," said Miriam, drawing from her pocket the free papers +she had been carrying about her person for several days. + +Louis grasped them nervously, hastily read them, and then more slowly, +like one who might read a sentence of death to see if there was one word +or sentence on which he might hang a hope of reprieve. + +Camilla watched him anxiously, but silently, and when he had finished, +he covered his bowed face with his hands as he said with a deep groan, +"It is true, too true. I see it all. I can never raise my hand against +my mother's race." + +He arose like one in a dream, walked slowly to the door and left the +room. + +"It was a painful task," said Camilla, with a sigh of relief, as if a +burden had fallen from her soul. + +"Yes," said Miriam, "but not so bad as to see him fighting agin his own +color. I'd rather follow him to his grave than see him join that +miserable secesh crew." + +"Yes," said Camilla, "It was better than letting him go." + +When Louis left the room a thousand conflicting thoughts passed through +his mind. He felt as a mariner at midnight on a moonless sea, who +suddenly, when the storm is brewing, finds that he has lost his compass +and his chart. + + + + +Chapter XIV + + +Where was he steering; and now, the course of his life was changed, what +kind of future must he make for himself? + +Had it been in time of peace, he could have easily decided, as he had a +large amount of money in the North, which his father left him when he +came of age. + +He would have no difficulty as to choosing the means of living; for he +was well supplied, as far as that was concerned; but here was a most +unpleasant dilemma in which he had placed himself. + +Convinced that he was allied to the Negro race, his whole soul rose up +against the idea of laying one straw in its way; if he belonged to the +race he would not join its oppressors. And yet his whole sympathy had +been so completely with them, that he felt that he had no feeling in +common with the North. + +And as to the colored people, of course it never entered his mind to +join their ranks, and ally himself to them; he had always regarded them +as inferior; and this sudden and unwelcome revelation had not changed +the whole tenor of his thoughts and opinions. + +But what he had to do must be done quickly; for in less than three days +his company would start for the front. To desert was to face death; to +remain was to wed dishonor. He surveyed the situation calmly and +bravely, and then resolved that he would face the perils of re-capture +rather than the contempt of his own soul. + +While he was deciding, he heard Camilla's step in the passage; he opened +the door, and beckoned her to a seat, and said, very calmly, "I have +been weighing the whole matter in my mind, and I have concluded to leave +the South." + +"How can you do it?" said Camilla. "I tremble lest you should be +discovered. Oh slavery! what a curse. Our fathers sowed the wind, and we +are reaping the whirlwind! What," continued she, as if speaking to +herself, "What are your plans? Have you any?" + +"None, except to disguise myself and escape." + +"When?" + +"As soon as possible." + +"Suppose I call Miriam. She can help you. Shall I?" + +"Yes." + +Camilla called Miriam, and after a few moments consultation it was +decided that Louis should escape that night, and that Miriam should +prepare whatever was needed for his hasty flight. + +"Don't trust your secret to any white person," said Miriam, "but if you +meet any of the colored people, just tell them that you is for the +Linkum soldiers, and it will be all right; we don't know all about this +war, but we feels somehow we's all mixed up in it." + +And so with many prayers and blessings from Miriam, and sad farewells +from Camilla, he left his home to enter upon that perilous flight, the +whole current of his life changed. + +It was in the early part of Winter; but the air was just as pleasant as +early Spring in that climate. Louis walked all that night, guiding +himself northward at night by the light of the stars and a little pocket +compass, Camilla had just given him before starting, and avoiding the +public roads during the day. + +And thus he travelled for two days, when his lunch was exhausted, his +lips parched with thirst, and his strength began to fail. + +Just in this hour of extremity he saw seated by the corner of a fence a +very black and homely-looking woman; there was something so gloomy and +sullen in her countenance that he felt repelled by its morose +expression. Still he needed food, and was very weary, and drawing near +he asked her if she would give him anything to eat. + +"Ain't got nothing. De sojers done been here, and eat all up." + +Louis drew near and whispered a few words in her ear, and immediately a +change passed over her whole countenance. The sullen expression turned +to a look of tenderness and concern. The harsh tones of her voice +actually grew mellow, and rising up in haste she almost sprang over the +fence, and said, "I'se been looking for you, if you's Northman you's +mighty welcome," and she set before him her humble store of provisions. + +"Do you know," said Louis, "where I will find the Lincoln soldiers, or +where the secesh are encamped?" + +"No," said she "but my old man's mighty smart, and he'll find out; you +come wid me." + +Nothing doubting he went, and found the husband ready to do anything in +his power to help him. + +"You's better not go any furder to-day. I'll get you a place to hide +where nobody can't find you, and then I'll pump Massa 'bout the sojers." + +True to his word, he contrived to find out whether the soldiers were +near. + +"Massa," said he, scratching his head, and looking quite sober, "Massa, +hadn't I better hide the mules? Oh I's 'fraid the Linkum sojers will +come take 'em, cause dey gobbles up ebery ting dey lays dere hans on, +jis like geese. I yerd dey was coming; mus' I hide de mules?" + +"No, Sam, the scalawags are more than a hundred miles away; they are +near Natchez." + +"Well, maybe, t'was our own Fedrate soldiers." + +"No, Sam, our nearest soldiers are at Baton Rouge." + +"All right Massa. I don't want to lose all dem fine mules." + +As soon as it was convenient Sam gave Louis the desired information. +"Here," said Sam, when Louis was ready to start again, "is something to +break your fast, and if you goes dis way you musn't let de white folks +know what you's up to, but you trust dis," said he, laying his hand on +his own dark skin. + +His new friend went with him several miles, and pointing him out the way +left him to pursue his journey onward. The next person he met with was a +colored man, who bowed and smiled, and took off his hat. + +Louis returned the bow, and was passing on when he said, "Massa, 'scuse +me for speakin' to you, but dem secesh been hunting all day for a +'serter, him captin dey say." + +Louis turned pale, but bracing his nerves he said, "Where are they?" + +"Dey's in the house; is you he?" + +"I am a Union man," Louis said, "and am trying to reach the Lincoln +soldiers." + +"Den," said the man, "if dat am de fac I's got a place for you; come +with me," and Louis having learned to trust the colored people followed +him to a place of safety. + +Soon it was noised abroad that another deserter had been seen in that +neighborhood, but the colored man would not reveal the whereabouts of +Louis. His master beat him severely, but he would let neither threats +nor torture wring the secret from his lips. + +Louis saw the faithfulness of that man, and he thought with shame of his +former position to the race from whom such unswerving devotion could +spring. The hunt proving ineffectual, Louis after the search and +excitement had subsided resumed his journey Northward, meeting with +first one act of kindness and then another. + +One day he had a narrow escape from the bloodhounds. He had trusted his +secret to a colored man who, faithful like the rest, was directing him +on his way when deep ominous sounds fell on their ears. The colored man +knew that sound too well; he knew something of the nature of +bloodhounds, and how to throw them off the track. + +So hastily opening his pen-knife he cut his own feet so that the blood +from them might deepen the scent on one track, and throw them off from +Louis's path. + +It was a brave deed, and nobly done, and Louis began to feel that he had +never known them, and then how vividly came into his mind the words of +Dr. Charming: "After all we may be trampling on one of the best branches +of the human race." Here were men and women too who had been trampled on +for ages ready to break to him their bread, aye share with him their +scanty store. + +One had taken the shoes from his feet and almost forced him to take +them. What was it impelled these people? What was the Union to them, +and who were Lincoln's soldiers that they should be so ready to +gravitate to the Union army and bring the most reliable information to +the American General? + +Was it not the hope of freedom which they were binding as amulets around +their hearts? They as a race had lived in a measure upon an idea; it was +the hope of a deliverance yet to come. Faith in God had underlain the +life of the race, and was it strange if when even some of our +politicians did not or could not read the signs of the times aright +these people with deeper intuitions understood the war better than they +did. + +But at last Louis got beyond the borders of the confederacy, and stood +once more on free soil, appreciating that section as he had never done +before. + + + + +Chapter XV + + +[Text missing.] + + + + +Chapter XVI + + +"And I," said Minnie, "will help you pay it." + +And so their young hearts had met at last, and with the approval and +hearty consent of Anna, Minnie and Louis were married. + +It was decided that Minnie should spend the winter in Southern France, +and then in the spring they returned to America. On their arrival they +found the war still raging, and Louis was ready and anxious to benefit +that race to whom he felt he owed his life, and with whom he was +connected by lineage. + +He had plenty of money, a liberal education, and could have chosen a +life of ease, but he was too ardent in his temperament, too decided in +his character, not to feel an interest in the great events which were +then transpiring in the country. + +He made the acquaintance of some Anti-Slavery friends, and listened with +avidity to their doctrines; he attended a number of war meetings, and +caught the enthusiasm which inspired the young men who were coming from +valley, hill, and plain to fill up the broken ranks of the Union army. + +Minnie, educated in peace principles, could not conscientiously +encourage him, and yet when she saw how the liberty of a whole race was +trembling in the balance she could not help wishing [success?] to the +army, nor find it in her heart to dissuade him from going. + +Others had given their loved and cherished ones to camp and field. The +son of a dear friend had said to his mother, "I know I shall be killed, +but I go to free the slave." His presentiment had been met, for he had +been brought home in his shroud. + +Another dear friend had said, "I have drawn my sword, and it shall never +sleep in its scabbard till the nation is free!" And she had heard that +summer of '64 how bravely the colored soldiers had stood at Fort Wagner, +when the storms of death were sweeping through the darkened sky. How +they summoned the world to see the grandeur of their courage and the +daring of their prowess. + +How Corny had held with unyielding hand the nation's flag, and even when +he was wounded still held it in his grasp, and crawling from the scene +of action exclaimed, "I only did my duty, the old flag, I didn't let it +trail on the ground." + +And she felt on reading it with tearful eyes, that if she belonged to +that race they had not shamed her by their want of courage; and so when +Louis came to her and told her his intention, she would not attempt to +oppose him, and when he was ready to depart, with many prayers, and sad +farewells, she gave him up to fight the battles of freedom, for such it +was to him, who went with every nerve in his right arm tingling to +strike a blow for liberty. + +Hitherto Louis had known the race by their tenderness and compassion, +but the war gave him an opportunity to become acquainted with men brave +to do, brave to dare, and brave to die. + +A colored man was the hero of one of the most tender, touching, and +tragic incidents of the war. A number of soldiers were in a boat exposed +to the fire of the rebels; on board was a colored man who had not +enrolled as a soldier, though his soul was full of sublime valor. The +bullets hissed and split the water, and the rowers tried to get out of +their reach, but all their efforts were in vain; the treacherous mud had +caught the boat, and some one must peril life and limb to shove that +boat into the water. And this man, the member of a doomed, a fated race, +who had been trodden down for ages, comprehending the danger, said, +"Some one must die to get us out of this, and it mout's well be me as +anybody; you are soldiers, and you can fight. If they kill me it is +nothing." + +And with these words he arose, gave the boat a push, received a number +of bullets, and died within two days after. + +Louis acquitted himself bravely, and rapidly rose in favor with his +superior officers. To him the place of danger was the post of duty. He +often received letters from Minnie, but they were always hopeful; for +she had learned to look on the bright side of everything. + +She tried to beguile him with the news of the neighborhood, and to +inspire him with bright hopes for the future; that future in which they +should clasp hands again and find their duty and their pleasure in +living for the welfare and happiness of _our_ race, as Minnie would +often say. + +A race upon whose brows God had poured the chrism of a new era--a race +newly anointed with freedom. + +Oh, how the enthusiasm of her young soul gathered around that work! She +felt it was no mean nor common privilege to be the pioneer of a new +civilization. If he who makes two blades of grass grow where only one +flourished before is a benefactor of the human race, how much higher +and holier must his or her work be who dispenses light, instead of +darkness, knowledge, instead of ignorance, and over the ruins of the +slave-pen and auction-block erects institutions of learning. + +She would say in her letters to Louis that the South will never be +rightly conquered until another army should take the field, and that +must be an army of civilizers; the army of the pen, and not the sword. +Not the destroyers of towns and cities, but the builders of machines and +factories; the organizers of peaceful industry and honorable labor; and +as soon as she possibly could she intended to join that great army. + +Sometimes Louis would shake his head doubtfully, and tell her that the +South was a very sad place to live in, and would be for years, and, +while he was willing to bear toil and privation in the cause he had +learned to love, yet he shrank from exposing her to the social ostracism +which she must bear whether she identified herself with the colored race +or not. + +However, her brave young heart never failed her, but kept true to its +purpose to join that noble band who left the sunshine of their homes to +help build up a new South on the basis of a higher and better +civilization. + +Louis remained with the army till Lee had surrendered. The storm-cloud +of battle had passed away, and the thunders of contending batteries no +longer crashed and vibrated on the air. + +And then he returned to Minnie, who still lived with Thomas Carpenter. +Very tender and joyous was their greeting. Louis thought he would rest +awhile and then arrange his affairs to return to the South. In this plan +he was heartily seconded by Minnie. + +Thomas and Anna were sorry to part with her, but they knew that life was +not made for a holiday of ease and luxury, and so they had no words of +discouragement for them. If duty called them to the South it was right +that they should go; and so they would not throw themselves across the +purpose of their souls. + + + + +Chapter XVII + + +Before he located, Louis concluded to visit the old homestead, and to +present his beautiful young bride to his grandmother and Camilla. + +He knew his adopted sister too well to fear that Minnie would fail to +receive from her the warmest welcome, and so with eager heart he took +passage on one of the Mississippi boats to New Orleans, intending to +stop in the city a few days, and send word to Camilla; but just as he +was passing from the levee to the hotel, he caught a glimpse of Camilla +walking down the street, and stopping the carriage, he alighted, and +spoke to her. She immediately recognized him, although his handsome face +had become somewhat bronzed by exposure in camp and field. + +"Do not go to the hotel," she said, "you are heartily welcome, come home +with me." + +"But my wife is along." + +"Never mind, she's just as welcome as you are." + +"But, like myself, she is colored." + +"It does not matter. I should not think of your going to a hotel, while +I have a home in the city." + +Camilla following, wondering how she would like the young wife. She had +great kindness and compassion for the race, but as far as social +equality was concerned, though she had her strong personal likings, yet, +except with Louis, neither custom nor education had reconciled her to +the maintenance of any equal, social relations with them. + +"My wife," said Louis, introducing Camilla to Minnie. Camilla +immediately reached out her hand to the young wife, and gave her a +cordial greeting, and they soon fell into a pleasant and animated +conversation. Mutually they were attracted to each other, and when they +reached their destination, Minnie had begun to feel quite at home with +Camilla. + +"How is Aunt Miriam, or rather, my grandmother?" said Louis. + +"She is well, and often wonders what has become of her poor boy; but she +always has persisted in believing that she would see you again, and I +know her dear old eyes will run over with gladness. But things have +changed very much since we parted. We have passed through the fire since +I saw you, and our troubles are not over yet; but we are hoping for +better days. But we are at home. Let us alight." + +And Louis and Minnie were ushered into a home whose quiet and refined +beauty were very pleasant to the eye, for Camilla had inherited from her +father his aesthetic tastes; had made her home and its surroundings +models of loveliness. Half a dozen varieties of the sweetest and +brightest roses clambered up the walls and arrayed them with a garb of +rare beauty. Jessamines breathed their fragrance on the air; magnolias +reared their stately heads and gladdened the eye with the exquisite +beauty of their flowers. + +"This is an unexpected pleasure," said Camilla, removing Minnie's +bonnet, and gazing with unfeigned admiration upon her girlish face, "but +really some one must enjoy this pleasure besides myself." + +Camilla rang the bell; a bright, smiling girl of about ten years +appeared. "Tell Miriam," she said, "to come; that her boy Louis is +here." + +Miriam appeared immediately, and throwing her arms around his neck, gave +vent to her feelings in a burst of joy. "I always said you'd come back. +I's prayed for you night and day, and I always believed I'd see you +afore I died, and now my word's come true. There's nothing like having +faith." + +"Here's my wife," said Louis, turning to Minnie. + +"Your wife; is you married, honey? Well I hopes you'll have a good +time." + +Minnie came forward and gave her hand to Miriam, as Louis said, "This is +my grandmother." + +A look of proud satisfaction passed over the old woman's face, and a +sudden joy lit up her eyes at these words of pleasant recognition. + +"Ah, my child," said Miriam, "We's had a mighty heap of trouble since +you left. Them miserable secesh searched the house all over for you, +when you was gone, and they was mighty sassy; but we didn't mind that, +so they didn't ketch you. How did you get along? We was dreadfully +uneasy about you?" + +Louis then told them of the kindness of the colored people, his +thrilling adventures, and hair-breadth escapes, and unfolded to them his +plans for the future. + +Camilla listened with deep interest, and turning to Minnie, who had left +the peaceful sunshine of her mother's home to dwell in the midst of that +rough and rude state of society, she said, "I cannot help feeling sad to +see you exposing yourself to the dangers that lay around your path. The +few Southern women who have been faithful to the flag have had a sad +experience since the war. We have been ostracized and abused, and often +our husbands have been brutally murdered, in a number of instances when +they were faithful to the dear old flag. A friend of mine, who was an +angel of mercy to the Union prisoners, dressing their wounds and +carrying them relief, had a dear son, who always kept a Union flag at +home, which he regarded with almost religious devotion. This made him a +marked boy in the community, and during the war he was so cruelly +beaten, by some young rebels, that he never recovered, and colored women +who would wend their way under the darkness and cover of night to aid +our suffering soldiers, were in danger of being flogged, if detected, +and I understand that one did receive 75 lashes for such an offence, and +I heard of another who was shot down like a dog, for giving bread to a +prisoner, who said, 'Mammy, I am starving.' I think, (but I have no +right to dictate to you) had I been you, and my home in the North, that +I would have preferred staying there, where, to say the least, you could +have had pleasanter social relations. You and Louis are nearer the +white race than the colored. Why should you prefer the one to the +other?" + +"Because," said Minnie, "the prejudices of society are so strong against +the people with whom I am connected on my mother's side, that I could +not associate with white people on equal terms, without concealing my +origin, and that I scorned to do. The first years of my life passed +without my knowing that I was connected with the colored race; but when +it was revealed to me by mother, who suddenly claimed me, at first I +shrank from the social ostracism to which that knowledge doomed me, and +it was some time before I was reconciled to the change. Oh, there are +lessons of life that we never learn in the bowers of ease. They must be +learned in the fire. For months life seemed to me a dull, sad thing, and +for a while I did not care whether I lived or died, the sunshine had +suddenly faded from my path, and the future looked so dark and +cheerless. But now, when I look back upon those days of gloom and +suffering, I think they were among the most fruitful of my life, for in +those days of pain and sorrow my resolution was formed to join the +fortunes of my mother's race, and I resolved to brighten her old age +with a joy, with a gladness she had never known in her youth. And how +could I have done that had I left her unrecognized and palmed myself +upon society as a white woman? And to tell you the truth, having passed +most of my life in white society, I did not feel that the advantages of +that society would have ever paid me for the loss of my self-respect, by +passing as white, when I knew that I was colored; when I knew that any +society, however cultivated, wealthy or refined, would not be a social +gain to me, if my color and not my character must be my passport of +admission. So, when I found out that I was colored, I made up my mind +that I would neither be pitied nor patronized by my former friends; but +that I would live out my own individuality and do for my race, as a +colored woman, what I never could accomplish as a white woman." + +"I think I understand you," said Camilla; "and although I tremble for +you in the present state, yet you cannot do better than live out the +earnest purpose of your life. I feel that we owe a great debt to the +colored race, and I would aid and not hinder any hand that is ready to +help do the needed work. I have felt for many years that slavery was +wrong, and I am glad, from the bottom of my heart, that it has at last +been destroyed. And what are your plans, Louis?" + +"We are going to open a school, and devote our lives to the upbuilding +of the future race. I intend entering into some plan to facilitate the +freedmen in obtaining homes of their own. I want to see this newly +enfranchised race adding its quota to the civilization of the land. I +believe there is power and capacity, only let it have room for exercise +and development. We demand no social equality, no supremacy of power. +All we ask is that the American people will take their Christless, +Godless prejudices out of the way, and give us a chance to grow, an +opportunity to accept life, not merely as a matter of ease and +indulgence, but of struggle, conquest, and achievement." + +"Yes," said Camilla, "what you want and what the nation should be just +enough to grant you is fair play." + +"Yes, that is what we want; to be known by our character, and not by our +color; to be permitted to take whatever position in society we are +fitted to fill. We do not want to be bolstered and propped up on the one +hand, nor to be crushed and trampled down on the other." + +"Well, Louis, I think that we are coming to that. No, I cannot feel that +all this baptism of fire and blood through which we have passed has been +in vain. Slavery, as an institution, has been destroyed. Slavery, as an +idea, still lives, but I believe that we shall outgrow this spirit of +caste and proscription which still tarnishes our civilization, both +North and South." + + + + +Chapter XVIII + + +After spending a few weeks with Camilla, Louis resolved to settle in the +town of L----n, and as soon as he had chosen his home and made +arrangements for the future, he sent for Ellen, and in a few days she +joined her dear children, as she called Louis and Minnie. Very pleasant +were the relations between Minnie and the newly freed people. + +She had found her work, and they had found their friend. She did not +content herself with teaching them mere knowledge of books. She felt +that if the race would grow in the right direction, it must plant the +roots of progress under the hearthstone. She had learned from Anna those +womanly arts that give beauty, strength and grace to the fireside, and +it was her earnest desire to teach them how to make their homes bright +and happy. + +Louis, too, with his practical turn of mind, used his influence in +teaching them to be saving and industrious, and to turn their attention +towards becoming land owners. He attended their political meetings, not +to array class against class, nor to inflame the passions of either +side. He wanted the vote of the colored people not to express the old +hates and animosities of the plantation, but the new community of +interests arising from freedom. + +For awhile the aspect of things looked hopeful. The Reconstruction Act, +by placing the vote in the hands of the colored man, had given him a new +position. There was a lull in Southern violence. It was a great change +from the fetters on his wrist to the ballot in his right hand, and the +uniform testimony of the colored people was, "We are treated better than +we were before." + +Some of the rebels indulged in the hope that their former slaves would +vote for them, but they were learning the power of combination, and +having no political past, they were radical by position, and when +Southern State after State rolled up its majorities on the radical side, +then the vials of wrath were poured upon the heads of the colored +people, and the courage and heroism which might have gained them +recognition, perhaps, among heathens, made them more obnoxious here. + +Still Louis and Minnie kept on their labors of love; their inner lives +daily growing stronger and broader, for they learned to lean upon a +strength greater than their own; and some of the most beautiful lessons +of faith and trust they had ever learned, they were taught in the lowly +cabins of these newly freed people. + +Often would Minnie enter these humble homes and listen patiently to the +old story of wrong and suffering. Sympathizing with their lot, she would +give them counsel and help when needed. When she was leaving they would +look after her wistfully, and say, + +"She mighty good; we's low down, but she feels for we." + +And thus day after day of that earnest life was spent in deeds and words +of love and kindness. + +But let us enter their pleasant home. Louis has just returned from a +journey to the city, and has brought with him the latest Northern +papers. He is looking rather sober, and Minnie, ready to detect the +least change of his countenance, is at his side. + +"What is the matter?" Minnie asked, in a tone of deep concern. + +"I am really discouraged." + +"What about?" + +"Look here," said he, handing her the _New York Tribune_. "State after +State has rolled up a majority against negro suffrage. I have been +trying to persuade our people to vote the Republican ticket, but to-day, +I feel like blushing for the party. They are weakening our hands and +strengthening those of the rebels." + +"But, Louis, they were not Republicans who gave these majorities against +us." + +"But, darling, if large numbers of these Republicans stayed at home, and +let the election go by default, the result was just the same. Now every +rebel can throw it in our teeth and say, 'See your great Republican +party; they refuse to let the negro vote with them, but they force him +upon us. They don't do it out of regard to the negro, but only to spite +us.' I don't think, Minnie, that I am much given to gloomy forebodings, +but I see from the temper and actions of these rebels, that they are +encouraged and emboldened by these tidings from the North, and to-day +they are turning people out of work for voting the radical ticket. A +while ago they tried flattery and cajolery. You could hear it on almost +every side--'We are the best friends of the colored people.' Appeals +were made to the memories of the past; how they hunted and played +together, and searched for birds' nests in the rotten peach trees, and +when the colored people were not to be caught by such chaff, some were +trying to force them into submission by intimidation and starvation." + +Just then a knock was heard at the door, and a dark man entered. There +was nothing in his appearance that showed any connection with the white +race. There was a tone of hopefulness in his speech, though his face +wore a somewhat anxious expression. + +"Good morning, Mr. Jackson," said Louis, for, in deference to their +feelings he had dropped the "aunt" and "uncle" of bygone days. + +"Good morning," replied the man, while a pleasant smile flitted over his +countenance. + +"How does the world use you?" said Louis. + +"Well, times are rather bilious with me, but I am beginning to pick up a +little. I get a few boots and shoes to mend. I always used to go to the +mountains, and get plenty of work to do; but this year they wouldn't +give me the situation because I had joined the radicals." + +"What a shame," said Louis; "these men who have always had their rights +of citizenship, seem to know so little of the claims of justice and +humanity, that they are ready to brow-beat and intimidate these people +for voting according to their best interests. And what saddens me most +is to see so many people of the North clasping hands with these rebels +and traitors, and to hear it repeated that these people are too ignorant +to vote." + +"Ignorant as they are," said Minnie, "during the war they knew more than +their masters; for they knew how to be true to their country, when their +masters were false to it, and rallied around the flag, when they were +trampling it under foot, and riddling it with bullets." + +"Ah!" said uncle Richard, "I knows them of old. Last week some of them +offered me $500 if I would desert my party; but I wasn't going to +forsake my people. I have been in purty tight places this year. One +night when I come home my little girl said to me, 'Daddy, dere ain't no +bread in de house.' Now, that jist got me, but I begun to pray, and the +next day I found a quarter of a dollar, and then some of my colored +friends said it wouldn't do to let uncle Jack starve, and they made me +up seventy-five cents. My wife sometimes gets out of heart, but she +don't see very far off." + +"I wish," said Louis, after Mr. Jackson had left, "that some of our +Northern men would only see the heroism of that simple-minded man. Here +he stands facing an uncertain future, no longer young in years, stripped +by slavery, his wife not in full sympathy with him, and yet with what +courage he refused the bribe." + +"Yes," said Minnie, "$500 means a great deal for a man landless and +poor, with no assured support for the future. It means a comfortable +fire when the blasts of winter are roving around your home; it means +bread for the little ones, and medicine for the sick child, and little +start in life." + +"But on the other hand," said Louis, "it meant betrayal of the interests +of his race, and I honor the faithfulness which shook his hands from +receiving the bribe and clasping hands politically with his life-long +oppressors. And I asked myself the question while he was telling his +story, which hand was the better custodian of the ballot, the white +hand that offered the bribe or the black one that refused it. I think +the time will come when some of the Anglo Saxon race will blush to +remember that when they were trailing the banner of freedom in the dust +black men were grasping it with earnest hands, bearing it aloft amid +persecution, pain, and death." + +"Louis" said Minnie very seriously, "I think the nation makes one great +mistake in settling this question of suffrage. It seems to me that +everything gets settled on a partial basis. When they are reconstructing +the government why not lay the whole foundation anew, and base the right +of suffrage not on the claims of service or sex, but on the broader +basis of our common humanity." + +"Because, Minnie, we are not prepared for it. This hour belongs to the +negro." + +"But, Louis, is it not the negro woman's hour also? Has she not as many +rights and claims as the negro man?" + +"Well, perhaps she has, but, darling, you cannot better the condition of +the colored men without helping the colored women. What elevates him +helps her." + +"All that may be true, but I cannot recognize that the negro man is the +only one who has pressing claims at this hour. To-day our government +needs woman's conscience as well as man's judgment. And while I would +not throw a straw in the way of the colored man, even though I know that +he would vote against me as soon as he gets his vote, yet I do think +that woman should have some power to defend herself from oppression, and +equal laws as if she were a man." + +"But, really, I should not like to see you wending your way through +rough and brawling mobs to the polls." + +"Because these mobs are rough and coarse I would have women vote. I +would soften the asperity of the mobs, and bring into our politics a +deeper and broader humanity. When I see intemperance send its floods of +ruin and shame to the homes of men, and pass by the grog-shops that are +constantly grinding out their fearful grist of poverty, ruin and death, +I long for the hour when woman's vote will be levelled against these +charnel houses; and have, I hope, the power to close them throughout the +length and breadth of the land." + +"Why darling," said Louis, gazing admiringly upon the earnest enthusiasm +lighting up her face, "I shall begin to believe that you are a +strong-minded woman." + +"Surely, you would not have me a weak-minded woman in these hours of +trial." + +"But, darling, I did not think that you were such an advocate for +women's voting." + +"I think, Louis, that basing our rights on the ground of our common +humanity is the only true foundation for national peace and durability. +If you would have the government strong and enduring you should entrench +it in the hearts of both the men and women of the land." + +"I think you are right in that remark," said Louis. And thus their +evenings were enlivened by pleasant and interesting conversations upon +the topics of the day. + +Once when a union friend was spending an evening at their home Louis +entered, looking somewhat animated, and Minnie ever ready to detect his +moods and feelings, wanted to know what had happened. + +"Oh, I have been to a wedding since I left home." + +"And pray who was married?" + +"Guess." + +"I don't know whom to guess. One of our friends?" + +"Yes." + +"Was it Mr. Welland?" + +"Yes." + +"And who did he marry? Is she a Northern woman, and a staunch unionist?" + +"Well, I can't imagine who she can be." + +"Why he married Miss Henson, who sent you those beautiful flowers." + +"Why, Louis, is it possible? Why she is a colored woman." + +"I know." + +"But how came he to marry her?" + +"For the same reason I married you, because he loved her?" + +"Well," said the union man, who sat quietly listening, "I am willing to +give to the colored people every right that I possess myself, but as to +intermarrying with them, I am not prepared for that." + +"I think," said Louis, "that marrying and social equality among the +races will simply regulate itself. I do not think under the present +condition of things that there will be any general intermarrying of the +races, but this idea of rooted antagonism of races to me is all +moonshine. I believe that what you call the instincts of race are only +the prejudices which are the result of custom and education, and if +there is any instinct in the matter it is rather the instinct of nature +to make a Semi-tropical race in a Semi-tropical climate. Welland told me +that he had met his wife when she was a slave, that he loved her then, +and would have bought her had it been in his power, but now that freedom +had come to her he was glad to have the privilege of making her his +wife. He is an Englishman by birth and he intends taking her home with +him to England when a favorable opportunity presents itself. And that is +far more honorable and manly than living together after the old order of +things. I think," said Louis facing the floor "that a cruel wrong was +done to Minnie and myself when life was given to us under conditions +that doomed us to hopeless slavery, and from which we were rescued only +by good fortune. I have heard some colored persons boasting of the white +blood, but I always feel like blushing for mine. Much as my father did +for me he could never atone for giving me life under the conditions he +did." + +"Never mind," said Minnie, "it all turned out for the best." + +"Yes, Darling," said Louis, growing calmer, "for it gave me you. And +that was life's compensation. But the question of the intermingling of +the races in marriage is one that scarcely interests this question. The +question that presses upon us with the most fearful distinctness is how +can we make life secure in the South. I sometimes feel as if the very +air was busting with bayonets. There is no law here but the revolver. +There must be a screw loose somewhere, and this government that taxes +its men in peace and drafts them in war, ought to be wise enough to know +its citizens and strong enough to protect them." + + + + +Chapter XIX + + +But the pleasant home-life of Louis and Minnie was destined to be rudely +broken up. He began to receive threats and anonymous letters, such as +these: "Louis Lecroix, you are a doomed man. We are determined to +tolerate no scalawags, nor carpetbaggers among us. Beware, the sacred +serpent has hissed." + +But Louis, brave and resolute, kept on the even tenor of his way, +although he never left his home without some forebodings that he tried +in vain to cast off. But his young wife being less in contact with the +brutal elements of society in that sin-cursed region, did not comprehend +the danger as Louis did, and yet she could not help feeling anxious for +her husband's safety. + +They never parted without her looking after him with a sigh, and then +turning to her school, or whatever work or reading she had on her hand, +she would strive to suppress her heart's forebodings. But the storm +about to burst and to darken forever the sunshine of that home was +destined to fall on that fair young head. + +Imperative business called Louis from home for one night. Minnie stood +at the door and said, "Louis, I hate to have you go. I have been feeling +so badly here lately, as if something was going to happen. Come home as +soon as you can." + +"I will, darling," he said, kissing her tenderly again and again. "I do +feel rather loath to leave you, but death is every where, always lurking +in ambush. A man may escape from an earthquake to be strangled by a +hair. So, darling, keep in good spirits till I come." + +Minnie stood at the door watching him till he was out of sight, and then +turning to her mother with a sigh, she said, "What a wretched state of +society. When he goes I never feel easy till he returns. I do wish we +had a government under which our lives would be just as safe as they +were in Pennsylvania." + +Ellen felt very anxious, but she tried to hide her disquietude and keep +Minnie's spirits from sinking, and so she said, "This is a hard country. +We colored people have seen our hard times here." + +"But, mother, don't you sometimes feel bitter towards these people, who +have treated you so unkindly?" + +"No, Minnie; I used to, but I don't now. God says we must forgive, and +if we don't forgive, He won't forgive." + +"But, mother, how did you get to feeling so?" + +"Why, honey, I used to suffer until my heart was almost ready to burst, +but I learned to cast my burden on the Lord, and then my misery all +passed away. My burden fell off at the foot of the cross, and I felt +that my feet were planted on a rock." + +"How wonderful," said Minnie, "is this faith! How real it is to them! +How near some of these suffering people have drawn to God!" + +"Yes," said Ellen, "Mrs. Sumpter had a colored woman, to whom they were +real mean and cruel, and one day they whipped her and beat her on her +feet to keep her from running away; but she made up her mind to leave, +and so she packed up her clothes to run away. But before she started, I +believe she kneeled down and prayed, and asked what she should do, and +something reasoned with her and said, 'Stand still and see what I am +going to do for you,' and so she unpacked her clothes and stayed, and +now the best part of it was this, Milly's son had been away, and he +came back and brought with him money enough to buy his mother; for he +had been out begging money to buy her, and so Milly got free, and she +was mighty glad that she had stayed, because when he'd come back, if she +had been gone, he would not have known where to find her." + +"Well, it is wonderful. Somehow these people have passed through the +darkness and laid their hands on God's robe of love and light, and have +been sustained. It seems to me that some things they see clearer through +their tears." + +"Mother," said Minnie, "As it is Saturday I will visit some of my +scholars." + +"Well, Minnie, I would; you look troubled, and may be you'll feel +better." + +"Yes, Mother, I often feel strengthened after visiting some of these +good old souls, and getting glimpses into their inner life. I sometimes +ask them, after listening to the story of their past wrongs, what has +sustained you? What has kept you up? And the almost invariable answer +has been the power of God. Some of these poor old souls, who have been +turned adrift to shift for themselves, don't live by bread alone; they +live by bread and faith in God. I asked one of them a few days since, +Are you not afraid of starving? and the answer was, Not while God +lives." + +After Minnie left, she visited a number of lowly cabins. The first one +she entered was the home of an industrious couple who were just making a +start in life. The room in which Minnie was, had no window-lights, only +an aperture that supplied them with light, but also admitted the cold. + +"Why don't you have window-lights?" said Minnie. + +"Oh we must crawl before we walk;" and yet even in this humble home they +had taken two orphan children of their race, and were giving them food +and shelter. And this kindness to the orphans of their race Minnie +found to be a very praiseworthy practice among some of those people who +were not poorer than themselves. + +The next cabin she entered was very neat, though it bore evidences of +poverty. The woman, in referring to the past, told her how her child had +been taken away when it was about two years old, and how she had lost +all trace of him, and would not know him if he stood in her presence. + +"How did you feel?" said Minnie. + +"I felt as I was going to my grave, but I thought if I wouldn't get +justice here, I would get it in another world." + +"My husband," said another, "asked if God is a just God, how would sich +as slavery be, and something answered and said, 'sich shan't always be,' +and you couldn't beat it out of my husband's head that the Spirit didn't +speak to him." + +And thus the morning waned away, and Minnie returned calmer than when +she had left. A holy peace stole over her mind. She felt that for high +and low, rich and poor, there was a common refuge. That there was no +corner so dark that the light of heaven could not shine through, and +that these people in their ignorance and simplicity had learned to look +upon God as a friend coming near to them in their sorrows, and taking +cognizance of their wants and woes. + +Minnie loved to listen to these beautiful stories of faith and trust. To +her they were grand inspirations to faith and duty. Sometimes Minnie +would think, when listening to some dear aged saint, I can't teach these +people religion, I must learn from them. + +Refreshed and strengthened she returned home and began to work upon a +dress for a destitute and orphaned child, and when night came she +retired quite early, being somewhat wearied with her day's work. + +During his absence Louis had been among the freedmen in a new +settlement where he had lately established a school, where, +notwithstanding all their disadvantages, he was pleased to see evidences +of growth and progress. + +There was an earnestness and growing manliness that commanded his +respect. They were beginning to learn the power of combination, and gave +but little heed to the cajoling words, "We are your best friends." + +"Don't you think," Louis said to an intelligent freedman, "that the +rebels are your best friends?" + +"I'll think so when I lose my senses." + +"But you are ignorant," Louis said to another one. "How will you know +whom to vote for?" + +"Well if I don't, I know how not to vote for a rebel." + +"How do you know you didn't vote for a rebel?" said Louis to another one +who came from one of the most benighted districts. + +"I voted for one of my own color," as if treason and a black skin were +incompatible. + +In the evening Louis called the people together, and talked with them, +trying to keep them from being discouraged, for the times were evil, and +the days were very gloomy. The impeachment had failed. State after State +in the North had voted against enfranchising the colored man in their +midst. The spirit of the lost cause revived, murders multiplied. The Ku +Klux spread terror and death around. Every item of Northern meanness to +the colored people in their midst was a message of hope to the rebel +element of the South, which had only changed. Ballot and bullet had +failed, but another resort was found in secret assassination. Men +advocating equal rights did so at the peril of their lives, for violence +and murder were rampant in the land. Oh those dark and weary days when +politicians were flattering for place and murdered Union men were +sleeping in their bloody shrouds. Louis' courage did not desert him, and +he tried to nerve the hearts of those that were sinking with fear in +those days of gloom and terror. His advice to the people was, "Defend +your firesides if they are invaded, live as peaceably as you can, spare +no pains to educate your children, be saving and industrious, try to get +land under your feet and homes over your heads. My faith is very strong +in political parties, but, as the world has outgrown other forms of +wrong, I believe that it will outgrow this also. We must trust and hope +for better things." What else could he say? And yet there were times when +his words seemed to him almost like bitter mockery. Here was outrage +upon outrage committed upon these people, and to tell them to hope and +wait for better times, but seemed like speaking hollow words. Oh he +longed for a central administration strong enough to put down violence +and misrule in the South. If Johnson was clasping hands with rebels and +traitors was there no power in Congress to give, at least, security to +life? Must they wait till murder was organized into an institution, and +life and property were at the mercy of the mob? And, if so, would not +such a government be a farce, and such a civilization a failure? + +With these reflections passing through his mind he fell asleep, but his +slumber was restless and disturbed. He dreamed (but it seemed so plain +to him, that he thought it was hardly a dream,) that Minnie came to his +side and pressed her lips to his, but they were very pale and very cold. +He reached out his hand to clasp her, but she was gone, but as she +vanished he heard her say, "My husband." + +Restless and uneasy he arose; there was a strange feeling around his +soul, a great sinking and depression of his spirits. He could not +account for his feelings. He arose and walked the floor and looked up at +the heavens, but the night was very bright and beautiful, still he could +not shake off his strange and sad forebodings, and as soon as it was +light he started for home. + + * * * * * + + +[Installment missing.] + + + + +Chapter XX + + +In the afternoon when the body had been prepared for the grave, the +sorrowing friends gathered around, tearfully noting the look of peace +and rest which had stolen over the pale, dead face, when all traces of +the death agony had passed away by the contraction of the muscles. + +"That is just the way she looked yesterday," said a sad-eyed woman, +whose face showed traces of a deep "and fearful sorrow." + +Louis drew near, for he was eager to hear any word that told him of +Minnie before death had robbed her of life, and him of peace. He came +near enough to hear, but not to interrupt the conversation. + +"She was at my house yesterday, trying to comfort me, when I was telling +her how these Secesh used to _cruelize_ us." + +"I was telling her about my poor daughter Amy, and what a sprightly, +pert piece she was, and how dem awful Secesh took my poor chile and +hung'd her." + +"Hung'd? Aunt Susan, Oh how was dat?" said half a dozen voices. + +"Well, you see it was jist dis way. My darter Amy was a mighty nice +chile, and Massa could truss her wid any ting. So when de Linkum Sogers +had gone through dis place, Massa got her to move some of his tings over +to another place. Now when Amy seed de sojers had cum'd through she was +mighty glad, and she said in a kine of childish way, 'I'se so glad, I'm +gwine to marry a Linkum soger, and set up house-keeping for myself.' I +don't spect she wer in arnest 'bout marrying de sojer, but she did want +her freedom. Well, no body couldn't blame her for dat, for freedom's a +mighty good thing." + +"I don't like it, I jist loves it," said one of Aunt Sue's auditors. + +"And I does too, 'cause I'd rather live on bread and water than be back +again in de old place, but go on, Aunt Susan." + +"Well, when she said dat, dat miserable old Heston----" + +"Heston, I know dat wretch, I bound de debil's waiting for him now, got +his pitch fork all ready." + +"Well, he had my poor girl tookened up, and poor chile, she was beat +shameful, and den dey had her up before der sogers and had her tried for +saying 'cendiary words, and den dey had my poor girl hung'd." And the +poor old woman bowed her head and rocked her body to and fro. + +"Well," she continued after a moment's pause, "I was telling dat sweet +angel dere my trouble, and she was mighty sorry, and sat dere and cried, +and den she said, 'Mrs. Thomas, I hope in a better world dat you'll see +a joy according to all the days wherein you have seen sorrow!' Bless her +sweet heart, she's got in de shining gate afore me, but I bound to meet +her on de sunny banks of deliberance. + +"And she was at my house yesterday," said another. "She cum'd to see if +I wanted any ting, and I tell'd her I would like to hab a little +flannel, 'cause I had the rheumatiz so bad, and she said I should hab +it. Den she asked me if I didn't like freedom best. I told her I would +rather live in a corn crib, and so I would. It is hard getting along, +but I hopes for better times. And den she took down de Bible, and read +wid dat sweet voice of hers, about de eagle stirring up her nest, and +den she said when de old eagle wanted her young to fly she broked up de +nest, and de little eagles didn't known what was de matter, but some how +dey didn't feel so cumfertable, 'cause de little twigs and sticks stuck +in 'em, and den dey would work dere wings, and dat was de way she said +we must do; de ole nest of slavery was broke up, but she said we mus'n't +get discouraged, but we must plume our wings for higher flying. Oh she +did tell it so purty. I wish I could say it like she did, it did my +heart so much good. Poor thing, she done gone and folded her wing in de +hebenly mansion. I wish I was 'long side of her, but I'se bound to meet +her, 'cause I'm gwine to set out afresh for heben and 'ternal glory." + +And thus did these stricken children of sorrow unconsciously comfort the +desolate and almost breaking heart of Louis Lacroix. And their words of +love and hope were like rays of light shimmering amid the gloomy shadows +that overhung his suddenly darkened life. + +Surely, thought Louis, if the blessings and tears of the poor and needy +and the prayers of him who was ready to perish would crystalize a path +to the glory-land, then Minnie's exit from earth must have been over a +bridge of light, above whose radiant arches hovering angels would +delight to bend. + +While these thoughts were passing through his mind, a knock was heard at +the door, and Louis rose to open it, and then he saw a sight which shook +all his gathered firmness to tears. Headed by the eldest of Minnie's +scholars came a procession of children, each one bearing a bunch of +fairest and brightest flowers to spread around the couch of their +beloved teacher. Some kissed her, and others threw themselves beside the +corpse and wept bitter, burning tears. All shared in Louis' grief, for +all had lost a dear, good friend and loving instructor. + +Louis summoned all the energies of his soul to bear his mournful loss. +It was his task to bow to the Chastener, and let his loved one go, +feeling that when he had laid her in the earth that he left her there in +the hope of a better resurrection. + +Life with its solemn responsibilities still met him; its earnest duties +still confronted him, and, though he sometimes felt like a weary watcher +at the gates of death, longing to catch a glimpse of her shining robes +and the radiant light of her glorified face, yet her knew it was his +work to labor and to wait. + +Sorrow and danger still surrounded his way, and he felt his soul more +strongly drawn out than ever to share the fortunes of the colored race. +He felt there were grand possibilities stored up in their future. The +name of the negro had been associated with slavery, ignorance and +poverty, and he determined as far as his influence could be exerted to +lift that name from the dust of the centuries and place it among the +most honored names in the history of the human race. + +He still remained in the South, for Minnie's grave had made the South to +him a sacred place, a place in which to labor and to wait until peace +like bright dew should descend where carnage had spread ruin around, and +freedom and justice, like glorified angels, should reign triumphant +where violence and slavery had held their fearful carnival of shame and +crime for ages. Earnestly he set himself to bring around the hour when + + Peace, white-robed and pure, should move + O'er rifts of ruin deep and wide, + When her hands should span with lasting love + The chasms rent by hate and pride. + +And he was blessed in his labors of love and faith. + + + + +Conclusion + + +And now, in conclusion, may I not ask the indulgence of my readers for a +few moments, simply to say that Louis and Minnie are only ideal beings, +touched here and there with a coloring from real life? + +But while I confess (not wishing to mis-represent the most lawless of +the Ku-Klux) that Minnie has only lived and died in my imagination, may +I not modestly ask that the lesson of Minnie shall have its place among +the educational ideas for the advancement of our race? + +The greatest want of our people, if I understand our wants aright, is +not simply wealth, nor genius, nor mere intelligence, but live men, and +earnest, lovely women, whose lives shall represent not a "stagnant mass, +but a living force." + +We have wealth among us, but how much of it is ever spent in building up +the future of the race? in encouraging talent, and developing genius? We +have intelligence, but how much do we add to the reservoir of the +world's thought? We have genius among us, but how much can it rely upon +the colored race for support? + +Take even the _Christian Recorder_; where are the graduates from +colleges and high school whose pens and brains lend beauty, strength, +grace and culture to its pages? + +If, when their school days are over, the last composition shall have +been given at the examination, will not the disused faculties revenge +themselves by rusting? If I could say it without being officious and +intrusive, I would say to some who are about to graduate this year, do +not feel that your education is finished, when the diploma of your +institution is in your hands. Look upon the knowledge you have gained +only as a stepping stone to a future, which you are determined shall +grandly contrast with the past. + +While some of the authors of the present day have been weaving their +stories about white men marrying beautiful quadroon girls, who, in so +doing were lost to us socially, I conceived of one of that same class to +whom I gave a higher, holier destiny; a life of lofty self-sacrifice and +beautiful self-consecration, finished at the post of duty, and rounded +off with the fiery crown of martyrdom, a circlet which ever changes into +a diadem of glory. + +The lesson of Minnie's sacrifice is this, that it is braver to suffer +with one's own branch of the human race,--to feel, that the weaker and +the more despised they are, the closer we will cling to them, for the +sake of helping them, than to attempt to creep out of all identity with +them in their feebleness, for the sake of mere personal advantages, and +to do this at the expense of self-respect, and a true manhood, and a +truly dignified womanhood, that with whatever gifts we possess, whether +they be genius, culture, wealth or social position, we can best serve +the interests of our race by a generous and loving diffusion, than by a +narrow and selfish isolation which, after all, is only one type of the +barbarous and anti-social state. + + + + +Notes + +1. The following two paragraphs are for the most part illegible. I have +reproduced below as much of the text as can be deciphered. + + The whole South is in a state of excitement [ ... ] +[ ] nurture +[ ] and re- +[ ] high +[ ] be for +[ ] they are [ ] and only remember they are rebels[? ]. + + They [urge the agenda?] and their brothers in their +[mistaken?] folly. Like the women of Carthage [ ] ancient +and magnificent city was [ ] +they were ready to sacrifice their [ ] and if +need be would have cut [ but it have been] so +dear to their hearts [ ] + +2. The original reads "Josiah." + +3. The original reads "Joseph." + +4. The original reads "Josiah." + +5. The original reads "Josiah." + +6. The original reads "Anna." + +7. The original reads "Minnie." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Minnie's Sacrifice, by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11053 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d08bd90 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11053 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11053) diff --git a/old/11053.txt b/old/11053.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a0235d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11053.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3922 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Minnie's Sacrifice, by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Minnie's Sacrifice + +Author: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper + +Release Date: February 12, 2004 [EBook #11053] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINNIE'S SACRIFICE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Andrea Ball and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: This document is the text of Minnie's Sacrifice. Any + bracketed notations such as [Text missing], [?], and + those inserting letters or other comments are from + the original text. + +Transcriber's Note About the Author: +Francis Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was born to free parents in +Baltimore, Maryland. Orphaned at three, she was raised by her uncle, a +teacher and radical advocate for civil rights. She attended the Academy +for Negro Youth and was educated as a teacher. She became a professional +lecturer, activist, suffragette, poet, essayist, novelist, and the author +of the first published short story written by an African-American. Her +work spanned more than sixty years. + + + + +MINNIE'S SACRIFICE + +A Rediscovered Novel by + +Frances E.W. Harper + +Edited By Frances Smith Foster + + + + + + +Chapter I + + +Miriam sat in her lowly cabin, painfully rocking her body to and fro; +for a great sorrow had fallen upon her life. She had been the mother of +three children, two had died in their infancy, and now her last, her +loved and only child was gone, but not like the rest, who had passed +away almost as soon as their little feet had touched the threshold of +existence. She had been entangled in the mazes of sin and sorrow; and +her sun had gone down in darkness. It was the old story. Agnes, fair, +young and beautiful, had been a slave, with no power to protect herself +from the highest insults that brutality could offer to innocence. Bound +hand and foot by that system, which has since gone down in wrath, and +blood, and tears, she had fallen a victim to the wiles and power of her +master; and the result was the introduction of a child of shame into a +world of sin and suffering; for herself an early grave; and for her +mother a desolate and breaking heart. + +While Miriam was sitting down hopelessly beneath the shadow of her +mighty grief, gazing ever and anon on the pale dead face, which seemed +to bear in its sad but gentle expression, an appeal from earth to +heaven, some of the slaves would hurry in, and looking upon the fair +young face, would drop a word of pity for the weeping mother, and then +hurry on to their appointed tasks. All day long Miriam sat alone with +her dead, except when these kindly interruptions broke upon the monotony +of her sorrow. + +In the afternoon, Camilla, the only daughter of her master, entered her +cabin, and throwing her arms around her neck exclaimed, "Oh! Mammy, I am +so sorry I didn't know Agnes was dead. I've been on a visit to Mr. Le +Grange's plantation, and I've just got back this afternoon, and as soon +as I heard that Agnes was dead I hurried to see you. I would not even +wait for my dinner. Oh! how sweet she looks," said Camilla, bending over +the corpse, "just as natural as life. When did she die?" + +"This morning, my poor, dear darling!" And another burst of anguish +relieved the overcharged heart. + +"Oh! Mammy, don't cry, I am so sorry; but what is this?" said she, as +the little bundle of flannel began to stir. + +"That is poor Agnes' baby." + +"Agnes' baby? Why, I didn't know that Agnes had a baby. Do let me see +it?" + +Tenderly the grandmother unfolded the wrappings, and presented the +little stranger. He was a beautiful babe, whose golden hair, bright blue +eyes and fair complexion showed no trace of the outcast blood in his +veins. + +"Oh, how beautiful!" said Camilla; "surely this can't be Agnes' baby. He +is just as white as I am, and his eyes--what a beautiful blue--and his +hair, why it is really lovely." + +"He is very pretty, Miss, but after all he is only a slave." + +A slave. She had heard that word before; but somehow, when applied to +that fair child, it grated harshly on her ear; and she said, "Well, I +think it is a shame for him to be a slave, when he is just as white as +anybody. Now, Mammy," said she, throwing off her hat, and looking +soberly into the fire, "if I had my way, he should never be a slave." + +"And why can't you have your way? I'm sure master humors you in +everything." + +"I know that; Pa does everything I wish him to do; but I don't know how +I could manage about this. If his mother were living, I would beg Pa to +set them both free, and send them North; but his mother is gone; and, +Mammy, we couldn't spare you. And besides, it is so cold in the North, +you would freeze to death, and yet, I can't bear the thought of his +being a slave. I wonder," said she, musing to herself, "I wonder if I +couldn't save him from being a slave. Now I have it," she said, rising +hastily, her face aglow with pleasurable excitement. "I was reading +yesterday a beautiful story in the Bible about a wicked king, who wanted +to kill all the little boys of a people who were enslaved in his land, +and how his mother hid her child by the side of a river, and that the +king's daughter found him and saved his life. It was a fine story; and I +read it till I cried. Now I mean to do something like that good +princess. I am going to ask Pa, to let me take him to the house, and +have a nurse for him, and bring him up like a white child, and never let +him know that he is colored." + +Miriam shook her head doubtfully; and Camilla, looking disappointed, +said, "Don't you like my plan?" + +"Laws, honey, it would be fustrate, but your Pa wouldn't hear to it." + +"Yes, he would, Mammy, because I'll tell him I've set my heart upon it, +and won't be satisfied if he don't consent. I know if I set my heart +upon it, he won't refuse me, because he always said he hates to see me +fret. Why, Mammy, he bought me two thousand dollars worth of jewelry +when we were in New York, just because I took a fancy to a diamond set +which I saw at Tiffany's. Anyhow, I am going to ask him." Eager and +anxious to carry out her plan, Camilla left the cabin to find her +father. He was seated in his library, reading Homer. He looked up, as +her light step fell upon the threshold, and said playfully, "What is +your wish, my princess? Tell me, if it is the half of my kingdom." + +Encouraged by his manner, she drew near, perched upon his knee, and +said; "Now, you must keep your word, Pa. I have a request to make, but +you must first promise me that you will grant it." + +"But I don't know what it is. I can't tell. You might want me to put my +head in the fire." + +"Oh no, Pa, you know I don't!" + +"Well, you might wish me to run for Congress." + +"Oh no, Pa, I know that you hate politics." + +"Well, darling, what is your request?" + +"No; tell me first that you will grant it. Now, don't tease me, Pa; say +yes, and I will tell you." + +"Well, yes; if it is anything in reason." + +"Well, it is in reason, let me tell you, Pa. To-day, after I came home, +I asked Annette where was Agnes, and she told me she was dead. Oh I was +so sorry; and so before I got my dinner I hastened to Mammy's cabin, and +found poor Mammy almost heart-broken, and Agnes lying dead, but looking +just as natural as life." + +"She was dead, but had left one of the dearest little babies I ever saw. +Why, Pa, he is just as white as we are; and I told Mammy so, but she +said it didn't matter; 'he is a poor slave, just like the rest of us.' +Now, Pa, I don't want Agnes' baby to be a slave. Can't you keep him from +growing up a slave?" + +"How am I to do that, my little Abolitionist?" + +"No, Pa, I am not an Abolitionist. I heard some of them talk when I was +in New York, and I think they are horrid creatures; but, Pa, this child +is so white, nobody would ever know that he had one drop of Negro blood +in his veins. Couldn't we take him out of that cabin, and make all the +servants promise that they would never breathe a word about his being +colored, and let me bring him up as a white child?" + +"Well," said Mr. Le Croix, bursting into a hearty laugh, "that is a +capital joke; my little dewdrop talk of bringing up a child! Why, +darling, you would tire of him in a week." + +"Oh no, Pa, I wouldn't! Just try me; if it is only for a week." + +"Why, Sunbeam, it is impossible. Who ever heard of such a thing as a +Negro being palmed upon society as a white person?" + +"Negro! Pa, he is just as white as you are, and his eyes are as blue as +mine." + +"Still he belongs to the Negro race; and one drop of that blood in his +veins curses all the rest. I would grant you anything in reason, but +this is not to be thought of. Were I to do so I would immediately lose +caste among all the planters in the neighborhood; I would be set down as +an Abolitionist, and singled out for insult and injury. Ask me anything, +Camilla, but that." + +"Oh, Pa, what do you care about social position? You never hunt, nor +entertain company, nor take any part in politics. You shut yourself up +in your library, year after year, and pore over your musty books, and +hardly any one knows whether you are dead or alive. And I am sure that +we could hide the secret of his birth, and pass him off as the orphan +child of one of our friends, and that will be the truth; for Agnes was +our friend; at least I know she was mine." + +"Well, I'll see about it; now, get down, and let me finish reading this +chapter." + +The next day Camilla went again to the cabin of Miriam; but the overseer +had set her to a task in the field, and Agnes' baby was left to the care +of an aged woman who was too old to work in the fields, but not being +entirely past service, she was appointed as one of the nurses for the +babies and young children, while their mothers were working in the +fields. + +Camilla, feeling an unusual interest in the child, went to the +overseer, and demanded that Miriam should be released from her tasks, +and permitted to attend the child. + +In vain the overseer plead the pressure for hands, and the busy season. +Camilla said it did not matter, she wanted Miriam, and she would have +her; and he, feeling that it was to his interest to please the little +lady, had Miriam sent from the field to Camilla. + +"Mammy, I want you to come to the house. I want you to come and be my +Mammy. Agnes is dead; your husband is gone, and I want you to come and +bring the baby to the house, and I am going to get him some beautiful +dresses, and some lovely coral I saw in New Orleans, and I am going to +dress him so handsomely, that I believe Pa will feel just as I do, and +think it a shame that such a beautiful child should be a slave." + +Camilla went home, and told her father what she had done. And he, +willing to compromise with her, readily consented; and in a day or two +the child and his grandmother were comfortably ensconced in their new +quarters. + +The winter passed; the weeks ripened into months, and the months into +years, and the child under the pleasant dispensations of love and +kindness grew to be a fine, healthy, and handsome boy. + +One day, when Mr. Le Croix was in one of his most genial moods, Camilla +again introduced the subject which she had concealed, but not abandoned. + +"Now, father, I do think it is a shame for this child to be a slave, +when he is just as white as anybody; I am sure we could move away from +here to France, and you could adopt him as your son, and no one would +know anything of his birth and parentage. He is so beautiful, I would +like him for my brother; and he looks like us anyhow." + +Le Croix flushed deep at these words, and he looked keenly into his +daughter's face; but her gaze was so open, her expression so frank and +artless, he could not think that her words had any covert meaning in +reference to the paternity of the child; but to save that child from +being a slave, and to hide his origin was with her a pet scheme; and, to +use her own words, "she had set her heart upon it." + + + + +Chapter II + + +Mr. Bernard Le Croix was the only son of a Spanish lady, and a French +gentleman, who were married in Hayti a few months before the revolution, +which gave freedom to the Island, and made Hayti an independent nation. + +His father, foreseeing the storm which was overshadowing the land, +contrived to escape, bringing with him a large amount of personal +property; and preferring a climate similar to his own, he bought a +plantation on Red river, and largely stocked it with slaves. Only one +child blessed their union; Bernard Le Croix, who grew up sensitive, shy +and retiring, with a taste for solitude and literary pursuits. + +During the troubles in Hayti, his uncle and only daughter escaped from +the Island, leaving every thing behind except the clothing upon their +persons, and a few jewels they had hastily collected. Broken in spirits, +feeble in health, Louis Le Croix reached Louisiana, only to die in his +brother's arms and to leave his orphan daughter to his care. She was +about ten years old and Bernard was twelve, and in their childhood was +commenced a friendship which ripened into love and marriage. Bernard's +father and mother lived long enough to see their first and only +grandchild, and then died, leaving their son a large baronial estate, +500 slaves, and a vast amount of money. + +Passionately fond of literature, aesthetic in his tastes, he devoted +himself to poetry and the ancient classics; filled his home with the +finest paintings and the most beautiful statuary, and had his gardens +laid out in the most exquisite manner. And into that beautiful home he +brought his young and lovely bride; but in that fair house where velvet +carpets hushed her tread, and magnificence surrounded her path, she +drooped and faded. Day by day her cheek grew paler, her footsteps +slower, until she passed away like a thing of love and light, and left +her heart-broken husband and a child of six summers to mourn her loss. + +Bernard, ever shy and sensitive, grew more so after the death of his +wife. He sought no society; seemed to lose all interest in politics; and +secluded himself in his library till he had almost passed from the +recollection of his nearest neighbors. He superintended the education of +his daughter, because he could not bear the thought of being separated +from her. And she, seeing very little of society, and reading only from +the best authors, both ancient and modern, was growing up with very +little knowledge of the world, except what she learned from books. + +Without any female relatives to guide her, she had no other associates +than the servants of her household, and the family of Mr. Le Grange. Her +mother's nurse and favorite servant had taken the charge of her after +her death, and Agnes had been her nurse and companion. + +Camilla, although [adored?] and petted by every one, and knowing no law +but her own will, was still a very lovely child. Her father, wrapped in +his literary pursuits, had left the entire control of his plantation to +overseers, in whom he trusted almost implicitly. And many a tale of +wrong and sorrow came to the ear of Camilla; for these simple-minded +people had learned to love her, and to trust in her as an angel of +mercy. Often would she interfere in their behalf, and tell the story of +their wrongs to her father. And at her instance, more than one overseer +had been turned away; which, coming to the ears of others, made them +cautious how they offended the little lady, for young as she was they +soon learned that she had great influence with her ease-loving father, +who would comply with almost any fancy or request rather than see her +unhappy or fretting. + +And Camilla, knowing her power, insisted that Agnes' child should be +raised as a white child, and the secret of his birth effectually +concealed. At first, Mr. Le Croix thought it was a passing whim that she +would soon forget; that the child would amuse and interest her for +awhile; and then she would tire of him as she had of other things; such +as her birds, her squirrel, and even her Shetland pony. But when he +found that instead of her intention being a passing whim it was a +settled purpose, he made up his mind to accede to her wishes. + +His plan was to take the child North, to have him educated, and then +adopt him as his son. And in fact the plan rather suited him; for then +he could care for him as a son, without acknowledging the relationship. +And being a member of two nations having a Latin basis, he did not feel +the same pride of race and contempt and repulsion for weaker races which +characterizes the proud and imperious Anglo-Saxon. + +The next Summer Mr. Le Croix took a journey to the North, taking Louis +and Camilla with him. He found a very pleasant family school in New +England; and having made suitable arrangements, he left Louis in the +care of the matron, whose kindness and attentions soon won the child's +heart; and before he left the North, Louis seemed perfectly contented +with his new home. + +Camilla was delighted with her tour; the constant companion of her +father, she visited with him every place of amusement or interest they +could find. She was much pleased with the factories; and watched with +curious eyes the intelligent faces of the operatives, as they plied with +ready fingers their daily tasks. Sometimes she would contrast their +appearance with the laborers she had seen wending their way into their +lowly huts; and then her face would grow sober even to sadness. A +puzzled expression would flit over her countenance, as if she were +trying to solve a problem which was inexplicable to her. + +One day on the hunt for some new excitement, her father passed down +Tremont St., and saw advertised, in large letters, on the entrance to +Tremont Temple, "Anti Slavery Meeting;" and never having been in such a +place before he entered, impelled by a natural curiosity to hear what +could be said against a system in which he had been involved from his +earliest recollections, without taking the pains to examine it. + +The first speaker was a colored man. This rather surprised him. He had +been accustomed to colored men all the days of his life; and as such, he +had known some of them to be intelligent, shrewd, and wide awake; but +this was a new experience. The man had been a slave, and recounted in +burning words the wrongs which had been heaped upon him. He told that he +had been a husband and a father: that his wife had possessed (for a +slave) the "fatal gift of beauty;" that a trader, from whose presence +her soul had recoiled with loathing, had marked her as his prey. Then he +told how he had knelt at his master's feet, and implored him not to sell +her, but it was all in vain. The trader was rich in sin-cursed gold; and +he was poor and weak. He next attempted to describe his feelings when he +saw his wife and children standing on the auction block; and heard the +coarse jests of the spectators, and the fierce competition of the +bidders. + +The speaker made a deep impression upon the minds of the audience; and +even Le Croix, who had been accustomed to slavery all his life, felt a +sense of guilt passing over him for his complicity in the system; whilst +Camilla grew red and pale by turns, and clutching her little hands +nervously together, said, "Father, let us go home." + +Le Croix saw the deep emotion on his daughter's face, and the nervous +twitchings of her lips, and regretted that he had introduced her to such +an exciting scene. + +When they were seated in their private parlor, Le Croix said: "Birdie, +I am sorry that we attended that meeting this morning. I didn't believe +a word that nigger said; and yet these people all drank it down as if +every word were gospel truth. They are a set of fanatics, calculated to +keep the nation in hot water. I hope that you will never enter such a +place again. Did you believe one word that negro said?" + +"Why, yes, Pa, I did, because our Isaac used to tell me just such a +story as that. If I had shut my eyes, I could have imagined that it was +Isaac telling his story." + +"Isaac! What business had Isaac telling you any such stories?" + +"Oh, Pa, don't get angry with Isaac. It wasn't his fault; it was mine. + +"You know when you brought him home to drive the carriage, he used to +look so sorrowful, and I said to him one day, Isaac, what makes you so +sad? Why don't you laugh and talk, like Jerry and Sam? + +"And he said, 'Oh Missus, I can't! Ise got a mighty heap of trouble on +my mind.' And he looked so down-hearted when he said this, I wanted to +know what was the matter; but he said, 'It won't do, for a little lady +like you to know the troubles of we poor creatures,' but one day, when +Sam came home from New Orleans he brought him a letter from his wife, +and he really seemed to be overjoyed, and he kissed the letter, and put +it in his bosom, and I never saw him look half so happy before. So the +next day when I asked him to get the pony ready, he asked me if I +wouldn't read it for him. He said he had been trying to make it out, but +somehow he could not get the hang of the words, and so I sat down and +read it to him. Then he told me about his wife, how beautiful she was; +and how a trader, a real mean man, wanted to buy her, and that he had +begged his master not to sell her; but it was no use. She had to go; but +he was glad of one thing; the trader was dead, and his wife had got a +place in the city with a very nice lady, and he hoped to see her when +he went to New Orleans. Pa, I wonder how slavery came to be. I should +hate to belong to anybody, wouldn't you, Pa?" + +"Why, yes, darling, but then the negroes are contented, and wouldn't +take their freedom, if you would give it to them." + +"I don't know about that, Pa; there was Mr. Le Grange's Peter. Mr. Le +Grange used to dress him so fine and treat him so well that he thought +no one would ever tempt Peter to leave him; and he came North with him +every year for three or four summers, and he always made out that he was +afraid of the abolitionists--bobolitionists he used to call them--and +Mr. Le Grange just believed that Peter was in earnest, and somehow he +got Mrs. Le Grange to bring his wife North to wait on her. And when they +both got here, they both left; and Mrs. Le Grange had to wait on +herself, until she got another servant. She told me she had got enough +of the North, and never wanted to see it again so long as she lived; +that she wouldn't have taken three thousand dollars for them." + +"Well, darling, they would have never left, if these meddlesome +abolitionists hadn't put it in their heads; but, darling, don't bother +your brain about such matters. See what I have bought you this morning," +said he, handing her a necklace of the purest pearls; "here, darling, is +a birth-day present for you." Camilla took the necklace, and gazing +absently upon it said, "I can't understand it." + +"What is it, my little philosopher, that you can't understand?" + +"Pa, I can't understand slavery; that man made me think it was something +very bad. Do you think it can be right?" + +Le Croix's face flushed suddenly, and he bit his lip, but said nothing, +and commenced reading the paper. + +"Why don't you answer me, Pa?" Le Croix's brow grew darker, but he tried +to conceal his vexation, and quietly said, "Darling, never mind. Don't +puzzle your little head about matters you cannot understand, and which +our wisest statesmen cannot solve." + +Camilla said no more, but a new train of thought had been awakened. She +had lived so much among the slaves, and had heard so many tales of +sorrow breathed confidentially into her ears, that she had unconsciously +imbibed their view of the matter; and without comprehending the +injustice of the system, she had learned to view it from their +standpoint of observation. + +What she had seen of slavery in the South had awakened her sympathy and +compassion. What she had heard of it in the North had aroused her sense +of justice. She had seen the old system under a new light. The good seed +was planted, which was yet to yield its harvest of blessed deeds. + + + + +Chapter III + + +"What is the matter?" said St. Pierre Le Grange, as he entered suddenly +the sitting-room of his wife, Georgietta Le Grange, and saw her cutting +off the curls from the head of little girl about five years old, the +child of a favorite slave. + +"Matter enough!" said the angry wife, her cheeks red with excitement and +her eyes half blinded with tears of vexation. "This child shan't stay +here; and if she does, she shall never again be taken for mine." + +"Who took her for yours? What has happened that has brought about all +this excitement?" + +"Just wait a minute," said Georgietta, trying to frame her excitement +into words. + +"Yesterday I invited the Le Fevres and the Le Counts, and a Northern +lady they had stopping with Mrs. Le Fevre, to dine with us. To-day I +told Ellen to have the servants all cleaned up, and looking as well as +possible; and so I distributed around more than a dozen turbans, for I +wanted Mrs. King to see how much better and happier our negroes looked +here than they do when they are free in the North, and what should Ellen +do but dress up her little minx in her best clothes, and curl her hair +and let her run around in the front yard." + +"So she overdid the thing," said Le Grange, beginning to comprehend the +trouble. + +"Yes, she did, but she will never do it again," exclaimed Mrs. Le +Grange, her dark eyes flashing defiantly. + +Le Grange bit his lip, but said nothing. He saw the storm that was +brewing, and about to fall on the head of the hapless child and mother, +and thought that he would do nothing to increase it. + +"When Mrs. Le Fevre," continued Georgietta, "alighted from the carriage, +she noticed the child, and calling the attention of the whole party to +her, said, 'Oh, how beautiful she is! The very image of her father.' +'Mrs. Le Grange,' said she, after passing the compliments of the day, 'I +congratulate you on having such a beautiful child. She is the very image +of her father. And how large she is for her age.' Just then Marie came +to the door and said 'She's not my sister, that is Ellen's child.' I saw +the gentlemen exchange glances, and the young ladies screw up their +mouths to hide their merriment, while Mrs. Le Fevre, with all her +obtuseness, seemed to comprehend the blunder, and she said, 'Child, you +must excuse me, for my poor old eyes are getting so good for nothing I +can hardly tell one person from the other.' I blundered some kind of +answer, I hardly know what I said. I was almost ready to die with +vexation; but this shall never happen again." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"You see what I have begun to do. I am going to have all this curling +business broken up, and I am going to have her dressed in domestic, like +the other little niggers. I'll let Ellen know that I am mistress here; +and as soon as a trader comes along I mean to sell her. I want a new set +of pearls anyhow." + +Le Grange made no reply. He was fond of the child, but knowing what a +termagant his wife was, he thought that silence like discretion was the +better part of valor, and hastily beat a retreat from her presence. + +"Take these curls and throw them away," said Mrs. Le Grange to Sally, +her waiting-maid. "Move quick, and take this child into the kitchen, and +don't let me see her in the front yard again. Do you hear what I say?" +said Georgiette in a sharp, shrill tone. "Don't you let me see that +child in the front yard again. Here, before you go, darken this room, +and let me see if I can get any rest. I am so nervous, I am almost ready +to fly." + +Sally did as she was bidden; and taking the child to the kitchen, +exclaimed to Milly, the cook, "Hi! Oh! there's been high times upstairs +to-day." + +"What's the matter?" said Milly, wiping the dough from her hands, and +turning her face to Sally. + +"Oh! Missus mad 'bout Ellen's child. She's mad as a March hare. See how +she's cut all her hair off." + +"A debil," said Milly. "What did she do dat for? She is allers up to +some debilment. What did that poor innercence child do to her? I wonder +what she'll get at next!" + +"I don't know, but to-day when Mrs. Le Ferre come'd here she kissed the +child, and said it was the very image of its father, and Missus just +looked mad enough to run her through." + +Milly, in spite of her indignation could not help laughing. "Well, +that's a good joke. I guess Missus' high as ninety. What did Massa say?" + +"He neber said a word; he looked like he'd been stealin' a sheep; and +Missus she jist cut up high, and said she was going to keep her hair cut +short, and have her dressed in domestic, and kept in the kitchen, and +when she got a good chance she meant to sell her, for she wanted a new +set of pearls anyhow. Massa neber said beans. I jist b'lieve he's +feared of her. She's sich a mity piece. I spect some night the debil +will come and fly way wid her. I hope so anyhow." + +To which not very pious wish Milly replied, "I am fraid there is no such +good luck. Nothin' don't s'prise me that Miss Georgiette does 'cause +she's a chip off the old block. Her mother's poor niggers used to be cut +up and slashed all the time; for she was a horse at the mill. De debil +was in dat woman big as a sheep. Dere was Nancy, my fellow servant; +somehow she got a spite agin Nancy's husban', said he shouldn't come +dere any more. Pore Nancy, her and Andy war libing together in dar nice +little cabin, and Nancy did keep ebery ting shinin' like a new pin, +'cause she would work so hard when she was done her task for Missus. But +one day Missus got de debil in her, and sayed Andy shouldn't come der +any more, and she jist had all Nancy's tings took out de cabin and shut +it up, and made her come and sleep in de house. Pore Nancy, she cried as +if her heart would break right in two; and she says why does you take my +husban' from me? and Missus said I did it to please my own self, and den +Nancy kneeled at her feet and said, 'Missus I'll get up before day and +set up till twelve or one o'clock at night and work for you, but please +don't take me from my husban'. An' what do you think ole Missus did? Why +she jist up wid her foot and kicked Nancy in de mouf, and knocked out +two of her teef. I seed her do it wid my own blessed eyes. An' I sed to +myself de debil will never git his own till he gits you. Well she did +worry dat pore cretur almost to death. She used to make her sleep in the +room wid her chillen, and locked de door ebery night, and Sundays she'd +lebe some one to watch her, she was so fraid she'd git to see her +husban'. An' dis Miss Georgiette is de very moral of her Ma, and she's +jist as big as a spitfire." + +"Hush," said Milly, "here comes Jane. Don't say no more 'bout Missus, +cause she's real white people's nigger, and tells all she knows, and +what she don't." + + + + +Chapter IV + + +"I am really sorry, Ellen, but I can't help it. Georgiette has taken a +dislike to the child, and there is no living in peace with her unless I +sell the child or take it away." + +"Oh! Mr. St. Pierre, you would not sell that child when it is your own +flesh and blood?" Le Grange winced under these words. + +"No, Ellen, I'll never consent to sell the child, but it won't do for +her to stay here. I've made up my mind to send her North, and have her +educated." + +"And then I'll never see my darling any more." + +"But, Ellen, that is better than having her here to be knocked around by +Georgiette, and if I die to be sold as a slave. It is the best thing I +can do,--hang old Mrs. Le Fevre's tongue; but I guess it would have come +out some time or the other. I just tell you what I'll do, Ellen. I'll +take the child down to New Orleans, and make out to Georgiette that I am +going to sell her, but instead of that, I'll get a friend of mine who is +going to Pennsylvania to take her with him, and have her boarded there, +and educated. Nobody need know anything about her being colored. I'd +send you both, Ellen, but, to tell you the truth, the plantation is +running down, and the crops are so short this year I can't afford it; +but when times get better, I'll send you up there and tell you where you +can find her." + +"Well, Mr. St. Pierre, that is better than having Missus knocking her +around or selling her to one of those old mean nigger traders, and never +having a chance to see my darling no more. But, Mr. St. Pierre, before +you take her away won't you please give me her likeness? Maybe I won't +know her when I see her again." + +Le Grange consented, and when he went to the city again he told his wife +he was going to sell the child. + +"I am glad of it," said Georgiette. "I would have her mother sold, but +we can't spare her; she is so handy with her needle, and does all the +cutting out on the place." + + + + +Le Grange's Plan + + +"The whole fact is this Joe, I am in an awkward fix. I have got myself +into a scrape, and I want you to help me out of it. You were good at +such things when we were at College, and I want you to try your hand +again." + +"Well, what's the difficulty now?" + +"Well, it is rather a serious one. I have got a child on my hands, and I +don't know what to do with it." + +"Whose child is it?" + +"Now, that's just where the difficulty lies. It is the child of one of +my girls, but it looks so much like me, that my wife don't want it on +the place. I am too hard up just now to take the child and her mother, +North, and take care of them there. And to tell you the truth I am too +humane to have the child sold here as a slave. Now in a word do you +think that among your Abolitionist friends in the North you could find +any one who would raise the child and bring it up like a white child." + +"I don't know about that St. Pierre. There are a number of our people in +the North, who do two things. They hate slavery and hate negroes. They +feel like the woman who in writing to her husband said, they say (or +don't say) that absence conquers love; for the longer you stay away the +better I love you. But then I know some who, I believe, are really +sincere, and who would do anything to help the colored people. I think I +know two or three families who would be willing to take the child, and +do a good part by her. If you say so, I will write to a friend whom I +have now in mind, and if they will consent I will take the child with me +when I go North, provided I can do it without having it discovered that +she is colored, for it would put me in an awkward fix to have it known +that I took a colored child away with me." + +"Oh, never fear," said St. Pierre, slapping his friend on the shoulder. +"The child is whiter than you are, and you know you can pass for white." + +True to his promise, Josiah Collins wrote to a Quaker friend, whom he +knew in Pennsylvania, and told him the particulars of the child's +history, and the wishes of her father, and the compensation he would +give. In a few days he received a favorable response in which the friend +told him he was glad to have the privilege of rescuing one of that fated +race from a doom more cruel than the grave; that the compensation was no +object; that they had lost their only child, and hoped that she would in +a measure fill the void in their hearts. + +Highly gratified with the kind letter of the friend, Le Grange gave the +child into the charge of Josiah Collins, and putting a check for five +hundred dollars in his hand, parted with them at the [station]. + +He went back into the country, and told his wife that he had found a +trader, who thought the child so beautiful, and that he had bought her +to raise as a fancy girl, and had given him five hundred dollars for +her. "And here," said he, handing her a set of beautiful pearls, "is my +peace offering." + +Georgette's eyes glistened as she entertwined the pearls amid the wealth +of her raven hair, and clasped them upon her beautifully rounded arms. + +What mattered it to her if every jewel cost a heart throb, and if the +whole set were bought with the price of blood? They suited her style of +beauty, and she cared not what they cost. Proud, imperious, and selfish, +she knew no law but her own will; no gratification but the enjoyment of +her own desires. + +Passing from the boudoir of his wife, he sought the room where Ellen +sat, busily cutting and arranging the clothing for the field hands, and +gazing furtively around he said, "here is Minnie's likeness. I have +managed all right." "Thank Heaven!" said the sad hearted mother, as she +paused to dry her tears, and then resumed her needle. "Anything is +better--than Slavery." + + + + +Chapter V + + +Before I proceed any further with my story, let me tell the reader +something of the Le Granges, whom I have so unceremoniously introduced. + +Le Grange, like Le Croix, was of French and Spanish descent, and his +father had also been a Haytian refugee. But there the similitude ends; +unlike Le Croix, he had grown up a gay and reckless young man, fond of +sports, and living an aimless life. + +His father had on his plantation a beautiful quadroon girl, named Ellen, +whom he had bought in Richmond because she begged him to buy her when he +had bought her mother, who had been recommended to him as a first-rate +cook. They had been servants in what was called one of the first +families of Virginia, and had been treated by their mistress with more +kindness and consideration than generally fell to the lot of persons in +their condition. As long as she lived, they had been well fed and well +clothed, and except the deprivation of their freedom, had known but few +of the hardships so incident to slave life; but a reverse had fallen +upon them. + +Their mistress had intended to set them free, but, dying suddenly, she +had failed to carry out her intention. Her property fell into the hands +of distant heirs, who sold it all, and divided it among themselves. +Ellen and her mother were put up at auction, when a kindly looking old +Frenchman bought the mother. Ellen stood trembling by; but, when she saw +her mother's new master, she started forth, and kneeling at his feet, +she begged him to buy her. The mother joined in and said, "Do, Massa, +and I'll serve you faithful day and night; there is a heap of work in +these old bones yet." + +Mr. Le Grange told her to be quiet, and he would buy her. And, true to +his word, although the bidding ran high, and the competition was fierce, +he bought her; and the next day, he started with them for his plantation +on Red River. + +His son, Louis, had just graduated, and was spending the winter at home, +in just that mood of which it is said that Satan finds some mischief for +idle hands to do. Milly, who knew the wiles of the world better than +Ellen, tried to keep her as much as possible out of his way; but her +caution was all in vain. She saw her child engulfed, as thousands of her +race had been. + +Mrs. Le Grange, when she became apprised of the condition of things, +grew very angry; but, instead of venting her indignation upon the head +of her offending son, she poured out the vials of her wrath upon the +defenseless girl. She made up her mind to sell her off the place, and +picked the opportunity, while her son was absent, to send her to a +trader's pen in the city. When Louis came home, he found Milly looking +very sullen and distressed, and her eyes red with weeping. + +"What is the matter?" said Louis. + +"Matter enough," said Milly. "Missus done gone and sold Ellen." + +"Sold Ellen! Why, how did that happen?" + +"Why, she found out all about her, and said she should not stay on the +place another day, and so she sent her down to Orleans to the nigger +traders, and my heart's most broke," and Milly sat down, wiping her +tears with her apron. + +"Never mind, Milly," said Louis, "I'll go down to New Orleans and bring +her back. Mother sha'n't do as she pleases with me, as if I were a boy, +and must always be tied to her apron string. I've got some money of my +own, and I mean to find Ellen if I have to look all over the country." + +He entered the dining room, and saw his mother seated at the tea table, +looking as bland and pleasant as a Spring morning, and asked, "Where is +Ellen?" + +The smile died from her lips, and she answered, curtly, "She is out of +_your_ reach [?]. I've sold her." + +"But where have you sold her?" + +"Out of your reach, and that is all I am going to tell you." + +Louis, without saying another word went out to the coachman, and asked +what time the cars left the station. + +"Ten minutes to nine." + +"Can you take me there in time to reach the train? I want to go to the +city tonight." + +"Dunno, massa; my best horse is lame, and what----" + +"Never mind your excuse; here," said he, throwing him a dollar, "hitch +up as quick as possible, and take me there without any 'buts' or 'ifs.'" + +"All right, massa," said Sam, grinning with delight. "I'll have you over +there in short order." + +The carriage harnessed, Samuel found no difficulty with his horses, and +reached the depot almost a half hour before the time. + +Louis arrived in the city after midnight, and the next day he devoted to +hunting for Ellen. He searched through different slave pens, inquired of +all the traders, until at last, ready to abandon his search in +hopelessness, he heard of a private jail in the suburbs of the city. +Nothing daunted by his failure, he found the place and Ellen also. + +The trader eyed him keenly, and saw from his manner that he was in +earnest about having the girl. + +"She is not for sale in this city. Whoever buys her must give me a +pledge to take her out of this city. That was the bargain I made with +her mistress. She made me promise her that I would sell her to no one in +the vicinity of the city. In fact, she wanted me to sell her out of the +way of her son. His mother said she had dedicated him to the Blessed +Virgin, and I reckon she wanted to keep him out of the way of +temptation. Now what will you give me for her?" + +"Will you take a thousand for her?" + +"Now you ain't saying nothing," said the trader, shutting one eye, and +spitting on the floor. + +"How will twelve hundred do?" + +"It won't do at all, not for such a fancy article as that. I'd rather +keep her for myself than sell her at such a low figure. Why, just look +at her! Why, she's pretty as a picture! Look at that neck, and her +shoulders. See how she carries her head! And look at that splendid head +of hair. Why some of our nabobs would give three thousand dollars; but +I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll let you have her for two thousand +dollars; fancy article is cheap at that." + +Louis demurred, but the trader was inexorable, and rather than let the +opportunity to rescue Ellen from him escape he paid the exorbitant +price, and had her brought to his hotel. His next work was to get a +house for Ellen, and have her taken there, installed as his mistress. He +then went back to the plantation as if nothing had happened, and his +mother soon thought he was reconciled about the loss of Ellen. Only +Milly knew his secret, and she kept it as a secret thing. + +"I've got some pleasant news for you, Louis," said Mrs. Le Grange, one +day to her son: "your uncle and cousin are coming down from Virginia, +and I want you to be all attention to your cousin, for she is very rich. +She has a fortune in her right, which was left her by her grandmother, +and besides she will have another one at her father's death, added, to +which they say, she is a very beautiful girl." + +Great preparations were made for the expected guests. Georgiette was +Mrs. Le Grange's brother's child, and having been separated from him +for more than fifteen years she was full of joyful anticipations, when +he apprised her of his intention of visiting her in company with his +daughter. At length the welcome day arrived, and Mrs. Le Grange stood +arranging her jewels and ribbons to receive the guests. + +"You are welcome to Louisiana," said she, removing Georgiette's shawl, +and tenderly kissing her, "and you too, brother," she said, as Mr. +Monteith followed his daughter. "How beautiful Georgiette has grown +since I saw her. Why darling you look charming! I'm afraid I shan't be +able to keep you long for some of the beaux will surely run away with +you." "My son," said Mrs. Le Grange, introducing Louis, who just then +entered the door. + +Louis bowed very low, and expressed his pleasure in seeing them; and +hoped they would have a happy time, and that nothing should be wanting +on his part, to make it so. Very pleasantly passed the time away; +Georgiette was in high and charming spirits; and many a pleasant ride +and delightful saunter she took with her cousin through the woods, or in +visiting other plantations. She was very popular among the planters' +sons; admired by the young men, but feared and envied by the girls. + +And thus the hours passed in a whirl of pleasurable excitement, until +Louis actually imagined himself in love with her, and found himself one +pleasant afternoon offering her his hand and heart. + +She blushed and sighed, and referred him to her papa; and in a few weeks +they were engaged. + +At length the time of their departure came; and Louis, after +accompanying them to New Orleans, returned to make ready for the +wedding. His father made him a present of a large plantation, which he +stocked from his own purse, with three hundred slaves; and installed +Ellen there as housekeeper till the arrival of the new mistress. + + + + +Chapter VI + + +"Thee is welcome to S.," said the cheerful voice of Thomas Carpenter, as +Josiah Collins alighted, bringing with him his charge; "and is this the +little child thee wrote me about? I am heartily glad thee has rescued +her from that dreadful system!" + +"Anna," said he, turning to his wife, who had just entered the room, +"here is our friend, Josiah Collins, and the little girl I told thee +about." + +"I am glad thee has come," said Anna, "sit down and make thyself at +home. And this is the little girl thee wrote Thomas about. She is a +beautiful child," continued Anna, gazing admiringly at the child. "I +hope she will be contented. Does she fret about her mother?" + +"Not much; she would sometimes ask, 'where is mamma?' But the ladies in +the cars were very kind to her, and she was quite at home with them. I +told them I was taking her North; that I thought the North would better +agree with her; and that it was not convenient for her mother to come on +just now. I was really amused with the attention she received from the +Southern ladies; knowing how they would have shrunk from such offices if +they had known that one drop of the outcast blood ran in her veins." + +"Why, Josiah," said Anna, "I have always heard that there was more +prejudice against the colored people in the North than in the South. +There is a difference in the manifestations of this feeling, but I do +not think there is as much prejudice here as there. [Here?] we have a +prejudice which is [formed from?] traditional ideas. We see in many +parts of the North a very few of the colored people, and our impressions +of them have received their coloring more or less from what the +slaveholders have said of them." + +"We have been taught that they are idle, improvident, and unfitted for +freedom, and incapable of progression; and when we see them in the +cities we see them overshadowed by wealth, enterprise, and activity, so +that our unfavorable impressions are too often confirmed. Still if one +of that class rises above this low mental condition, we know that there +are many who are willing to give such a one a healthy recognition." + +"I know that there are those that have great obstacles to overcome, but +I think that while Southerners may have more personal likings for +certain favorite servants, they have stronger prejudices than even we +have, or if they have no more than we have, they have more +self-restraint, and show it more virulently." + +"But I [think?] they do not seem to have any horror of personal +contact." + +"Of course not; constant familiarity with the race has worn away all +sense of physical repulsion but there is a prejudice which ought to be +an American feeling; it is a prejudice against their rising in the scale +of humanity. A prejudice which virtually says you are down, and I mean +to keep you down. As a servant I tolerate you; you are useful as you are +valuable, but rise one step in the scale of being, and I am ready to put +you down. I see this in the treatment that the free colored people +receive in parts of the South; they seem to me to be the outcasts of an +outcast race. They are denied the right to walk in certain public places +accessible to every class unless they go as nurses, and are forbidden to +assemble in evening meetings, and forced to be in the house unless they +have passes, by an early hour in the night, and in fact they are +hampered or hemmed in on every side; subject to insults from any rude, +coarse or brutal white, and in case of outrages, denied their testimony. +Prejudiced as we are in Pennsylvania, we do not go that far." + +"But, Josiah, we have much to blush for in Pennsylvania; colored people +are denied the privilege of riding in our street cars. Only last week +when I was in Philadelphia I saw a very decent-looking colored woman +with a child, who looked too feeble to walk, and the child too heavy for +her to carry. She beckoned to a conductor, but he swept by and took no +more heed of her than if she had been a dog. There was a young lady +sitting in the car, who remarked to her mother, as a very filthy-looking +white man entered, 'See, they will let that filthy creature ride and +prohibit a decent respectable colored person!' The mother quietly +assented. + +"From her dress I took her to be a Quakeress, for she had a lovely dress +of dove-colored silk. The young lady had scarcely uttered the words when +a young man who sat next the mother deliberately arose, and beckoned to +the man with the sooty clothes to take his seat; but fortunately for the +Quakeress, a lady who was sitting next her daughter arose just at that +moment, and left the seat, and the old man without noticing the +manoeuvre passed over to the other side, and thus avoided the contact. I +was amused, however, about one thing; for the young man who gave up his +seat was compelled to ride about a mile standing." + +"Served him right," said Thomas Carpenter; "it was a very contemptible +action, to attempt to punish the hardihood of the young lady by +attempting to soil her mother's dress; and yet little souls who feel a +morbid satisfaction in trampling on the weak, always sink themselves in +the scale of manhood." + +While this conversation was going on, the tea bell rang, and Josiah and +his little charge sat down to a well supplied table; for the Friends, +though plain and economical, are no enemies to good living. + +Anna had brought the high-chair in which their own darling had sat a few +months before, when she had made gladness and sunshine around her +parent's path. + +There was a tender light in the eye of the Quakeress as she dusted the +chair, and sat Minnie at the table. + +"Do you think," said Thomas, addressing Josiah, "that we will ever +outgrow this wicked, miserable prejudice?" + +"Oh, yes, but it must be the work of time. Both races have their work to +do. The colored man must outgrow his old condition of things, and thus +create around him a new class of associations. This generation has known +him as a being landless, poor, and ignorant. One of the most important +things for him to do is to acquire land. He will never gain his full +measure of strength until (like Anteus) he touches the earth. And I think +here is the great fault, or misfortune of the race; they seem to me to +readily accept their situation, and not to let their industrial aspirations +rise high enough. I wish they had more of the earth hunger that +characterizes the German, or the concentration of purpose which we see +in the Jews." + +"I think," said Thomas, "that the Jews and Negroes have one thing in +common, and that is their power of endurance. They, like the negro, have +lived upon an idea, and that is the hope of a deliverer yet to come; but +I think this characteristic more strongly developed in the Jews than in +the Negroes." + +"Doubtless it is, but their origin and history have been different. The +Jews have a common ancestry and grand traditions, that have left alive +their pride of race. 'We have Abraham to our father,' they said, when +their necks were bowed beneath the Roman yoke." + +"But I do not think the negro can trace with certainty his origin back +to any of the older civilizations, and here for more than two hundred +years his history has been a record of blood and tears, of ignorance, +degradation, and slavery. And when nominally free, prejudice has +assigned him the lowest positions and the humblest situations. I have +not much hope of their progress while they are enslaved in the South." + +"Well, Josiah, I have faith enough in the ultimate triumph of our +principles to believe that slavery will bite the dust before long." + +"I don't know, friend Carpenter; for the system is very strongly rooted +and grounded in the institutions of the land, and has entrenched itself +in the strongholds of Church and State, fashion, custom, and social +life. And yet when I was in the South, I saw on every hand a growing +differentiation towards the Government." + +"Do you know, Josiah, that I have more hope from the madness and folly +of the South than I have from the wisdom and virtue of the North? I have +read too 'whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.'" + + + + +Chapter VII + + +Ten years have elapsed since Minnie came to brighten the home of Thomas +Carpenter, and although within the heart of Anna there is a spot forever +green and sacred to the memory of her only child, yet Minnie holds an +undivided place in their affections. + +There is only one subject which is to them a source of concern. It is +the connection of Minnie with the colored race. Not that they love her +less on account of the blood that is in her veins, but they dread the +effect its discovery would have upon the pleasant social circle with +which she is surrounded, and also the fear that the revelation would be +painful to her. + +They know that she is Anti-Slavery in her principles. They have been +careful to instil into her young mind a reverence for humanity, and to +recognize beneath all externals, whether of condition or color, the +human soul all written over with the handmarks of divinity and the +common claims of humanity. + +She has known for years that their home has been one of the stations of +the underground railroad. And the Anti-Slavery lecturer, whether white +or colored, has always been among the welcomed guests of her home. Still +they shrink from the effect the knowledge would have on her mind. They +know she is willing to work for the colored race; but they could not +divine what it cost her to work with them. + +"It seems to me, Anna, that we ought to reveal to Minnie the fact of her +connection with the colored race. I am afraid that she will learn in +some way that will rudely shock her; whereas we might break it to her +in the tenderest manner. Every time a fugitive comes I dread that our +darling will be recognized." + +"Nay, Thomas; thy fears have made thee over sensitive. Who would imagine +he saw in this bright and radiant girl of fifteen the little +five-year-old child we took to our hearts and home? I never feel any +difference between her and the whitest child in the village as far as +prejudice is concerned. And if every body in the village knew her origin +I would love her just as much as I ever did, for she is a dear good +child." + +"Well, dear, if you think it is best to keep it a secret, I will not +interfere. But we must not forget that Minnie will soon be a young lady; +that she is very beautiful, and even now she begins to attract +admiration. I do not think it would be right for us to let her marry a +white man without letting her know the prejudices of society, and giving +her a chance to explain to him the conditions of things." + +"Yes," said Anna, "that is true; I have heard that traces of that blood +will sometimes reappear even in grandchildren, when it has not been +detected in the first. And to guard against difficulty which might arise +from such a course, I think it is better to apprise her of the facts in +the case." + +"It is time enough for that. I want her to finish her education before +she thinks of marrying, and I am getting her ready to go to +Philadelphia, where she will find an excellent school as I have heard it +very highly spoken of. She is young and happy, trouble will come time +enough, let me not hasten its advent." + +But if time has only strewed the path of Minnie with flowers, and +ripened the promised beauty of her childhood, it has borne a heavy hand +upon the destiny of the La Croix family. + +La Croix is dead; but before his death he took the precaution to have +Louis emancipated, and then made him a joint heir with his daughter. The +will he entrusted to the care of Camilla; but the deed of emancipation +he placed in the hands of Miriam, saying, "Here are your free papers, +and here are Louis'. There is nothing in this world sure but death; and +it is well to be on the safe side. Some one might be curious enough to +search out his history; and if there should be no legal claim to his +freedom, he might be robbed of both his liberty and his inheritance; so +keep these papers, and if ever the hour comes when you or he should need +them, you must show me." + +Miriam did as she was bidden; but her heart was lighter when she knew +that freedom had come so near her and Louis. + +Le Croix, before his death, had sold the greater part of his slaves, and +invested the money in Northern bonds and good Northern securities. +Camilla had married a gentleman from the North, and is living very +happily upon the old plantation. She does not keep an overseer, and +tries to do all in her power to ameliorate the condition of her slaves; +still she is not satisfied with the system, and is trying to prepare her +slaves for freedom, by inducing them to form, as much as possible, +habits of self-reliance, and self-restraint, which they will need in the +freedom which she has determined they shall enjoy as soon as she can +arrange her affairs to that effect. But she also has to proceed with a +great deal of caution. + +The South is in a state of agitation and [foment?]. The air is laden +with rumors of a [rising?] conflict between the North and the South, and +any want of allegiance to Southern opinions is punished either as a +crime if the offender is a man, or with social ostracism and insult if a +woman. + +The South in the palmy days of her pride and power would never tolerate +any heresy to her creed, whose formula of statement might have been +written we believe in the divine right of the Master, to take advantage +of the weakness, ignorance, and poverty of the slave; that might makes +right, and that success belongs to the strongest arm.[1] + +Some of her former friends were beginning to eye her with coldness and +suspicion because she would not join in their fanatical hatred of the +North and because she would profess her devotion to the old flag, while +they were ready to spit upon and trample it under foot. + +Her adopted brother was still in the North, and strange to say he did +not share her feelings; his sympathies were with the South, and although +he was too young to take any leading part in the events there about to +transpire, yet year after year when he spent his vacations at home, he +attended the hustings and political meetings, and there he learned to +consider the sentiment, "My country right or wrong," as a proper maxim +for political action. + +This difference in their sentiments did not produce the least +estrangement between them; only Camilla regretted to see Louis ready to +raise his hand against the freedom of his mother's race, although he was +perfectly unconscious of his connection with it, for the conflict which +was then brewing between the North and the South was in fact a struggle +between despotism and idea; between freedom on one side and slavery on +the other. + + + + +Chapter VIII + + +"Commencement over, what are you going to do with yourself?" + +"I don't know; loaf around, I suppose." + +"Why don't you go to Newport?" + +"Don't want to; got tired of it last year." + +"Saratoga?" + +"A perfect bore!" + +"Niagara?" + +"Been there twice." + +"A pedestrian tour to the White Mountains?" + +"Haven't got energy enough." + +"What will you do?" + +"Stay at home and fight mosquitoes." + +"Very pleasant employment. I don't envy you, but I can tell you +something better than that." + +"What is it?" said his companion, yawning. + +"Come, go home with me." + +"Go home with you! Where is that, and what is the attraction?" + +"Well, let me see, it is situated in one of the most beautiful valleys +of Western Pennsylvania, our village is environed by the most lovely +hills, and nestling among the trees, with its simple churches and +unpretending homes of quiet beauty and good taste, it is one of the most +pleasant and picturesque places I ever saw. And, besides, as you love to +hunt and fish, we have one of the finest streams of trout, and some of +the most excellent game in the woods." + +"Is that all?" + +"Why, isn't that enough? You must be rather hard to please this +morning." + +"Think so?" + +"Yes, but I have not told you the crowning attraction." + +"What is it?" + +"Oh, one of the most beautiful girls I ever saw! We call her the lily of +the valley." + +"Describe her." + +"I can't. It would be like attempting to paint a sun beam or doing what +no painter has ever done, sketch a rainbow." + +"You are very poetical this morning, but I want you to do as our +President sometimes tells us, proceed from the abstract to the +concrete." + +"Well, let me begin: she has the most beautiful little feet. I never see +her stepping along without thinking of Cinderella and the glass slipper. +As to eyes, they are either dark brown or black, I don't know which; but +I do know they are beautiful; and her hair, well, she generally wears +that plain in deference to the wishes of her Quaker friends, but +sometimes in the most beautiful ripples of golden brown I ever saw." + +"That will do, now tell me who she is? You spoke of her Quaker friends. +Is she not their daughter?" + +"No, there seems to be some mystery about her history. About ten years +ago, my father brought her to Josiah Carpenter's but he's always been +reticent about her, in fact I never took the pains to inquire. She's a +great favorite in the village, and everybody says she is as beautiful as +she is good, and vice versa." + +"Well, I'd like to see this paragon of yours. I believe I'll go." + +"Well, let us get ready." + +"When do you start?" + +"To-morrow." + +"All right. I'll be on hand." And with these words the two friends +parted to meet again the next day at the railroad station. + +The first of the speakers is the son of Josiah Collins, and his friend +is Louis Le Croix, Camilla's adopted brother. He is somewhat changed +within the last ten years. Time has touched the golden wealth of his +curls with a beautiful deep auburn, and the rich full tones of his voice +tell that departed is written upon his childhood. + +He is strongly Southern in his feelings, but having been educated in the +North, whilst he is an enthusiast in defense of his section, as he calls +the South, he is neither coarse and brutal in actions, nor fanatical in +his devotion to slavery. He thinks the Negroes are doing well enough in +slavery, if the Abolitionists would only let matters rest, and he feels +a sense of honor in defending the South. She is his mother, he says, and +that man is an ingrate who will not stand by his mother and defend her +when she is in peril. + +He and Charles Collins are fast friends, but [on the subject of slavery +they are entirely opposed?]. And so on that point they have agreed to +disagree. They often have animated and exciting discussions, but they +[pass?] and Josiah and Louis are just as friendly as they were before. + +There were two arrivals the next evening in the [quiet?] village of S. +One was Charles Collins, the other his Southern friend, who was received +with the warmest welcome, and soon found himself at home in the pleasant +society of his friend's family. The evening was enlivened with social +chat and music, until ten o'clock, when Josiah gathered his children and +having read the Bible in a deeply impressive manner, breathed one of the +most simple and fervent prayers he had ever heard. + +While they were bending at prayer in this pleasant home, a shabby +looking man came walking slowly and wearily into the village. He gazed +cautiously around and looked anxiously in the street as though he were +looking for some one, but did not like to trust his business to every +one. + +At length he saw an elderly man, dressed in plain clothes, and a broad +brim hat, and drawing near he spoke to him in a low and hesitating +voice, and asked if he knew a Mr. Thomas Carpenter. + +"My name is Carpenter," said the friend, "come with me." + +There was something in the voice, and manner of the friend that +_assured_ the stranger. His whole manner changed. A peaceful expression +stole over his dark, sad face, and the drooping limbs seemed to be +aroused by a new infusion of energy. + +"Come in," said Thomas, as he reached his door, "come in, thee's welcome +to stop and rest with us." + +"Anna," said Thomas,[2] his face beaming with kindness, "I've brought +thee a guest. Here is another passenger by the Underground Railroad." + +"I'm sure thee's welcome," said Anna, handing him a chair, "sit down, +thee looks very tired. Where did thee come from?" + +Moses, that was the fugitive's name, hesitated a moment. + +"Oh, never fear, thee's among friends; thee need not be afraid to tell +all about thyself." + +Moses then told them that he had come from Kentucky. + +"And how did thee escape?" + +He said, "I walked from Lexington to Covington." + +"Why, that was almost one hundred miles, and did thee walk all that +way?" + +"Yes, sir," said he, "I hid by day, and walked by night." + +"Did no one interrupt?" + +"Yes, one man said to me, 'Where's your pass?' I suppose I must have +grown desperate, for I raised my fists and said dem's my passes; and he +let me alone. I don't know whether he was friendly or scared, but he let +me alone." + +"And how then?" + +"When I come to Covington I found that I could not come across the river +without a pass, but I watched my chance, and hid myself on a boat, and I +got across. I'd heard of you down home." + +"How did you?" + +"Oh, we's got some few friends dere, but we allers promise not to tell." + +Anna and Thomas[3] smiled at his reticence, which had grown into a +habit. + +"Were you badly treated?" + +"Not so bad as some, but I allers wanted my freedom, I did." + +"Well, we will not talk about thee any more; if thee walked all that +distance thee must be very tired and we'll let thee rest. There's thy +bed. I hope thee'll have a good night's rest, and feel better in the +morning." + +"Thankee marm," said Moses, "you's mighty good." + +"Oh no, but I always like to do my duty by my fellow men! Now, be quiet, +and get a good night's sleep. Thee looks excited. Thee mustn't be +uneasy. Thee's among friends." + +A flood of emotions crept over the bosom of Moses when his kind friends +left the room. Was this freedom, and was this the long wished for North? +and were these the Abolitionists of whom he had heard so much in the +South? They who would allure the colored people from their homes in the +South and then leave them to freeze and starve in the North? He had +heard all his life that the slaveholders were the friends of the South, +and the language of his soul had been, "If these are my friends, save me +from my foes." He had lived all his life among the white people of the +South, and had been owned by several masters, but he did not know that +there was so much kindness among the white race, till he had rested in a +Northern home, and among Northern people. + +Here kindness encouraged his path, and in that peaceful home every voice +that fell upon his ear was full of tenderness and sympathy. True, there +were rough, coarse, brutal men even in that village, who for a few +dollars or to prove their devotion to the South, would have readily +remanded him to his master, but he was not aware of that. And so when he +sank to his rest a sense of peace and safety stole over him, and his +sleep was as calm and peaceful as the slumber of a child. + +The next morning he looked refreshed, but still his strength was wasted +by his great physical exertion and mental excitement; and Thomas[4] +thought he had better rest a few days till he grew stronger and better +prepared to travel; for Thomas[5] noticed that he was nervous, starting +at the sound of every noise, and often turning his head to the door with +an anxious, frightened look. + +Thomas would have gladly given him shelter and work, and given him just +wages, but he dared not do so. He was an American citizen it is true, +but at that time slavery reigned over the North and ruled over the +South, and he had not the power under the law of the land to give +domicile, and break his bread to that poor, hunted and flying man; for +even then they were hunting in the South and sending out their human +bloodhounds to search for him in the North. + +Throughout the length and breadth of the land, from the summit of the +rainbow-crowned Niagara to the swollen waters of the Mexican Gulf; from +the golden gates of sunrise to the gorgeous portals of departing day, +there was not a hill so high, a forest so secluded, a glen so +sequestered, nor mountain so steep, that he knew he could not be tracked +and hailed in the name of the general government. + +"What's the news, friend Carpenter? any new arrivals?" said Josiah +Collins in a low voice to Thomas. + +"Yes, a very interesting case; can't you come over?" + +"Yes, after breakfast. By the way, you must be a little more cautious +than usual. Charley came home last night, and brought a young friend +with him from college. I think from his conversation that he is either a +Southerner himself, or in deep sympathy with the South." + +Both men spoke in low tones, for although they were Northerners, they +were talking about a subject on which they were compelled to speak with +bated breaths. + +After breakfast Josiah came over, but Moses seemed so heavy and over +wearied that they did not care to disturb him. There was a look of +dejection and intense sadness on the thin worn face, and a hungry look +in the mournful eyes, as if his soul had been starving for kindness and +sympathy. Sometimes he would forget his situation, and speak hopefully +of the future, but still there was a weariness that he could not shake +off, a languor that seemed to pervade every nerve and muscle. + +Thomas thought it was the natural reaction of the deep excitement, +through which he just passed, that the tension of his nerves had been +too great, but that a few days rest and quiet would restore him to his +normal condition; but that hope soon died away. + +The tension, excitement, and consequent exhaustion had been too much. +Reason tottered on its throne, and he became a raving maniac; in his +moments of delirium he would imagine that he was escaping from slavery; +that the pursuers were upon his back; that they had caught him, and were +rebinding him about to take him back to slavery, and then it was +heartrending to hear him beg, and plead to be carried to Thomas +Carpenter's. + +He would reach out his emaciated hands, and say "Carry me to Mr. +Carpenter's, that good man's house," for that name which had become more +precious to him than a household to his soul, still lingered amid +shattered cells. But the delirium spent its force, and through the +tempests of his bosom the light of reason came back. + +One night he slept more soundly than usual; and on the next morning his +faithful friends saw from the expression of his countenance and the +light in his eyes that his reason had returned. They sent for their +family physician, a man in whose honor they could confide. All that +careful nursing and medical skill could do was done, but it was in vain; +his strength was wasted; the silver cord was loosed, and the golden bowl +was broken; his life was fast ebbing away. Like a tempest tossed mariner +dying in sight of land, so he passing away from earth, found the +precious, longed for, and dearly bought prize was just before, but his +hand was too feeble to grasp, his arms too powerless to hold it. + +His friends saw from the expression of his face that he had something to +say; and they bent down to catch the last words of the departing spirit. + +"I am dying," he said, "but I am thankful that I have come this near to +freedom." + +He attempted to say no more, the death rattles sounded in his throat; +the shadows that never deceive flitted o'er his face, and he was dead. +His spirit gone back to God, another witness against the giant crime of +the land. + +Josiah came again to see him, and entered the room just as the released +spirit winged its flight. Silently he uncovered him as if paying that +reverence to the broken casket which death exacts for his meanest +subjects. With tenderness and respect they prepared the body for the +grave, followed him to the silent tomb, and left him to his dreamless +sleep. + + +[Installment missing.] + + + + +Chapter IX + + +"Friend Carpenter, I have brought a friend to see you. He is a real +hot-headed Southerner, and I have been trying to convert him, but have +been almost ready to give it up as a hopeless task. I thought as you are +so much better posted than I am on the subject, _you_ might be able to +convert him from the error of his ways. He is a first-rate fellow, my +College chum. He has only one fault, he will defend Slavery. Cure him of +that, and I think he will be as near perfect as young men generally +are." + +Friend Carpenter smiled at this good-natured rally, and said, "It takes +time for all things. Perhaps your friend is not so incorrigible as you +think he is." + +"I don't know," said Charley, "but here he is; he can speak for +himself." + +"Oh the system is well enough of itself, but like other things, it is +liable to abuse." + +"I think, my young friend," said Thomas, "thee has never examined the +system by the rule of impartial justice, which tells us to do to all men +as we would have them do to us. If thee had, thee would not talk of the +abuses of Slavery, when the system is an abuse itself. I am afraid thee +has never gauged the depth of its wickedness. Thy face looks too honest +and frank to defend this system from conviction. Has thee ever examined +it?" + +"Why, no, I have always been used to it." + +Louis, who liked the honest bluntness of the Quaker, would have +willingly prolonged the conversation, simply for the sake of the +argument, but just then Minnie entered, holding in her hand a bunch of +flowers, and started to show them to her father, before she perceived +that any company was in the room. + +"Oh father," said she, "see what I have brought you!" when her eye fell +upon the visitors, and a bright flush overspread her cheek, lending it +additional beauty. + +Charles immediately arose, and giving her his hand, introduced her to +his friend. + +"I am glad to see you, Minnie; you are looking so well this summer," +said Charles, gazing on her with unfeigned admiration. + +"I am glad you think so," said she, with charming frankness. + +Some business having called friend Carpenter from the room, the young +people had a pleasant time to themselves, talking of books, poetry, and +the current literature of the day, although being students, their +acquaintance with these things was somewhat limited. By the time they +were ready to go, Thomas had re-entered the room and bidding them +good-bye, cordially invited them to return again. + +"What do you think of her?" said Charles to his friend. + +"Beautiful as a dream. The half had not been told. Her _acquaintance_ +pays me for my trip; yes, I would like to become better acquainted with +her; there was such a charming simplicity about her, and such unaffected +grace that I am really delighted with her. How is it that you have never +fallen in love with her?" + +"Oh, I have left that for you; but in fact we have almost grown +together, played with each other when we were children, until she +appears like one of our family, and to marry her would be like marrying +my own sister." + +"How does thee like Charles' friend?" said Minnie, to her adopted +father. + +Thomas spoke slowly and deliberately, and said, "He impresses me rather +favorably. I think there's the making of a man in him. But I hear that +he is pro-slavery." + +"Yes, he is, but I think that is simply the result of former +associations and surroundings. I do not believe that he has looked +deeper than the surface of Slavery; he is quite young yet; his +reflective faculties are hardly fully awakened. I believe the time will +come, when he will see it in its true light, and if he joins our ranks +he will be an important accession to our cause. I have great hopes of +him. He seems to be generous, kind-hearted, and full of good impulses, +and I believe there are grand possibilities in his nature. How do you +like him?" + +"Oh, I was much pleased with him. We had a very pleasant time together." + +In a few days, Charles and Louis called again. Minnie was crocheting, +and her adopted mother was occupied with sewing; while Thomas engaged +them in conversation, the subject being the impending conflict; Louis, +taking a decided stand in favor of the South, and Thomas being equally +strong in his defense of the North. + +The conversation was very animated, but temperate; and when they parted, +each felt confident of the rightfulness of his position. + +"Come, again," said Thomas, as they were leaving; "we can't see eye to +eye, but I like to have thee come." + +Louis was very much pleased with the invitation, for it gave him +opportunity to see Minnie, and sometimes she would smile, or say a word +or two when the discussion was beginning to verge on the borders of +excitement. + +The time to return to College was drawing near, and Louis longed to tell +her how dear she was to him, but he never met her alone. She was so +young he did not like to ask the privilege of writing to her; and yet he +felt when he left the village, that it would afford him great +satisfaction to hear from her. He once hinted to Friend Carpenter that +he would like to hear from his family, and that if he was too busy +perhaps Miss Minnie might find time to drop a line, but Thomas did not +take the hint, so the matter ended; he hoping in the meantime to meet +her again, and renew their very pleasant acquaintance. + + + + +Chapter X + + +[Text missing.] + + + + +Chapter XI + + +"Is Minnie not well?" said Thomas Carpenter, entering one morning, the +pleasant room, where Anna was labelling some preserves. "She seems to be +so drooping, and scarcely eats anything." + +"I don't know. I have not heard her complain; perhaps she is a little +tired and jaded from her journey; and then I think she studies too much. +She spends most of her time in her room, and since I think of it, she +does appear more quiet than usual; but I have been so busy about my +preserves that I have not noticed her particularly." + +"Anna," said Thomas suddenly, after a moment's pause, "does thee think +that there is any attachment between Louis and Minnie? He was very +attentive to her when we were in Boston." + +"Why, Thomas, I have never thought anything about it. Minnie always +seems so much like a child that I never get her associated in my mind +with courtship and marriage. I suppose I ought to though," said Anna, +with the faintest sigh. + +"Anna, I think that something is preying on that child's mind, and +mother, thee knows that you women understand how to manage these things +better than we men do, and I wish thee would find out what is the matter +with the child. Try to find out if there is anything between her and +Louis, and if there is, by all means we must let her know about herself; +it is a duty we owe her and him." + +"Well, Thomas, if we must we must; but I shrink from it. Here she comes. +Now I'll leave in a few minutes, and then thee can tell her; perhaps +thee can do it better than I can." + +"What makes thee look so serious?" said Thomas, as Minnie entered the +room. + +"Do I, father?" + +"Yes, thee looks sober as a Judge. What has happened to disturb thee?" + +"Nothing in particular; only I was down to Mr. Hickman's this morning, +and they have a colored woman stopping with them. She is a very +interesting and intelligent woman, and she was telling us part of her +history, and it was very interesting, but, mother, I do think it is a +dreadful thing to be a colored person in this country; how I should +suffer if I knew that I was hated and despised for what I couldn't help. +Oh, it must be dreadful to be colored." + +"Oh, don't talk so, Minnie, God never makes any mistakes." + +"I know that, mother; but, mother, it must be hard to be forced to ride +in smoking cars; to be insulted in the different thoroughfares of +travel; to be denied access to public resorts in some places,--such as +lectures, theatres, concerts, and even have a particular seat assigned +in the churches, and sometimes feel you were an object of pity even to +your best friends. I know that Mrs. Heston felt so when she was telling +her story, for when Mrs. Hickman said, 'Well, Sarah, I really pity you,' +I saw her dark eyes flash, and she has really beautiful eyes, as she +said, 'it is not pity we want, it is justice.'" + +"In the first place, mother, she is a widow, with five children. She had +six. One died in the army,--and she had some business in Washington +connected with him. She says she was born in Virginia, and had one +little girl there, but as she could not bear the idea of her child +growing up in ignorance, she left the South and went to Albany. Her +husband was a barber, and was doing a good business there. She was +living in a very good neighborhood, and sent her child to the nearest +district school. + +"After her little girl had been there awhile, her teacher told her she +must go home and not come there any more, and sent her mother a note; +the child did not know what she had done; she had been attentive to her +lessons, and had not behaved amiss, and she was puzzled to know why she +was turned out of school. + +"'Oh! I hated to tell Mrs. Heston,' said the teacher; 'but the child +insisted, and I knew that it must come sooner or later. And so, said +she, I told her it was because she was colored.' + +"'Is that all.' Poor child, she didn't know, that, in that fact lay +whole volumes of insult, outrage, and violence. I made up my mind, she +continued, that I would leave the place, and when my husband came home, +I said, 'Heston, let us leave this place; let us go farther west. I hear +that we can have our child educated there, just the same as any other +child.' At first my husband demurred, for we were doing a good business; +but I said, let us go, if we have to live on potatoes and salt. + +"True, it was some pecuniary loss; but I never regretted it, although I +have been pretty near the potatoes and salt. My husband died, but I kept +my children together, and stood over the wash-tub day after day to keep +them at school. My oldest daughter graduated at the High School, and was +quite a favorite with the teachers. One term there was a vacancy in her +room, caused by the resignation of one of the assistant teachers, and +the first teacher had the privilege of selecting her assistants from the +graduates of the High School, their appointment, of course, being +subject to the decision of the Commissioner of Public Schools. + +"'Her teacher having heard that she was connected by blood with one of +the first families of Virginia, told the Commissioner that she had +chosen an Assistant, a young lady of high qualifications, and as she +understood, a descendant of Patrick Henry. + +"'Ah, indeed,' said the Commissioner, 'I didn't know that we had one of +that family among us. By all means employ her;' but as she was about to +leave, she said: 'I forgot to tell you one thing, she is colored.' + +"A sudden change came over him, and he said: 'Do you think I would have +you walk down the street with a colored woman? Of course not. I'll never +give my consent to _that_.' And there the matter ended. And then she +made us feel so indignant when she told us that on her way to Washington +to get her son's pension, she stopped in Philadelphia, and the conductor +tried to make her leave the car, and because she would not, he ran the +car off the track." + +"Oh, father," said she, turning to Thomas, "how wicked and cruel this +prejudice. Oh, how I should hate to be colored!" + +Anna and Thomas exchanged mournful glances. Their hearts were too full; +and as Minnie left the room, Thomas said, "Not now, Anna. Not just yet." +And so Minnie[6] was permitted to return again to school with the secret +untold. + + * * * * * + +"Minnie, darling, what are you doing? moping as usual over your books? +Come, it is Saturday morning, and you have worked hard enough for one +week; got all good marks; so now just put up that Virgil, and come go +out with me." + +"Where do you wish to go?" said Minnie, to her light-hearted friend, +Carrie Wise. + +"I want to go out shopping. Pa has just sent me twenty dollars, and you +know a girl and her money are soon parted." + +"What do you wish to get?" + +"Well, I want a pair of gloves, some worsted to match this fringe, and a +lot of things. Come, won't you go?" + +"Oh, I don't know, I didn't intend going out this morning." + +"Well, never mind if you didn't, just say you will go. Where's your hat +and mantle?" said Carrie, going to her wardrobe. + +"Well, just wait till I fix my hair; it won't take long." + +"Oh, Minnie, do let me fix it for you! If ever I have to work for my +living, I shall be a hair-dresser. I believe it is the only thing that I +have any talent for." + +"What an idea! But do, Minnie, won't you, let me arrange your hair? You +always wear it so plain, and I do believe it would curl beautifully. May +I, Minnie?" + +"Why yes." + +So Carrie sat down, and in a short time, she had beautifully arranged +Minnie's hair with a profusion of curls. + +"Do you know what I was thinking?" said Carrie, gazing admiringly upon +her friend. "You look so much like a picture I have seen of yours in +your father's album. He was showing me a number of pictures which +represent you at different ages, and the one I refer to, he said was our +Minnie when she was five years old. Now let me put on your hat. And let +me kiss you for you look so pretty?" + +"Oh, Carrie, what an idea! You are so full of nonsense. Which way will +we go first?" + +"First down to Carruther's. I saw a beautiful collar there I liked so +much; and then let us go down to Mrs. Barguay's. I want to show you a +love of a bonnet, one of the sweetest little things in ribbon, lace, and +flowers I ever saw." + +Equipped for the journey the two friends sauntered down the street; as +they were coming out of a store, Carrie stopped for a moment to speak to +a very dear friend of her mother's, and Minnie passed on. + +As she went slowly on, loitering for her friend, she saw a woman +approaching her from the opposite side of the street. There was +something in her look and manner which arrested the attention of Minnie. +She was a tall, slender woman about thirty five years old, with a pale, +care-worn face--a face which told that sorrow had pressed her more than +years. A few threads of silver mingled with the wealth of her raven +hair, and her face, though wearing a sad and weary expression, still +showed traces of great beauty. + +As soon as her eyes fell on Minnie, she raised her hands in sudden +wonder, and clasping her in her arms, exclaimed: "Heaven is merciful! I +have found you, at last, my dear, darling, long-lost child. Minnie, is +this you, and have I found you at last?" + +Minnie trembled from head to foot; a deadly pallor overspread her cheek, +and she stood still as if rooted to the ground in silent amazement, +while the woman stood anxiously watching her as if her future were +hanging on the decision of her lips. + +"Who are you? and where did you come from?" said Minnie, as soon as she +gained her breath. + +"I came from Louisiana. Oh, I can't be mistaken. I have longed for you, +and prayed for you, and now I have found you." + +Just then, Carrie, who had finished speaking with her friend, seeing +Minnie and the strange woman talking together, exclaimed, "What is the +matter?" + +Noticing the agitation of her friend, "Who is this woman, and what has +she said to you?" + +"She says that she is my mother, my long-lost mother." + +"Why, Minnie, what nonsense! She can't be your mother. Why don't you see +she is colored?" + +"Where do you live?" said Minnie, without appearing to notice the words +of Carrie. + +"I don't live anywhere. I just came here yesterday with some of the +Union soldiers." + +"Come with me then, and I will show you a place to stop." + +"Why, Minnie, you are not going to walk down the street with that +Nig--colored woman; if you are, please excuse me. My business calls me +another way." + +And without any more ceremony Carrie and Minnie parted. Silently she +walked by the side of the stranger, a thousand thoughts revolving in her +mind. Was this the solution of the mystery which enshrouded her young +life? Did she indeed belong to that doomed and hated race, and must she +share the cruel treatment which bitter, relentless prejudice had +assigned them? + +Thomas Carpenter and Anna were stopping in P., at the house of relatives +who knew Minnie's history, but who had never made any difference in +their treatment of her on that account. + +"Is father and mother at home?" said Minnie to the servant, who opened +the door. She answered in the affirmative. + +"Tell them to come into the parlor, they are wanted immediately." + +"Sit down," said Minnie to the stranger, handing her a chair, "and wait +till father comes." + +Anna and Thomas soon entered the room, and Minnie approaching them said, +"Father, this woman met me on the street to-day, and says she is my +mother. You know all about my history. Tell me if there is any truth in +this story." + +"I don't know, Minnie, I never saw thy mother." + +"But question her, father, and see if there is any truth in what she +says; but tell me first, father, am I white or colored?" + +"Minnie, I believe there is a small portion of colored blood in thy +veins." + +"It is enough," said Minnie, drawing closer to the strange woman. "What +makes you think that I am your child?" + +"By this," said she, taking a miniature from her bosom. "By this, which +I carried next to my heart for more than twelve years, and never have +been without it a single day or night." + +Thomas looked upon the miniature; it was an exact likeness of Minnie +when she first came to them, and although she had grown and changed +since the likeness was taken, there was too close a resemblance between +it and one which had been taken soon after she came, for him to doubt +that Minnie was the original of that likeness. + +Thomas questioned the woman very closely, but her history and narrative +corresponded so well with what he had heard of Minnie's mother, that he +could not for a moment doubt that this was she, and as such he was +willing to give her the shelter of his home, till he could make other +arrangements. + +"But why," said Anna, somewhat grieved at the shock, that Minnie had +received, "did thee startle her by so suddenly claiming her in the +street? Would it not have been better for thee to have waited and found +out where she lived, and then discovered thyself to her?" + +"I'spect it would, 'Mam," said Ellen, very meekly and sorrowfully, "but +when I saw her and heard the young lady say, Minnie, wait a minute, I +forgot everything but that this was my long-lost child. I am sorry if I +did any harm, but I was so glad I could not help it. My heart was so +hungry for my child." + +"Yes, yes," said Anna sadly, "I understand thee; it was the voice of +nature." + +Minnie was too nervous and excited to return to her school that day; the +next morning she had a very high fever, and Thomas concluded it would be +better to take her home and have her mother accompany her. + +And so on Monday morning Anna and Thomas left P., taking Minnie and her +mother along. + +Once again in her pleasant home, surrounded by the tenderest care (for +her mother watched over her with the utmost solicitude) the violence of +her fever abated, but it was succeeded by a low nervous affection which +while it produced no pain yet it slowly unstrung her vitality. + +Ellen hovered around her pillow as if she begrudged every moment that +called her from her daughter's side, and never seemed so well contented +as when she was performing for her some office of love and tenderness. A +skilful nurse, she knew how to prepare the most delicate viands to tempt +the failing appetite, and she had the exquisite pleasure of seeing her +care and attention rewarded by the returning health and strength of her +child. + +One morning as she grew stronger, and was able to sit in her chair, she +turned her eyes tenderly towards Ellen and said, "Mother, come and sit +near me and let me hold your hand." + +"Mother," Oh how welcome was that word. Ellen's eyes filled with sudden +tears. + +"Mother," she said, "It comes back to me like a dream. I have a faint +recollection of having seen you before, but it is so long I can scarcely +remember it. Tell me all about myself and how I came to leave you. I +always thought that there was some mystery about me, but I never knew +what it was before, but now I understand it." + +"Darling," said the mother, "you had better wait till you get a little +stronger, and then I will tell you all." + +"Very well," said Minnie, "you have been so good to me and I am +beginning to love you so much." + +It was touching to see the ripening love between those two +long-suffering ones. Ellen would comb Minnie's hair, and do for her +every office in her power. Still Minnie continued feeble. The suffering +occasioned by her refusal of Louis; the hard study and deep excitement +through which she had passed told sadly upon her constitution; but she +was young, and having a large share of recuperative power she slowly +came back to health and strength, and when the spring opened Thomas +decided that she should return again to her school in P. + + + + +Chapter XII + + +Let us now return to Carrie Wise, whom we left parting with Minnie. + +"Where is Minnie?" said two of her schoolmates, who observed that +Carrie had come home alone. + +"Oh," said she, "one of the strangest things I ever heard of happened!" + +"Well, what was it?" said the girls; and by this time they had joined +another group of girls. + +"Why this morning, Minnie and I walked out shopping, and just as I came +out of Carruthers' I met an old friend of mother's, and stopped to speak +with her, and I said 'Minnie, just wait a minute.'" + +"She passed on, and left me talking with Mrs. Jackson. When I joined +her, I found a colored woman talking to her, and she was trembling from +head to foot, and just as pale as a ghost; and I said, 'Why, Minnie, +what is the matter?'" + +"She gasped for breath, and I thought she was going to faint, and I got +real scared. And what do you think Minnie said?" + +"Why," she said, "Carrie, this woman says she's my mother!" + +"Her mother!" cried a half dozen voices. "Why you said she was colored!" + +"Well, so she was. She was quite light, but I knew she was colored." + +"How did you know? Maybe she was only a very dark-complexioned white +woman." + +"Oh no, she wasn't, I know white people from colored, I've seen enough +of them." + +"A colored woman! well that is very strange; but do tell us what Minnie +said." + +"She asked her where she came from, and where she lived. She said she +came in yesterday with the Union soldiers, and that she had come from +Louisiana, and then Minnie told her to come with her, and she would find +a place for her to stop." + +"And did she leave you in the street to walk with a Nigger?" said a +coarse, rough-looking girl. + +"Yes, and so I left her. I wasn't going to walk down the street with +them!" + +"Well, did I ever?" said a pale and interesting-looking girl. + +"That is just as strange as a romance I have been reading!" + +"Well, they say truth is stranger than fiction. A deceitful thing to try +to pass for white when she is colored! If she comes back to this school +I shan't stay!" said the coarse rough girl, twirling her gold pencil. "I +ain't a going to sit alongside of niggers." + +"How you talk! I don't see that if the woman is Minnie's mother, and +_is_ colored, it makes any difference in her. I am sure it does not to +me," said one of Minnie's friends. + +"Well, it does to me," said another; "you may put yourself on an +equality with niggers, but I won't." "And I neither," chimed in another +voice. "There are plenty of colored schools; let her go to them." + +"Oh, girls, I think it real cruel the way you talk!" + +"How would you like any one to treat you so?" "Can't help it, I ain't a +coming to school with a nigger." "She is just as good as you are, Mary +Patuck, and a great deal smarter." "I don't care, she's a nigger, and +that's enough for me." + +And so the sentiment of the school was divided. Some were in favor of +treating her just as well as usual, and others felt like complaining to +their parents that a Negro was in school. + +At last the news reached the teacher, and he, poor, weak, and +vacillating man, had not manhood enough to defend her, but acted +according to the prejudices of society, and wrote Thomas a note telling +him that circumstances made it desirable that she should not again come +to school. + +In the meantime the news had reached their quiet little village, and of +course it offered food for gossip; it was discussed over tea-tables and +in the sewing circle. Some concluded that Thomas should have brought her +up among the colored people, and others that he did perfectly right. + +Still there was a change in Minnie's social relations. Some were just +as kind as ever. Others grew distant, and some avoided having anything +to say to her, and stopped visiting the house. Anna and Thomas, although +superior people, were human, and could not help feeling the difference, +but some business of importance connected with the death of a relative +called Thomas abroad, and he made up his mind that he would take Anna +and Minnie with him, hoping that the voyage and change of scene would be +beneficial to his little girl, as he still called Minnie, and so on a +bright and beautiful morning in the spring of '62 he left the country +for a journey to England and the Continent. + +Let us now return to Louis Le Croix, whom we left disappointed and +wounded by Minnie's refusal. After he left her he entered his room, and +sat for a long time in silent thought; at last he rose, and walked to +the window and stood with his hands clenched, and his finely chiseled +lips firmly set as if he had bound his whole soul to some great +resolve--a resolve which he would accomplish, let it cost what it might. + +And so he had; for he had made up in his mind within the last two hours +that he would join the Confederacy. "That live or die, sink or swim, +survive or perish," he would unite his fortunes to her destiny. + +His next step then was to plan how he could reach Louisiana; he felt +confident that if he could get as far as Louisville he could manage to +get into Tennessee, and from thence to Louisiana. + +And so nothing daunted by difficulties and dangers, he set out on his +journey, and being aided by rebels on his way in a few weeks he reached +the old plantation on Red River; he found his sister and Miriam there +both glad to see him. + +Camilla's husband was in Charleston, some of the slaves had deserted to +the Union ranks, but the greater portion she still retained with her. + +Miriam was delighted to see Louis, and seemed never weary of admiring +his handsome face and manly form. And Louis, who had never known any +other mother seemed really gratified by her little kindnesses and +attention; but of course the pleasant and quiet monotony of home did not +suit the restless and disquieted spirit of Louis. All the young men +around here were in the army or deeply interested in its success. + +There was a call for more volunteers, and a new company was to be raised +in that locality. Louis immediately joined, and turned his trained +intellect to the study of military tactics; day and night he was +absorbed in this occupation, and soon, although Minnie was not +forgotten, the enthusiasm of his young life gathered around the +Confederate cause. + +He did not give himself much time to reflect. Thought was painful to +him, and he continued to live in a whirl of excitement. + +News of battle, tidings of victory and defeats, the situation of the +armies, and the hopes and fears that clustered around those fearful days +of struggle made the staple of conversation. + +Louis rapidly rose in favor with the young volunteers, and was chosen +captain of a company who were permitted to drill and stay from the front +as a reserve corps, ready to be summoned at any moment. + + + + +Chapter XIII + + +Miriam and Camilla watched with anguish Louis' devotion to the +Confederation, and many sorrowful conversations they had about it. + +At last one day Miriam said, "Miss Camilla, I can stand it no +longer;--that boy is going to lift his hand agin his own people, and I +can't stand it no longer; I'se got to tell him all about it. I just +think I'd bust in two if I didn't tell him." + +"Well, Mammy," said Camilla, "I'd rather he should know it than that he +should go against his country and raise his hand against the dear old +flag." + +"It's not the flag nor the country I care for," said Miriam, "but it is +that one of my own flesh and blood should jine with these secesh agin +his own people." + +"Well, Miriam, if you get a chance you can tell him." + +"Get a chance, Miss Camilla, I'se bound to get that." + +Louis was somewhat reticent about his plans; for he knew that Camilla +was a strong Union woman; that she not only loved the flag, but she had +taught her two boys to do the same; but he understood from headquarters +that his company was to march in a week, and although on that subject +there was no common sympathy between them, yet he felt that he must +acquaint her with his plans, and bid her and Miriam good-bye. + +So one morning he came in looking somewhat flushed and excited, and +said: "Sister, we have got our marching orders; we leave on Thursday, +and I have only three days to be with you. I am sorry that I have seen +so little of you, but my country calls me, and when she is in danger it +is no time for me to seek for either ease or pleasure." + +"Your country! Louis," said Miriam, her face paling and flushing by +turns. "Where is your country?" + +"Here," said he, somewhat angrily, "in Louisiana." + +"My country," said Camilla,[7] "is the whole Union. Yes, Louis," said +she, "your country is in danger, but not from the Abolitionists in the +North, but from the rebels and traitors in the South." + +"Rebels and traitors!" said Louis, in a tone like one who felt the harsh +grating of the words. + +"Whom do you mean?" + +"I mean," said she, "the ambitious, reckless men who have brought about +this state of things. The men who are stabbing their country in their +madness and folly; who are crowding our graves and darkening our homes; +who are dragging our young men, men like you, who should be the pride +and hope of our country, into the jaws of ruin and death." + +Louis looked surprised and angry; he had never seen Camilla under such +deep excitement. Her words had touched his pride and roused his anger; +but suppressing his feelings he answered her coolly, "Camilla, I am old +enough to do my own thinking. We had better drop this subject; it is not +pleasant to either of us." + +"Louis," said she, her whole manner changing from deep excitement to +profound grief, "Oh, Louis, it will never do for you to go! Oh, no, you +must not!" + +"And why not?" + +"Because,"--and she hesitated. Just then Miriam took up the unfinished +sentence,"--because to join the secesh is to raise your hands agin your +own race." + +"My own race?" and Louis laughed scornfully. "I think you are talking +more wildly than Camilla. What do you mean, Miriam?" + +"I mean," said she, stung by his scornful words, "I mean that you, Louis +Le Croix, white as you look, are colored, and that you are my own +daughter's child, and if it had not been for Miss Camilla, who's been +such an angel to you, that you would have been a slave to-day, and then +you wouldn't have been a Confederate." + +At these words a look of horror and anguish passed over the face of Le +Croix, and he turned to Camilla, but she was deadly pale, and trembling +like an aspen leaf; but her eyes were dry and tearless. + +"Camilla," said he, turning fiercely to his adopted sister, "Tell me, is +there any truth in these words? You are as pale as death, and trembling +like a leaf,--tell me if there is any truth in these words," turning and +fixing his eyes on Miriam, who stood like some ancient prophetess, her +lips pronouncing some fearful doom, while she watched in breathless +anguish the effect upon the fated victim. + +"Yes, Louis," said Camilla, in a voice almost choked by emotion. "Yes, +Louis, it is all true." + +"But how is this that I never heard it before? Before I believe this +tale I must have some proof, clear as daylight. Bring me proofs." + +"Here they are," said Miriam, drawing from her pocket the free papers +she had been carrying about her person for several days. + +Louis grasped them nervously, hastily read them, and then more slowly, +like one who might read a sentence of death to see if there was one word +or sentence on which he might hang a hope of reprieve. + +Camilla watched him anxiously, but silently, and when he had finished, +he covered his bowed face with his hands as he said with a deep groan, +"It is true, too true. I see it all. I can never raise my hand against +my mother's race." + +He arose like one in a dream, walked slowly to the door and left the +room. + +"It was a painful task," said Camilla, with a sigh of relief, as if a +burden had fallen from her soul. + +"Yes," said Miriam, "but not so bad as to see him fighting agin his own +color. I'd rather follow him to his grave than see him join that +miserable secesh crew." + +"Yes," said Camilla, "It was better than letting him go." + +When Louis left the room a thousand conflicting thoughts passed through +his mind. He felt as a mariner at midnight on a moonless sea, who +suddenly, when the storm is brewing, finds that he has lost his compass +and his chart. + + + + +Chapter XIV + + +Where was he steering; and now, the course of his life was changed, what +kind of future must he make for himself? + +Had it been in time of peace, he could have easily decided, as he had a +large amount of money in the North, which his father left him when he +came of age. + +He would have no difficulty as to choosing the means of living; for he +was well supplied, as far as that was concerned; but here was a most +unpleasant dilemma in which he had placed himself. + +Convinced that he was allied to the Negro race, his whole soul rose up +against the idea of laying one straw in its way; if he belonged to the +race he would not join its oppressors. And yet his whole sympathy had +been so completely with them, that he felt that he had no feeling in +common with the North. + +And as to the colored people, of course it never entered his mind to +join their ranks, and ally himself to them; he had always regarded them +as inferior; and this sudden and unwelcome revelation had not changed +the whole tenor of his thoughts and opinions. + +But what he had to do must be done quickly; for in less than three days +his company would start for the front. To desert was to face death; to +remain was to wed dishonor. He surveyed the situation calmly and +bravely, and then resolved that he would face the perils of re-capture +rather than the contempt of his own soul. + +While he was deciding, he heard Camilla's step in the passage; he opened +the door, and beckoned her to a seat, and said, very calmly, "I have +been weighing the whole matter in my mind, and I have concluded to leave +the South." + +"How can you do it?" said Camilla. "I tremble lest you should be +discovered. Oh slavery! what a curse. Our fathers sowed the wind, and we +are reaping the whirlwind! What," continued she, as if speaking to +herself, "What are your plans? Have you any?" + +"None, except to disguise myself and escape." + +"When?" + +"As soon as possible." + +"Suppose I call Miriam. She can help you. Shall I?" + +"Yes." + +Camilla called Miriam, and after a few moments consultation it was +decided that Louis should escape that night, and that Miriam should +prepare whatever was needed for his hasty flight. + +"Don't trust your secret to any white person," said Miriam, "but if you +meet any of the colored people, just tell them that you is for the +Linkum soldiers, and it will be all right; we don't know all about this +war, but we feels somehow we's all mixed up in it." + +And so with many prayers and blessings from Miriam, and sad farewells +from Camilla, he left his home to enter upon that perilous flight, the +whole current of his life changed. + +It was in the early part of Winter; but the air was just as pleasant as +early Spring in that climate. Louis walked all that night, guiding +himself northward at night by the light of the stars and a little pocket +compass, Camilla had just given him before starting, and avoiding the +public roads during the day. + +And thus he travelled for two days, when his lunch was exhausted, his +lips parched with thirst, and his strength began to fail. + +Just in this hour of extremity he saw seated by the corner of a fence a +very black and homely-looking woman; there was something so gloomy and +sullen in her countenance that he felt repelled by its morose +expression. Still he needed food, and was very weary, and drawing near +he asked her if she would give him anything to eat. + +"Ain't got nothing. De sojers done been here, and eat all up." + +Louis drew near and whispered a few words in her ear, and immediately a +change passed over her whole countenance. The sullen expression turned +to a look of tenderness and concern. The harsh tones of her voice +actually grew mellow, and rising up in haste she almost sprang over the +fence, and said, "I'se been looking for you, if you's Northman you's +mighty welcome," and she set before him her humble store of provisions. + +"Do you know," said Louis, "where I will find the Lincoln soldiers, or +where the secesh are encamped?" + +"No," said she "but my old man's mighty smart, and he'll find out; you +come wid me." + +Nothing doubting he went, and found the husband ready to do anything in +his power to help him. + +"You's better not go any furder to-day. I'll get you a place to hide +where nobody can't find you, and then I'll pump Massa 'bout the sojers." + +True to his word, he contrived to find out whether the soldiers were +near. + +"Massa," said he, scratching his head, and looking quite sober, "Massa, +hadn't I better hide the mules? Oh I's 'fraid the Linkum sojers will +come take 'em, cause dey gobbles up ebery ting dey lays dere hans on, +jis like geese. I yerd dey was coming; mus' I hide de mules?" + +"No, Sam, the scalawags are more than a hundred miles away; they are +near Natchez." + +"Well, maybe, t'was our own Fedrate soldiers." + +"No, Sam, our nearest soldiers are at Baton Rouge." + +"All right Massa. I don't want to lose all dem fine mules." + +As soon as it was convenient Sam gave Louis the desired information. +"Here," said Sam, when Louis was ready to start again, "is something to +break your fast, and if you goes dis way you musn't let de white folks +know what you's up to, but you trust dis," said he, laying his hand on +his own dark skin. + +His new friend went with him several miles, and pointing him out the way +left him to pursue his journey onward. The next person he met with was a +colored man, who bowed and smiled, and took off his hat. + +Louis returned the bow, and was passing on when he said, "Massa, 'scuse +me for speakin' to you, but dem secesh been hunting all day for a +'serter, him captin dey say." + +Louis turned pale, but bracing his nerves he said, "Where are they?" + +"Dey's in the house; is you he?" + +"I am a Union man," Louis said, "and am trying to reach the Lincoln +soldiers." + +"Den," said the man, "if dat am de fac I's got a place for you; come +with me," and Louis having learned to trust the colored people followed +him to a place of safety. + +Soon it was noised abroad that another deserter had been seen in that +neighborhood, but the colored man would not reveal the whereabouts of +Louis. His master beat him severely, but he would let neither threats +nor torture wring the secret from his lips. + +Louis saw the faithfulness of that man, and he thought with shame of his +former position to the race from whom such unswerving devotion could +spring. The hunt proving ineffectual, Louis after the search and +excitement had subsided resumed his journey Northward, meeting with +first one act of kindness and then another. + +One day he had a narrow escape from the bloodhounds. He had trusted his +secret to a colored man who, faithful like the rest, was directing him +on his way when deep ominous sounds fell on their ears. The colored man +knew that sound too well; he knew something of the nature of +bloodhounds, and how to throw them off the track. + +So hastily opening his pen-knife he cut his own feet so that the blood +from them might deepen the scent on one track, and throw them off from +Louis's path. + +It was a brave deed, and nobly done, and Louis began to feel that he had +never known them, and then how vividly came into his mind the words of +Dr. Charming: "After all we may be trampling on one of the best branches +of the human race." Here were men and women too who had been trampled on +for ages ready to break to him their bread, aye share with him their +scanty store. + +One had taken the shoes from his feet and almost forced him to take +them. What was it impelled these people? What was the Union to them, +and who were Lincoln's soldiers that they should be so ready to +gravitate to the Union army and bring the most reliable information to +the American General? + +Was it not the hope of freedom which they were binding as amulets around +their hearts? They as a race had lived in a measure upon an idea; it was +the hope of a deliverance yet to come. Faith in God had underlain the +life of the race, and was it strange if when even some of our +politicians did not or could not read the signs of the times aright +these people with deeper intuitions understood the war better than they +did. + +But at last Louis got beyond the borders of the confederacy, and stood +once more on free soil, appreciating that section as he had never done +before. + + + + +Chapter XV + + +[Text missing.] + + + + +Chapter XVI + + +"And I," said Minnie, "will help you pay it." + +And so their young hearts had met at last, and with the approval and +hearty consent of Anna, Minnie and Louis were married. + +It was decided that Minnie should spend the winter in Southern France, +and then in the spring they returned to America. On their arrival they +found the war still raging, and Louis was ready and anxious to benefit +that race to whom he felt he owed his life, and with whom he was +connected by lineage. + +He had plenty of money, a liberal education, and could have chosen a +life of ease, but he was too ardent in his temperament, too decided in +his character, not to feel an interest in the great events which were +then transpiring in the country. + +He made the acquaintance of some Anti-Slavery friends, and listened with +avidity to their doctrines; he attended a number of war meetings, and +caught the enthusiasm which inspired the young men who were coming from +valley, hill, and plain to fill up the broken ranks of the Union army. + +Minnie, educated in peace principles, could not conscientiously +encourage him, and yet when she saw how the liberty of a whole race was +trembling in the balance she could not help wishing [success?] to the +army, nor find it in her heart to dissuade him from going. + +Others had given their loved and cherished ones to camp and field. The +son of a dear friend had said to his mother, "I know I shall be killed, +but I go to free the slave." His presentiment had been met, for he had +been brought home in his shroud. + +Another dear friend had said, "I have drawn my sword, and it shall never +sleep in its scabbard till the nation is free!" And she had heard that +summer of '64 how bravely the colored soldiers had stood at Fort Wagner, +when the storms of death were sweeping through the darkened sky. How +they summoned the world to see the grandeur of their courage and the +daring of their prowess. + +How Corny had held with unyielding hand the nation's flag, and even when +he was wounded still held it in his grasp, and crawling from the scene +of action exclaimed, "I only did my duty, the old flag, I didn't let it +trail on the ground." + +And she felt on reading it with tearful eyes, that if she belonged to +that race they had not shamed her by their want of courage; and so when +Louis came to her and told her his intention, she would not attempt to +oppose him, and when he was ready to depart, with many prayers, and sad +farewells, she gave him up to fight the battles of freedom, for such it +was to him, who went with every nerve in his right arm tingling to +strike a blow for liberty. + +Hitherto Louis had known the race by their tenderness and compassion, +but the war gave him an opportunity to become acquainted with men brave +to do, brave to dare, and brave to die. + +A colored man was the hero of one of the most tender, touching, and +tragic incidents of the war. A number of soldiers were in a boat exposed +to the fire of the rebels; on board was a colored man who had not +enrolled as a soldier, though his soul was full of sublime valor. The +bullets hissed and split the water, and the rowers tried to get out of +their reach, but all their efforts were in vain; the treacherous mud had +caught the boat, and some one must peril life and limb to shove that +boat into the water. And this man, the member of a doomed, a fated race, +who had been trodden down for ages, comprehending the danger, said, +"Some one must die to get us out of this, and it mout's well be me as +anybody; you are soldiers, and you can fight. If they kill me it is +nothing." + +And with these words he arose, gave the boat a push, received a number +of bullets, and died within two days after. + +Louis acquitted himself bravely, and rapidly rose in favor with his +superior officers. To him the place of danger was the post of duty. He +often received letters from Minnie, but they were always hopeful; for +she had learned to look on the bright side of everything. + +She tried to beguile him with the news of the neighborhood, and to +inspire him with bright hopes for the future; that future in which they +should clasp hands again and find their duty and their pleasure in +living for the welfare and happiness of _our_ race, as Minnie would +often say. + +A race upon whose brows God had poured the chrism of a new era--a race +newly anointed with freedom. + +Oh, how the enthusiasm of her young soul gathered around that work! She +felt it was no mean nor common privilege to be the pioneer of a new +civilization. If he who makes two blades of grass grow where only one +flourished before is a benefactor of the human race, how much higher +and holier must his or her work be who dispenses light, instead of +darkness, knowledge, instead of ignorance, and over the ruins of the +slave-pen and auction-block erects institutions of learning. + +She would say in her letters to Louis that the South will never be +rightly conquered until another army should take the field, and that +must be an army of civilizers; the army of the pen, and not the sword. +Not the destroyers of towns and cities, but the builders of machines and +factories; the organizers of peaceful industry and honorable labor; and +as soon as she possibly could she intended to join that great army. + +Sometimes Louis would shake his head doubtfully, and tell her that the +South was a very sad place to live in, and would be for years, and, +while he was willing to bear toil and privation in the cause he had +learned to love, yet he shrank from exposing her to the social ostracism +which she must bear whether she identified herself with the colored race +or not. + +However, her brave young heart never failed her, but kept true to its +purpose to join that noble band who left the sunshine of their homes to +help build up a new South on the basis of a higher and better +civilization. + +Louis remained with the army till Lee had surrendered. The storm-cloud +of battle had passed away, and the thunders of contending batteries no +longer crashed and vibrated on the air. + +And then he returned to Minnie, who still lived with Thomas Carpenter. +Very tender and joyous was their greeting. Louis thought he would rest +awhile and then arrange his affairs to return to the South. In this plan +he was heartily seconded by Minnie. + +Thomas and Anna were sorry to part with her, but they knew that life was +not made for a holiday of ease and luxury, and so they had no words of +discouragement for them. If duty called them to the South it was right +that they should go; and so they would not throw themselves across the +purpose of their souls. + + + + +Chapter XVII + + +Before he located, Louis concluded to visit the old homestead, and to +present his beautiful young bride to his grandmother and Camilla. + +He knew his adopted sister too well to fear that Minnie would fail to +receive from her the warmest welcome, and so with eager heart he took +passage on one of the Mississippi boats to New Orleans, intending to +stop in the city a few days, and send word to Camilla; but just as he +was passing from the levee to the hotel, he caught a glimpse of Camilla +walking down the street, and stopping the carriage, he alighted, and +spoke to her. She immediately recognized him, although his handsome face +had become somewhat bronzed by exposure in camp and field. + +"Do not go to the hotel," she said, "you are heartily welcome, come home +with me." + +"But my wife is along." + +"Never mind, she's just as welcome as you are." + +"But, like myself, she is colored." + +"It does not matter. I should not think of your going to a hotel, while +I have a home in the city." + +Camilla following, wondering how she would like the young wife. She had +great kindness and compassion for the race, but as far as social +equality was concerned, though she had her strong personal likings, yet, +except with Louis, neither custom nor education had reconciled her to +the maintenance of any equal, social relations with them. + +"My wife," said Louis, introducing Camilla to Minnie. Camilla +immediately reached out her hand to the young wife, and gave her a +cordial greeting, and they soon fell into a pleasant and animated +conversation. Mutually they were attracted to each other, and when they +reached their destination, Minnie had begun to feel quite at home with +Camilla. + +"How is Aunt Miriam, or rather, my grandmother?" said Louis. + +"She is well, and often wonders what has become of her poor boy; but she +always has persisted in believing that she would see you again, and I +know her dear old eyes will run over with gladness. But things have +changed very much since we parted. We have passed through the fire since +I saw you, and our troubles are not over yet; but we are hoping for +better days. But we are at home. Let us alight." + +And Louis and Minnie were ushered into a home whose quiet and refined +beauty were very pleasant to the eye, for Camilla had inherited from her +father his aesthetic tastes; had made her home and its surroundings +models of loveliness. Half a dozen varieties of the sweetest and +brightest roses clambered up the walls and arrayed them with a garb of +rare beauty. Jessamines breathed their fragrance on the air; magnolias +reared their stately heads and gladdened the eye with the exquisite +beauty of their flowers. + +"This is an unexpected pleasure," said Camilla, removing Minnie's +bonnet, and gazing with unfeigned admiration upon her girlish face, "but +really some one must enjoy this pleasure besides myself." + +Camilla rang the bell; a bright, smiling girl of about ten years +appeared. "Tell Miriam," she said, "to come; that her boy Louis is +here." + +Miriam appeared immediately, and throwing her arms around his neck, gave +vent to her feelings in a burst of joy. "I always said you'd come back. +I's prayed for you night and day, and I always believed I'd see you +afore I died, and now my word's come true. There's nothing like having +faith." + +"Here's my wife," said Louis, turning to Minnie. + +"Your wife; is you married, honey? Well I hopes you'll have a good +time." + +Minnie came forward and gave her hand to Miriam, as Louis said, "This is +my grandmother." + +A look of proud satisfaction passed over the old woman's face, and a +sudden joy lit up her eyes at these words of pleasant recognition. + +"Ah, my child," said Miriam, "We's had a mighty heap of trouble since +you left. Them miserable secesh searched the house all over for you, +when you was gone, and they was mighty sassy; but we didn't mind that, +so they didn't ketch you. How did you get along? We was dreadfully +uneasy about you?" + +Louis then told them of the kindness of the colored people, his +thrilling adventures, and hair-breadth escapes, and unfolded to them his +plans for the future. + +Camilla listened with deep interest, and turning to Minnie, who had left +the peaceful sunshine of her mother's home to dwell in the midst of that +rough and rude state of society, she said, "I cannot help feeling sad to +see you exposing yourself to the dangers that lay around your path. The +few Southern women who have been faithful to the flag have had a sad +experience since the war. We have been ostracized and abused, and often +our husbands have been brutally murdered, in a number of instances when +they were faithful to the dear old flag. A friend of mine, who was an +angel of mercy to the Union prisoners, dressing their wounds and +carrying them relief, had a dear son, who always kept a Union flag at +home, which he regarded with almost religious devotion. This made him a +marked boy in the community, and during the war he was so cruelly +beaten, by some young rebels, that he never recovered, and colored women +who would wend their way under the darkness and cover of night to aid +our suffering soldiers, were in danger of being flogged, if detected, +and I understand that one did receive 75 lashes for such an offence, and +I heard of another who was shot down like a dog, for giving bread to a +prisoner, who said, 'Mammy, I am starving.' I think, (but I have no +right to dictate to you) had I been you, and my home in the North, that +I would have preferred staying there, where, to say the least, you could +have had pleasanter social relations. You and Louis are nearer the +white race than the colored. Why should you prefer the one to the +other?" + +"Because," said Minnie, "the prejudices of society are so strong against +the people with whom I am connected on my mother's side, that I could +not associate with white people on equal terms, without concealing my +origin, and that I scorned to do. The first years of my life passed +without my knowing that I was connected with the colored race; but when +it was revealed to me by mother, who suddenly claimed me, at first I +shrank from the social ostracism to which that knowledge doomed me, and +it was some time before I was reconciled to the change. Oh, there are +lessons of life that we never learn in the bowers of ease. They must be +learned in the fire. For months life seemed to me a dull, sad thing, and +for a while I did not care whether I lived or died, the sunshine had +suddenly faded from my path, and the future looked so dark and +cheerless. But now, when I look back upon those days of gloom and +suffering, I think they were among the most fruitful of my life, for in +those days of pain and sorrow my resolution was formed to join the +fortunes of my mother's race, and I resolved to brighten her old age +with a joy, with a gladness she had never known in her youth. And how +could I have done that had I left her unrecognized and palmed myself +upon society as a white woman? And to tell you the truth, having passed +most of my life in white society, I did not feel that the advantages of +that society would have ever paid me for the loss of my self-respect, by +passing as white, when I knew that I was colored; when I knew that any +society, however cultivated, wealthy or refined, would not be a social +gain to me, if my color and not my character must be my passport of +admission. So, when I found out that I was colored, I made up my mind +that I would neither be pitied nor patronized by my former friends; but +that I would live out my own individuality and do for my race, as a +colored woman, what I never could accomplish as a white woman." + +"I think I understand you," said Camilla; "and although I tremble for +you in the present state, yet you cannot do better than live out the +earnest purpose of your life. I feel that we owe a great debt to the +colored race, and I would aid and not hinder any hand that is ready to +help do the needed work. I have felt for many years that slavery was +wrong, and I am glad, from the bottom of my heart, that it has at last +been destroyed. And what are your plans, Louis?" + +"We are going to open a school, and devote our lives to the upbuilding +of the future race. I intend entering into some plan to facilitate the +freedmen in obtaining homes of their own. I want to see this newly +enfranchised race adding its quota to the civilization of the land. I +believe there is power and capacity, only let it have room for exercise +and development. We demand no social equality, no supremacy of power. +All we ask is that the American people will take their Christless, +Godless prejudices out of the way, and give us a chance to grow, an +opportunity to accept life, not merely as a matter of ease and +indulgence, but of struggle, conquest, and achievement." + +"Yes," said Camilla, "what you want and what the nation should be just +enough to grant you is fair play." + +"Yes, that is what we want; to be known by our character, and not by our +color; to be permitted to take whatever position in society we are +fitted to fill. We do not want to be bolstered and propped up on the one +hand, nor to be crushed and trampled down on the other." + +"Well, Louis, I think that we are coming to that. No, I cannot feel that +all this baptism of fire and blood through which we have passed has been +in vain. Slavery, as an institution, has been destroyed. Slavery, as an +idea, still lives, but I believe that we shall outgrow this spirit of +caste and proscription which still tarnishes our civilization, both +North and South." + + + + +Chapter XVIII + + +After spending a few weeks with Camilla, Louis resolved to settle in the +town of L----n, and as soon as he had chosen his home and made +arrangements for the future, he sent for Ellen, and in a few days she +joined her dear children, as she called Louis and Minnie. Very pleasant +were the relations between Minnie and the newly freed people. + +She had found her work, and they had found their friend. She did not +content herself with teaching them mere knowledge of books. She felt +that if the race would grow in the right direction, it must plant the +roots of progress under the hearthstone. She had learned from Anna those +womanly arts that give beauty, strength and grace to the fireside, and +it was her earnest desire to teach them how to make their homes bright +and happy. + +Louis, too, with his practical turn of mind, used his influence in +teaching them to be saving and industrious, and to turn their attention +towards becoming land owners. He attended their political meetings, not +to array class against class, nor to inflame the passions of either +side. He wanted the vote of the colored people not to express the old +hates and animosities of the plantation, but the new community of +interests arising from freedom. + +For awhile the aspect of things looked hopeful. The Reconstruction Act, +by placing the vote in the hands of the colored man, had given him a new +position. There was a lull in Southern violence. It was a great change +from the fetters on his wrist to the ballot in his right hand, and the +uniform testimony of the colored people was, "We are treated better than +we were before." + +Some of the rebels indulged in the hope that their former slaves would +vote for them, but they were learning the power of combination, and +having no political past, they were radical by position, and when +Southern State after State rolled up its majorities on the radical side, +then the vials of wrath were poured upon the heads of the colored +people, and the courage and heroism which might have gained them +recognition, perhaps, among heathens, made them more obnoxious here. + +Still Louis and Minnie kept on their labors of love; their inner lives +daily growing stronger and broader, for they learned to lean upon a +strength greater than their own; and some of the most beautiful lessons +of faith and trust they had ever learned, they were taught in the lowly +cabins of these newly freed people. + +Often would Minnie enter these humble homes and listen patiently to the +old story of wrong and suffering. Sympathizing with their lot, she would +give them counsel and help when needed. When she was leaving they would +look after her wistfully, and say, + +"She mighty good; we's low down, but she feels for we." + +And thus day after day of that earnest life was spent in deeds and words +of love and kindness. + +But let us enter their pleasant home. Louis has just returned from a +journey to the city, and has brought with him the latest Northern +papers. He is looking rather sober, and Minnie, ready to detect the +least change of his countenance, is at his side. + +"What is the matter?" Minnie asked, in a tone of deep concern. + +"I am really discouraged." + +"What about?" + +"Look here," said he, handing her the _New York Tribune_. "State after +State has rolled up a majority against negro suffrage. I have been +trying to persuade our people to vote the Republican ticket, but to-day, +I feel like blushing for the party. They are weakening our hands and +strengthening those of the rebels." + +"But, Louis, they were not Republicans who gave these majorities against +us." + +"But, darling, if large numbers of these Republicans stayed at home, and +let the election go by default, the result was just the same. Now every +rebel can throw it in our teeth and say, 'See your great Republican +party; they refuse to let the negro vote with them, but they force him +upon us. They don't do it out of regard to the negro, but only to spite +us.' I don't think, Minnie, that I am much given to gloomy forebodings, +but I see from the temper and actions of these rebels, that they are +encouraged and emboldened by these tidings from the North, and to-day +they are turning people out of work for voting the radical ticket. A +while ago they tried flattery and cajolery. You could hear it on almost +every side--'We are the best friends of the colored people.' Appeals +were made to the memories of the past; how they hunted and played +together, and searched for birds' nests in the rotten peach trees, and +when the colored people were not to be caught by such chaff, some were +trying to force them into submission by intimidation and starvation." + +Just then a knock was heard at the door, and a dark man entered. There +was nothing in his appearance that showed any connection with the white +race. There was a tone of hopefulness in his speech, though his face +wore a somewhat anxious expression. + +"Good morning, Mr. Jackson," said Louis, for, in deference to their +feelings he had dropped the "aunt" and "uncle" of bygone days. + +"Good morning," replied the man, while a pleasant smile flitted over his +countenance. + +"How does the world use you?" said Louis. + +"Well, times are rather bilious with me, but I am beginning to pick up a +little. I get a few boots and shoes to mend. I always used to go to the +mountains, and get plenty of work to do; but this year they wouldn't +give me the situation because I had joined the radicals." + +"What a shame," said Louis; "these men who have always had their rights +of citizenship, seem to know so little of the claims of justice and +humanity, that they are ready to brow-beat and intimidate these people +for voting according to their best interests. And what saddens me most +is to see so many people of the North clasping hands with these rebels +and traitors, and to hear it repeated that these people are too ignorant +to vote." + +"Ignorant as they are," said Minnie, "during the war they knew more than +their masters; for they knew how to be true to their country, when their +masters were false to it, and rallied around the flag, when they were +trampling it under foot, and riddling it with bullets." + +"Ah!" said uncle Richard, "I knows them of old. Last week some of them +offered me $500 if I would desert my party; but I wasn't going to +forsake my people. I have been in purty tight places this year. One +night when I come home my little girl said to me, 'Daddy, dere ain't no +bread in de house.' Now, that jist got me, but I begun to pray, and the +next day I found a quarter of a dollar, and then some of my colored +friends said it wouldn't do to let uncle Jack starve, and they made me +up seventy-five cents. My wife sometimes gets out of heart, but she +don't see very far off." + +"I wish," said Louis, after Mr. Jackson had left, "that some of our +Northern men would only see the heroism of that simple-minded man. Here +he stands facing an uncertain future, no longer young in years, stripped +by slavery, his wife not in full sympathy with him, and yet with what +courage he refused the bribe." + +"Yes," said Minnie, "$500 means a great deal for a man landless and +poor, with no assured support for the future. It means a comfortable +fire when the blasts of winter are roving around your home; it means +bread for the little ones, and medicine for the sick child, and little +start in life." + +"But on the other hand," said Louis, "it meant betrayal of the interests +of his race, and I honor the faithfulness which shook his hands from +receiving the bribe and clasping hands politically with his life-long +oppressors. And I asked myself the question while he was telling his +story, which hand was the better custodian of the ballot, the white +hand that offered the bribe or the black one that refused it. I think +the time will come when some of the Anglo Saxon race will blush to +remember that when they were trailing the banner of freedom in the dust +black men were grasping it with earnest hands, bearing it aloft amid +persecution, pain, and death." + +"Louis" said Minnie very seriously, "I think the nation makes one great +mistake in settling this question of suffrage. It seems to me that +everything gets settled on a partial basis. When they are reconstructing +the government why not lay the whole foundation anew, and base the right +of suffrage not on the claims of service or sex, but on the broader +basis of our common humanity." + +"Because, Minnie, we are not prepared for it. This hour belongs to the +negro." + +"But, Louis, is it not the negro woman's hour also? Has she not as many +rights and claims as the negro man?" + +"Well, perhaps she has, but, darling, you cannot better the condition of +the colored men without helping the colored women. What elevates him +helps her." + +"All that may be true, but I cannot recognize that the negro man is the +only one who has pressing claims at this hour. To-day our government +needs woman's conscience as well as man's judgment. And while I would +not throw a straw in the way of the colored man, even though I know that +he would vote against me as soon as he gets his vote, yet I do think +that woman should have some power to defend herself from oppression, and +equal laws as if she were a man." + +"But, really, I should not like to see you wending your way through +rough and brawling mobs to the polls." + +"Because these mobs are rough and coarse I would have women vote. I +would soften the asperity of the mobs, and bring into our politics a +deeper and broader humanity. When I see intemperance send its floods of +ruin and shame to the homes of men, and pass by the grog-shops that are +constantly grinding out their fearful grist of poverty, ruin and death, +I long for the hour when woman's vote will be levelled against these +charnel houses; and have, I hope, the power to close them throughout the +length and breadth of the land." + +"Why darling," said Louis, gazing admiringly upon the earnest enthusiasm +lighting up her face, "I shall begin to believe that you are a +strong-minded woman." + +"Surely, you would not have me a weak-minded woman in these hours of +trial." + +"But, darling, I did not think that you were such an advocate for +women's voting." + +"I think, Louis, that basing our rights on the ground of our common +humanity is the only true foundation for national peace and durability. +If you would have the government strong and enduring you should entrench +it in the hearts of both the men and women of the land." + +"I think you are right in that remark," said Louis. And thus their +evenings were enlivened by pleasant and interesting conversations upon +the topics of the day. + +Once when a union friend was spending an evening at their home Louis +entered, looking somewhat animated, and Minnie ever ready to detect his +moods and feelings, wanted to know what had happened. + +"Oh, I have been to a wedding since I left home." + +"And pray who was married?" + +"Guess." + +"I don't know whom to guess. One of our friends?" + +"Yes." + +"Was it Mr. Welland?" + +"Yes." + +"And who did he marry? Is she a Northern woman, and a staunch unionist?" + +"Well, I can't imagine who she can be." + +"Why he married Miss Henson, who sent you those beautiful flowers." + +"Why, Louis, is it possible? Why she is a colored woman." + +"I know." + +"But how came he to marry her?" + +"For the same reason I married you, because he loved her?" + +"Well," said the union man, who sat quietly listening, "I am willing to +give to the colored people every right that I possess myself, but as to +intermarrying with them, I am not prepared for that." + +"I think," said Louis, "that marrying and social equality among the +races will simply regulate itself. I do not think under the present +condition of things that there will be any general intermarrying of the +races, but this idea of rooted antagonism of races to me is all +moonshine. I believe that what you call the instincts of race are only +the prejudices which are the result of custom and education, and if +there is any instinct in the matter it is rather the instinct of nature +to make a Semi-tropical race in a Semi-tropical climate. Welland told me +that he had met his wife when she was a slave, that he loved her then, +and would have bought her had it been in his power, but now that freedom +had come to her he was glad to have the privilege of making her his +wife. He is an Englishman by birth and he intends taking her home with +him to England when a favorable opportunity presents itself. And that is +far more honorable and manly than living together after the old order of +things. I think," said Louis facing the floor "that a cruel wrong was +done to Minnie and myself when life was given to us under conditions +that doomed us to hopeless slavery, and from which we were rescued only +by good fortune. I have heard some colored persons boasting of the white +blood, but I always feel like blushing for mine. Much as my father did +for me he could never atone for giving me life under the conditions he +did." + +"Never mind," said Minnie, "it all turned out for the best." + +"Yes, Darling," said Louis, growing calmer, "for it gave me you. And +that was life's compensation. But the question of the intermingling of +the races in marriage is one that scarcely interests this question. The +question that presses upon us with the most fearful distinctness is how +can we make life secure in the South. I sometimes feel as if the very +air was busting with bayonets. There is no law here but the revolver. +There must be a screw loose somewhere, and this government that taxes +its men in peace and drafts them in war, ought to be wise enough to know +its citizens and strong enough to protect them." + + + + +Chapter XIX + + +But the pleasant home-life of Louis and Minnie was destined to be rudely +broken up. He began to receive threats and anonymous letters, such as +these: "Louis Lecroix, you are a doomed man. We are determined to +tolerate no scalawags, nor carpetbaggers among us. Beware, the sacred +serpent has hissed." + +But Louis, brave and resolute, kept on the even tenor of his way, +although he never left his home without some forebodings that he tried +in vain to cast off. But his young wife being less in contact with the +brutal elements of society in that sin-cursed region, did not comprehend +the danger as Louis did, and yet she could not help feeling anxious for +her husband's safety. + +They never parted without her looking after him with a sigh, and then +turning to her school, or whatever work or reading she had on her hand, +she would strive to suppress her heart's forebodings. But the storm +about to burst and to darken forever the sunshine of that home was +destined to fall on that fair young head. + +Imperative business called Louis from home for one night. Minnie stood +at the door and said, "Louis, I hate to have you go. I have been feeling +so badly here lately, as if something was going to happen. Come home as +soon as you can." + +"I will, darling," he said, kissing her tenderly again and again. "I do +feel rather loath to leave you, but death is every where, always lurking +in ambush. A man may escape from an earthquake to be strangled by a +hair. So, darling, keep in good spirits till I come." + +Minnie stood at the door watching him till he was out of sight, and then +turning to her mother with a sigh, she said, "What a wretched state of +society. When he goes I never feel easy till he returns. I do wish we +had a government under which our lives would be just as safe as they +were in Pennsylvania." + +Ellen felt very anxious, but she tried to hide her disquietude and keep +Minnie's spirits from sinking, and so she said, "This is a hard country. +We colored people have seen our hard times here." + +"But, mother, don't you sometimes feel bitter towards these people, who +have treated you so unkindly?" + +"No, Minnie; I used to, but I don't now. God says we must forgive, and +if we don't forgive, He won't forgive." + +"But, mother, how did you get to feeling so?" + +"Why, honey, I used to suffer until my heart was almost ready to burst, +but I learned to cast my burden on the Lord, and then my misery all +passed away. My burden fell off at the foot of the cross, and I felt +that my feet were planted on a rock." + +"How wonderful," said Minnie, "is this faith! How real it is to them! +How near some of these suffering people have drawn to God!" + +"Yes," said Ellen, "Mrs. Sumpter had a colored woman, to whom they were +real mean and cruel, and one day they whipped her and beat her on her +feet to keep her from running away; but she made up her mind to leave, +and so she packed up her clothes to run away. But before she started, I +believe she kneeled down and prayed, and asked what she should do, and +something reasoned with her and said, 'Stand still and see what I am +going to do for you,' and so she unpacked her clothes and stayed, and +now the best part of it was this, Milly's son had been away, and he +came back and brought with him money enough to buy his mother; for he +had been out begging money to buy her, and so Milly got free, and she +was mighty glad that she had stayed, because when he'd come back, if she +had been gone, he would not have known where to find her." + +"Well, it is wonderful. Somehow these people have passed through the +darkness and laid their hands on God's robe of love and light, and have +been sustained. It seems to me that some things they see clearer through +their tears." + +"Mother," said Minnie, "As it is Saturday I will visit some of my +scholars." + +"Well, Minnie, I would; you look troubled, and may be you'll feel +better." + +"Yes, Mother, I often feel strengthened after visiting some of these +good old souls, and getting glimpses into their inner life. I sometimes +ask them, after listening to the story of their past wrongs, what has +sustained you? What has kept you up? And the almost invariable answer +has been the power of God. Some of these poor old souls, who have been +turned adrift to shift for themselves, don't live by bread alone; they +live by bread and faith in God. I asked one of them a few days since, +Are you not afraid of starving? and the answer was, Not while God +lives." + +After Minnie left, she visited a number of lowly cabins. The first one +she entered was the home of an industrious couple who were just making a +start in life. The room in which Minnie was, had no window-lights, only +an aperture that supplied them with light, but also admitted the cold. + +"Why don't you have window-lights?" said Minnie. + +"Oh we must crawl before we walk;" and yet even in this humble home they +had taken two orphan children of their race, and were giving them food +and shelter. And this kindness to the orphans of their race Minnie +found to be a very praiseworthy practice among some of those people who +were not poorer than themselves. + +The next cabin she entered was very neat, though it bore evidences of +poverty. The woman, in referring to the past, told her how her child had +been taken away when it was about two years old, and how she had lost +all trace of him, and would not know him if he stood in her presence. + +"How did you feel?" said Minnie. + +"I felt as I was going to my grave, but I thought if I wouldn't get +justice here, I would get it in another world." + +"My husband," said another, "asked if God is a just God, how would sich +as slavery be, and something answered and said, 'sich shan't always be,' +and you couldn't beat it out of my husband's head that the Spirit didn't +speak to him." + +And thus the morning waned away, and Minnie returned calmer than when +she had left. A holy peace stole over her mind. She felt that for high +and low, rich and poor, there was a common refuge. That there was no +corner so dark that the light of heaven could not shine through, and +that these people in their ignorance and simplicity had learned to look +upon God as a friend coming near to them in their sorrows, and taking +cognizance of their wants and woes. + +Minnie loved to listen to these beautiful stories of faith and trust. To +her they were grand inspirations to faith and duty. Sometimes Minnie +would think, when listening to some dear aged saint, I can't teach these +people religion, I must learn from them. + +Refreshed and strengthened she returned home and began to work upon a +dress for a destitute and orphaned child, and when night came she +retired quite early, being somewhat wearied with her day's work. + +During his absence Louis had been among the freedmen in a new +settlement where he had lately established a school, where, +notwithstanding all their disadvantages, he was pleased to see evidences +of growth and progress. + +There was an earnestness and growing manliness that commanded his +respect. They were beginning to learn the power of combination, and gave +but little heed to the cajoling words, "We are your best friends." + +"Don't you think," Louis said to an intelligent freedman, "that the +rebels are your best friends?" + +"I'll think so when I lose my senses." + +"But you are ignorant," Louis said to another one. "How will you know +whom to vote for?" + +"Well if I don't, I know how not to vote for a rebel." + +"How do you know you didn't vote for a rebel?" said Louis to another one +who came from one of the most benighted districts. + +"I voted for one of my own color," as if treason and a black skin were +incompatible. + +In the evening Louis called the people together, and talked with them, +trying to keep them from being discouraged, for the times were evil, and +the days were very gloomy. The impeachment had failed. State after State +in the North had voted against enfranchising the colored man in their +midst. The spirit of the lost cause revived, murders multiplied. The Ku +Klux spread terror and death around. Every item of Northern meanness to +the colored people in their midst was a message of hope to the rebel +element of the South, which had only changed. Ballot and bullet had +failed, but another resort was found in secret assassination. Men +advocating equal rights did so at the peril of their lives, for violence +and murder were rampant in the land. Oh those dark and weary days when +politicians were flattering for place and murdered Union men were +sleeping in their bloody shrouds. Louis' courage did not desert him, and +he tried to nerve the hearts of those that were sinking with fear in +those days of gloom and terror. His advice to the people was, "Defend +your firesides if they are invaded, live as peaceably as you can, spare +no pains to educate your children, be saving and industrious, try to get +land under your feet and homes over your heads. My faith is very strong +in political parties, but, as the world has outgrown other forms of +wrong, I believe that it will outgrow this also. We must trust and hope +for better things." What else could he say? And yet there were times when +his words seemed to him almost like bitter mockery. Here was outrage +upon outrage committed upon these people, and to tell them to hope and +wait for better times, but seemed like speaking hollow words. Oh he +longed for a central administration strong enough to put down violence +and misrule in the South. If Johnson was clasping hands with rebels and +traitors was there no power in Congress to give, at least, security to +life? Must they wait till murder was organized into an institution, and +life and property were at the mercy of the mob? And, if so, would not +such a government be a farce, and such a civilization a failure? + +With these reflections passing through his mind he fell asleep, but his +slumber was restless and disturbed. He dreamed (but it seemed so plain +to him, that he thought it was hardly a dream,) that Minnie came to his +side and pressed her lips to his, but they were very pale and very cold. +He reached out his hand to clasp her, but she was gone, but as she +vanished he heard her say, "My husband." + +Restless and uneasy he arose; there was a strange feeling around his +soul, a great sinking and depression of his spirits. He could not +account for his feelings. He arose and walked the floor and looked up at +the heavens, but the night was very bright and beautiful, still he could +not shake off his strange and sad forebodings, and as soon as it was +light he started for home. + + * * * * * + + +[Installment missing.] + + + + +Chapter XX + + +In the afternoon when the body had been prepared for the grave, the +sorrowing friends gathered around, tearfully noting the look of peace +and rest which had stolen over the pale, dead face, when all traces of +the death agony had passed away by the contraction of the muscles. + +"That is just the way she looked yesterday," said a sad-eyed woman, +whose face showed traces of a deep "and fearful sorrow." + +Louis drew near, for he was eager to hear any word that told him of +Minnie before death had robbed her of life, and him of peace. He came +near enough to hear, but not to interrupt the conversation. + +"She was at my house yesterday, trying to comfort me, when I was telling +her how these Secesh used to _cruelize_ us." + +"I was telling her about my poor daughter Amy, and what a sprightly, +pert piece she was, and how dem awful Secesh took my poor chile and +hung'd her." + +"Hung'd? Aunt Susan, Oh how was dat?" said half a dozen voices. + +"Well, you see it was jist dis way. My darter Amy was a mighty nice +chile, and Massa could truss her wid any ting. So when de Linkum Sogers +had gone through dis place, Massa got her to move some of his tings over +to another place. Now when Amy seed de sojers had cum'd through she was +mighty glad, and she said in a kine of childish way, 'I'se so glad, I'm +gwine to marry a Linkum soger, and set up house-keeping for myself.' I +don't spect she wer in arnest 'bout marrying de sojer, but she did want +her freedom. Well, no body couldn't blame her for dat, for freedom's a +mighty good thing." + +"I don't like it, I jist loves it," said one of Aunt Sue's auditors. + +"And I does too, 'cause I'd rather live on bread and water than be back +again in de old place, but go on, Aunt Susan." + +"Well, when she said dat, dat miserable old Heston----" + +"Heston, I know dat wretch, I bound de debil's waiting for him now, got +his pitch fork all ready." + +"Well, he had my poor girl tookened up, and poor chile, she was beat +shameful, and den dey had her up before der sogers and had her tried for +saying 'cendiary words, and den dey had my poor girl hung'd." And the +poor old woman bowed her head and rocked her body to and fro. + +"Well," she continued after a moment's pause, "I was telling dat sweet +angel dere my trouble, and she was mighty sorry, and sat dere and cried, +and den she said, 'Mrs. Thomas, I hope in a better world dat you'll see +a joy according to all the days wherein you have seen sorrow!' Bless her +sweet heart, she's got in de shining gate afore me, but I bound to meet +her on de sunny banks of deliberance. + +"And she was at my house yesterday," said another. "She cum'd to see if +I wanted any ting, and I tell'd her I would like to hab a little +flannel, 'cause I had the rheumatiz so bad, and she said I should hab +it. Den she asked me if I didn't like freedom best. I told her I would +rather live in a corn crib, and so I would. It is hard getting along, +but I hopes for better times. And den she took down de Bible, and read +wid dat sweet voice of hers, about de eagle stirring up her nest, and +den she said when de old eagle wanted her young to fly she broked up de +nest, and de little eagles didn't known what was de matter, but some how +dey didn't feel so cumfertable, 'cause de little twigs and sticks stuck +in 'em, and den dey would work dere wings, and dat was de way she said +we must do; de ole nest of slavery was broke up, but she said we mus'n't +get discouraged, but we must plume our wings for higher flying. Oh she +did tell it so purty. I wish I could say it like she did, it did my +heart so much good. Poor thing, she done gone and folded her wing in de +hebenly mansion. I wish I was 'long side of her, but I'se bound to meet +her, 'cause I'm gwine to set out afresh for heben and 'ternal glory." + +And thus did these stricken children of sorrow unconsciously comfort the +desolate and almost breaking heart of Louis Lacroix. And their words of +love and hope were like rays of light shimmering amid the gloomy shadows +that overhung his suddenly darkened life. + +Surely, thought Louis, if the blessings and tears of the poor and needy +and the prayers of him who was ready to perish would crystalize a path +to the glory-land, then Minnie's exit from earth must have been over a +bridge of light, above whose radiant arches hovering angels would +delight to bend. + +While these thoughts were passing through his mind, a knock was heard at +the door, and Louis rose to open it, and then he saw a sight which shook +all his gathered firmness to tears. Headed by the eldest of Minnie's +scholars came a procession of children, each one bearing a bunch of +fairest and brightest flowers to spread around the couch of their +beloved teacher. Some kissed her, and others threw themselves beside the +corpse and wept bitter, burning tears. All shared in Louis' grief, for +all had lost a dear, good friend and loving instructor. + +Louis summoned all the energies of his soul to bear his mournful loss. +It was his task to bow to the Chastener, and let his loved one go, +feeling that when he had laid her in the earth that he left her there in +the hope of a better resurrection. + +Life with its solemn responsibilities still met him; its earnest duties +still confronted him, and, though he sometimes felt like a weary watcher +at the gates of death, longing to catch a glimpse of her shining robes +and the radiant light of her glorified face, yet her knew it was his +work to labor and to wait. + +Sorrow and danger still surrounded his way, and he felt his soul more +strongly drawn out than ever to share the fortunes of the colored race. +He felt there were grand possibilities stored up in their future. The +name of the negro had been associated with slavery, ignorance and +poverty, and he determined as far as his influence could be exerted to +lift that name from the dust of the centuries and place it among the +most honored names in the history of the human race. + +He still remained in the South, for Minnie's grave had made the South to +him a sacred place, a place in which to labor and to wait until peace +like bright dew should descend where carnage had spread ruin around, and +freedom and justice, like glorified angels, should reign triumphant +where violence and slavery had held their fearful carnival of shame and +crime for ages. Earnestly he set himself to bring around the hour when + + Peace, white-robed and pure, should move + O'er rifts of ruin deep and wide, + When her hands should span with lasting love + The chasms rent by hate and pride. + +And he was blessed in his labors of love and faith. + + + + +Conclusion + + +And now, in conclusion, may I not ask the indulgence of my readers for a +few moments, simply to say that Louis and Minnie are only ideal beings, +touched here and there with a coloring from real life? + +But while I confess (not wishing to mis-represent the most lawless of +the Ku-Klux) that Minnie has only lived and died in my imagination, may +I not modestly ask that the lesson of Minnie shall have its place among +the educational ideas for the advancement of our race? + +The greatest want of our people, if I understand our wants aright, is +not simply wealth, nor genius, nor mere intelligence, but live men, and +earnest, lovely women, whose lives shall represent not a "stagnant mass, +but a living force." + +We have wealth among us, but how much of it is ever spent in building up +the future of the race? in encouraging talent, and developing genius? We +have intelligence, but how much do we add to the reservoir of the +world's thought? We have genius among us, but how much can it rely upon +the colored race for support? + +Take even the _Christian Recorder_; where are the graduates from +colleges and high school whose pens and brains lend beauty, strength, +grace and culture to its pages? + +If, when their school days are over, the last composition shall have +been given at the examination, will not the disused faculties revenge +themselves by rusting? If I could say it without being officious and +intrusive, I would say to some who are about to graduate this year, do +not feel that your education is finished, when the diploma of your +institution is in your hands. Look upon the knowledge you have gained +only as a stepping stone to a future, which you are determined shall +grandly contrast with the past. + +While some of the authors of the present day have been weaving their +stories about white men marrying beautiful quadroon girls, who, in so +doing were lost to us socially, I conceived of one of that same class to +whom I gave a higher, holier destiny; a life of lofty self-sacrifice and +beautiful self-consecration, finished at the post of duty, and rounded +off with the fiery crown of martyrdom, a circlet which ever changes into +a diadem of glory. + +The lesson of Minnie's sacrifice is this, that it is braver to suffer +with one's own branch of the human race,--to feel, that the weaker and +the more despised they are, the closer we will cling to them, for the +sake of helping them, than to attempt to creep out of all identity with +them in their feebleness, for the sake of mere personal advantages, and +to do this at the expense of self-respect, and a true manhood, and a +truly dignified womanhood, that with whatever gifts we possess, whether +they be genius, culture, wealth or social position, we can best serve +the interests of our race by a generous and loving diffusion, than by a +narrow and selfish isolation which, after all, is only one type of the +barbarous and anti-social state. + + + + +Notes + +1. The following two paragraphs are for the most part illegible. I have +reproduced below as much of the text as can be deciphered. + + The whole South is in a state of excitement [ ... ] +[ ] nurture +[ ] and re- +[ ] high +[ ] be for +[ ] they are [ ] and only remember they are rebels[? ]. + + They [urge the agenda?] and their brothers in their +[mistaken?] folly. Like the women of Carthage [ ] ancient +and magnificent city was [ ] +they were ready to sacrifice their [ ] and if +need be would have cut [ but it have been] so +dear to their hearts [ ] + +2. The original reads "Josiah." + +3. The original reads "Joseph." + +4. The original reads "Josiah." + +5. The original reads "Josiah." + +6. The original reads "Anna." + +7. The original reads "Minnie." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Minnie's Sacrifice, by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINNIE'S SACRIFICE *** + +***** This file should be named 11053.txt or 11053.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/0/5/11053/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Andrea Ball and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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