Clouds and Sunshine.
The important Monday at length arrived, and Charlie hastened to the office
of Mr. Blatchford, which he reached before the hour for commencing labour.
He found some dozen or more journeymen assembled in the work-room; and
noticed that upon his entrance there was an interchange of significant
glances, and once or twice he overheard the whisper of "nigger."
Mr. Blatchford was engaged in discussing some business matter with a
gentleman, and did not observe the agitation that Charlie's entrance had
occasioned. The conversation having terminated, the gentleman took up the
morning paper, and Mr. Blatchford, noticing Charlie, said, "Ah! you have
come, and in good time, too. Wheeler," he continued, turning to one of the
workmen, "I want you to take this boy under your especial charge: give him
a seat at your window, and overlook his work."
At this there was a general uprising of the workmen, who commenced throwing
off their caps and aprons. "What is all this for?" asked Mr. Blatchford in
astonishment--"why this commotion?"
"We won't work with niggers!" cried one; "No nigger apprentices!" cried
another; and "No niggers--no niggers!" was echoed from all parts of the
room.
"Silence!" cried Mr. Blatchford, stamping violently--"silence, every one of
you!" As soon as partial order was restored, he turned to Wheeler, and
demanded, "What is the occasion of all this tumult--what does it mean?"
"Why, sir, it means just this: the men and boys discovered that you
intended to take a nigger apprentice, and have made up their minds if you
do they will quit in a body."
"It cannot be possible," exclaimed the employer, "that any man or boy in my
establishment has room in his heart for such narrow contemptible
prejudices. Can it be that you have entered into a conspiracy to deprive an
inoffensive child of an opportunity of earning his bread in a respectable
manner? Come, let me persuade you--the boy is well-behaved and educated!"
"Damn his behaviour and education!" responded a burly fellow; "let him be a
barber or shoe-black--that is all niggers are good for. If he comes, we
go--that's so, ain't it, boys?"
There was a general response of approval to this appeal; and Mr.
Blatchford, seeing the utter uselessness of further parleying, left the
room, followed by Charlie and the gentleman with whom he had been
conversing.
Mr. Blatchford was placed in a most disagreeable position by this revolt on
the part of his workmen; he had just received large orders from some new
banks which were commencing operations, and a general disruption of his
establishment at that moment would have ruined him. To accede to his
workmen's demands he must do violence to his own conscience; but he dared
not sacrifice his business and bring ruin on himself and family, even
though he was right.
"What would you do, Burrell?" he asked of the gentleman who had followed
them out.
"There is no question as to what you must do. You mustn't ruin yourself for
the sake of your principles. You will have to abandon the lad; the other
alternative is not to be thought of for a moment."
"Well, Charles, you see how it is," said Mr. Blatchford, reluctantly.
Charlie had been standing intently regarding the conversation that
concerned him so deeply. His face was pale and his lips quivering with
agitation.
"I'd like to keep you, my boy, but you see how I'm situated, I must either
give up you or my business; the latter I cannot afford to do." With a great
effort Charlie repressed his tears, and bidding them good morning in a
choking voice, hastened from the room.
"It's an infernal shame!" said Mr. Blatchford, indignantly; "and I shall
think meanly of myself for ever for submitting to it; but I can't help
myself, and must make the best of it."
Charlie walked downstairs with lingering steps, and took the direction of
home. "All because I'm coloured," said he, bitterly, to himself--"all
because I'm coloured! What will mother and Esther say? How it will distress
them--they've so built upon it! I wish," said he, sadly, "that I was dead!"
No longer able to repress the tears that were welling up, he walked towards
the window of a print-store, where he pretended to be deeply interested in
some pictures whilst he stealthily wiped his eyes. Every time he turned to
leave the window, there came a fresh flood of tears; and at last he was
obliged to give way entirely, and sobbed as if his heart would break.
He was thus standing when he felt a hand laid familiarly on his shoulder,
and, on turning round, he beheld the gentleman he had left in Mr.
Blatchford's office. "Come, my little man," said he, "don't take it so much
to heart. Cheer up--you may find some other person willing to employ you.
Come, walk on with me--where do you live?" Charlie dried his eyes and gave
him his address as they walked on up the street together.
Mr. Burrell talked encouragingly, and quite succeeded in soothing him ere
they separated. "I shall keep a look out for you," said he, kindly; "and if
I hear of anything likely to suit you, I shall let you know."
Charlie thanked him and sauntered slowly home. When he arrived, and they
saw his agitated looks, and his eyes swollen from the effect of recent
tears, there was a general inquiry of "What has happened? Why are you home
so early; are you sick?"
Charlie hereupon related all that had transpired at the office--his great
disappointment and the occasion of it--to the intense indignation and grief
of his mother and sisters. "I wish there were no white folks," said
Caddy, wrathfully; "they are all, I believe, a complete set of villains and
everything else that is bad."
"Don't be so sweeping in your remarks, pray don't, Caddy," interposed
Esther; "you have just heard what Charlie said of Mr. Blatchford--his heart
is kindly disposed, at any rate; you see he is trammelled by others."
"Oh! well, I don't like any of them--I hate them all!" she continued
bitterly, driving her needle at the same time into the cloth she was
sewing, as if it was a white person she had in her lap and she was sticking
pins in him. "Don't cry, Charlie," she added; "the old white wretches, they
shouldn't get a tear out of me for fifty trades!" But Charlie could not be
comforted; he buried his head in his mother's lap, and wept over his
disappointment until he made himself sick.
That day, after Mr. Burrell had finished his dinner, he remarked to his
wife, "I saw something this morning, my dear, that made a deep impression
on me. I haven't been able to get it out of my head for any length of time
since; it touched me deeply, I assure you."
"Why, what could it have been? Pray tell me what it was."
Thereupon, he gave his wife a graphic account of the events that had
transpired at Blatchford's in the morning; and in conclusion, said, "Now,
you know, my dear, that no one would call _me_ an _Abolitionist_; and I
suppose I have some little prejudice, as well as others, against coloured
people; but I had no idea that sensible men would have carried it to that
extent, to set themselves up, as they did, in opposition to a little boy
anxious to earn his bread by learning a useful trade."
Mrs. Burrell was a young woman of about twenty-two, with a round
good-natured face and plump comfortable-looking figure; she had a heart
overflowing with kindness, and was naturally much affected by what he
related. "I declare it's perfectly outrageous," exclaimed she, indignantly;
"and I wonder at Blatchford for submitting to it. I wouldn't allow myself
to be dictated to in that manner--and he such an Abolitionist too! Had I
been him, I should have stuck to my principles at any risk. Poor little
fellow! I so wonder at Blatchford; I really don't think he has acted
manly."
"Not so fast, my little woman, if you please--that is the way with almost
all of you, you let your hearts run away with your heads. You are unjust to
Blatchford; he could not help himself, he was completely in their power. It
is almost impossible at present to procure workmen in our business, and he
is under contract to finish a large amount of work within a specified time;
and if he should fail to fulfil his agreement it would subject him to
immense loss--in fact, it would entirely ruin him. You are aware, my dear,
that I am thoroughly acquainted with the state of his affairs; he is
greatly in debt from unfortunate speculations, and a false step just now
would overset him completely; he could not have done otherwise than he has,
and do justice to himself and his family. I felt that he could not; and in
fact advised him to act as he did."
"Now, George Burrell, you didn't," said she, reproachfully.
"Yes I did, my dear, because I thought of his family; I really believe
though, had I encouraged him, he would have made the sacrifice."
"And what became of the boy?"
"Oh; poor lad, he seemed very much cut down by it--I was quite touched by
his grief. When I came out, I found him standing by a shop window crying
bitterly. I tried to pacify him, and told him I would endeavour to obtain a
situation for him somewhere--and I shall."
"Has he parents?" asked Mrs. Burrell.
"Yes; and, by the way, don't you remember whilst the mob was raging last
summer, we read an account of a man running to the roof of a house to
escape from the rioters? You remember they chopped his hands off and threw
him over?"
"Oh, yes, dear, I recollect; don't--don't mention it," said she, with a
shudder of horror. "I remember it perfectly."
"Well, this little fellow is his son," continued Mr. Burrell.
"Indeed! and what has become of his father--did he die?"
"No, he partially recovered, but is helpless, and almost an idiot. I never
saw a child, apparently so anxious to get work; he talked more like a man
with a family dependent upon him for support, than a youth. I tell you
what, I became quite interested in him; he was very communicative, and told
me all their circumstances; their house was destroyed by the mob, and they
are at present residing with a friend."
Just then the cry of a child was heard in the adjoining room, and Mrs.
Burrell rushed precipitately away, and soon returned with a fat,
healthy-looking boy in her arms, which, after kissing, she placed in her
husband's lap. He was their first-born and only child, and, as a matter of
course, a great pet, and regarded by them as a most wonderful boy; in
consequence, papa sat quite still, and permitted him to pull the studs out
of his shirt, untie his cravat, rumple his hair, and take all those little
liberties to which babies are notoriously addicted.
Mrs. Burrell sat down on a stool at her husband's feet, and gazed at him
and the child in silence for some time.
"What's the matter, Jane; what has made you so grave?"
"I was trying to imagine, Burrell, how I should feel if you, I, and baby
were coloured; I was trying to place myself in such a situation. Now we
know that our boy, if he is honest and upright--is blest with great talent
or genius--may aspire to any station in society that he wishes to obtain.
How different it would be if he were coloured!--there would be nothing
bright in the prospective for him. We could hardly promise him a living at
any respectable calling. I think, George, we treat coloured people with
great injustice, don't you?"
Mr. Burrell hemmed and ha'd at this direct query, and answered, "Well, we
don't act exactly right toward them, I must confess."
Mrs. Burrell rose, and took the vacant knee of her husband, and toying with
the baby, said, "Now, George Burrell, I want to ask a favour of you. Why
can't _you_ take this boy ?" "I take him! why, my dear, I don't want an
apprentice."
"Yes, but you must _make_ a want. You said he was a bright boy, and
sketched well. Why, I should think that he's just what you ought to have.
There is no one at your office that would oppose it. Cummings and Dalton
were with your father before you, they would never object to anything
reasonable that you proposed. Come, dear! do now make the trial--won't
you?"
Mr. Burrell was a tender-hearted, yielding sort of an individual; and what
was more, his wife was fully aware of it; and like a young witch as she
was, she put on her sweetest looks, and begged so imploringly, that he was
almost conquered. But when she took up the baby, and made him put his
chubby arms round his father's neck, and say "pese pop-pop," he was
completely vanquished, and surrendered at discretion.
"I'll see what can be done," said he, at last.
"And will you do it afterwards?" she asked, archly.
"Yes, I will, dear, I assure you," he rejoined.
"Then I know it will be done," said she, confidently; "and none of us will
be the worse off for it, I am sure."
After leaving home, Mr. Burrell went immediately to the office of Mr.
Blatchford; and after having procured Charlie's portfolio, he started in
the direction of his own establishment. He did not by any means carry on so
extensive a business as Mr. Blatchford, and employed only two elderly men
as journeymen. After he had sat down to work, one of them remarked, "Tucker
has been here, and wants some rough cuts executed for a new book. I told
him I did not think you would engage to do them; that you had given up that
description of work."
"I think we lose a great deal, Cummings, by being obliged to give up those
jobs," rejoined Mr. Burrell.
"Why don't you take an apprentice then," he suggested; "it's just the kind
of work for them to learn upon."
"Well I've been thinking of that," replied he, rising and producing the
drawings from Charlie's portfolio. "Look here," said he, "what do you
think of these as the work of a lad of twelve or fourteen, who has never
had more than half a dozen lessons?"
"I should say they were remarkably well done," responded Cummings.
"Shouldn't you say so, Dalton?" The party addressed took the sketches, and
examined them thoroughly, and gave an approving opinion of their merits.
"Well," said Mr. Burrell, "the boy that executed those is in want of a
situation, and I should like to take him; but I thought I would consult you
both about it first. I met with him under very singular circumstances, and
I'll tell you all about it." And forthwith he repeated to them the
occurrences of the morning, dwelling upon the most affecting parts, and
concluding by putting the question to them direct, as to whether they had
any objections to his taking him.
"Why no, none in the world," readily answered Cummings. "Laws me! colour is
nothing after all; and black fingers can handle a graver as well as white
ones, I expect."
"I thought it best to ask you, to avoid any after difficulty. You have both
been in the establishment so long, that I felt that you ought to be
consulted."
"You needn't have taken that trouble," said Dalton. "You might have known
that anything done by your father's son, would be satisfactory to us. I
never had anything to do with coloured people, and haven't anything against
them; and as long as you are contented I am."
"Well, we all have our little prejudices against various things; and as I
did not know how you both would feel, I thought I wouldn't take any decided
steps without consulting you; but now I shall consider it settled, and will
let the lad know that I will take him."
In the evening, he hastened home at an earlier hour than usual, and
delighted his wife by saying--"I have succeeded to a charm, my dear--there
wasn't the very slightest objection. I'm going to take the boy, if he
wishes to come." "Oh, I'm delighted," cried she, clapping her hands. "Cry
hurrah for papa!" said she to the baby; "cry hurrah for papa!"
The scion of the house of Burrell gave vent to some scarcely intelligible
sounds, that resembled "Hoo-rogler pop-pop!" which his mother averred was
astonishingly plain, and deserving of a kiss; and, snatching him up, she
gave him two or three hearty ones, and then planted him in his father's lap
again."
"My dear," said her husband, "I thought, as you proposed my taking this
youth, you might like to have the pleasure of acquainting him with his good
fortune. After tea, if you are disposed, we will go down there; the walk
will do you good."
"Oh, George Burrell," said she, her face radiant with pleasure, "you are
certainly trying to outdo yourself. I have been languishing all day for a
walk! What a charming husband you are! I really ought to do something for
you. Ah, I know what--I'll indulge you; you may smoke all the way there and
back. I'll even go so far as to light the cigars for you myself."
"That is a boon," rejoined her husband with a smile; "really 'virtue
rewarded,' I declare."
Tea over, the baby kissed and put to bed, Mrs. Burrell tied on the most
bewitching of bonnets, and donning her new fur-trimmed cloak, declared
herself ready for the walk; and off they started. Mr. Burrell puffed away
luxuriously as they walked along, stopping now and then at her command, to
look into such shop-windows as contained articles adapted to the use of
infants, from india-rubber rings and ivory rattles, to baby coats and
shoes.
At length they arrived at the door of Mr. Walters, and on, looking up at
the house, he exclaimed, "This is 257, but it can't be the place; surely
coloured people don't live in as fine an establishment as this." Then,
running up the steps, he examined the plate upon the door. "The name
corresponds with the address given me," said he; "I'll ring. Is there a
lad living here by the name of Charles Ellis?" he asked of the servant who
opened the door.
"Yes, sir," was the reply. "Will you walk in?"
When they were ushered into the drawing-room, Mr. Burrell said,--"Be kind
enough to say that a gentleman wishes to see him."
The girl departed, closing the door behind her, leaving them staring about
the room. "How elegantly it is furnished!" said she. "I hadn't an idea that
there were any coloured people living in such style."
"Some of them are very rich," remarked her husband.
"But you said this boy was poor."
"So he is. I understand they are staying with the owner of this house."
Whilst they were thus conversing the door opened, and Esther entered. "I am
sorry," said she, "that my brother has retired. He has a very severe
head-ache, and was unable to remain up longer. His mother is out: I am his
sister, and shall be most happy to receive any communication for him."
"I regret to hear of his indisposition," replied Mr. Burrell; "I hope it is
not consequent upon his disappointment this morning?"
"I fear it is. Poor fellow! he took it very much to heart. It was a
disappointment to us all. We were congratulating ourselves on having
secured him an eligible situation."
"I assure you the disappointment is not all on one side; he is a very
promising boy, and the loss of his prospective services annoying. Nothing
but stern necessity caused the result."
"Oh, we entirely acquit you, Mr. Blatchford, of all blame in the matter. We
are confident that what happened was not occasioned by any indisposition on
your part to fulfil your agreement."
"My dear," interrupted Mrs. Burrell, "she thinks you are Mr. Blatchford."
"And are you not?" asked Esther, with some surprise.
"Oh, no; I'm an intimate friend of his, and was present this morning when
the affair happened." "Oh, indeed," responded Esther.
"Yes; and he came home and related it all to me,--the whole affair,"
interrupted Mrs. Burrell. "I was dreadfully provoked; I assure you, I
sympathized with him very much. I became deeply interested in the whole
affair; I was looking at my little boy,--for I have a little boy," said
she, with matronly dignity,--"and I thought, suppose it was my little boy
being treated so, how should I like it? So bringing the matter home to
myself in that way made me feel all the more strongly about it; and I just
told George Burrell he must take him, as he is an engraver; and I and the
baby gave him no rest until he consented to do so. He will take him on the
same terms offered by Mr. Blatchford; and then we came down to tell you;
and--and," said she, quite out of breath, "that is all about it."
Esther took the little woman's plump hand in both her own, and, for a
moment, seemed incapable of even thanking her. At last she said, in a husky
voice, "You can't think what a relief this is to us. My brother has taken
his disappointment so much to heart--I can't tell you how much I thank you.
God will reward you for your sympathy and kindness. You must excuse me,"
she continued, as her voice faltered; "we have latterly been so
unaccustomed to receive such sympathy and kindness from persons of your
complexion, that this has quite overcome me."
"Oh, now, don't! I'm sure it's no more than our duty, and I'm as much
pleased as you can possibly be--it has given me heartfelt gratification, I
assure you."
Esther repeated her thanks, and followed them to the door, where she shook
hands with Mrs. Burrell, who gave her a pressing invitation to come and see
her baby.
"How easy it is, George Burrell," said the happy little woman, "to make the
hearts of others as light as our own-mine feels like a feather," she added,
as she skipped along, clinging to his arm. "What a nice, lady-like girl his
sister is--is her brother as handsome as she ?"
"Not quite," he answered; "still, he is very good-looking, I'll bring him
home with me to-morrow at dinner, and then you can see him."
Chatting merrily, they soon arrived at home. Mrs. Burrell ran straightway
upstairs to look at that "blessed baby;" she found him sleeping soundly,
and looking as comfortable and happy as it is possible for a sleeping baby
to look--so she bestowed upon him a perfect avalanche of kisses, and
retired to her own peaceful pillow.
And now, having thus satisfactorily arranged for our young friend Charlie,
we will leave him for a few years engaged in his new pursuits.