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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +OLD JOHN BROWN + +THE MAN WHOSE SOUL IS MARCHING ON + + +by WALTER HAWKINS + + + + +PREFACE + +This book is for busy people who have not the time to read at +large upon the subject. Those who would adequately master all +the bearings of the story here briefly told must read American +history, for which facilities are rapidly increasing. As to John +Brown himself, his friend F. B. Sanborn's LIFE AND LETTERS is a +mine of wealth. To its pages the present writer is greatly +indebted, and he commends them to others. + +W. H. + + +Kilburn, May 1913. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. WHY WE WRITE OUR STORY + II. CHILDWOOD AND THE VOW + III. THE LONG WAITING-TIME + IV. HOW THE CALL CAME + V. BIBLE AND SWORD + VI. THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY + VII. HARPER'S FERRY + VIII. THE HALT OF THE BODY AND THE MARCH OF THE SOUL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +WHY WE WRITE OUR STORY + +There are few who have not a dim notion of John Brown as a name +bound up with the stirring events of the United States in the +period which preceded the Civil War and the emancipation of the +slave. Many English readers, however, do not get beyond the +limits of the famous couplet, + + John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, + But his soul is marching on. + +That statement is authentic in both its clauses, but it is +interesting to learn what he did with the body before it +commenced a dissolution which seems to have been regarded as +worth recording. Carlyle says in his grimly humorous way of the +gruesome elevation of the head of one of his patriotic heroes on +Temple Bar, 'It didn't matter: he had quite done with it.' And +we might say the same of the body which was hanged at Charlestown +in 1859. In his devoutly fatalistic way John Brown had presented +his body a living sacrifice to the cause of human freedom, and +had at last slowly reached the settled opinion that it was worth +more to the cause dead than alive. Such a soul, so masterful in +its treatment of the body, was likely to march on without it. +And it did in the years that followed, This Abolitionist raider, +with a rashness often sublime in its devotion, precipitated the +national crisis which issued in the Civil War and Emancipation. + +There are lives of brave men which set us thinking for the most +part of human power and skill: we watch bold initiators of some +wise policy carrying their enterprise through with indomitable +courage and in-exhaustible patience, and we are lost in +admiration of the hero. But there are other brave lives which +leave us thinking more of unseen forces which impelled them than +of their own splendid qualities. They never seem masters of +destiny, but its intrepid servants. They shape events while they +hardly know how or why; they seem to be rather driven by fate +than to be seeking fame or power. They go out like Abraham, 'not +knowing whither they go,' only that, like him, they have heard a +call. Sometimes they sorely tax the loyalty of their admirers +with their eccentricities and their defiance of the conventions +of their age. Wisdom is only justified of these, her strange +children, in the next generation. Prominent among such lives is +that of John Brown. The conscience of the Northern States on the +question of slavery needed but some strong irritant to arouse it +to vigorous action, and, the hanging of John Brown sufficed. + +The institution of slavery became both ridiculous and hateful to +multitudes because so good a man must be done to death to +preserve it. The verdict of Victor Hugo, 'What the South slew +last December was not John Brown, but slavery,' found an echo in +many minds. And when the long, fierce conflict, through which +Emancipation came, was begun, the quaint lines, + + John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, + But his soul is marching on, + +became one of the mightiest of the battle-songs which urged the +Federal hosts to victory. His name kindled the flame of that +passion for freedom which made the cause of the North triumphant, +and there was awe mingled with the love they bore his memory. +Perhaps no man had been oftener called with plausible reason a +fool; but those who knew the single-hearted devotion to a great +cause of this ready victim of the gallows came reverently to +think of him as 'God's fool.' When they sang 'John Brown died +that the slave might be free' they were singing more than a +record of John Brown's generous motive; it was a record of one of +God's strange counsels. 'For God chose the foolish things of the +world that He might put to shame the things that are strong, and +the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, +did God choose, yea, and the things that are not, that He might +bring to nought the things that are, that no flesh should glory +before God.' Verily, then, it might seem worth while to set the +story of John Brown in such a plain, brief form as to make it +available for busy folk who have no time to read longer accounts +of him. If it sets some thinking of the ways of God rather than +admiring John Brown, that will be just what he would have +ardently wished who desired always that God should be magnified +in his body, whether in the fighting which he never loved and +never shirked, or the hanging which he often foresaw and never +feared. + + + +CHAPTER II + +CHILDHOOD AND THE VOW + +The birth of John Brown is recorded in the following laconic +style by his father in a little autobiography he wrote for his +children in the closing days of his life. 'In 1800, May 8, John +was born one hundred years after his great-grandfather; nothing +else very uncommon.' In the year mentioned the family were +living at Torrington, Connecticut, whence they shortly removed to +Ohio, then the haunt of the Red Indian. They were of the pioneer +farming class, which has supplied so many of the shapers of +American history. The one great honour in their pedigree was +that they descended from a man of the MAYFLOWER--Peter Brown, a +working carpenter who belonged to that famous ship's company. We +might say, indeed, that the story of John Brown flows from the +events of 1620, the year of the MAYFLOWER. Two landings on the +American coast that year were destined to be memorable. In +August a Dutch vessel disembarked the first cargo of imported +slaves--twenty of them; and that day Slavery struck deep root in +the new land. And in November of that same year the MAYFLOWER, +with her very different cargo of brave freemen, dropped anchor in +Cape Cod Bay. The stream of ill results from that first landing +and the stream of Puritan blood, generous in its passion for +liberty, that flowed unimpoverished from Peter Brown through +generations of sturdy ancestors--these are the streams destined +to meet turbulently and to supply us with our story. Owen Brown, +the father of John, thus testifies to his own fidelity to the +tradition of liberty. 'I am an Abolitionist. I know we are not +loved by many. I wish to tell how I became one. Our neighbour +lent my mother a slave for a few days. I used to go out into the +field with him, and he used to carry me on his back, and I fell +in love with him.' There we have the clue to the history of the +household of the Browns for the next two generations. They FELL +IN LOVE With the despised negro, and this glorious trait passed +like an heritage from generation to generation. + +There is a letter extant which supplies us with the best +information on John Brown's own boyhood. It was written for a +lad in a wealthy home where he stayed in later days, who had +asked him many questions about his experiences in early life. He +humorously calls it a 'short story of a certain boy of my +acquaintance I will call John.' A few extracts will reveal his +character in the forming. Here, for instance, you may trace the +conscientiousness (often morbid) which was so marked a feature in +his later days. 'I cannot tell you of anything in the first four +years of John's life worth mentioning save that at that early age +he was tempted by three large brass pins belonging to a girl who +lived in the family, and stole them. In this he was detected by +his mother; and after having a full day to think of the wrong, +received from her a thorough whipping.' He adds, 'I must not +neglect to tell you of a very foolish and bad habit to which John +was somewhat addicted. I mean, telling lies, generally to screen +himself from blame or from punishment. He could not well endure +to be reproached, and now I think had he been oftener encouraged +to be entirely frank, by MAKING FRANKNESS A KIND OF ATONEMENT for +some of his faults, he would not have had to struggle so long +with this mean habit.' + +A story is told of John's schooldays which is an amusing and +quite characteristic instance of his ethical eccentricities. For +a short time he and his younger brother Salmon were at a school +together, and Salmon was guilty of some offence which was +condoned by the master. John had serious concern for the effect +this might have upon his brother's morals, and he sought the +lenient teacher and informed him that the fault was much +deprecated by their father at home, and he was sure castigation +there would have been inevitable. He therefore desired it should +be duly inflicted, as otherwise he should feel compelled to act +as his father's proxy. Finding discipline was still lax, he +proceeded with paternal solemnity to administer it himself. His +brother acknowledged that this was done with reluctant fidelity! +Truly the moral instincts of the family were worthy of their +Puritan ancestry. + +Although naturally self-conscious and shy, his precociousness in +boyhood, bringing him into association, as it did, with much +older folk, bred a somewhat arrogant manner. The rule he +exercised over younger members of the family also made him +somewhat domineering, a fault which he diligently sought to +correct in later life. At fifteen he had become a miniature man +of business and was driving cattle on long journeys with all the +confidence of mid-age. The letter from which we have already +quoted has one or two more passages which may enlighten us as to +his rearing. Still writing in the third person, he says, 'John +had been taught from earliest childhood to fear God and keep His +commandments, and though quite sceptical he had always by turns +felt much doubt as to his future well being. He became to some +extent a convert to Christianity, and ever after a firm believer +in the divine authenticity of the Bible. With this book he +became very familiar, and possessed a most unusual memory of its +entire contents.' Here are hints as to his early pursuits: +'After getting to Ohio in 1805, he was for some time rather +afraid of the Indians and their rifles, but this soon wore off, +and he used to hang about them quite as much as was consistent +with good manners and learned a trifle of their talk. His father +learned to dress deer-skins, and at six years old John was +installed a young Buck-skin. He was, perhaps, rather observing, +as he ever after remembered the entire process of deer-skin +dressing, so that he could at any time dress his own leather, +such as squirrel, racoon, cat, wolf, and dog skins, and also +learned to make whiplashes, which brought him some change at +times, and was of considerable service in many ways. He did not +become much of a scholar. He would always choose to stay at home +and work hard rather than be sent to school, and during the warm +season might generally be seen barefooted and bareheaded, with +buck-skin breeches suspended often with one leather strap over +his shoulder, but sometimes with two. To be sent off through the +wilderness alone to very considerable distances was particularly +his delight; in this he was often indulged, so that by the time +he was twelve years old he was sent off more than a hundred miles +with companies of cattle. He followed up with tenacity whatever +he set about so long as it answered his general purpose, and +thence he rarely failed in some good degree to effect the things +he undertook.' + +'From fifteen years and upward he felt a good deal of anxiety to +learn, but could only read and study a little, both for want of +time and on account of inflammation of the eyes. He managed by +the help of books, however, to make himself tolerably well +acquainted with common arithmetic and surveying, which he +practised more or less after he was twenty years old.' 'John +began early in life to discover a great liking to fine cattle, +horses, sheep, and swine; and as soon as circumstances would +enable him, he began to be a practical shepherd--it being a +calling for which, in early life, he had a kind of enthusiastic +longing, together with the idea that as a business it bade fair +to afford him the means of CARRYING OUT HIS GREATEST OR PRINCIPAL +OBJECT.' + +Here we touch the keynote of this life of manifold outward +occupations, but of one consuming desire. That PRINCIPAL OBJECT +filled his horizon even in childhood. He loved to tell how, like +his father before him, he fell captive to the slave's dumb plea +and pledged his whole strength to the chivalrous task of breaking +his fetters. It happened on this wise. In those long journeys +he was allowed to take, he was the 'business guest' of a slave- +owner, who was pleased with his resourcefulness at such an age. +He was the object of curious attention, and was treated as +'company' at table. On the estate was a young negro just his own +age, and as intelligent as he. Young John struck up an +acquaintance with him, and could not fail to contrast the fashion +in which he himself was pampered with the way the young darkie +was coarsely treated with scant fare and ill-housing. His +frequent thrashings seemed to bruise young John's spirit as much +as they did his flesh. They were not always administered with +the orthodox whip, but with a shovel or anything else that came +first to hand. Young John pondered long upon this contrast, and +tells us how the iniquity of slavery was borne in upon his young +heart, and he was drawn to this little coloured playmate, who had +neither father nor mother known to him. The Bible was the final +court of appeal in the Brown family, and the verdict of that +court was that they two--the slave and the guest--were brothers, +so henceforth the instinct of fraternal loyalty drew young John +to 'swear eternal war with slavery.' That vow, never recanted or +forgotten, became the text of his life. It interprets all his +vagaries and reconciles what else were hopeless inconsistencies. +It was a devout obsession which made him a wanderer all his days, +and in the end carried him to prison and to death. To a child a +great call had come, and a child's voice had replied, 'Speak, +Lord, Thy servant heareth.' And ears and heart tingled at +messages that seemed to come from the Unseen. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LONG WAITING-TIME + +For over thirty years did this man both 'hope and quietly wait +for the salvation of the Lord' to come for the slaves of his +land. The interval is full of interest for those who care to +watch the development of a life-purpose. Only for three, or four +years was he destined to figure in the eyes of the world. Those +years, as we shall hereafter see, were crowded with events; but +for a generation he felt an abiding conviction of impending +destiny. + +There is something fateful about the constant indications of this +spirit of readiness. His commercial pursuits were multifarious, +but none of them was greatly successful. At Hudson, Ohio, till +1825, and afterwards at Richmond, Pennsylvania, he was tanner, +land-surveyor, and part of the time postmaster. He became +skilful at his father's business of tanning, but is a typical +Yankee in the facility with which he turns his hand to anything. + +From 1835 to 1839 he was at Franklin, Ohio, where we find him +adding to his former occupations the breeding of horses, and also +dabbling in land speculation, with the, result that he became +bankrupt. But when he failed in business he set to work to pay +his debts in full. His death found him still striving to achieve +that end. He was regarded as whimsical and stubborn, yet through +years of struggle, endeavour, and even failure he was known as +trusty and honourable. + +From 1841 to 1846 he lived at Richfield, Ohio, where he took to +shepherding and wool-dealing, which he continued in 1849 at +Springfield, Massachusetts. He seems to have developed much +capacity for wool-testing. When he came to England with a cargo +of wool, some English dealers sought to practise a fraudulent +joke upon his quick fingers. They stripped a poodle of the best +of his fleece and handed it to the oracular Yankee with the +inquiry, 'What would you do with that wool?' But there was +wisdom in him down to the finger-ends, for he rolled it there, +and in a moment handed it back with the confounding retort, +'Gentlemen, if you have any machinery in England for working up +dog's hair I would advise you to put this into it.' + +Had he known how to sell wool as well as he knew how to test it; +had he known how to sell his sheep as well as he knew hundreds of +sheep faces apart, and like a diviner could interpret their +inarticulate language; had he been as apt upon the market as he +was upon the farm, he might have made money. As it was, there +was never more than enough for the wants of a severely plain +household life. + +But this business record was (and herefrom its frequent +misfortune may have largely proceeded) in no wise the history of +John Brown. We must catch, if we can, indications of the +unfolding of his soul, and of the inward preparation for what he +felt was his divine destiny; and these may best be gathered as we +watch the simple home life of the family. At an early age, while +residing at Hudson, Ohio, he married his first wife, Dianthe +Lusk; and though he was but twenty years of age, his was no rash +choice. A description by one who had been brought up with her +may be fitly quoted: 'Plain but attractive, because of a quiet +amiable disposition, sang beautifully, almost always sacred +music; she had a place in the wood not far from the house where +she used to go alone to pray.' John Brown, servant as he already +accounted himself of the Invisible Powers, is drawn to one who +thus communes with the Unseen. She will have sympathy with his +moral aims and a source of strength when he may be absent from +her in pursuit of them. The sketch proceeds, 'She was pleasant +but not funny; she never said what she did not mean.' Here, +truly, was the wife for a man in dead earnest and who could keep +a boyish oath even unto death. For twelve years she proved a +good comrade, and of the seven children of this marriage five +survived, from whom testimonies concerning the domestic life are +forthcoming. + +The wife who succeeded her (Mary Ann Day) seems to have been no +less a help-meet in his enterprises. Thirteen children, many of +whom died young, were the off-spring of this second marriage, so +that in a hereditary sense the soul of John Brown may be said to +have marched on. + +He infected all his children with his passionate love of liberty. +Many are his cares for their spiritual welfare. Some of them +sorely tried his patience by their aloofness from the Christian +conventions that were dear to him; he yearns over their souls as +he fears their experience of the inner working of grace is not as +his own, but they swerved not in their allegiance to the cause of +the slave. Let us avail ourselves of some of their memories of +their remarkable father. How early the house became a city of +refuge for the runaway negro we learn from the eldest son, who +tells us he can just recollect a timid knock at the door of the +log cabin where they lived. A fugitive slave and his wife were +there, for they had heard that there were a couple residing in +the house who loved the negro and would lend him a rescuing hand. +They were speedily made to know they were welcome, and the +negress, relieved of her last fear, takes young John in a +motherly fashion upon her knee and kisses him. He almost +instinctively scampers off to rub the black from his face. +Returning, he watches his mother giving them supper. Presently +father's extraordinarily quick ear detects the sound of +horsehoofs half a mile away; weapons are thrust into the hands of +the terrified pair, and they are taken out to the woody swamps +behind the house to lie in hiding. Father then returns, only to +discover that it is a false alarm, whereupon he sallies forth to +bring them into shelter and warmth once more, and tells the +assembled family on their arrival how he had difficulty in the +dark in recognizing the hiding-place and really discovered them +at length by hearing the beating of their frightened hearts. No +wonder. Quick as any faculty he had was that of hearing a +slave's heart beat. Had it not been for that keen instinct there +would have been no tale to tell of John Brown. + +The daughter says her earliest memory is of her father's great +arms about her as he sang to her his favourite hymn: + + Blow ye the trumpet, blow + The gladly solemn sound: + Let all the nations know + To earth's remotest bound. + The year of Jubilee is come, + Return, ye ransomed sinners, home. + +Then, ceasing, he would tell her with heart brimming with +tenderness of poor little black children who were slaves. What +were slaves? she wanted to know. And he was ready enough to +tell her of those who were riven from father and mother and sold +for base coin, whom in some States it was illegal to teach their +A B C, but quite lawful to flog; and then the daughter would be +asked, by way of application to his moving discourse, if she +would like some of them to come some time and share her home and +food. + +Thus continually to that rising family there was unfolded the +horror of the slavery system. That horror had faded in the minds +of many in the Northern States whose ancestry had held freedom +dear; while in the Southern States, for the most part, the +possession of your fellow creatures as if they were so much farm +stock had become too familiar a feature of common life to evoke +any conscientious misgiving, much less shame. The enormous +additions to the cotton trade had made slave labour increasingly +gainful, and the capital invested in this living property was +immense. Careful rearing of slaves for the market as well as +their purchase brought wealth to many, and fierce was the +resentment when any one publicly criticized the institution. +There was by no means an absence of humane regard far the +wellbeing of the negroes; a kind of patriarchal tenderness +towards them was distinctly 'good form.' But there was the +deadly fact that they were human goods and chattels, with no +civil rights worth mentioning--for laws in their defence were +practically worthless, seeing they could not appear as witnesses +in the court. Public whipping-houses were provided for the +expeditious correction of the refractory, and a mere suspicion of +intent to escape was legal justification for the use of the +branding-irons upon their flesh. If they did contrive to escape +there were dogs bred on purpose to hunt them down. If the slave +resisted his master's will he might be slain, and the law would +not graze the master's head. Domestic security he had none, for +wife might be wrenched from husband or child from mother +according to the state of the market. And, strangest of all to +our ears, the pulpits of the South extolled slavery as appointed +of Heaven, and solemnly quoting the prophecy that Ham should be +the servant of his brethren, the pulpiteer would ask who would +dare to resist the will of God Most High? Not content to hold +their views tenaciously, the slave-holders and their followers +dealt out threatenings and slaughter to all who by lip or pen +opposed them. The household of Brown pondered all this invasion +of the great natural right of freedom, and with one accord pined +for the opportunity of checking, or, it might be, ending it. + +It is on record how they were taught to repeat their father's +vow. It was in 1839, when they were living at Franklin, Ohio, +that he called them around him, and on bended knee declared the +secret mission with which, he believed, High Heaven had charged +him--to labour by word or sword, by any means opportunity might +offer, for the overthrow of slavery, which he believed to be the +very citadel of evil in America. 'Swear, children, swear,' said +he; and from that little group in the log house there went up an +appeal for a blessing upon their oath--an oath which they could +truly protest was likely to bring nought to them but peril, +disaster, and, perchance, death, but which they were well assured +must bring glory to Eternal God. And so their oath was +registered in heaven. + +For many years it was only in indirect ways they could promote +their end. Early they gave themselves to help the tentative +endeavours that were often on foot to educate those slaves who +did make good their escape, and especially to train them to +independent agriculture, so that evidence might be afforded that +they could use their liberty to good purpose, and become useful +citizens. The Browns were always active in promoting such +apprenticeship to freedom. + +Two scenes reveal the temper of this united house. The first is +at Franklin, where in the Congregational Church there are revival +services being conducted, in which the Episcopalians and +Methodists are uniting with their neighbours under the guidance +of a fervent evangelist. The folk are greatly wrought upon, and +are looking for an outpouring of divine grace. Among the large +assemblies are many coloured folk, some free and some runaway +slaves. The darkies are directed by judicious deacons to seats +reserved for them near the door, where they will not vex the eyes +of the worshipping whites. John Brown has swift argument within +him as in his boyish days: 'Has God--their Father and ours--set +any line betwixt His children? Is He a respecter of persons? +And, if not, can we expect reasonably an outpouring of His grace +while in this ungracious manner we are thwarting Him? We shall +bar the blessing we seek.' Rising to his feet, he denounces the +distinction in God's House, then, turning to his own family, who +were accustomed to obey him, and whom he knew agreed with him, he +bade them rise and take the seats near the door while the negroes +came and took theirs near the front. Nothing loth, both parties +did as they were told, to the confusion of the pious community. +Next day pastor and deacons waited upon the refractory member-- +John Brown--to 'labour with him,' as the old church chronicle has +it, upon his grave indecorum. But they found themselves +belaboured with passages from Old Testament and New, and sundry +stout doctrines of the Christian faith, till they retired +discomfited, in their hearts delivering him to Satan that he +might learn not to blaspheme. But Satan would have none of him, +we are sure. + +Another instance of the same devotion to the cause of freedom +belongs to rather later days when they had removed to +Springfield, Massachusetts. There they lived with their wonted +simplicity, but it had been the fond design of mother and +daughter to furnish the parlour in due course. The moment had +arrived when the domestic finances seemed to allow of this modest +luxury, but already John Brown had designs of another removal to +North Elba, New York, where an estate was being occupied by +escaped slaves under the patronage of Gerrit Smith, a wealthy +Abolitionist. At this juncture he calls his family together and +asks for their mind as to whether they should now furnish the +parlour with their savings or retain them for the help of these +black settlers who require clothes and other equipment as they +start their new life of independence. The blood of the Browns +flows as one stream, and the ready response of all is 'Save the +money, father.' + +His favourite books were well known by the children--JOSEPHUS, +Plutarch's LIVES, NAPOLEON AND HIS MARSHALS, LIFE OF OLIVER +CROMWELL, Baxter's SAINTS' REST, Bunyan's PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, and +Henry ON MEEKNESS. What a significant medley of peace and war-- +the wolf and the lamb--Napoleon and Henry on Meekness side by +side! But dearest ever was the Book which had been the oracle in +his father's house--itself the Book of battles and yet the gospel +of peace, the sacred charter of man's liberties and yet the holy +statute book for man's government--the Bible. Swift paternal +correction was there for any misquotation from that Book; it was +a Book not to be lightly paraphrased, but LEARNED AND OBEYED. In +his own Bible there are pencillings that reveal at once the +secret springs of his strange, and to outward seeming, erratic +life. Thus these passages are marked: 'Remember them that are +in bonds, as bound with them.' 'Whoso stoppeth his ear at the +cry of the poor, he also shall cry and shall not be heard.' +'Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker.' 'He that hath +pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.' + +Above all passages, perhaps, was this quoted--Isa. lviii. 6: 'Is +not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of +wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed +go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy +bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast +out to thy house?' If ever man kept that chivalrous fast before +the Lord it was John Brown. + +The last stage in what we may call the long preparation of John +Brown for the prominent labours of his life reveals still further +how the passionate love of the cause of liberty burned as a fire +in the bones of this family. They were attracted by the proposal +of Gerrit Smith, to celebrate the passing of West Indian +Emancipation with the offer of 100,000 acres of his wild land in +the north of New York State for coloured families to settle upon. +Eager for the success of the experiment, Brown and his sons were +prepared to start pioneering in the new region, so as to be near +at hand to encourage and assist the new settlers. Prepared to +choose their location as they deemed the exigencies of the great +cause demanded, they settled at North Elba in what was then a +wilderness in Essex county, and commenced to live a life of +sterner simplicity than before, hewing in the forests, and +clearing with axe and fire the land which they then proceeded to +cultivate, obtaining food and clothes as those must who have +neither store nor tailor near. There, with one room beneath that +served by day, and two rooms overhead that served by night, they +lived, and not discontentedly, for if there was little space or +grandeur within there was plenty without; and John Brown, who was +no mere conqueror of Nature, but a lover of her beauty, revelled +in the glories of that untamed land, with its mountains wooded to +their summits, with its frowning gorges and rushing torrents and +its richly scented air. Best of all there were black settlers +around whom they could help and thus forward their life-work, +proving that the race they vowed should be free could appreciate +and justify the boon. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +HOW THE CALL CAME + +Thus, then, did this family live their life of preparation. But +eventful days were at hand, and John Brown felt that his real +life-work had yet to come. 'I have never,' he said, 'for twenty +years made any business arrangement that would prevent me at any +time from answering the call of the Lord. I have kept my affairs +in such a condition that in two weeks I could wind them up and be +ready to obey that call, permitting nothing to stand in the way +of duty, neither wife, children, nor worldly goods; whenever the +time should come, I was ready.' Now truly it seemed as if 'God's +judgements' were to be abroad in the earth, as if He was +'travelling in the greatness of His strength, mighty to save' the +oppressed; as if 'the Day of Vengeance' were in His heart, and +the 'Year of His redeemed was come'; and, said John Brown's +heart, 'He shall find one loyal henchman; I am ready.' + +John Brown's call seemed to come after this wise. The enrolment +of each New State in the Union was the occasion of fierce +contention as to whether the territories should be free or +whether slavery should be permitted. Each party had sought at +such junctures to score an advantage, for the balance was often a +very fine one between them, + +The spirit of compromise had from the earliest days prevailed +upon the thorny question. Washington was against slavery. +Statesmen like Adams, Franklin, Madison, and Munroe had opposed +it; but others had been willing to purchase the preservation of +Union by concessions to the South, and toleration had been their +consistent policy. + +The Missouri compromise in 1820 had apparently settled the +question as to the new State of Kansas, for all future States +north of the latitude 36d 30m were to be free. But at the +enrolment of Kansas the slave party circumvented this statute, +and ensured local option for the State upon this matter. In 1854 +the new State of Kansas proceeded to determine for itself once +for all by popular election the grave question whether she was to +be a Slave or a Free State. But in these young States, which +were being almost daily reinforced by new residents, each at once +entitled to vote, the slave party saw a rare opportunity for the +manufacture of faggot votes. What was to hinder the inhabitants +of Missouri, the neighbouring State--who were slavery men--from +going over in a body and voting! Couldn't men migrate and change +their minds? Scandalous, you say. It was. But the scandal was +actually perpetrated. None other than the acting Vice-President +of the United States advised this course, and he found many ready +to improve upon his instructions. One official stated: 'To +those who have qualms of conscience as to violating laws, State +or National, I say the time has come when such impositions must +be disregarded, since your rights and property are at stake. And +I advise you one and all to enter every election district in +Kansas and vote at the point of the bowie-knife and, the +revolver.' + +Thus, a thousand strong, with two cannon in their procession, the +armed ruffians went to vote at an election out of their own +State. If brave election judges protested--and some did, in +spite of cocked pistols at their heads (like true lawyers ready +to die for justice' sake)--and required the mob to establish +their claims, they were overpowered; the ruffians seized the +ballot-boxes, and in the end there were 4,908 votes cast, though +there were only 1,410 genuine voters in the State. Such was the +deliberate report of a committee years after. The Legislature +thus elected met and were suffered to make a Statute Book for the +young State. Penalties of imprisonment and death were liberally +appointed for all who should dare to resist the institution of +slavery. + +With such legislation to shield their lawlessness, ruffians +belonging to the class of 'mean whites ' commenced a series of +barbarous outrages in the interests of the slave-holders--a +series sickening to contemplate. Two instances may be quoted +which are typical: + +A ruffian bets that he will scalp an Abolitionist in true Indian +fashion, and rides out in search of his prey. A gentleman known +to be opposed to slavery is met in a gig and shot; and, taking +his scalp, the drunken fiend rides back, and producing the +promised spoil, claims his due. + +Another leader of the Free-State men is surrounded by these +desperate ruffians, and his skull and brain are cloven with a +hatchet. In fiendish glee they dance upon the almost breathless +man, who vainly pleads, 'Do not abuse me, I am dying.' The only +response is a shower of tobacco juice from their filthy lips into +his pleading eyes. With his last breath he says, 'It is in a +good cause,' and so dies--slaughtered because he dared to say +others should share in his right of liberty. True, dying man, +the cause is good and will triumph, though thou and many others +die first! + +Such scenes roused the ire of the long-suffering Free-State men +of Kansas. Redress there was none, save in their own right arm, +for, as Emerson says, 'A plundered man might take his case to the +court and find the ring-leader who has robbed him dismounting +from his own horse and unbuckling his knife to sit as judge.' + +They were not without allies. There might be no government aid +from Washington, but throughout the North were men who loved the +cause of Abolition better than their own ease, and they came in +ever-increasing numbers. Amongst them were several of Brown's +upgrown sons, followed by their father, ready to settle in this +new State, where they might turn the tide of public opinion in +favour of Freedom. + +Thus slowly the ranks of the righteous lovers of liberty were +replenished, and they began to form into bands for mutual +protection, farming and soldiering by turns as necessity +dictated. + +Some of John Brown's Northern friends, who knew the stuff of +which he was made, and saw that if Freedom had no blow struck on +her behalf she would be driven by outrage-mongers out of Kansas, +equipped him with money and rifles, or, as they had come to be +called, 'Beecher Bibles'--a tribute to Henry Ward Beecher's +ardent championship of advanced views upon the slavery question. + +On October 6, 1855, he arrived at Osawatomie, and we find him +writing cheery words to his brave second wife and their family +whom he had left, telling them to hope in God and comfort one +another, humbly trusting they may meet again on God's earth, and +if not--for his vow is 'to the death'--that they may meet in +God's heaven. Of that second wife--heroine in obscurity, sharer +of the oath which ever knit the household in one, mother of +thirteen children--we might say much, but her spirit breathes in +these words she speaks concerning her solitary days: + +'That was the time in my life when all my religion, all my +philosophy, and all my faith in God's goodness were put to the +test. My husband was away from home, prostrated by sickness; I +was helpless from illness; in one week three of my little ones +died of dysentery--this but three months before the birth of +another child. Three years after this sad time another little +one, eighteen months old, was burned to death. Yet even in these +trials God upheld me.' + +Such was the wife who, while John Brown fought for liberty, +grudged him not to such a cause, and patiently trained others who +should bear his name worthily in days to come. + + + +CHAPTER V + +BIBLE AND SWORD + +John Brown was now at his work; no longer the mere fingers, but +the soul of him had found a task. He set before himself this +object, to free Kansas from the slave-holders' grip. + +The Free-State men had met and agreed to pay no taxes to a +Legislature illegally elected. They organized a rival +government, and brought themselves into violent antagonism to the +Federal Authorities at Washington--for President Pierce and his +Cabinet, which included the renowned Jefferson Davis, backed the +pro-slavery Legislature and its following of ruffians. The town +of Lawrence, which the Free Staters held, was taken and pillaged +by a wild mob under the leadership of the United States Marshal, +and we find the Browns in a company marching to its relief. +There was much skirmishing, during which two of Brown's sons were +taken prisoners. Only the constant vigilance and undaunted +courage of a few desperately bold men kept heart in the lovers of +liberty. But they (often led by John Brown) escaped the +government officials who sought to arrest them and sped to the +help of those who were marked as the victims of the marauders. +So slowly did the Federal Authorities awake to the situation that +for a time there seemed little protection to be expected for +persecuted lovers of liberty. + +We must now form. some estimate of the two sides in this +irregular warfare in which John Brown all through the summer of +1856 was so prominently engaged. + +On the one hand were those whom the slave-holders relied upon for +the most part to do their dirty work--ruffians, many of them from +the neighbouring State; men who did not work, but who lived a +wild life--not cultivating a tract of land around their rude +dwelling-place like honest settlers, but fishing, shooting, and +thieving for a living--preferring the atmosphere of a Slave State +as more favourable to their life of lawlessness and plunder, and +finding inspiration in the whisky-bottle for such deeds of +devilry as have been described. + +Upon the other side, waging a guerilla warfare--for little else +was possible against enemies who preferred sneaking outrages to +pitched battles--were little companies of some score or two. +Captain John Brown's company was ever to the fore. He felt that +outrage had gone far enough unchecked, and that it was time +honest men took the aggressive and struck terror into cowards' +hearts. They were not without fierceness, but it was the fruit +of honest anger. Rifles in their judgement went not ill with +Bible-reading and prayer--but we have heard of such before. +Armed Roundheads and Scotch Covenanters combined prayer with +sword exercise. In this camp, morning and evening prayers were +an institution; uncivil treatment of prisoners was a gross +offence; no intoxicating liquors were permitted. One by-law +runs: 'All profane, vulgar, or ungentlemanly talk shall be +discountenanced.' What! do these rough men set themselves up to +be gentlemen! Yes, according to Emerson's own meaning when he +says of Brown's supporters: + +'All gentlemen, of course, are on his side. I do not mean by +"gentlemen" people of scented hair and perfumed handkerchiefs, +but men of gentle blood and generosity, "fulfilled with all +nobleness," who, like the Cid, give the outcast leper a share of +their bed; like the dying Sidney, pass the cup of cold water to +the wounded soldier who needs it more. For what is the oath of +gentle blood and knighthood! What but to protect the weak and +lowly against the strong oppressor! Nothing is more absurd than +to complain of this sympathy, or to complain of a party of men +united in opposition to slavery. As well complain of gravity or +the ebb of the tide. Who makes the Abolitionist! The slave- +holder. The sentiment of mercy is the natural recoil which the +laws of the universe provide to protect mankind from destruction +by savage passions. And our blind statesmen go up and down, with +committees of vigilance and safety, hunting for the origin of +this new heresy. They will need a very vigilant committee, +indeed, to find its birthplace, and a very strong force to root +it up. For the arch-abolitionist, older than Brown, and older +than the Shenanndoah Mountains, is Love, whose other name is +Justice--which was before Alfred, before Lycurgus, before +Slavery, and will be after it.' + +John Brown and, at one time, six of his sons were in the company. +Many were rejected who offered for service, not for lack of +physical stature, but moral. 'I would rather,' said John Brown, +'have the smallpox, yellow fever, and cholera all together in my +camp than a man without principles. It is a mistake to think +that bullies are the best fighters. Give me God-fearing men +--men who respect themselves; and with a dozen of them, I will +oppose a hundred of these ruffians.' These are the men, then, +who were found in Kansas woods, with bare heads and unkempt +locks, in red-topped boots and blue shirts, taking their hasty +meals or fitful sleep, their horses tied to the tree-trunks ready +for swift mounting at the first signal of danger. No sounds of +revelry betray their hiding-place; the spirit of the man in their +midst, with Puritan nobility in his rugged face, and a strange, +awe-inspiring unworldliness in his talk, has entered into them. +No novice is he in the affairs of either world--this or the +Unseen. At night he will look up to the stars that glitter above +the still camp and talk like a theologian, moralizing upon the +fact that while God's stars are unerring in their courses God's +human creatures are so erratic. But he is no mere dreamer; you +may see him, when the enemy is known to be near, sleeping in his +saddle, with his gun across it, that he may be no sooner awake +than ready. One who knew not of this habit was once imprudent +enough to touch him in his sleep, as he wanted to speak to him; +he had only time to knock up the swiftly pointed barrel with his +hand and John Brown's bullet grazed the intruder's shoulder. + +One of the first deeds in this campaign, and the one that +certainly first turned the tide and caused the pro-slavery +ruffians to feel that they had need to look to their own safety, +and would not be suffered with impunity to murder whom they chose +and fire honest men's houses like fiends let loose, was the +midnight massacre at Pottawatomie. Along a certain creek there +lived five of these incendiaries and outrage-mongers who were +specially notorious. A report reached Brown that they were sworn +to sweep the neighbourhood clear of Abolitionists, not forgetting +'those Browns.' That they were to be kept in terror by such a +gang seemed to Brown an unrighteous state of things, and he +formed the desperate design of visiting them first. But he loved +not slaughter for slaughter's sake. Not only could he strike +upon occasion, but he could be just in his rough-and-ready +fashion. He argued within himself, 'I shall be right in killing +these men if I am sure they intend these murders, but I will not +act upon mere report.' Disguising himself, he started with two +men to carry a surveyor's chain, and one to carry a flag. No +coward was this man. He would put his life in peril rather than +act on mere suspicion. So he ran his lines past the houses of +these five men, and they naturally came out to see what this +surveying business was. Brown told them, as he looked through +his instrument and waved the flagman to this side or that, 'Yours +is a grand country. Are there many Abolitionists about here?' +In his pocket-book he jotted down the answer 'Yes,' and, swearing +great oaths, they told him that they meant to sweep the region +clear of them in a week. 'Are there some called Brown?' 'Yes,' +and man by man they swore the Browns should be killed by their +hands. Back he went saying to himself, 'If I understand the Book +these are murderers, they have committed murder in their hearts.' +Ere many nights were passed eight men were requisitioned from the +camp. They stole forth armed with short cutlasses, and next +morning the ghastly news spread abroad that five corpses had been +found by that creek. John Brown, jun., said, 'The only statement +that I ever heard my father make in regard to this was "I did not +myself kill any of those men at Pottawatomie, but I am as fully +responsible as if I did."' It was a terrible act; we cannot +wonder that it came as a great shock to many who had the cause of +liberty at heart, but when questioned about it the old man was +always reticent, and would only say, 'God is my Judge.' + +The result was unmistakable. From that moment John Brown's name +became a terror to the evildoers of that quarter. The free +settlers felt there was another fate than extermination for them, +and the impotent administration at Washington first began to see +that this hitherto submissive majority of free settlers must be +reckoned with. A writer said years after, 'It was like a clap of +thunder from a clear sky.' There are acts that can only be +morally estimated by a careful consideration of the prevailing +circumstances, and in this case they are such as we, well housed +and protected folk, thank God, know not. Those who knew this man +through and through were swift to testify, 'Whatever may be +thought of John Brown's acts, John Brown himself was right.' No +personal end had he to serve; his harvest was privation, +suffering, death. He had no personal vengeance to wreak, and +when revengeful words were spoken in his hearing he soon lifted +the conversation to a sublime level. + +'That,' said he, 'is not a Christian spirit. If I thought I had +one bit of the spirit of revenge I would never lift my hand. I +do not make war on slave-holders, but on slavery.' + +Henceforth John Brown's little band was famous. A few days after +the Pottawatomie tragedy we find him engaging a company under +Captain Fate, who professed, with doubtful authority, to be the +emissary of the Government. Hearing after prayer meeting one +Sunday they are in the neighbourhood, he is quickly in pursuit as +soon as night has set in, and in the morning with a handful of +men he is exchanging brisk fire with the enemy. Presently Fred +Brown, a wild-looking man of the woods, who has been left in +charge of the horses, comes riding upon a pony none too large for +its ungainly burden. He waves his long arms, shouting, 'Come on, +boys, we've got 'em surrounded and cut off their communications.' +The enemy are scared at the apparition, and their captain, +thinking there is no fathoming the plots of these Browns, sends a +lieutenant forward with a flag of truce. John Brown asks, 'Are +you captain!' 'No.' 'I will talk with him, not with you.' +Captain Fate advances with much parley. 'Any proposition to +make?' impatiently asks John Brown. 'No.' Then he (John Brown) +has one--unconditional surrender; and with eight men he has soon +secured twenty prisoners. So all through that summer Brown was +wellnigh ubiquitous in harassing the enemy, and their dispatches +betray their terror of him by ludicrous exaggerations of his +achievements. But it is certain he lived as nearly up to his +terrible reputation as he could. At Franklin, at Washington +Creek, and at Osawatomie we find him in evidence. Here are +extracts from his letters in reference to the attack made by the +pro-slavery men at the last-mentioned place. 'On the morning of +August 30 an attack was made by the ruffians on Osawatomie, +numbering some 400, by whose scouts our dear Frederick was shot +dead.' (This was his son, and it was by a Methodist preacher's +rifle he was killed. Such was the support which the pulpit +sometimes gave in those turbulent days to the slavery cause.) +'At this time I was about three miles off, where I had some +fourteen or fifteen men over-night that had just enlisted under +me. These I collected with some twelve or fifteen more, and in +about three-quarters of an hour I attacked them from a wood with +thick undergrowth. + +'With this force we threw them into confusion for about fifteen +or twenty minutes, during which time we killed or wounded from +seventy to eighty of the enemy--as they say--and then we escaped +as we could with one killed, two or three wounded, and as many +more missing. Jason (another son) fought bravely by my side. I +was struck by a partly spent shot which bruised me some, but did +not injure me seriously. "Hitherto the Lord has helped me, +notwithstanding my afflictions."' + +Later there was a futile attack upon Lawrence by 2,700 Of the +Border ruffians, and while the governor claimed afterwards the +credit for the failure of the attack, it is certain that his +dilatory intervention had less to do with the result than the +prompt action of a couple of hundred defenders of the place who +made a dash outwards towards the advancing rabble. Mounted on a +grocer's box in the main street, John Brown thus addressed them +before action: 'If they come up and attack don't yell, but +remain still. Wait till they get within twenty-five yards of +you: get a good object: be sure you see the hind sight of your +gun--then fire. A great deal of powder and lead is wasted on +aiming too high. You had better aim at their legs than at their +heads. In either case, be sure of the hind sights of your guns. +It is from the neglect of this that I myself have so many times +escaped; for if all the bullets that have ever been aimed at me +had hit, I should have been as full of holes as a riddle,' + +All these skirmishes from a military point of view were trivial, +but from a political standpoint they were crucial. They saved +Kansas, and made free election at length possible. Brown and his +men were 'incarnate earnestness,' says one writer, and it was +that fervent devotion which made all that followed possible. It +became impossible for a government to wink at arson and murder. +'Take more care to end life well than to live long,' the old man +used to say, and he exemplified his doctrine. + +His reckless bravery was proverbial. After one of their +successful skirmishes a wounded Missourian wished greatly to see +the redoubtable John Brown before he died. The captain went to +the wagon where he lay and said, 'Here I am; take a good look at +me; we wish you all no harm. Stay at home, leave us alone, and +we shall be friends. I wish you well.' The dying man looked at +him from head to foot, and, reaching out his hand, said, 'I don't +see as you are so bad. You don't look or talk like it. I thank +you.' Clasping his hand, the old captain said, 'God bless you,' +and his tears were the Amen. Thus tender was he ever with his +prisoners, despite his fierceness. + +At length the United States Government saw the free settlers were +in no abject mood, and stepped in to their relief. John Brown +saw the dawn of better days, and then travelled away northward, +worn and sick, with a fugitive slave as a kind of trophy hidden +in his wagon. Before long he found security and peace for a +while at North Elba, New York, at the house of Gerrit Smith. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY + +We now find John Brown busy for a while in the Northern States +addressing Abolitionist meetings, collecting funds for the cause, +and co-operating with the Anti-slavery Committees, of which there +were several thousands. In many homes where the friends of +freedom lived he was a welcome guest, not least welcomed by the +children, who always seemed to refresh his weary heart. 'Out of +the mouths of children,' as the psalmist says (according to one +version), 'God gives strength to true men.' You might often have +seen him holding up a little two-year-old child, saying, 'When +John Brown is hanged as a traitor she can say she used to stand +on John Brown's hand.' He was no false prophet! + +Now also he was able to revisit, after two years' absence, the +old homestead where his wife and children were awaiting him, down +to the little one whom he had left an infant in the cradle. +'Come,' says the strange father to the little prattler, 'I have +sung it to all of them; I must sing it to you.' + + Blow ye the trumpet, blow + The gladly solemn sound: + Let all the nations know + To earth's remotest bound. + The year of Jubilee is come, + Return, ye ransomed sinners, home. + +In strains to which a soul on fire gave enchantment and a +tunefulness of their own he sang that song of Moses and the Lamb, +telling of the Jewish charter of Liberty to which Christ in His +turn gave larger meaning; and the little eyes in the room beheld +a transfigured face which they remembered when he had ceased +blowing the trumpet of Jubilee, and when they sang the same hymn +as they laid him beneath the sod outside that cabin door. + +But not long could he stay at home. The year of Jubilee for all +these bondmen was his one thought, and he found friends who +regarded him as a tried man and were prepared to trust him +implicitly. Such men as Beecher and Theodore Parker gave him +help spiritual; men like the wealthy Stearns gave him help +financial to the extent of many thousand dollars, and were +content to know that John Brown, however he spent it (and +concerning his plans he was always reticent), would have but one +object--liberty to the captive. + +One way in which it was spent was in the working of what was then +known as the underground railway. The opportunist statesman-- +Henry Clay--had led many Northern voters to tolerate the passing +of the Fugitive Slave Law, under which the Federal Government +facilitated the enforced return of fugitive slaves found in free +states to the plantations of the South. And the Abolitionists in +the North, as a set-off against this detested legislation, gave +themselves with much zest to aid the runaway slave. If a slave +could escape to the swamps or the forest and elude the +bloodhounds on his track, he knew that at certain points he would +find those who were prepared to house him, and, passing him on +secretly from station to station, ensure his arrival at a +terminus where he would be safe for life. That was Canada, the +country where the Union Jack waves--the flag of 'Britons' who +'never shall be slaves' and are prepared to grant to all the +priceless boon they claim themselves. This escape was called +'shaking the paw of the lion.' May that British lion never be +transformed into a sleek tiger; may his paw ever be outreached to +a runaway slave, and his roar be a terror to all who would market +in human flesh and blood! + +This chain of well-known houses and locations was called the +underground railway; and, spite of penalties of imprisonment oft +inflicted, it never lacked porters or guards; and if the trains +did not always run to time it was because they were very cautious +against accident. Some 30,000 passengers were probably conveyed +on this line. You will not be surprised to find John Brown an +active 'guard,' and under the name of 'Shubel Morgan' or +'Hawkins' he did good service there. See him making his way with +twelve fugitive slaves from Missouri, through Kansas, Nebraska, +Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan to Canada. It is the dead of +winter, and the rough wagons travel heavily and slowly along the +drifted roads. There is a price on his head in these Southern +States--3,250 dollars offered conjointly by the Governor of +Missouri and President Pierce--and the stations are sometimes +thirty miles apart. They come to a creek, and there is the State +Marshal awaiting them with eighty armed men--for he thought he +had better have a good force, as he heard it was John Brown he +might encounter. John puts his host of twenty-three men all told +into battle array in front of the wagons, and gives the laconic +order, 'Now go straight at 'em, boys, they are sure to run.' +Into the water his men charge--but the baptism of water is all +they are fated to pass through; there is no baptism of fire to +follow, for, scared at the impulsive charge, and filled with +vague terror at that irrepressible John Brown, the Marshal +springs upon his horse and skedaddles. His men scramble to their +horses. Some cannot untie them from the shrubs quickly enough; +several animals carry two men, and, to complete the ludicrousness +of the scene, one man, fearing he might be too late, grips fast +the tail of the steed to which the proper rider has just set +spurs, and, vainly trying to spring on behind, is seen with his +feet off the ground, being whirled through the air. A few +prisoners are speedily added to Brown's little company, who, +thinking it is perhaps prudent to keep men off horseback who were +so prone to flight, orders them to walk. + +But he has ideas of courtesy, has this rough old warrior, and +says he means them no unkindness and will walk with them. Such a +favourable opportunity must in no wise be missed, so the old +soldier-prophet gives them his mind upon the wickedness of slave- +holding and the meanness of slave-hunting, which discourse, let +us hope, is not wholly unfruitful. When he has held them for one +night he thinks they have been brought far enough from their +haunts to prevent further mischief, and sets them free. That one +night spent with him they are not likely to forget. He would not +so much as allow them the privilege of swearing. 'No taking of +God's name in vain gentlemen; if there is a God you will gain +nothing, and if there is none you are fools indeed.' Such is the +old man's plain argument. + +One of them, a harum-scarum young physician, is taken specially +under charge by John Brown. Before retiring Brown desires him to +pray. 'I can't pray,' he says, with an oath. 'What, did your +mother never teach you?' asks Brown. 'Oh yes,' he replies; 'but +that was a long time ago.' 'Well, you still remember the prayer +she taught you?' continued Brown. 'Yes,' is the answer. 'Say +that for want of a better,' is the order. Then, to the amusement +of all, the poor doctor repeats the rhyme: + + And now I lay me down to sleep, + I pray the Lord my soul to keep. + +Said the young doctor after he was released, 'John Brown knows +more about religion than any man I ever met. He never used harsh +language; we were treated like gentlemen; we shared food with +them. Only it went against the grain to be guarded by niggers.' + +Thus the journey proceeds. As they get farther north there is +more bark than bite about the opposition they encounter. In the +street at one town where they are sheltered, Brown strolls alone +and finds a champion of slavery haranguing the crowd and +denouncing Brown as a reckless, bloody outlaw, a coward who +skulked and would never fight in the open. Warming to a climax +the orator proclaims, 'If I could get a sight of him I would +shoot him on the spot; I would never give him a chance to steal +any more slaves.' 'My friend,' says a plain-looking countryman-- +no other than John Brown himself--on the outskirts of the throng, +'you talk very brave; and as you will never have a better +opportunity to shoot old Brown than right here and now, you can +have a chance.' But his powder was damped--or his courage! + +Now the journey is over. The twelve fugitives have become +thirteen, for a little infant has been born on the march, never +to know, thank God, the horrors the mother has left behind. The +child is named after his deliverer 'John Brown,' who conducts +them safely across the ferry and places them under the shelter of +the Union Jack on the Canadian shore. Then the old man +reverently pronounces his 'Nunc dimittis,' 'Lord, now lettest +thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy +salvation.' 'I could not brook the thought that any ill should +befall them, least of all that they should be taken back to +slavery. The arm of Jehovah has protected us.' Before many +months those rescued ones were weeping at the news that John +Brown was condemned to die, and were saying 'Would that we could +die instead.' + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HARPER'S FERRY + +John Brown now prepared for his final effort, for the enterprise +he had espoused and the sacrifice he had sworn to make for it +were to be completed by his death. 'There is no way of +deliverance but by blood,' had become his settled conviction upon +this slavery question. And truly it seemed so. The Slave States +were waxing fiercer in their unholy enterprise. The reopening of +the market for freshly imported slaves from Africa was openly +advocated--indeed, prices were offered for the best specimens, as +if it were a mere cattle trade. 'For sale, 400 negroes just +landed,' was placarded in Southern streets; and to complete the +grim situation a prize was proposed for the best sermon in +defence of the slave trade. Surely the Lord gave not 'the word,' +but 'great was the company of the preachers' who were prepared to +publish it. + +John Brown felt that the fullness of time was come for a +desperate stroke. Desperate indeed it was. From a military +point of view it was madness. He resolved to hire a farm in +Maryland, near to the great armoury at Harper's Ferry in the +Slave State of Virginia, and there diligently and silently to +store arms. Then with a small company he would seize Harper's +Ferry. Having possessed himself of its stores, he would retreat +to the mountains, where he hoped there would be considerable +rallying to his standard. Holding his own amid mountain +fastnesses of which he had acquired an intimate knowledge, he +thought he might at last become strong enough to make terms with +the Government. + +We next find him passing as Isaac Smith, a Maryland farmer--known +to his neighbours as a demure, somewhat eccentric, son of the +soil. Three of his sons, true to the vow, were with him. Little +thought the farmers around that hard by that farmhouse a few +thousand weapons were stored and that a little band of mysterious +strangers was gathering there, but so it was. To the last there +was much opposition to Brown's impulsive scheme. Once, indeed, +he resigned leadership, but the little group passed a horrible +five minutes of bereavement and then re-elected him with many +promises of support. Sublime old madman!--if mad indeed he was! +Had he not made them all feel like himself, 'that they have but +one life and once to die; and if they lose their lives perchance +it will do more for the cause than their lives would be worth in +any other way?' + +One reluctant darkie, rescued by him from slavery, was challenged +to say what he would do. He hesitated--looked at his shaggy old +benefactor, and then, with heart surcharged with gratitude, said, +'I believe I'll go wid de ole man.' + +Ah! the old man's soul had entered into them--it kept them +'marching on.' In the dark, wet night of October 16, 1859, they +mustered quietly. The captain addressed them, and he was no +reckless destroyer of human life who thus spake: 'Gentlemen, let +me press this one thing on your minds. You all know how dear +life is to you, and how dear your lives are to your friends; and +in remembering that, consider that the lives of others are as +dear. Do not therefore take the life of any one if you can +possibly avoid it, but if it is necessary to take life in order +to save your own, then make sure work of it.' + +Two of them were deputed to hasten, when the town was in their +hands, to Colonel Washington's house, four miles distant--to +seize him, free his slaves, and take the relic of the house, the +famed sword of his illustrious ancestor George Washington, that +with this in hand John Brown might head the campaign. That feat +they actually performed, and for one brief day their leader bore +that sword. + +Silently marched that little band of about a score under shelter +of the darkness. They had their plans complete, even a +Constitution ready framed, should they be successful. The +telegraph wires were cut. They contrived to terrify all on guard +without firing a shot, and as the sun rose, Harper's Ferry, +arsenal, armoury, and rifle works, and many prisoners were in the +hands of John Brown. The day wore on, but the expected +reinforcements came not; the spreading news, however, brought +hostile troops around the captured place, and they hourly +increased. Brown took not his one chance of escape to the +mountains--why, it is difficult to say. In prison afterwards he +said his weakness in yielding to the entreaties of his prisoners +ruined him. 'It was the first time I ever lost command of +myself, and now I am punished for it,' he added. At another time +when questioned he gave fatalistic answers, and said it was +'ordained so ages before the world was made.' By afternoon he +was on the defensive within the armoury, and a fierce fight +ensued. Even then his simple notions of justice were uppermost, +and to the last as his men fired from the portholes he would be +heard saying of some one passing in the street, 'That man is +unarmed don't shoot.' Two of his sons--Watson and Oliver Brown-- +were pierced with bullets. As he straightened out the limbs of +the second, he said, 'This is the third son I have lost in the +cause.' Always the cause! The night fell and the fight was in +abeyance, but in the morning he was summoned to surrender, and +refused, saying he would die there. At length the engine-house, +their last resort, held stubbornly, was captured, and Brown fell, +wounded by the sword of a young lieutenant who had marked him for +his stroke. One of his prisoners who was by says truly of his +last fight, 'Almost any other man who saw his sons fall would +have exacted life for life, but he spared all of us who were in +his power.' Of the force of twenty-two men, ten were killed, +seven captured and hanged, and five escaped. On the other side +six were killed and eight wounded. + +He was now a captive, suffered to recover from his wounds that he +might die a felon's death. Many were those who, from various +motives, came to see the wounded prisoner, and from many +interviews reported at the time we may take a few extracts: + +Q. Can you tell us who furnished money for your expedition? +A. I furnished most of it myself. I cannot implicate others. It +is by my own folly I have been taken. I could have saved myself +had I not yielded to my feelings. + +Q. If you would tell us who sent you, who provided means, it +would be valuable information. +A. I will answer freely and faithfully about what concerned +myself, anything I can with honour, but not about others. It was +my own prompting and that of my Maker or the devil--whichever you +please to ascribe it to--I acknowledge no master in human form. + +Q. Why came you here? +A. To liberate the slaves--the cry of the oppressed is my only +reason. I respect the rights of the poorest coloured folk as +much as those of the most wealthy and powerful. + +Q. How do you justify your acts? +A. I think, my friend, you are guilty of a great wrong against +God and humanity--I say it without wishing to be offensive and +it would be perfectly right for any one to free those you +wickedly hold in bondage. I am not here to gratify revenge, but +because I pity those who have none to help them. + +Q. Do you consider this a religious movement? +A. The greatest service man can render to God. + +Q. Do you consider yourself an instrument in the hands of +Providence? +A. I do. + +Q. Brown, suppose you had every nigger in the United States, what +would you do with them? +A. Set them free. + +Said Governor Wise of Virginia, 'Mr. Brown, the silver of your +hair is reddened by the blood of crime, and you should eschew +these hard words and think of eternity. You are committing +felony by these sentiments.' Brown replied, 'Governor, I have by +all appearances not more than fifteen or twenty years the start +of you in the journey to eternity, and whether my time has to be +long or short I am equally prepared to go. There is an eternity +behind and an eternity before, and this speck in the centre, +however long, is but comparatively a minute. The difference +between your tenure and mine is trifling, and you have all of you +a heavy responsibility and it behoves you to prepare more than it +does me.' + +The Governor's public testimony was: 'They are mistaken who took +Brown to be a madman. He is a bundle of the best nerves I ever +saw. He is a man of clear head, of courage, fortitude, and +simple ingenuousness. He is cool, collected, and indomitable; +and it is but just to him to say that he was humane to his +prisoners, and he inspired me with great trust in his integrity +as a man of truth. He is a fanatic, vain and garrulous, but +firm, truthful, and intelligent. He professes to be a Christian +in communion with the Congregational Church of the North, and +openly preaches his purpose of universal emancipation, and the +negroes themselves were to be the agents, by means of arms, led +on by white commanders. Colonel Washington says that he was the +coolest and firmest man he ever saw in defying danger and death. +With one son dead by his side, and another shot through, he felt +the pulse of his dying son with one hand, held his rifle with the +other, and commanded his men with the utmost composure, +encouraging them to be firm, and to sell their lives as dearly as +they could.' + +The trial for treason and murder took place in the Virginian +Court on October 27-31, ere he had recovered. He pleaded for +delay till his health allowed him to give more attention to his +defence, but the request was refused. So, weak and wounded, he +had to lie upon his pallet with a blanket thrown over him. His +words were few, and to the same effect as those we have quoted. +There was only one verdict possible in that court--GUILTY--and he +was sentenced to be hanged. Technically there was no other +course possible. The calm verdict of the CAMBRIDGE MODERN +HISTORY upon the raid is correct: 'It was the mad folly of an +almost crazed fanatic . . . the stain still upon him of the +bloodiest of the lawless work done in the name of Freedom; a +terrible outlaw because an outlaw for conscience' sake; intense +to the point of ungovernable passion--heeding nothing but his own +will and sense of right; a revolutionist upon principle; a +lawless incendiary, and yet seeking nothing for himself.' + +But while we feel the veracity of these words there comes to our +mind one of Charles Kingsley's impulsive sayings: 'Get hold of +one truth, let it blaze in your sky like a Greenland sun, never +setting day or night. See it in everything, and everything in +it. The world will call you a bigot and fanatic, and then fifty +years after will wonder how it was the bigot and fanatic managed +to do so much more than all the sensible men round about him.' + +John Brown vindicated that opinion. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HALT OF THE BODY AND THE MARCH OF THE SOUL + +The journeys of John Brown's body were now at an end. Only his +soul was free to travel, and it found its vehicle in letters +which carried thoughts that breathed and words that burned far +and wide. + +This condemned prisoner had five weeks left of mortal life, and +they were the most fruitful he ever spent. The greatest +achievement of his life was the marvellous advocacy of the cause +conducted from his prison. His friend F. B. Sanborn says: +'Here was a defeated, dying old man, who had been praying and +fighting and pleading and toiling for years, to persuade a great +people that their national life was all wrong, suddenly +converting millions to his cause by the silent magnanimity or +the spoken wisdom of his last days as a fettered prisoner.' + +He had spoken of a Samson's victory as possibly the great +triumph in store for him. Even so it was, and in his death and +by the manner of it he mortally wounded his old enemy, Slavery. +As the great continent watched from afar his last days, a thrill +passed through it that made Emancipation a triumphant cause. +Efforts to save Brown's life might be in vain, but Brown's death +was helping to save the life of the nation. His letters from +the prison were many and widely circulated. All he has to say +of himself is that he knows no degradation. 'I can trust God +with the time and manner of my death, believing that for me now +to seal my testimony with my life will do vastly more for the +Cause than all I have done before. Dear wife and children, do +not feel degraded on my account.' Humorously he remarks, 'I am +worth inconceivably more to hang than for any other purpose.' +'Say to my poor boys never to grieve for one moment on my +account; and should many of you live to see the time when you +will not blush to own your relation to old John Brown, it will +not be more strange than many things that have happened.' '" He +shall BEGIN to deliver Israel out of the hand of the +Philistines." This,' said he, 'I think is true of my commission +from God and my work.' The scaffold had no terrors for him. +His trust, he averred, was firm in that Redeemer who, to +European and Ethiopian, bond and free alike, had brought a year +of Jubilee and a great salvation. But though he asked no pity +for himself, he pleaded in every letter for those who, as he +said, were on the 'under-hill' side. 'Weep not for me,' he +wrote home, 'but for the crushed millions who have no +comforter.' The old text was continually repeated, 'Remember +them that are in bonds as bound with them,' and he bade them +abhor with undying hatred that 'sum of all villanies--slavery.' + +His only cause of agitation in the prison was the intrusive +ministration of certain pro-slavery parsons. He refused to let +a man who 'had the blood of the slaves on his skirts' minister +to him. 'I respect you as a gentleman, but a HEATHEN +gentleman,' he would say. 'Don't let such go with me to the +scaffold,' he asked. 'I would rather have an escort of +barefooted, bareheaded, ragged slave boys and girls led by some +old grey-headed slave mother.' + +A sculptor who had conceived a great admiration for the brave +old man was ambitious to execute a marble bust of him. He +applied to Mrs. Stearns--Brown's old wealthy supporter--to aid +him in his enterprise. She readily promised to supply all +funds, but, said she, 'You will have a vain journey for the +measurements. He will just say, "Nonsense; give the money to +the poor." You will then say, "Mr. Brown, posterity will want to +know what you looked like," and he will reply, "No consequence +to posterity how I looked; better give the money to the poor." +But go if you will and use my name.' And off went the eager +artist. With some difficulty he procured an interview with the +prisoner. But woman is far-sighted; sure enough the answer +came, 'Nonsense; give the money to the poor.' But the artist +pleaded, 'Posterity will want to see what you were like.' Said +the man who longed that his work rather than his memory should +live, 'No consequence to posterity how I looked; give the money +to the poor.' However, the name of Mrs. Steams prevailed at +last, and with a thankful look he said, 'She must have what she +desires; take the measurements.' + +The day of execution, December 2, 1859, drew near. Excitement +increased, and for the first time in the history of the Union +the passport system was introduced by the State Government of +Virginia, and was maintained during the last eight days of +Brown's life, lest haply aid from the North should be organized. +Troops were present to the number of 3,000, around the scaffold +at Charlestown, when he was carried forth to die. Rumour +alleged that he had on the way to the scaffold taken a slave +child from its mother's arms and kissed it. But, credible as it +may have been to many, those who were present knew he was too +closely pinioned and guarded for it to be possible. He had +little to say--only one word of the glory of the surrounding +scenery, for he was a true son of Nature to the last. He had +placed in an official's hands a slip of paper with the following +words upon it: 'I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the +crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with +blood. I had, as I now think vainly, flattered myself that +without very much bloodshed it might be done.' + +Upon the scaffold he only bade them be quick, as he was quite +ready. Ready! Yes, he had been ready many a year, and it was +no unwilling victim that swung mid-air that December morning. + +They carried his body to the old log-house he occupied at North +Elba, where it was buried upon the farm. That farm has been +recently purchased for a public park; and the grave, with the +big boulder upon it, forms a conspicuous feature. Thousands +approach it with reverent feet, not so much because of the body +which lies mouldering there, but for the sake of the soul which +is marching on. They had sung in Northern streets a grim ditty +during those days of suspense before his execution, with the +refrain, addressed to the Southerner: + + And Old Brown, Osawatomie Brown, + May trouble you more than ever + When you've nailed his coffin down. + +It contains a true word of prophecy. Says an American writer: +soon after, 'I meet him at every turn. John Brown is not dead; +he is more alive than ever he was.' As that same year the +Northern States gird themselves for the great Presidential +contest, determined that at length a thorough Abolitionist named +Abraham Lincoln shall tenant the White House, it is evident that +John Brown's soul is marching on. + +When at length fierce civil war breaks out, and those same +Northern States month by month are brought to the sure +conviction that Freedom as certainly as Union is the cause for +which they fight, and as through long disappointment and +suspense, lavish effusion of blood, generous sacrifice of their +bravest sons they steadily press to victory under the ever- +patient, dogged leadership of President Lincoln and General +Grant, it is evident that John Brown's soul is marching on. + +In the tramp of ten thousands of armed men, in the strains of +that grand old battle-hymn of the Republic, I hear the march of +his soul: + + Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: + He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are + stored; + He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible, swift + sword: + His truth is marching on. + Glory, glory, hallelujah, &c. + + He hath sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call + retreat; + He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgement-seat; + Oh, be swift, my soul! to answer Him; be jubilant, my feet! + Our God is marching on. + + I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps; + They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; + I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; + His day is marching on. + + In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, + With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me: + As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free! + While God is marching on. + +When Lincoln's first Emancipation Decree (made necessary by the +fact that so many blacks belonging to the disloyal were fighting +for the Union), that all slaves in the Rebel States from New +Year's Day, 1863, shall be free, is promulgated; and when, two +years later, the Constitution is amended so as to forbid slavery +all through the Republic, now again united; when the nation +generously provides food, shelter, and education for the +emancipated; and when the freed bondmen greet their liberty- +loving President in Southern streets with shouts of gratitude +and cries of 'Father Abraham'--you may know that John Brown's +soul is marching on. + +There in America and elsewhere it continues its march. Wherever +the swift cruiser speeds in pursuit of the infamous slave-ship, +in every heart-beat of the brave seamen who feel they are on a +righteous errand and will overhaul her in the King's--aye, in +God's--name, we hear the march of John Brown's soul. + +When a nation of free men rises up in wrath at the issue of some +official document that seems to be couched in temporizing +language on this supreme subject, or at some government that has +tolerated conditions that approximate slavery, and will have +none of it, we know the old hero's soul is marching on. + +Whenever in secret council the ambassador of a free people +negotiates a treaty, and, backed by the most sacred impulses of +those he represents, urges an anti-slavery clause, we know John +Brown's soul is on the march. + +And march it shall, while nations learn to prize liberty as +God's great chartered right to every man, while they read the +shining letters of the Golden Rule, while they remember that God +made all men of one blood and that all are redeemed by the blood +of One. + +While God looks down from His heaven and sees the distressed +face, or hears the piercing cry of the oppressed, and can turn +the hearts of men to fight His battles upon earth, the soul of +John Brown will be marching still. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Old John Brown, by Walter Hawkins + |