take the road to the river. I know the way of all of 'em. They always
makes tracks for the underground.'
"'Sartin, dat's de idee,' said Sam. 'Mas'r Haley hits de thing right in
de middle. Now, der's two roads to de river,--de dirt road and der pike.
Which Mas'r mean to take?'
"Andy looked up innocently at Sam, surprised at hearing this new
geographical fact; but he instantly confirmed what Sam said.
"'I'd rather be 'clined to 'magine that Lizy'd take der dirt road, bein'
it's the least travelled,' said Sam. Though Haley was an old bird, and
inclined to be suspicious of chaff, he was rather brought up by this
view of the case. He pondered a moment, and said, 'If yer wasn't both on
yer such cussed liars, now!'
"The pensive tone in which this was spoken amused Andy prodigiously. He
fell a little behind, and shook so with laughter as to run a great risk
of falling from his horse. But Sam's face was immovably composed into
the most doleful gravity.
"'Course, Mas'r can do as he'd ruther,' said Sam. 'It's all one to us.
When I study 'pon it, I think de straight road is de best.'
"'She would naturally go a lonesome way,' said Haley.
"'I should 'magine so,' said Sam; 'but gals is pecular. Dey nebber does
nothin' ye thinks they will; mose gen'lly de contrar; so if yer thinks
they've gone one road, it's sartin you'd better go t'other, and then
you'll be sure to find 'em. So I think we'd better take de straight
road.'
"Haley announced decidedly that he should go the other, and asked when
they should come to it.
"'A little piece ahed,' said Sam, giving a wink to Andy. He added
gravely, 'I've studded on de matter, and I'm quite clar we ought not to
go dat ar way. I nebber been over it no way. It's despit lonesome, and
we might lose our way. And now I think on't, I hearn 'em tell dat ar
road was all fenced up down by der creek. A'n't it, Andy?'
"Andy wasn't certain; he'd only 'hearn tell' about that road, but had
never been over it.
"Haley thought the first mention of the road was involuntary on Sam's
part, and that, upon second thoughts, he had lied desperately to
dissuade him from taking that direction because he was unwilling to
implicate Eliza. Therefore he struck briskly into the road, and was
followed by Sam and Andy.
"The road in fact had formerly been an old thoroughfare to the river,
but after the laying of the new pike it had been abandoned. It was open
for about an hour's ride, and after that it was cut across by various
farms and fences. Sam knew this perfectly well; indeed, the road had
been so long closed that Andy had never heard of it. He therefore rode
along with an air of dutiful submission, only groaning occasionally, and
saying it was 'desp't rough, and bad for Jerry's foot.'
"'Now, I jest give yer warning, I know yer,' said Haley. 'Yer won't get
me to turn off this yere road, with all yer fussin'; so you shet up.'
"'Mas'r will go his own way,' said Sam, with rueful submission, at the
same time winking portentously to Andy, whose delight now was very near
the explosive point. Sam was in wonderful spirits. He professed to keep
a very brisk lookout. At one time he exclaimed that he saw 'a gal's
bunnet' on the top of some distant eminence; at another time, he called
out to Andy to ask if 'that thar wasn't Lizy down in the holler.' He was
always sure to make these exclamations in some rough or craggy part of
the road, where the sudden quickening of speed was a special
inconvenience to all parties concerned, thus keeping Haley in a state of
constant commotion.
"After riding about an hour in this way, the whole party made a
precipitate and tumultuous descent into a barn-yard belonging to a large
farming establishment. Not a soul was in sight, all the hands being
employed in the fields; but as the barn stood square across the road,
it was evident that their journey in that direction had reached its end.
"'You rascal!' said Haley; 'you knew all about this.'
"'Didn't I _tell_ yer I knowed, and yer wouldn't believe me?' replied
Sam. 'I telled Mas'r 't was all shet up, and fenced up, and I didn't
'spect we could git through. Andy heard me.'
"This was too true to be disputed, and the unlucky man had to pocket his
wrath as well as he could. All three faced to the right about, and took
up their line of march for the highway."
[The consequence of all these delays was, that they reached the Ohio
River only in season to see Eliza and her child get safely on the other
side, by jumping from one mass of floating ice to the other.]
"'The gal's got seven devils in her I believe,' said Haley. 'How like a
wild-cat she jumped!'
"'Wal, now,' said Sam, scratching his head, 'I hope Mas'r 'scuse us
tryin' dat ar road. Don't think I feel spry enough for dat ar, no way';
and Sam gave a hoarse chuckle.
"'_You_ laugh!' exclaimed the slave-trader, with a growl.
"'I couldn't help it now, Mas'r,' said Sam, giving way to the long
pent-up delight of his soul. 'She looked so curis, a leapin' and
springin'; ice a crackin'--and only to hear her! plump! ker chunk! ker
splash!' and Sam and Andy laughed till the tears rolled down their
cheeks.
"'I'll make yer laugh t'other side yer mouths!' exclaimed the trader,
laying about their heads with his riding-whip. Both ducked, and ran
shouting up the bank. They were on their horses before he could come up
with them.
"With much gravity Sam called out: 'Good evening, Mas'r Haley. Won't
want us no longer. I 'spect Missis be anxious 'bout Jerry. Missis
wouldn't hear of our ridin' the critturs over Lizy's bridge to-night.'
With a poke into Andy's ribs, they started off at full speed, their
shouts of laughter coming faintly on the wind.
"Sam was in the highest possible feather. He expressed his exultation by
all sorts of howls and ejaculations, and by divers odd motions and
contortions of his whole system. Sometimes he would sit backward with
his face to the horse's tail; then, with a whoop and a somerset, he
would come right side up in his place again; and, drawing on a grave
face, he would begin to lecture Andy for laughing and playing the fool.
Anon, slapping his sides with his arms, he would burst forth in peals of
laughter, that made the old woods ring as they passed. With all these
evolutions, he contrived to keep the horses up to the top of their
speed, until, between ten and eleven, their heels resounded on the
gravel at the end of the balcony.
"His mistress flew to the railings, and called out, 'Is that you, Sam?
Where are they?'
"'Mas'r Haley's a restin' at the tavern,' said Sam. 'He's drefful
fatigued, Missis.'
"'And Eliza, where is she, Sam?'
"'Wal, Missis, de Lord he persarves his own. Lizy's done gone over the
river into 'Hio; as 'markably as if de Lord took her over in a chariot
of fire and two hosses.'
"His master, who had followed his wife to the verandah, said, 'Come up
here, and tell your mistress what she wants to know.'
"Sam soon appeared at the parlor-door, hat in hand. In answer to their
questions, he told his story in lively style. 'Dis yere's a providence,
and no mistake,' said Sam, piously rolling up his eyes. 'As Missis has
allers been instructin' on us, thar's allers instruments ris up to do de
Lord's will. Now if it hadn't been for me to-day, Lizy'd been took a
dozen times. Warn't it I started off de hosses, dis yere mornin', and
kept 'em chasin' till dinner time? And didn't I car Mas'r Haley five
miles out of de road dis evening? else he'd a come up with Lizy, as easy
as a dog arter a coon. Dese yere's all providences!'
"With as much sternness as he could command under the circumstances, his
master said, 'They are a kind of providences that you'll have to be
pretty sparing of, Sam. I allow no such practices with gentlemen on my
place.'
"Sam stood with the corners of his mouth lowered, in most penitential
style. 'Mas'r's quite right,' said he. 'It was ugly on me; thar's no
disputin' that ar; and of course Mas'r and Missis wouldn't encourage no
such works. I'm sensible ob dat ar. But a poor nigger like me's 'mazin'
tempted to act ugly sometimes, when fellers will cut up such shines as
dat ar Mas'r Haley. He a'n't no gen'l'man no way. Anybody's been raised
as I've been can't help a seein' dat ar.'
"'Well, Sam,' said his mistress, 'as you seem to have a proper sense of
your errors, you may go now and tell Aunt Chloe she may get you some of
that cold ham that was left of dinner to-day. You and Andy must be
hungry.'
"'Missis is a heap too good for us,' said Sam, making his bow with
alacrity and departing.
"Having done up his piety and humility, to the satisfaction of the
parlor, as he trusted, he clapped his palm-leaf on his head with a sort
of free-and-easy air, and proceeded to the dominions of Aunt Chloe, with
the intention of flourishing largely in the kitchen."
JOHN BROWN AND THE COLORED CHILD.
BY L. MARIA CHILD.
[When John Brown went from the jail to the gallows, in Charlestown,
Virginia, December 2, 1859, he stooped to kiss a little colored
child.]
A winter sunshine, still and bright,
The Blue Hills bathed with golden light,
And earth was smiling to the sky,
When calmly he went forth to die.
Infernal passions festered there,
Where peaceful Nature looked so fair;
And fiercely, in the morning sun,
Flashed glitt'ring bayonet and gun.
The old man met no friendly eye,
When last he looked on earth and sky;
But one small child, with timid air,
Was gazing on his hoary hair.
As that dark brow to his upturned,
The tender heart within him yearned;
And, fondly stooping o'er her face,
He kissed her for her injured race.
The little one she knew not why
That kind old man went forth to die;
Nor why, 'mid all that pomp and stir,
He stooped to give a kiss to _her_.
But Jesus smiled that sight to see,
And said, "He did it unto _me_."
The golden harps then sweetly rung,
And this the song the angels sung:
"Who loves the poor doth love the Lord;
Earth cannot dim thy bright reward:
We hover o'er yon gallows high,
And wait to bear thee to the sky."
* * * * *
John Brown, on his way to the scaffold, stooped to take up a
slave-child. That closing example was the legacy of the dying man to his
country. That benediction we must continue and fulfil. In this new
order, equality, long postponed, shall become the master-principle of
our system, and the very frontispiece of our Constitution.--HON. CHARLES
SUMNER.
* * * * *
Christ told me to remember those in bonds as bound with them; to do
toward them as I should wish them to do toward me in similar
circumstances. My conscience bade me to do that. Therefore I have no
regret for the transaction for which I am condemned. I think I feel as
happy as Paul did when he lay in prison. He knew if they killed him it
would greatly advance the cause of Christ. That was the reason he
rejoiced. On that same ground "I do rejoice, yea, and will
rejoice."--JOHN BROWN.
THE AIR OF FREEDOM.
BY FRANCES E. W. HARPER.
[Written at Niagara Falls in 1856.]
I have just returned from Canada. I have gazed for the first time upon
free land. Would you believe it? the tears sprang to my eyes, and I
wept. It was a glorious sight to gaze, for the first time, on the land
where a poor slave, flying from our land of boasted liberty, would in a
moment find his fetters broken and his shackles loosed. Whatever he was
in the land of Washington, in the shadow of Bunker Hill Monument, or
even upon Plymouth Rock, _here_ he becomes "a man and a brother."
I had gazed on Harper's Ferry, or rather the Rock at the Ferry, towering
up in simple grandeur, with the gentle Potomac gliding peacefully at its
feet; and I felt that it was God's masonry. My soul expanded while
gazing on its sublimity. I had heard the ocean singing its wild chorus
of sounding waves, and the living chords of my heart thrilled with
ecstasy. I have since seen the rainbow-crowned Niagara, girdled with
grandeur and robed with glory, chanting the choral hymn of omnipotence;
but none of these sights have melted me, as did the first sight of free
land.
Towering mountains, lifting their hoary summits to catch the first faint
flush of day, when the sunbeams kiss the shadows from morning's drowsy
face, may expand and exalt your soul; the first view of the ocean may
fill you with strange delight; the great, the glorious Niagara may hush
your spirit with its ceaseless thunder,--it may charm you with its robe
of crested spray, and with its rainbow crown: but the land of freedom
has a lesson of deeper significance than foaming waves and towering
mountains. It carries the heart back to that heroic struggle in Great
Britain for the emancipation of the slaves, in which the great heart of
the people throbbed for liberty, and the mighty pulse of the nation beat
for freedom, till eight hundred thousand men, women, and children in the
West Indies arose redeemed from bondage and freed from chains.
EMANCIPATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, APRIL 16, 1862.
BY JAMES MADISON BELL.
Unfurl your banners to the breeze!
Let Freedom's tocsin sound amain,
Until the islands of the seas
Re-echo with the glad refrain!
Columbia's free! Columbia's free!
Her teeming streets, her vine-clad groves,
Are sacred now to Liberty,
And God, who every right approves.
Thank God, the Capital is free!
The slaver's pen, the auction-block,
The gory lash of cruelty,
No more this nation's pride shall mock;
No more, within those ten miles square,
Shall men be bought and women sold;
Nor infants, sable-hued and fair,
Exchanged again for paltry gold.
To-day the Capital is free!
And free those halls where Adams stood
To plead for man's humanity,
And for a common brotherhood;
Where Sumner stood, with massive frame,
Whose eloquent philosophy
Has clustered round his deathless name
Bright laurels for eternity;
Where Wilson, Lovejoy, Wade, and Hale,
And other lights of equal power,
Have stood, like warriors clad in mail,
Before the giant of the hour,--
Co-workers in a common cause,
Laboring for their country's weal,
By just enactments, righteous laws,
And burning, eloquent appeal.
To them we owe and gladly bring
The grateful tributes of our hearts;
And while we live to muse and sing,
These in our songs shall claim their parts.
To-day Columbia's air doth seem
Much purer than in days agone;
And now her mighty heart, I deem,
Hath lighter grown by marching on.
THE LAWS OF HEALTH.
BY L. MARIA CHILD.
There are three things peculiarly essential to health,--plenty of fresh
water, plenty of pure air, and enough of nourishing food.
If possible, the human body should be washed all over every day; but if
circumstances render that difficult, the operation should be performed
at least two or three times a week. People in general are not aware how
important frequent bathing is. The cuticle, or skin, with which the
human body is covered, is like fine net-work, or lace. By help of a
magnifying-glass, called a microscope, it can be seen that there are a
thousand holes in every inch of our skin. In the skin of a middle-sized
man there are two millions three hundred and four thousand of these
holes, called pores. Those pores are the mouths of exceedingly small
vessels made to carry off fluids, which are continually formed in the
human body, and need to be continually carried off. This process is
going on all the time, whether we are sleeping or waking, hot or cold.
When we are cool and at rest, that which passes off is invisible; and
because we see no signs of it, and are not sensible of it, it is called
insensible perspiration. But in very hot weather, or when we exercise
violently, a saltish fluid passes through our pores in great drops,
which we call sweat; and because we can see and feel it, it is called
sensible perspiration. If the pores of the body are filled up with dust,
or any kind of dirt, the fluids cannot pass off through them, as Nature
intended; and, being shut up, they become corrupt and produce fevers and
bad humors. This is the reason why physicians always advise people to be
careful and keep their pores open. In order to do this, dust and dirt
should be frequently washed away. Many a fever and many a troublesome
sore might be prevented by frequent bathing. Moreover, the skin looks
smoother and handsomer when it is washed often. If a pond or river is
near by, it is well to swim a few minutes every day or two; if not, the
body should be washed with a pail of water and a rag. But it is not safe
to go into cold water, or to apply it to the skin, when you are very
much heated; nor is it safe to drink much cold water until you get
somewhat cool. The best way is to plunge into water when you first get
up in the morning, and then rub yourself with a cloth till you feel all
of a glow. It takes but a few minutes, and you will feel more vigorous
for it all day. Cool water is more healthy to wash in than warm water.
It makes a person feel stronger, and it is not attended with any danger
of catching cold afterward. But water directly from the well is too
chilly; it is better to use it when it has been standing in the house
some hours. Garments worn next to the skin, and the sheets in which you
sleep, imbibe something of the fluids all the time passing from the
body; therefore they should be washed every week. I am aware that, as
slaves, you had no beds or sheets; but as free men I hope you will
gradually be able to provide yourselves with such comforts. Meanwhile,
sleep in the cleanest way that you can; for that is one way to avoid
sickness. When the skin is hot and feverish, it does a great deal of
good to wipe the face, arms, and legs with a cloth moistened with cool
water, changed occasionally. Headache is often cured by placing the feet
in cool water a minute or two, and then rubbing them smartly with a dry
cloth. Sitting in cool water fifteen or twenty minutes is also a remedy
for headache or dizziness. A cut or bruise heals much quicker if it is
soaked ten or fifteen minutes in cool water, then wrapped in six or
eight folds of wet rag, and covered with a piece of dry cloth. The rag
should be moistened again when it gets dry. This simple process subdues
the heat and fever of a wound. When the throat is sore, it is an
excellent thing to wash the outside freely with cold water the first
thing in the morning, and then wipe it very dry. A wet bandage at night,
covered with a dry cloth, to keep it from the air, often proves very
comforting when the throat is inflamed. Indeed, it is scarcely possible
to say too much in favor of using cool water freely, at suitable times.
Fresh air is as important as good water. The lungs of the human body are
all the time drawing in air and breathing out air. What we breathe out
carries away with it something from our bodies. Therefore it is
unhealthy to be in a room with many people, without doors or windows
open; for the people draw in all the fresh air, and what they breathe
out is more or less corrupted by having passed through their bodies. It
is very important to health to have plenty of pure fresh air to breathe.
No dirty things, or decaying substances, such as cabbage leaves or
mouldy vegetables, or pools of stagnant water, should be allowed to
remain anywhere near a dwelling. The pools should be filled up, and the
decaying things should be carried away from the house, heaped up and
covered with earth to make manure for the garden. If there is not room
enough to do that, they should be buried in the ground. Whole families
often have fevers from breathing the bad odors that rise from such
things. It is morally wrong to indulge in any habits that injure the
health or well-being of others. The bed, and the coverings of the bed,
should have fresh air let in upon them every day; otherwise, they retain
the fluids which are passing from the body all the time. In England,
children that worked in large manufactories became pale and sickly and
died off fast. When doctors inquired into it, they found that the poor
little creatures crept into the same bedclothes week after week, and
month after month, without having them washed or aired.
Occasional change in articles of food is healthy, as well as agreeable;
but it is injurious to eat a great variety of things at the same meal.
There are two good rules, so very simple that everybody, rich or poor,
can observe them: First, never indulge yourself in eating what you have
found by experience does not agree with you; secondly, when you have
eaten enough, do not continue to eat merely because the food tastes
good. It is foolish to derange the stomach for a long time to please the
palate for a short time.
If you have oppressed feelings in the head, or sour and bitter tastes in
the mouth, or a tendency to sickishness, take nothing but bread and
water for two or three days, and you will be very likely to save
yourself from a fever.
People might spare themselves many a toothache if they would rinse their
mouths after every meal, and every night, before going to bed, remove
every particle of food from between the teeth, and rinse them thoroughly
with water. New toothpicks should be made often, for the sake of
cleanliness.
Dirt was a necessity of Slavery; and that is one reason, among many
others, why freemen should hate it, and try to put it away from their
minds, their persons, and their habitations.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION OF
EMANCIPATION, JANUARY 1, 1863.
BY FRANCES E. W. HARPER.
It shall flash through coming ages,
It shall light the distant years;
And eyes now dim with sorrow
Shall be brighter through their tears.
It shall flush the mountain ranges,
And the valleys shall grow bright;
It shall bathe the hills in radiance,
And crown their brows with light.
It shall flood with golden splendor
All the huts of Caroline;
And the sun-kissed brow of labor
With lustre new shall shine.
It shall gild the gloomy prison,
Darkened by the nation's crime,
Where the dumb and patient millions
Wait the better-coming time.
By the light that gilds their prison
They shall see its mouldering key;
And the bolts and bars shall vibrate
With the triumphs of the free.
Though the morning seemed to linger
O'er the hill-tops far away,
Now the shadows bear the promise
Of the quickly coming day.
Soon the mists and murky shadows
Shall be fringed with crimson light,
And the glorious dawn of freedom
Break refulgent on the sight.
NEW-YEAR'S DAY ON THE ISLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1863.
BY CHARLOTTE L. FORTEN.
A few days before Christmas we were delighted at receiving a beautiful
Christmas Hymn from John G. Whittier, written especially for our
children. They learned it very easily, and enjoyed singing it. We showed
them the writer's picture, and told them he was a very good friend of
theirs, who felt the deepest interest in them, and had written this Hymn
expressly for them to sing. This made them very proud and happy.
Early Christmas morning we were wakened by the people knocking at the
doors and windows, and shouting "Merry Christmas!" After distributing
some little presents among them, we went to the church, which had been
decorated with holly, pine, cassena, mistletoe, and the hanging moss,
and had a very Christmas-like look. The children of our school assembled
there, and we gave them the nice comfortable clothing and the
picture-books which had been kindly sent by some Philadelphia ladies.
There were at least a hundred and fifty children present. It was very
pleasant to see their happy, expectant little faces. To them it was a
wonderful Christmas-day, such as they had never dreamed of before. There
was cheerful sunshine without, lighting up the beautiful moss drapery of
the oaks, and looking in joyously through the open windows; and there
were bright faces and glad hearts within.
After the distribution of the gifts, the children were addressed by some
of the gentlemen present. Then they sang the following Hymn, which their
good friend Whittier had written for them:--
"O, none in all the world before
Were ever so glad as we!
We're free on Carolina's shore,
We're all at home and free.
"Thou Friend and Helper of the poor,
Who suffered for our sake,
To open every prison-door,
And every yoke to break,--
"Bend low thy pitying face and mild,
And help us sing and pray;
The hand that blest the little child
Upon our foreheads lay.
"We hear no more the driver's horn,
No more the whip we fear;
This holy day that saw thee born
Was never half so dear.
"The very oaks are greener clad,
The waters brighter smile;
O, never shone a day so glad
On sweet St. Helen's Isle.
"We praise Thee in our songs to-day,
To Thee in prayer we call;
Make swift the feet and straight the way
Of freedom unto all.