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.