| | 161 | Author: | Simms
William Gilmore
1806-1870 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The golden Christmas  | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | It was during that premature spell of cold weather which we so
unseasonably had this year in October,—anticipating our usual
winter by a full month or more,—cutting off the cotton crop a
fourth, and forcing us into our winter garments long before they
were ordered from the tailor,—when, one morning, as I stood shivering
before the glass, and clumsily striving, with numbed fingers,
to adjust my cravat à la nœud Gordien,—my friend, Ned Bulmer,
burst into my room, looking as perfect an exquisite as Beau
Brummell himself. He was in the gayest clothes and spirits, a
thousand times more exhilarated than usual—and Ned is one of
those fellows upon whom care sits uneasily, whom, indeed, care
seldom sets upon at all! He laughed at my shiverings and
awkwardness, seized the ends of my handkerchief, and, with the
readiest fingers in the world, and in the most perfect taste, adjusted
the folds of the cravat, and looped them up into a rose beneath
my chin, in the twinkling of an eye, and to my own perfect satisfaction. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 162 | Author: | Simms
William Gilmore
1806-1870 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Marie de Berniere | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “Start not, dear Marie; nor, if possible, exhibit the
least surprise or emotion as you discover the writing to
be mine, or note the character of its contents. At all
events, make no remark on what you read, and let
your answer be in writing also, and addressed to Madame
de Chateauneuve, though really intended for
myself. There are reasons, believe me, for all these
precautions. In brief, dear Marie, I have come to the
conclusion, after deep study and long reflection, that
you are the victim of a cunning and monstrous imposition,
to combat which, successfully, requires the utmost
vigilance, and a distrust even of the walls of your
chamber. So well am I persuaded of this, that I feel
it unwise to whisper to you here the several processes
of reasoning by which I have reached these suspicions,
or to urge my inquiries farther towards a discovery of
the truths. My purpose, therefore, is to entreat that,
if you really love me, if you really desire my happiness,
as well as your own, and, if you would really revolt
at the idea of being deluded by a most audacious piece
of jugglery, you will contrive to give me a meeting at
my sister's to-morrow morning at 11 o'clock; when I
will unfold to you the whole progress of my conjectures.
In consenting to this arrangement, I must
warn you to suffer no person to know your intentions,
not even your servants. Do not order your carriage,
but wait for that of Madame de Chateauneuve, who
will call for you, a little before this hour. Let me
implore you, dear Marie, to accede to this application.
Your health will now admit—nay, require some such
exercise; exertion, and the fresh pure air of these
pleasant days will exhilarate and strengthen you.
Supposing even that the decree which you have heard
is really the voice of an almighty Providence, His benevolence
will not be offended, nor His sense of authority
outraged, if you resort to all reasonable and proper
means to be assured of its divine origin. Scripture
itself counsels us that the world shall be full of false
prophets and false signs in these latter days—and there
are spirits of evil as well as of good—perhaps a far
greater number, who are still permitted, for purposes
of mischief, to hover around the habitations of earth.
You owe it to me, dear Marie, no less than to yourself
—to my future and my heart as well as your own—
not to yield to a decree which threatens the wreck of
both, until it has been narrowly searched by every
probe and principle which human reason has ever invented
or conceived for the detection of error, and
the discovery of truth. As this revelation appears
to be so entirely miraculous—so far beyond all the
ordinary events of life—it requires that it should be
scrutinized in proportion to its eccentricity, and in
just degree with the vital interests which depend upon
its execution. Yield to this entreaty, dear Marie, even
though you should persist, finally, in the cruel resolution
to hearken to no other from the lips of one whose
every prayer will still eternally be yours. “Sense of duty, &c. Foreclosure of mortgage, &c.
Unavoidable, &c. Very sorry, &c. “Dear Sir: Meeting with the sheriff, and being
in want of a sufficient force for my Cedar Island
plantation, I have ventured to assume your bond,
with interest, being perfectly satisfied to pay the
same price for the negroes at which you bought
them. As I hold them to be amply worth the
amount, I leave it entirely with yourself to retain
them, if you please, paying me at your leisure;
though I should prefer to have them, on my assumption
of your several responsibilities in regard to this
property. Whatever may be your decision, which
you can make at your leisure, it will at least be proper
that they should remain in your keeping until
after the holidays. Very faithfully, and with great
respect, I am, my dear sir, | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 163 | Author: | Smith
Seba
1792-1868 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | 'Way down East, or, Portraitures of Yankee life | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The pilgrim fathers of New England, and their
children of the first and second generations, are justly
renowned for their grave character, their moral
uprightness, which sometimes was rather more than
perpendicular, and the vigilant circumspection which
each one exercised over his neighbor as well as himself.
It is true that Connecticut, from an industrious
promulgation of her “Blue Laws,” has acquired more
fame on this score than other portions of the “universal
Yankee nation,” but this negative testimony
against the rest of New England ought not to be
allowed too much weight, for wherever the light of
history does gleam upon portions further “Down East,”
it shows a people not a whit behind Connecticut in
their resolute enforcement of all the decencies of life,
and their stern and watchful regard for the well-being
of society. The justice of this remark will sufficiently
appear by a few brief quotations from their
judicial records. In the name of Captain Kidd, Amen.—On Jewell's
So saying, he opened the paper, which was so much worn at the folds as to drop into several pieces, and read from it as follows:-- PAGE 180.
689EAF. Illustration page. A man sits at a table and reads from a piece of paper. Two other men are looking on listening as he reads the paper. One is stting at the table and the other is standing hunched over the table, leaning forward. There is a woman standing behind the table who is listening in as well.
Island, near the harbor of Falmouth, in the District
of Maine, is buried a large iron pot full of gold, with
an iron cover over it, and also two large iron pots full
of silver dollars and half dollars, with iron covers
over them; and also one other large iron pot, with an
iron cover over it, full of rich jewels, and gold rings
and necklaces, and gold watches of great value. In
this last pot is the paper containing the agreement of
the four persons who buried these treasures, and the
name of each one is signed to it with his own blood.
In that agreement it is stated that this property
belongs equally to the four persons who buried it, and
is not to be dug up or disturbed while the whole four
are living, except they be all present. And in case it
shall not be reclaimed during the lifetime of the four,
it shall belong equally to the survivors, who shall be
bound to each other in the same manner as the four
were bound. And in case this property shall never
be dug up by the four, or any of them, the last survivor
shall have a right to reveal the place where it is
hid, and to make such disposition of it as he may
think proper. And in that same paper, the evil spirit
of darkness is invoked to keep watch over this
money, and to visit with sudden destruction any one
of the four who may violate his agreement. This
property was buried at the hour of midnight, and only
at the hour of midnight can it ever be reclaimed.
And it can be obtained only in the most profound
silence on the part of those who are digging for it.
Not a word or syllable must be uttered from the time
the first spade is struck in the ground, till a handful
of the money is taken out of one of the pots. This
arrangement was entered into with the spirit of darkness,
in order to prevent any unauthorized persons
from obtaining the money. I am the last survivor of
the four. If I shall dispose of this paper to any one
before my death, or leave it to any one after I am
gone, he may obtain possession of this great treasure
by observing the following directions. Go to the
north side of the island, where there is a little cove,
or harbor, and a good landing on a sandy beach.
Take your compass and run by it due south a half a
mile, measuring from high-water mark. Then run
fifty rods east by compass, and there you will find a
blue stone, about two feet long, set endwise into the
ground. From this stone, measure fifteen rods
brandy-way, and there, at the depth of five feet from
the surface of the ground, you will find the pots of
money. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 165 | Author: | Spofford
Harriet Elizabeth Prescott
1835-1921 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Azarian | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Life, which slips us along like beads on a
leash, strung summer after summer on Ruth
Yetton's thread, yet none so bright as that
one where the Azarian had pictured his sunny
face and all his infinite variety of pranksome
ways. Ruth's mother had thrown her
up in despair, as good for nothing under the
sun, but her father always took her on his
knee at twilight, listened to her little idealities,
and dreamed the hour away with her. Yet
without the mother's constructive strength,
all Ruth's inherited visioning would have
availed her ill. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 166 | Author: | Spofford
Harriet Elizabeth Prescott
1835-1921 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Sir Rohan's ghost | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | THERE is a Ghost in all aristocratic families,
and therefore it is not to be presumed that
the great house of Belvidere was destitute. But
though it had dragged on a miserable existence
some three hundred years without one, at last
that distinction was to arrive. Sir Rohan had a
Ghost. Not by any means a common ghost that
appeared at midnight on the striking of a bell,
and trailed its winding-sheet through the upper
halls nearest the roof, but a Ghost that, sleeping
or waking, never left him, a Ghost whose long
hair coiled round and stifled the fair creations
of his dreams, and whose white garments swept
leprously into his sunshine. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 167 | Author: | Spofford
Harriet Elizabeth Prescott
1835-1921 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The thief in the night | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The garden lay sparkling under the earliest light
of a June morning. A heaven everywhere a
field of rose and azure soared over it; charming
bird-songs trilled from its thickets; a breeze, that
was only living fragrance, rifled its roses, swept
up its avenues, and struck leaf and bough and
blossom into light before it stripped them of their
dewdrops in a shower. The Triton at the lower
end of the little lake sent up a shaft of water-streams
from his horn to catch the sunbeams and
sprinkle them over the surface beneath, and beds
of faintly blue forget-me-nots crept out to meet
the pickerel-weed and lily-pads, — blue flags,
and bluer weed, and waxen-white lilies just unclasping
their petals, with here and there a floating
ball of gold among them, — where the breeze
dipped again in a shining ripple, and weeds and
flags and lilies rocked and swayed before it. On
the one side, the sweet-brier, climbing a pear-tree
to reach the robin's nest, looked back with a
hundred blushing blossoms, and blew a breath of
delight to the damask-rose on the other. The
damask said good-morning to the moss-rose; the
moss-rose to the red; the red would have passed
on the cheerful salutation, but the pale-white
rose, upon its lofty stem, had been awake all
night, had looked into the sick man's chamber,
and learned what the ruddy-cheeked flowers,
which hung their heads and went to sleep with
the birds, were not to know. Nevertheless, a
red-winged blackbird, lighting there and leaving,
shook it so that half its petals fluttered away in
pursuit; a little piece of jewel-work of a humming-bird
darted by to join the frolic; a bluebird
dropped a measure of melody from the
spray where he was tilting, and followed after.
Every thing, in all the bright and blooming
garden, moved and glanced and blushed and
glittered. Every thing spoke of life and joy
and hope and health: nothing spoke of sad
secrets or ill deeds. Every thing told of beauty
and breath, the luxury of living: nothing told
of death, or desolation. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 168 | Author: | Holland
J. G.
(Josiah Gilbert)
1819-1881 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Arthur Bonnicastle | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Life looks beautiful from both extremities. Prospect and
retrospect shine alike in a light so divine as to suggest that the
first catches some radiance from the gates, not yet closed, by
which the soul has entered, and that the last is illuminated from
the opening realm into which it is soon to pass. “I should like to see you here next Monday morning, in regard to some
repairs about The Mansion. Come early, and if your little boy Arthur is
well enough you may bring him. “I have lost my ball. I don't know where in the world it can be. It
seemed to get away from me in a curious style. Mr. Bird is very kind,
and I like him very much. I am sorry to say I have lost my Barlow knife
too. Mr. Bird says a Barlow knife is a very good thing. I don't quite
think I have lost the twenty-five cent piece. I have not seen it since yesterday
morning, and I think I shall find it. Henry Hulm, who is my
chum, and a very smart boy, I can tell you, thinks the money will be found.
Mr. Bird says there must be a hole in the top of my pocket. I don't know
what to do. I am afraid Aunt Sanderson will be cross about it. Mr.
Bird thinks I ought to give my knife to the boy that will find the money,
and the money to the boy that will find the knife, but I don't see as I
should make much in that way, do you? I love Mrs. Bird very much.
Miss Butler is the dearest young lady I ever knew. Mrs. Bird kisses us all
when we go to bed, and it seems real good. I have put the testament in
the bottom of my trunk, under all the things. I shall keep that if possible.
If Mrs. Sanderson finds out that I have lost the things, I wish you would
explain it and tell her the testament is safe. Miss Butler has dark eyebrows
and wears a belt. Mr. Bird has killed another woodchuck. I wonder
if you left the key of my trunk. It seems to be gone. We have real
good times, playing ball and taking walks. I have walked out with Miss
Butler. I wish mother could see her hair, and I am your son with ever so
much love to you and mother and all, “Bring home your Attlus. “The Bell is a noble vessel. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 170 | Author: | Moulton
Louise Chandler
1835-1908 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Juno Clifford | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Juno Clifford stood before the mirror of her richly
furnished breakfast parlor. The cloth had been
spread for a half-hour—the silver coffee service was
prettily arranged, and the delicate cups of Sèvres
porcelain were scattered around the urn. But the
mistress of the mansion had only just arisen. It
was ten o'clock. Men, whose business hours had
commenced, were hurrying to and fro in the street—
the city was teeming with life and turbulent with
noise, but the hum only stole through the heavily-curtained
windows of that lofty house on Mount
Vernon street, with a subdued cadence that was very
pleasant. It was a lounging, indolent attitude, in
which the lady stood. In her whole style of manner
there was a kind of tropical languor, and it was easy
to see that she was seldom roused from her habitual
calmness. And yet there was something in the
curving of her dainty lips, the full sweep of her
arching brows, nay, in every motion of her hand,
which told of a slumbering power; an energy,
resistless in its intensity; a will that might have
subjugated an empire. The indolence was habitual
—the energy, native. “Dearest Brother:—It is not my turn to write,
but I have been thinking of you so earnestly to-day,
that I've resolved, at last, to make a thought-bridge
of my little steel pen, and tell you about my reveries.
In the first place, though, you ought to see where I am
writing. Yes, you ought to see Mohawk Village now.
The dear, blue river glides along so gently between
its fringed banks, and the sweet green islets lie, like
summer children, in such a peaceful sleep upon its
breast. The willow trees, `always genteel,' are bending
over its waves, bowing to their own shadows, and
all the green things round look as if they were rejoicing
in the fresh air and the sunshine. But I will
tell you what is the prettiest sight which meets my
eye. It is a gnarled old oak, very large, and very
strong, round which climbs a perfect wealth of the
beautiful ivy. They are living things, I know; and
it takes all mamma's logic to persuade me that they
cannot think and feel. They always seemed to me to
have a history, nay more, a romance linked with their
two lives. The oak looks like some veteran soldier.
His life is not yet quite past its prime, but he has
grown old among the crash of contending armies, and
the fierce shocks of battles. He is scarred, and battered,
and now round this glorious ruin the ivy clings,
young, fresh, trusting, and so beautiful; laying her
long green fingers on his seamed and furrowed front,
hiding his roughness with the embrace of her tender
arms. Looking from my window, summer and winter
I see them, my beautiful emblems of strength and
truth. I wish sometimes, in a large charity, that all
the world could look upon them as I do, that they
could teach every one the same lesson. “I will call you so this once more. God help us,
for He has separated us. I have no strength to tell
you now how tenderly I have loved you. You know
it but too well. Every glance of your blue eyes,
every thread of your golden hair was dearer to me
than my own life. I would not look upon your face
for worlds, now that it is lost to me for ever. My
mother has tried to soothe the agony of this parting.
She has whispered that a time might come, when I
would be free to marry you, but I have no such hope.
I dare not dwell on it; it would be unjust, cruel. I
cannot ask you to love me, to think of me. Rather
let me pray you to forget me; to seek in some other
love the happiness I can never again taste. May he
who shall win and wear you, be more worthy of your
love; he cannot return it more truly. “There, forgive those words, I could not help
them. When once more, after all this lapse of years,
I wrote your name, I forgot for the time that you had
been another's, that you had refused to be mine. I
saw only the Grace of my love and my dreams, very
young, very fair, and, better still, very loving and
trustful. To me you are the same still. I cannot
come to you to-night. I have received a message that
Mabel, my own fair sister, is ill. She may be dying,
but I will hope to find her better. I shall travel night
and day until I reach New York. Pray for me, Grace.
Think of me as your friend, your brother, if you will
not let me be, as in other days— | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 171 | Author: | Moulton
Louise Chandler
1835-1908 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Some women's hearts | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “My Niece Elizabeth, — I believe myself to be
about to die. I cannot tell why this belief has taken
hold of me, but I am sure that I am not long for this
world. And, before I go out of it, I have an act of
restitution to perform. When your father, my dead
and gone brother James, died, if you had received
your due, you would have had six thousand dollars.
But the business was embarrassed at the time, and I
thought that to put so much money out of my hands
just then would ruin me. I took the responsibility,
therefore, of deciding not to do it. I managed, by
means that were not strictly legitimate, to keep the
whole in my own possession. I did not mean ill by
you, either. Your memory will bear me witness that I
dealt by you in every way as by my own children; nor
do I think the interest of your six thousand dollars, in
whatever way invested, could possibly have taken care
of you so well as I did. Still, to have it to use in my
business at that critical time, was worth much more
than the cost of your maintenance to me. So, as I look
at matters, you owe me no thanks for your upbringing,
and I owe you no farther compensation for the use of
your money during those years which you passed in
my house. For the five years since then, I owe you
interest; and I have added to your six thousand dollars
two thousand more, to reimburse you for your loss during
that time. “You were right, and I was wrong. I would not
tempt you to be other than you are, — the purest as the
fairest woman, in my eyes, whom God ever made.
I am running away, because I have not just now the
strength to stay here. You will not see me again for two
weeks. When I come back, I will be able to meet you
as I ought, and to prove myself worthy to be your
friend. “Your child was born the 28th of June. I did not
know of this which was to come when I left the shelter
of your roof, or I should not have gone. The little one
is very ill; and, feeling that she may not live, I think
it right to give you the opportunity of seeing her, if you
wish to, before she dies. Come, if you choose, to No.
50, Rue Jacob, and you will find her. “My Dear Husband, — Andrew, our little boy, is
very ill. The doctor calls it scarlet fever. I thought
that you would wish to see him. Your presence would
be the greatest comfort. “Mr. Thorndike, — I have hesitated long before
writing you this note. I should not venture to do so
now were it not that I am emboldened by the license
accorded to leap-year. To a different man I would not
write it for worlds, but I am sure your character is of
too high a tone for you to pursue a correspondence
merely for amusement or adventure. If you think I
am indelicate in addressing you at all, — if you do not
desire my friendship, you will let the matter drop here,
— you will never reply to me, or bestow a second
thought on one who will, in that case, strive to think
no more of you. But should you really value the
regard of a girl who is fearless enough thus to disobey
the recognized laws of society; honest enough to show
you her heart as it is; good enough, at least, to feel
your goodness in her inmost soul, — then you will
write. Then, perhaps, we shall know each other better,
and the friendship thus unconventionally begun may
brighten both our lives. Remember I trust to your
honor not to answer this letter if you disapprove of my
course in sending it, — if by so doing I have forfeited
your respect. Should you reply, let it be within three
days, and address, | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 172 | Author: | Moulton
Louise Chandler
1835-1908 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | This, that and the other | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | “Lionel: When your hand touches this sheet, I shall be
far away. It is two hours since you left me, and I have been
sitting here all the while, in a kind of stupor. I have loved you
very fondly, Lionel, and there is no blame for you in my heart
now, only sorrow, bitter, crushing sorrow. I will believe that
you love me — that you did not mean to deceive me! I will
even try to think that the fault, the misunderstanding, was all
mine. My soul shall send back only prayers for you — my heart
shall breathe only blessings. I love you, Lionel — O, how I
love you! If I could coin my life-blood into a flood of blessing,
and pour it on your head, I would do so gladly; if I might die
for you, my soul would be blessed as the angels. I even have
thought, — may God forgive me! — that I could give my soul to
perdition for your sake; but I have no right to bring sorrow, and
shame, and suffering, upon another. The lips that my little sister
presses must be pure; the life consecrated by a dying mother's
blessing must be unstained. “Blanche Leslie, — For something tells me you are Blanche
Leslie yet — I have found you at last, after these weary years.
Listen, and hear if it be not destiny. When you left me, Blanche,
I was a heart-broken, miserable man. You did not know me, little
darling, or you never would have gone. I did not know myself.
I did not know how strong was the love I had for you. Blanche,
believe me, for I swear it before heaven, I never would have asked
you to make one sacrifice for my sake. You should have done
nothing, been nothing, your own heart did not sanction. When
I read your note, I awoke to the knowledge of my own soul.
Then I knew that, without you, wealth, and fame, and honor,
were worse than vanity, hollower than the apples of Sodom. I
would have laid down everything I possessed on earth, to have
called you wife. My soul cried out for you `with groanings
that could not be uttered.' “No, no! Come not near me, Lionel Hunter! Disturb not
the holy calm to which it has been the work of years to attain.
I have wept much, suffered much, but I am stronger now. Talk
no more to me of earthly love, now that my heart has grown old,
and the beauty you used to praise has faded. Leave me, leave
me! It is my prayer; it is all I ask. Over my night of sorrow
dews have fallen, and stars have arisen; let me walk in their
light! Only in heaven will I rest, if it may be so, my head
upon your breast. Then, when the angels shall name me by a
new name, I will steal to your side, and, looking back to earth,
over the bastions of the celestial city, you shall call me “`Heaven forgive and pity me, life of my life, that I should
be writing you, the night before our bridal, only to say farewell.
Our bridal; yes, it shall be so. To-morrow my soul shall marry
your soul, though I am far away. I have been mad, for two
weeks past, Maud! The ashes of the bottomless pit have been
upon my head, and its hot breath has scorched my cheek. I
would not tell you, my beloved, because I wished not to drag
you down with me to perdition. O, Maud, my darling! Maud,
my beloved! Can it be, I never more must draw your head
to my heart — never more must look into your blue eyes,
or watch the blushes stealing over your cheek? But I am
raving. “Can it be that only one sun has set and risen since Stanley
Grayson called me his, — since another and a dearer life grew into
mine, with the knowledge that I was beloved? O, joy! great,
unutterable joy, whose seeds were sown in grief, and watered by
the hot tears which made the flowers grow upon my mother's
grave! Who shall say, if I had not been thus desolate, I could
have felt so deeply this wondrous bliss of love? “A week has passed — a long, sunny week of happiness! Stanley
says we must be married in September — his birth-day, September
fifth. Papa, dear, good papa, has given me carte blanche as
to money. He says I never did cost him anything yet, and have
only been a help to him, all my life; and now, when he 's going
to lose me, he will give me all he can. Poor papa! I fear,
though he likes Stanley, he is hardly reconciled to the idea of
my leaving home; for, when he spoke of my going away, the
tears came to his eyes, and he looked so regretfully at his easy-chair,
and the little ottoman where I always sit beside him! It
seemed so selfish in me to go and leave him, — him who has always
been so kind to me, — and for one, too, whom I had never seen,
a few short months ago! The tears came to my eyes, and for
the moment I was half resolved to send Stanley away without
me; but, O, I know that already my soul is married to his soul,
and I cannot give him up. Lizzie will come home in July, and
she can stay with papa. Do I love Stanley better than papa?
Why do I not say Lizzie will do for Stanley? And why would
she not — she, so good, so young, so very beautiful? “O, how dear, how much dearer than ever, my future husband
is every day becoming to my heart! How long a time
since I 've written here before! but then I 'm so busy, and so
happy! “O, how it rains! — Such a perfect wail as the wind makes,
hurrying by, as if its viewless feet were `swift to do evil!' Poor
Lizzie! she is inside the stage, I suppose; she will have a
long, uncomfortable ride! I don't know why it is, but my soul
seems to go out toward her to-night more than ever. I have
thought of Stanley so much lately, that I 've not had so much
time to think of my poor child, and now my heart is reproaching
me. Sweet Lizzie! She and Stanley have never met. How
proud I am of them both! I am sure they must be pleased
with each other. Stanley is in his room now. I sent him up to
put on his black coat, and that new vest in which he looks so
well. “Yes, it was dear Lizzie. Stanley heard the horn too, and hurried
down stairs. I bade him go and meet Lizzie; for it was
raining, and papa was n't half awake. I followed him to the
door, and he received Lizzie in his arms. She thought it was
papa, for, what with the night and the rain, it was quite dark;
and she pressed her lips to his face again and again. But when he
brought her into the pleasant, brightly-lighted parlor, and set her
down, she pushed from her white shoulders her heavy cloak,
and glanced around; that is, as soon as she could, for at first I held
her to my heart so closely she could see nothing. When papa
took her in his arms, and welcomed her, and bade God bless her,
she glanced at his slippers and dressing-gown, and then at Stanley,
who was looking at her with a shade of amusement at her
perplexity, and yet with the most vivid admiration I ever saw
portrayed on his fine features. At last he laughed out, merrily. “I am a little lonely, I 'm left so much alone now. The long
rides over the hills continue, and of course I stay at home, for
there is no horse for me to ride. Stanley comes and kisses me
just before he goes off, and says, `You are always so busy,
Katie!' but he says nothing of late about the reason I am so
busy — nothing about our marriage. “Two days, and I am writing here again; but O, how
changed! I have been struck by a thunderbolt. I have had
a struggle, brief, but very fierce; and it is past. I was sailing
in a fair ship, upon calm waters; there were only a few clouds
in the sky. Sunlight rested on the waves, and in the distance I
could see a floating pleasure-island, green and calm, made
beautiful with tropic flowers, where gorgeous birds rested, and
sang love-songs all the day. Merrily the bark dashed onward.
Loved forms were by my side, and one dearer than all
was at the helm; but from the clear sky a tempest-blast swept
suddenly. It had sobbed no warning of the doom it was
bringing us. “A month has passed since I wrote here last; I hardly know
why, myself. It has been a long summer month. Days are so
long in summer, and they have seemed like centuries of late.
What a beautiful day it is! The sunshine smiles so pleasantly
on the fields, and the bright-winged birds sing, and the insects
hum lazily, or go to sleep upon the flowers. It seems to me I
never saw such a scene of calm, quiet beauty; — as if Nature
had on her holiday garments, decked newly for the sun, her
lover. “Lizzie is married, and they have gone; surely no bride ever
before looked so beautiful! Her long curls floated over her
white robe like sunshine over snow; and her cheeks were fairer
than ever, shaded so faintly by her rich veil. She trembled
during the ceremony, and I could feel how firm and strong was
the lover-like pressure with which Stanley clasped her waist.
When we knelt in prayer, his arm was around her still; and I
seemed quite to forget my own existence, so intently was I occupied
in watching them, so fervent were my prayers for their
happiness. It was the hardest when Stanley came back to me,
after Lizzie had said good-by, and he had put her in the carriage.
He took both my hands in his, and, looking into my eyes,
whispered, Never mind Peepy, Mrs. Jellyby! Let the child cry, — let
him fall down stairs, and break his nose. What are a thousand
Peepies now present, to the mighty schemes of our modern
Borioboola-Gha, which will affect the destinies of myriads of
Peepies yet to come? Can you fritter away your attention on
one man, and his little troop of children, when that new lawgiver
— that Moses — that Stephen Pearl Andrews — has told us,
woman's chief duty is to be “true to herself, and not true to any
man”? Thanks, Mr. Andrews! We, little girl that we are,
did n't know our duty before. We 've found out, now. Never
mind if there were tears in his eyes, when he whispered, “I can't
live, if you change!” We know our duty now, and it 's not
much matter what he suffers in so good a cause. “Miss Adams: Perhaps it may give you some satisfaction
to learn that, in compliment to you, I returned from New York
last night, instead of this morning, as I at first intended. I went
over to Oakwood, and, in the natural indulgence of a lover's
curiosity, was a witness of the pleasant scene in your favorite
bower. I presume it will be an occasion of heartfelt rejoicing
to you to know that you are quite free from all the ties which
have bound you to No, no, nothing but that! She has never derived any additional
importance from linking her name with yours, imperial
man! — never grown angelized by a wife's thrice-drugged potion
of care and sorrow. She lives alone, in a little, lonely house, —
alone, with her black cat, and her memories of the past! “Edward Gray: Ellen Adair is ill — dying. She will die
to-night. I do not say if you ever loved her, for I know you
did, but, if you love her now, come to us directly. “`I am surprised, Mr. Harding, at the acuteness which enables
you to divine my wishes so readily. I trust the attachment
which can so easily relinquish its object will not be difficult to
overcome. For your kindness in procuring me this casket, I am
infinitely obliged; but you must, of necessity, excuse my accepting
it, as it is a present of too great value for a lady to receive
from any but her lover. Enclosed you will find your miniature
and letters, and a certain emerald ring, the pledge of a tie now
broken. You will excuse me from coming down, as I have a
head-ache this morning. I wish you God-speed on your journey,
long life and happiness, and remain your friend, “Many months have passed since last we met. Summers and
winters have been braided into years, and still on my heart is
your name written; not one hieroglyph that you traced there
has been obliterated. Heart and soul I am, what I always have
been, yours! I married Clara the day succeeding our last meeting,
and I love her very much. Can you reconcile this with what I
have just written? I am yours, as I said; you, even you, my
Agnes, are more to me than all the rest of earth; but it is much
to feel we can make another human being entirely happy. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 173 | Author: | Simms
William Gilmore
1806-1870 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Eutaw | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | It is surely an early hour for the whip-poor-will to begin
her monotonous plainings, sitting on her accustomed hawthorn,
just on the edge of the swamp. The sun has hardly dropped
from sight behind the great pine-thickets. His crimson and
orange robes still flaunt and flicker in the western heavens;
gleams from his great red eyes still purple the tree-tops; and
you may still see a cheerful light hanging in the brave, free
atmosphere; while gray shapes, like so many half-hooded friars,
glide away through the long pine-avenues, inviting you, as it
would seem, to follow, while they steal away slowly from pursuit
into the deeper thickets of the swamp. “My child, my dear Bertha: To you alone can I look for
the rescue of your brother and myself. We are in the power of
an enemy, who requires your hand in marriage for the safety of
my own and my son's life. We have forfeited the security of
British law. My own offences are such that, delivered to the
commandant of Charleston, as I am threatened, my death — an
ignominious death — must follow. Your brother is a captive
also, charged with murdering the king's soldiers without a warrant.
He is suffering in health by his unavoidable confinement.
He can not long live in the condition in which he is kept; and
his release and mine are made to depend entirely on you. Let
me implore you, my child, to come to our succor, and to save us.
Become the wife of Captain Inglehardt, and suffer us once more
to see the light of heaven, and enjoy the freedom of earth.
Come, my beloved child, to our rescue; and, in making the
sacrifice of your choice, to my own, receive the blessings of
your fond, but fettered father. [P. S.] You will readily conceive
our exigency, when I tell you that my wrists and feet are
even now in manacles of iron, and have been so from the first
day of my captivity. For a time, indeed, your brother Henry
was held in similar fetters.” “Sorry, my dear colonel, to cut short your roving commission;
doubly sorry that it has not yet resulted as you could
wish. But we can spare you from the main action of the drama
no longer. We are now, I think, approaching the denouément,
and require all our heroes on the stage. Stewart is in rapid
march downward — a little too strong for us yet, particularly
with the reinforcements which he will get from the lower posts.
We hear of these in motion from several quarters, as many as a
thousand or twelve hundred men. These, in addition to his
estimated strength at present of twenty-three hundred, will give
heavy odds against us, unless our mounted men come out much
more numerously than usual. Greene is on the march, somewhat
recruited, but very little strengthened. Congress has done
nothing — can or will do nothing — not even give us arms and
ammunition! Three hundred of our people are still without
serviceable weapons of any kind, and seven hundred without
jackets or breeches. It is really lucky that we have hot
weather. We must make up in zeal what we lack in men and
munitions, and only fight the harder from having but little
means with which to fight at all! That, my dear Sinclair, is a
new philosophy for the management of armies, but it is one
that will not seem altogether silly in the estimation of the true
patriot. At all events, it is about the best that I can give to
you, who know how to fight so well on short commons; and it
affords the only hope upon which I have fed (very like fasting)
for a long season! Once more, then, my dear Sinclair, let me
regret the necessity which requires that you rejoin your brigade,
and defer, for a brief season, the painfully interesting personal
enterprises upon which you are engaged. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 175 | Author: | Simms
William Gilmore
1806-1870 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Vasconselos | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | It is the province of romance, even more decidedly than history,
to recall the deeds and adventures of the past. It is to fiction
that we must chiefly look for those living and breathing creations
which history quite too unfrequently deigns to summon to her
service. The warm atmosphere of present emotions, and present
purposes, belongs to the dramatis personœ of art; and she
is never so well satisfied in showing us human performances, as
when she betrays the passions and affections by which they were
dictated and endured. It is in spells and possessions of this
character, that she so commonly supersedes the sterner muse
whose province she so frequently invades; and her offices are
not the less legitimate, as regards the truthfulness of things in
general, than are those of history, because she supplies those details
which the latter, unwisely as we think, but too commonly,
holds beneath her regard. In the work before us, however, it is
our purpose to slight neither agency. We shall defer to each of
them, in turn, as they may be made to serve a common purpose.
They both appeal to our assistance, and equally spread their possessions
beneath our eyes. We shall employ, without violating,
the material resources of the Historian, while seeking to endow
them with a vitality which fiction only can confer. It is in pursuit
of this object that we entreat the reader to suppose the backward
curtain withdrawn, unveiling, if only for a moment, the
aspects of a period not so remote as to lie wholly beyond our
sympathies. We propose to look back to that dawn of the sixteenth
century; at all events, to such a portion of the historical
landscape of that period, as to show us some of the first sunny
gleams of European light upon the savage dominions of the
Western Continent. To review this epoch is, in fact, to survey
the small but impressive beginnings of a wondrous drama in
which we, ourselves, are still living actors. The scene is almost
within our grasp. The names of the persons of our narrative
have not yet ceased from sounding in our ears; and the theatre
of performance is one, the boards of which, even at this moment,
are echoing beneath their mighty footsteps. Our curiosity and
interest may well be awakened for awhile, to an action, the fruits
of which, in some degree, are inuring to our present benefit. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 177 | Author: | Stoddard
Elizabeth
1823-1902 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Temple House | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Early one autumn morning, on his forty-first birthday,
Argus Gates walked down the old turfy lawn, and
felt immortal in his human powers. The elms above
him dropped warning leaves, the silver cobwebs in the
grass vanished beneath his tread, and the sere grass
rose not again; but Aurora was in the sky. The
stalwart, willing earth dipped beneath her chariot
wheels, to lave in the rays flooding from those eyes
fixed in
“The ever silent spaces of the East,”
and Argus was one with the earth. “Dear Mother: You never saw such work; we lost the small
trunk, which was not marked. Have you seen Virginia? Her
society will make amends for my absence. I wish I was at home,
but I like travelling. I saw somebody yesterday that looked exactly
like Mary Sutcliffe. I had half a mind to ask her if the
cat's kittens had yellow patches, or if they were black and white:
Mary said the cat would have kittens by the time I got back.
You can't think how fish seems to be prized at these hotels, while
we care nothing for it. We stopped in Boston, and John bought
me an Indian scarf. In New York he bought me a dark blue
silk; he is very attentive, but he has a cold. I had it made, and
it is trimmed with black lace. Mother, the lace was three dollars
a yard. We are in Chicago now. The air has a flat taste to
me; it is different from Kent air. Of course, Uncle Argus has
worried about me; oh yes, I think he is pining away. There are
no good preserves at any hotel; the noise at these great houses,
would drive you wild, mother; you would never again wink your
eyes at my slamming doors, could you stay in one awhile. Have
those Drakes been to see you? I do not care for them; do you,
mother? I shall visit them but very little. John asked me if I
would go to housekeeping in warm weather. I said, “Er, em,
em,” which ment “yes” to him; to me, “nary housekeeping.”
Why should I wash dishes for him, and dust furniture, and learn
not to suit him in cooking—let me see, four times a day. He is
too particular about his food. Mother, I had rather eat your dry
bread; I hate to see people imagining they would like to have
this, and that, to eat. I shall be gone some weeks yet. I'll help
you knit when I return. John has snatched this from the table,
and I am mad, for he laughs loud at it, and says—“Give me a
kiss?” but I won't. It is eleven o'clock; there is no lamp burning
in Temple House; you are asleep. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 178 | Author: | Stoddard
Elizabeth
1823-1902 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Two men | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | When Jason Auster married Sarah Parke he was
twenty years old, and a house-carpenter. As he was
not of age, he made some agreement with a hard father
by which liberty was gained, and a year's wages lost.
He left his native village filled with no adventurous
spirit, but with a simple confidence that he should find
the place where he could earn a living by his trade, and
put in practice certain theories concerning the rights of
men and property which had already made him a pest
at home. The stage-coach which conveyed him thence,
traversed a line of towns that made no impression from
his point of view—the coach window; but when it stopped
to change horses at Crest, a lively maritime town,
and he alighted to stretch his cramped legs, he saluted
Destiny. Its aspect, that spring day, pleased him; he
heard the rain of blows from broad-axes in the ship-yards
by the water's edge, and saw new roofs and
chimneys rising along the irregular streets among the
rows of ancient houses, and concluded to stay. He unstrapped
a small trunk from the stage-rack, carried it
into the tavern entry, and looked about him for some
one to address. A man who had been eying the trunk
advanced towards him with a resolutely closed mouth,
and hands concealed in his pockets. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 180 | Author: | Stowe
Harriet Beecher
1811-1896 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Dred | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | Our readers will perhaps feel an interest to turn back
with us, and follow the singular wanderings of the mysterious
personage, whose wild denunciations had so disturbed
the minds of the worshippers at the camp-meeting. My dear Brother: I told you how comfortably we
were living on our place — I and my children. Since then,
everything has been changed. Mr. Tom Gordon came here
and put in a suit for the estate, and attached me and my
children as slaves. He is a dreadful man. The case has
been tried and gone against us. The judge said that both
deeds of emancipation — both the one executed in Ohio,
and the one here — were of no effect; that my boy was a
slave, and could no more hold property than a mule before
a plough. I had some good friends here, and people pitied
me very much; but nobody could help me. Tom Gordon
is a bad man — a very bad man. I cannot tell you all that
he said to me. I only tell you that I will kill myself and
my children before we will be his slaves. Harry, I have
been free, and I know what liberty is. My children have
been brought up free, and if I can help it they never shall
know what slavery is. I have got away, and am hiding
with a colored family here in Natchez. I hope to get to
Cincinnati, where I have friends. “It seems to me that I have felt a greater change in me
within the last two months than in my whole life before.
When I look back at what I was in New York, three
months ago, actually I hardly know myself. It seems to
me in those old days that life was only a frolic to me, as
it is to the kitten. I don't really think that there was much
harm in me, only the want of good. In those days, sometimes
I used to have a sort of dim longing to be better,
particularly when Livy Ray was at school. It seemed as
if she woke up something that had been asleep in me; but
she went away, and I fell asleep again, and life went on
like a dream. Then I became acquainted with you, and
you began to rouse me again, and for some time I thought
I did n't like to wake; it was just as it is when one lies
asleep in the morning — it 's so pleasant to sleep and dream,
that one resists any one who tries to bring them back to
life. I used to feel quite pettish when I first knew you, and
sometimes wished you 'd let me alone, because I saw that
you belonged to a different kind of sphere from what I 'd
been living in. And I had a presentiment that, if I let you
go on, life would have to be something more than a joke
with me. But you would, like a very indiscreet man as you
are, you would insist on being in sober earnest. “If I was so happy, my dearest one, as to be able to
awaken that deeper and higher nature which I always knew
was in you, I thank God. But, if I ever was in any respect
your teacher, you have passed beyond my teachings
now. Your childlike simplicity of nature makes you a
better scholar than I in that school where the first step is
to forget all our worldly wisdom, and become a little child.
We men have much more to contend with, in the pride of
our nature, in our habits of worldly reasoning. It takes us
long to learn the lesson that faith is the highest wisdom.
Don't trouble your head, dear Nina, with Aunt Nesbit or
Mr. Titmarsh. What you feel is faith. They define it, and
you feel it. And there 's all the difference between the definition
and the feeling, that there is between the husk and
the corn. “You say you may to-day be called to do something
which you think right, but which will lose you many friends;
which will destroy your popularity, which may alter all
your prospects in life; and you ask if I can love you yet.
I say, in answer, that it was not your friends that I loved,
nor your popularity, nor your prospects, but you. I can
love and honor a man who is not afraid nor ashamed to do
what he thinks to be right; and therefore I hope ever to
remain yours, “We are all in affliction here, my dear friend. Poor
Uncle John died this morning of the cholera. I had been
to E— to see a doctor and provide medicines. When I
came back I thought I would call a few moments at the
house, and I found a perfect scene of horror. Poor uncle
died, and there are a great many sick on the place now;
and while I was thinking that I would stay and help aunt,
a messenger came in all haste, saying that the disease had
broken out on our place at home. “Mr. Clayton: I am now an outcast. I cannot show
my face in the world, I cannot go abroad by daylight; for
no crime, as I can see, except resisting oppression. Mr.
Clayton, if it were proper for your fathers to fight and shed
blood for the oppression that came upon them, why is n't it
right for us? They had not half the provocation that we
have. Their wives and families were never touched. They
were not bought, and sold, and traded, like cattle in the
market, as we are. In fact, when I was reading that history,
I could hardly understand what provocation they did
have. They had everything easy and comfortable about
them. They were able to support their families, even in
luxury. And yet they were willing to plunge into war, and
shed blood. I have studied the Declaration of Independence.
The things mentioned there were bad and uncomfortable,
to be sure; but, after all, look at the laws which
are put over us! Now, if they had forbidden them to
teach their children to read, — if they had divided them all
out among masters, and declared them incapable of holding
property as the mule before the plough, — there would have
been some sense in that revolution. “I have received your letter. I need not say that I am
sorry for all that has taken place — sorry for your sake,
and for the sake of one very dear both to me and to you.
Harry, I freely admit that you live in a state of society
which exercises a great injustice. I admit your right, and
that of all men, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I admit the right of an oppressed people to change their
form of government, if they can. I admit that your people
suffer under greater oppression than ever our fathers suffered.
And, if I believed that they were capable of obtaining
and supporting a government, I should believe in their
right to take the same means to gain it. But I do not, at
present; and I think, if you will reflect on the subject,
you will agree with me. I do not think that, should they
make an effort, they would succeed. They would only
embitter the white race against them, and destroy that
sympathy which many are beginning to feel for their oppressed
condition. I know it seems a very unfeeling thing
for a man who is at ease to tell one, who is oppressed and
suffering, to be patient; and yet I must even say it. It is
my place, and our place, to seek repeal of the unjust laws
which oppress you. I see no reason why the relation of
master and servants may not be continued through our
states, and the servants yet be free men. I am satisfied
that it would be for the best interests of master as well as
slave. If this is the truth, time will make it apparent, and
the change will come. With regard to you, the best counsel
I can give is, that you try to escape to some of the
northern states; and I will furnish you with means to begin
life there under better auspices. I am very sorry that I
have to tell you something very painful about your sister.
She was sold to a trading-house in Alexandria, and, in desperation,
has killed both her children! For this she is now
in prison, awaiting her trial! I have been to see her, and
offered every assistance in my power. She declines all.
She does not wish to live, and has already avowed the
fact; making no defence, and wishing none to be made for
her. Another of the bitter fruits of this most unrighteous
system! She desired her love and kind wishes to you.
Whatever more is to be known, I will tell you at some
future time. “Whereas, complaint upon oath hath this day been made
to us, two of the Justices of the Peace for the said county
and state aforesaid, by Thomas Gordon, that a certain male
slave belonging to him, named Harry, a carpenter by trade,
about thirty-five years old, five feet four inches high, or
thereabouts; dark complexion, stout built, blue eyes, deep
sunk in his head, forehead very square, tolerably loud
voice; hath absented himself from his master's service, and
is supposed to be lurking about in the swamp, committing
acts of felony or other misdeeds. These are, therefore, in
the name of the state aforesaid, to command said slave
forthwith to surrender himself, and return home to his said
master. And we do hereby, by virtue of the act of assembly,
in such case made and provided, intimate and declare
that, if the said slave Harry doth not surrender himself,
and return home immediately after the publication of these
presents, that any person or persons may kill and destroy
the said slave by such means as he or they may think fit,
without accusation or impeachment of any crime or offence
for so doing, and without incurring any penalty or forfeiture
thereby. Given under our hands and seal, “I, James Rochelle, Clerk of the County Court of Southampton, in the
State of Virginia, do hereby certify, that Jeremiah Cobb, Thomas Pretlow,
James W. Parker, Carr Bowers, Samuel B. Hines, and Orris A. Browne,
Esqrs., are acting justices of the peace in and for the county aforesaid;
and were members of the court which convened at Jerusalem, on Saturday,
the fifth day of November, 1831, for the trial of Nat, alias Nat Turner, a
negro slave, late the property of Putnam Moore, deceased, who was tried
II. 29*
and convicted, as an insurgent in the late insurrection in the County of
Southampton aforesaid, and that full faith and credit are due and ought
to be given to their acts as justices of the peace aforesaid. “`I see that Castleman, who lately had a trial for whipping a slave to
death in Virginia, was “triumphantly acquitted,” — as many expected.
There are three persons in this city, with whom I am acquainted, who staid
at Castleman's the same night in which this awful tragedy was enacted.
They heard the dreadful lashing, and the heartrending screams and
entreaties of the sufferer. They implored the only white man they could
find on the premises, not engaged in the bloody work, to interpose, but for
a long time he refused, on the ground that he was a dependant, and was
afraid to give offence; and that, moreover, they had been drinking, and he
was in fear for his own life, should he say a word that would be displeasing
to them. He did, however, venture, and returned and reported the cruel
manner in which the slaves were chained, and lashed, and secured in a
blacksmith's vice. In the morning, when they ascertained that one of the
slaves was dead, they were so shocked and indignant that they refused to
eat in the house, and reproached Castleman with his cruelty. He expressed
his regret that the slave had died, and especially as he had ascertained that
he was innocent of the accusation for which he had suffered. The idea was
that he had fainted from exhaustion; and, the chain being round his neck,
he was strangled. The persons I refer to are themselves slaveholders;
but their feelings were so harrowed and lacerated that they could not sleep
(two of them are ladies), and for many nights afterwards their rest was
disturbed, and their dreams made frightful, by the appalling recollection. “`State of North Carolina, Lenoir County. — Whereas complaint
hath been this day made to us, two of the justices of the peace for the said
county, by William D. Cobb, of Jones County, that two negro slaves
belonging to him, named Ben (commonly known by the name of Ben Fox)
and Rigdon, have absented themselves from their said master's service, and
are lurking about in the Counties of Lenoir and Jones, committing acts of
felony; these are, in the name of the state, to command the said slaves
forthwith to surrender themselves, and turn home to their said master.
And we do hereby also require the sheriff of said County of Lenoir to make
diligent search and pursuit after the above-mentioned slaves.... And
we do hereby, by virtue of an act of assembly of this state concerning
servants and slaves, intimate and declare, if the said slaves do not surrender
themselves and return home to their master immediately after the
publication of these presents, that any person may kill or destroy said slaves
by such means as he or they think fit, without accusation or impeachment
of any crime or offence for so doing, or without incurring any penalty of
forfeiture thereby. “`$200 Reward. — Ran away from the subscriber, about three years
ago, a certain negro man, named Ben, commonly known by the name of
Ben Fox; also one other negro, by the name of Rigdon, who ran away on
the eighth of this month. “`State of North Carolina, New Hanover County. — Whereas
complaint, upon oath, hath this day been made to us, two of the justices
of the peace for the said state and county aforesaid, by Guilford Horn, of
Edgecombe County, that a certain male slave belonging to him, named
Harry, a carpenter by trade, about forty years old, five feet five inches
high, or thereabouts; yellow complexion; stout built; with a scar on his
left leg (from the cut of an axe); has very thick lips; eyes deep sunk in
his head; forehead very square; tolerably loud voice; has lost one or two
of his upper teeth; and has a very dark spot on his jaw, supposed to be a
mark, — hath absented himself from his master's service, and is supposed
to be lurking about in this county, committing acts of felony or other misdeeds;
these are, therefore, in the name of state aforesaid, to command
the said slave forthwith to surrender himself and return home to his said
master; and we do hereby, by virtue of the act of assembly in such cases
made and provided, intimate and declare that if the said slave Harry doth
not surrender himself and return home immediately after the publication
of these presents, that any person or persons may KILL and DESTROY the
said slave by such means as he or they may think fit, without accusation
or impeachment of any crime or offence in so doing, and without incurring
any penalty or forfeiture thereby. “`One Hundred and Twenty-five Dollars Reward will be paid for
the delivery of the said Harry to me at Tosnott Depot, Edgecombe County,
or for his confinement in any jail in the state, so that I can get him; or
One Hundred and Fifty Dollars will be given for his head. “If the plan of separation gives us the pastoral care of you, it remains
to inquire whether we have done anything, as a conference, or as men, to
forfeit your confidence and affection. We are not advised that even in the
great excitement which has distressed you for some months past, any one
has impeached our moral conduct, or charged us with unsoundness in doctrine,
or corruption or tyranny in the administration of discipline. But we
learn that the simple cause of the unhappy excitement among you is, that
some suspect us, or affect to suspect us, of being abolitionists. Yet no particular
act of the Conference, or any particular member thereof, is adduced
as the ground of the erroneous and injurious suspicion. We would ask you,
brethren, whether the conduct of our ministry among you for sixty years
past ought not to be sufficient to protect us from this charge. Whether the
question we have been accustomed, for a few years past, to put to candidates
for admission among us, namely, Are you an abolitionist? and, without
each one answered in the negative, he was not received, ought not to protect
us from the charge. Whether the action of the last Conference on this
particular matter ought not to satisfy any fair and candid mind that we are
not, and do not desire to be, abolitionists. * * * * We cannot see
how we can be regarded as abolitionists, without the ministers of the Methodist
Episcopal Church South being considered in the same light. * * * | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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