"La bless you, Mas"r George!" said Aunt Chloe, with earnestness, catching his arm, "you wouldn"t be for cuttin" it wid dat ar great heavy knife! Smash all down--spile all de pretty rise of it. Here, I"ve got a thin old knife, I keeps sharp a purpose. Dar now, see! comes apart light as a feather! Now eat away--you won"t get anything to beat dat ar."
"Tom Lincon says," said George, speaking with his mouth full, "that their Jinny is a better cook than you."
"Dem Lincons an"t much count, no way!" said Aunt Chloe, contemptuously; "I mean, set along side our folks. They "s "spectable folks enough in a kinder plain way; but, as to gettin" up anything in style, they don"t begin to have a notion on "t. Set Mas"r Lincon, now, alongside Mas"r Shelby! Good Lor! and Missis Lincon,--can she kinder sweep it into a room like my missis,--so kinder splendid, yer know! O, go way! don"t tell me nothin" of dem Lincons!"--and Aunt Chloe tossed her head as one who hoped she did know something of the world.
"Well, though, I"ve heard you say," said George, "that Jinny was a pretty fair cook."
"So I did," said Aunt Chloe,--"I may say dat. Good, plain, common cookin", Jinny"ll do;--make a good pone o" bread,--bile her taters far,--her corn cakes isn"t extra, not extra now, Jinny"s corn cakes isn"t, but then they"s far,--but, Lor, come to de higher branches, and what can she do? Why, she makes pies--sartin she does; but what kinder crust? Can she make your real flecky paste, as melts in your mouth, and lies all up like a puff? Now, I went over thar when Miss Mary was gwine to be married, and Jinny she jest showed me de weddin" pies. Jinny and I is good friends, ye know. I never said nothin"; but go "long, Mas"r George! Why, I shouldn"t sleep a wink for a week, if I had a batch of pies like dem ar. Why, dey wan"t no "count "t all."
"I suppose Jinny thought they were ever so nice," said George.
"Thought so!--didn"t she? Thar she was, showing em, as innocent--ye see, it"s jest here, Jinny don"t know. Lor, the family an"t nothing! She can"t be spected to know! "Ta"nt no fault o" hem. Ah, Mas"r George, you doesn"t know half "your privileges in yer family and bringin" up!" Here Aunt Chloe sighed, and rolled up her eyes with emotion.
"I"m sure, Aunt Chloe, I understand I my pie and pudding privileges," said George. "Ask Tom Lincon if I don"t crow over him, every time I meet him."
Aunt Chloe sat back in her chair, and indulged in a hearty guffaw of laughter, at this witticism of young Mas"r"s, laughing till the tears rolled down her black, shining cheeks, and varying the exercise with playfully slapping and poking Mas"r Georgey, and telling him to go way, and that he was a case--that he was fit to kill her, and that he sartin would kill her, one of these days; and, between each of these sanguinary predictions, going off into a laugh, each longer and stronger than the other, till George really began to think that he was a very dangerously witty fellow, and that it became him to be careful how he talked "as funny as he could."
"And so ye telled Tom, did ye? O, Lor! what young uns will be up ter! Ye crowed over Tom? O, Lor! Mas"r George, if ye wouldn"t make a hornbug laugh!"
"Yes," said George, "I says to him, "Tom, you ought to see some of Aunt Chloe"s pies; they"re the right sort," says I."
"Pity, now, Tom couldn"t," said Aunt Chloe, on whose benevolent heart the idea of Tom"s benighted condition seemed to make a strong impression. "Ye oughter just ask him here to dinner, some o" these times, Mas"r George," she added; "it would look quite pretty of ye. Ye know, Mas"r George, ye oughtenter feel "bove n.o.body, on "count yer privileges, "cause all our privileges is gi"n to us; we ought al"ays to "member that," said Aunt Chloe, looking quite serious.
"Well, I mean to ask Tom here, some day next week," said George; "and you do your prettiest, Aunt Chloe, and we"ll make him stare. Won"t we make him eat so he won"t get over it for a fortnight?"
"Yes, yes--sartin," said Aunt Chloe, delighted "you"ll see. Lor! to think of some of our dinners! Yer mind dat ar great chicken pie I made when we guv de dinner to General Knox? I and Missis, we come pretty near quarrelling about dat ar crust. What does get into ladies sometimes, I don"t know; but, sometimes, when a body has de heaviest kind o" "sponsibility on "em, as ye may say, and is all kinder "seris" and taken up, dey takes dat ar time to be hangin" round and kinder interferin"! Now, Missis, she wanted me to do dis way, and she wanted me to do dat way; and, finally, I got kinder sarcy, and, says I, "Now, Missis, do jist look at dem beautiful white hands o" yourn with long fingers, and all a sparkling with rings, like my white lilies when de dew "s on "em; and look at my great black stumpin hands. Now, don"t ye think dat de Lord must have meant me to make de pie-crust, and you to stay in de parlor? Dar! I was jist so sarcy, Mas"r George."
"And what did mother say?" said George.
"Say?--why, she kinder larfed in her eyes--dem great handsome eyes o" hern; and, says she, "Well, Aunt Chloe, I think you are about in the right on "t," says she; and she went off in de parlor. She oughter cracked me over de head for bein" so sarcy; but dar"s whar "t is--I can"t do nothin" with ladies in de kitchen!"
"Well, you made out well with that dinner,--I remember everybody said so," said George.
"Didn"t I? And wan"t I behind de dinin"-room door dat bery day? and didn"t I see de General pa.s.s his plate three times for some more dat bery pie?--and, says he, "You must have an uncommon cook, Mrs. Shelby." Lor! I was fit to split myself.
"And de Gineral, he knows what cookin" is," said Aunt Chloe, drawing herself up with an air. "Bery nice man, de Gineral! He comes of one of de bery fustest families in Old Virginny! He knows what"s what, now, as well as I do--de Gineral. Ye see, there"s pints in all pies, Mas"r George; but tan"t everybody knows what they is, or as orter be. But the Gineral, he knows; I knew by his "marks he made. Yes, he knows what de pints is!"
By this time, Master George had arrived at that pa.s.s to which even a boy can come (under uncommon circ.u.mstances, when he really could not eat another morsel), and, therefore, he was at leisure to notice the pile of woolly heads and glistening eyes which were regarding their operations hungrily from the opposite corner.
"Here, you Mose, Pete," he said, breaking off liberal bits, and throwing it at them; "you want some, don"t you? Come, Aunt Chloe, bake them some cakes."
And George and Tom moved to a comfortable seat in the chimney-corner, while Aunte Chloe, after baking a goodly pile of cakes, took her baby on her lap, and began alternately filling its mouth and her own, and distributing to Mose and Pete, who seemed rather to prefer eating theirs as they rolled about on the floor under the table, tickling each other, and occasionally pulling the baby"s toes.
"O! go long, will ye?" said the mother, giving now and then a kick, in a kind of general way, under the table, when the movement became too obstreperous. "Can"t ye be decent when white folks comes to see ye? Stop dat ar, now, will ye? Better mind yerselves, or I"ll take ye down a b.u.t.ton-hole lower, when Mas"r George is gone!"
What meaning was couched under this terrible threat, it is difficult to say; but certain it is that its awful indistinctness seemed to produce very little impression on the young sinners addressed.
"La, now!" said Uncle Tom, "they are so full of tickle all the while, they can"t behave theirselves."
Here the boys emerged from under the table, and, with hands and faces well plastered with mola.s.ses, began a vigorous kissing of the baby.
"Get along wid ye!" said the mother, pushing away their woolly heads. "Ye"ll all stick together, and never get clar, if ye do dat fashion. Go long to de spring and wash yerselves!" she said, seconding her exhortations by a slap, which resounded very formidably, but which seemed only to knock out so much more laugh from the young ones, as they tumbled precipitately over each other out of doors, where they fairly screamed with merriment.
"Did ye ever see such aggravating young uns?" said Aunt Chloe, rather complacently, as, producing an old towel, kept for such emergencies, she poured a little water out of the cracked tea-pot on it, and began rubbing off the mola.s.ses from the baby"s face and hands; and, having polished her till she shone, she set her down in Tom"s lap, while she busied herself in clearing away supper. The baby employed the intervals in pulling Tom"s nose, scratching his face, and burying her fat hands in his woolly hair, which last operation seemed to afford her special content.
"Aint she a peart young un?" said Tom, holding her from him to take a full-length view; then, getting up, he set her on his broad shoulder, and began capering and dancing with her, while Mas"r George snapped at her with his pocket-handkerchief, and Mose and Pete, now returned again, roared after her like bears, till Aunt Chloe declared that they "fairly took her head off" with their noise. As, according to her own statement, this surgical operation was a matter of daily occurrence in the cabin, the declaration no whit abated the merriment, till every one had roared and tumbled and danced themselves down to a state of composure.
"Well, now, I hopes you"re done," said Aunt Chloe, who had been busy in pulling out a rude box of a trundle-bed; "and now, you Mose and you Pete, get into thar; for we"s goin" to have the meetin"."
"O mother, we don"t wanter. We wants to sit up to meetin",--meetin"s is so curis. We likes "em."
"La, Aunt Chloe, shove it under, and let "em sit up," said Mas"r George, decisively, giving a push to the rude machine.
Aunt Chloe, having thus saved appearances, seemed highly delighted to push the thing under, saying, as she did so, "Well, mebbe "t will do "em some good."
The house now resolved itself into a committee of the whole, to consider the accommodations and arrangements for the meeting.
"What we"s to do for cheers, now, I declar I don"t know," said Aunt Chloe. As the meeting had been held at Uncle Tom"s weekly, for an indefinite length of time, without any more "cheers," there seemed some encouragement to hope that a way would be discovered at present.
"Old Uncle Peter sung both de legs out of dat oldest cheer, last week," suggested Mose.
"You go long! I"ll boun" you pulled "em out; some o" your shines," said Aunt Chloe.
"Well, it"ll stand, if it only keeps jam up agin de wall!" said Mose.
"Den Uncle Peter mus"n"t sit in it, cause he al"ays. .h.i.tches when he gets a singing. He hitched pretty nigh across de room, t" other night," said Pete.
"Good Lor! get him in it, then," said Mose, "and den he"d begin, "Come saints--and sinners, hear me tell," and den down he"d go,"--and Mose imitated precisely the nasal tones of the old man, tumbling on the floor, to ill.u.s.trate the supposed catastrophe.
"Come now, be decent, can"t ye?" said Aunt Chloe; "an"t yer shamed?"
Mas"r George, however, joined the offender in the laugh, and declared decidedly that Mose was a "buster." So the maternal admonition seemed rather to fail of effect.
"Well, ole man," said Aunt Chloe, "you"ll have to tote in them ar bar"ls."
"Mother"s bar"ls is like dat ar widder"s, Mas"r George was reading "bout, in de good book,--dey never fails," said Mose, aside to Peter.
"I"m sure one on "em caved in last week," said Pete, "and let "em all down in de middle of de singin"; dat ar was failin", warnt it?"
During this aside between Mose and Pete, two empty casks had been rolled into the cabin, and being secured from rolling, by stones on each side, boards were laid across them, which arrangement, together with the turning down of certain tubs and pails, and the disposing of the rickety chairs, at last completed the preparation.
"Mas"r George is such a beautiful reader, now, I know he"ll stay to read for us," said Aunt Chloe; ""pears like "t will be so much more interestin"."
George very readily consented, for your boy is always ready for anything that makes him of importance.
The room was soon filled with a motley a.s.semblage, from the old gray-headed patriarch of eighty, to the young girl and lad of fifteen. A little harmless gossip ensued on various themes, such as where old Aunt Sally got her new red headkerchief, and how "Missis was a going to give Lizzy that spotted muslin gown, when she"d got her new berage made up;" and how Mas"r Shelby was thinking of buying a new sorrel colt, that was going to prove an addition to the glories of the place. A few of the worshippers belonged to families hard by, who had got permission to attend, and who brought in various choice sc.r.a.ps of information, about the sayings and doings at the house and on the place, which circulated as freely as the same sort of small change does in higher circles.
After a while the singing commenced, to the evident delight of all present. Not even all the disadvantage of nasal intonation could prevent the effect of the naturally fine voices, in airs at once wild and spirited. The words were sometimes the well-known and common hymns sung in the churches about, and sometimes of a wilder, more indefinite character, picked up at camp-meetings.
The chorus of one of them, which ran as follows, was sung with great energy and unction: "Die on the field of battle, Die on the field of battle, Glory in my soul."
Another special favorite had oft repeated the words-- "O, I"m going to glory,--won"t you come along with me? Don"t you see the angels beck"ning, and a calling me away? Don"t you see the golden city and the everlasting day?"
There were others, which made incessant mention of "Jordan"s banks," and "Canaan"s fields," and the "New Jerusalem;" for the negro mind, impa.s.sioned and imaginative, always attaches itself to hymns and expressions of a vivid and pictorial nature; and, as they sung, some laughed, and some cried, and some clapped hands, or shook hands rejoicingly with each other, as if they had fairly gained the other side of the river.
Various exhortations, or relations of experience, followed, and intermingled with the singing. One old gray-headed woman, long past work, but much revered as a sort of chronicle of the past, rose, and leaning on her staff, said--"Well, chil"en! Well, I"m mighty glad to hear ye all and see ye all once more, "cause I don"t know when I"ll be gone to glory; but I"ve done got ready, chil"en; "pears like I"d got my little bundle all tied up, and my bonnet on, jest a waitin" for the stage to come along and take me home; sometimes, in the night, I think I hear the wheels a rattlin", and I"m lookin" out all the time; now, you jest be ready too, for I tell ye all, chil"en," she said striking her staff hard on the floor, "dat ar glory is a mighty thing! It"s a mighty thing, chil"en,--you don"no nothing about it,--it"s wonderful." And the old creature sat down, with streaming tears, as wholly overcome, while the whole circle struck up-- "O Canaan, bright Canaan I"m bound for the land of Canaan."
Mas"r George, by request, read the last chapters of Revelation, often interrupted by such exclamations as "The sakes now!" "Only hear that!" "Jest think on "t!" "Is all that a comin" sure enough?"
George, who was a bright boy, and well trained in religious things by his mother, finding himself an object of general admiration, threw in expositions of his own, from time to time, with a commendable seriousness and gravity, for which he was admired by the young and blessed by the old; and it was agreed, on all hands, that "a minister couldn"t lay it off better than he did; that "t was reely "mazin"!"
Uncle Tom was a sort of patriarch in religious matters, in the neighborhood. Having, naturally, an organization in which the morale was strongly predominant, together with a greater breadth and cultivation of mind than obtained among his companions, he was looked up to with great respect, as a sort of minister among them; and the simple, hearty, sincere style of his exhortations might have edified even better educated persons. But it was in prayer that he especially excelled. Nothing could exceed the touching simplicity, the childlike earnestness, of his prayer, enriched with the language of Scripture, which seemed so entirely to have wrought itself into his being, as to have become a part of himself, and to drop from his lips unconsciously; in the language of a pious old negro, he "prayed right up." And so much did his prayer always work on the devotional feelings of his audiences, that there seemed often a danger that it would be lost altogether in the abundance of the responses which broke out everywhere around him.
While this scene was pa.s.sing in the cabin of the man, one quite otherwise pa.s.sed in the halls of the master.
The trader and Mr. Shelby were seated together in the dining room afore-named, at a table covered with papers and writing utensils.
Mr. Shelby was busy in counting some bundles of bills, which, as they were counted, he pushed over to the trader, who counted them likewise.
"All fair," said the trader; "and now for signing these yer."
Mr. Shelby hastily drew the bills of sale towards him, and signed them, like a man that hurries over some disagreeable business, and then pushed them over with the money. Haley produced, from a well-worn valise, a parchment, which, after looking over it a moment, he handed to Mr. Shelby, who took it with a gesture of suppressed eagerness.
"Wal, now, the thing"s done!" said the trader, getting up.
"It"s done!" said Mr. Shelby, in a musing tone; and, fetching a long breath, he repeated, "It"s done!"
"Yer don"t seem to feel much pleased with it, "pears to me," said the trader.
"Haley," said Mr. Shelby, "I hope you"ll remember that you promised, on your honor, you wouldn"t sell Tom, without knowing what sort of hands he"s going into."
"Why, you"ve just done it sir," said the trader.
"Circ.u.mstances, you well know, obliged me," said Shelby, haughtily.
"Wal, you know, they may "blige me, too," said the trader. "Howsomever, I"ll do the very best I can in gettin" Tom a good berth; as to my treatin" on him bad, you needn"t be a grain afeard. If there"s anything that I thank the Lord for, it is that I"m never noways cruel."
After the expositions which the trader had previously given of his humane principles, Mr. Shelby did not feel particularly rea.s.sured by these declarations; but, as they were the best comfort the case admitted of, he allowed the trader to depart in silence, and betook himself to a solitary cigar.
CHAPTER V.
Showing the Feelings of Living Property on Changing Owners.
Mr. and Mrs. Shelby had retired to their apartment for the night. He was lounging in a large easy-chair, looking over some letters that had come in the afternoon mail, and she was standing before her mirror, brushing out the complicated braids and curls in which Eliza had arranged her hair; for, noticing her pale cheeks and haggard eyes, she had excused her attendance that night, and ordered her to bed. The employment, naturally enough, suggested her conversation with the girl in the morning; and turning to her husband, she said, carelessly, "By the by, Arthur, who was that low-bred fellow that you lugged in to our dinner-table today?"
"Haley is his name," said Shelby, turning himself rather uneasily in his chair, and continuing with his eyes fixed on a letter.
"Haley! Who is he, and what may be his business here, pray?"
"Well, he"s a man that I transacted some business with, last time I was at Natchez," said Mr. Shelby.
"And he presumed on it to make himself quite at home, and call and dine here, ay?"
"Why, I invited him; I had some accounts with him," said Shelby.
"Is he a negro-trader?" said Mrs. Shelby, noticing a certain embarra.s.sment in her husband"s manner.
"Why, my dear, what put that into your head?" said Shelby, looking up.
"Nothing,--only Eliza came in here, after dinner, in a great worry, crying and taking on, and said you were talking with a trader, and that she heard him make an offer for her boy--the ridiculous little goose!"
"She did, hey?" said Mr. Shelby, returning to his paper, which he seemed for a few moments quite intent upon, not perceiving that he was holding it bottom upwards.
"It will have to come out," said he, mentally; "as well now as ever."
"I told Eliza," said Mrs. Shelby, as she continued brushing her hair, "that she was a little fool for her pains, and that you never had anything to do with that sort of persons. Of course, I knew you never meant to sell any of our people,--least of all, to such a fellow."
"Well, Emily," said her husband, "so I have always felt and said; but the fact is that my business lies so that I cannot get on without. I shall have to sell some of my hands."
"To that creature? Impossible! Mr. Shelby, you cannot be serious."
"I"m sorry to say that I am," said Mr. Shelby. "I"ve agreed to sell Tom."
"What! our Tom?--that good, faithful creature!--been your faithful servant from a boy! O, Mr. Shelby!--and you have promised him his freedom, too,--you and I have spoken to him a hundred times of it. Well, I can believe anything now,--I can believe now that you could sell little Harry, poor Eliza"s only child!" said Mrs. Shelby, in a tone between grief and indignation.
"Well, since you must know all, it is so. I have agreed to sell Tom and Harry both; and I don"t know why I am to be rated, as if I were a monster, for doing what every one does every day."
"But why, of all others, choose these?" said Mrs. Shelby. "Why sell them, of all on the place, if you must sell at all?"
"Because they will bring the highest sum of any,--that"s why. I could choose another, if you say so. The fellow made me a high bid on Eliza, if that would suit you any better," said Mr. Shelby.
"The wretch!" said Mrs. Shelby, vehemently.
"Well, I didn"t listen to it, a moment,--out of regard to your feelings, I wouldn"t;--so give me some credit."
"My dear," said Mrs. Shelby, recollecting herself, "forgive me. I have been hasty. I was surprised, and entirely unprepared for this;--but surely you will allow me to intercede for these poor creatures. Tom is a n.o.ble-hearted, faithful fellow, if he is black. I do believe, Mr. Shelby, that if he were put to it, he would lay down his life for you."
"I know it,--I dare say;--but what"s the use of all this?--I can"t help myself."
"Why not make a pecuniary sacrifice? I"m willing to bear my part of the inconvenience. O, Mr. Shelby, I have tried--tried most faithfully, as a Christian woman should--to do my duty to these poor, simple, dependent creatures. I have cared for them, instructed them, watched over them, and know all their little cares and joys, for years; and how can I ever hold up my head again among them, if, for the sake of a little paltry gain, we sell such a faithful, excellent, confiding creature as poor Tom, and tear from him in a moment all we have taught him to love and value? I have taught them the duties of the family, of parent and child, and husband and wife; and how can I bear to have this open acknowledgment that we care for no tie, no duty, no relation, however sacred, compared with money? I have talked with Eliza about her boy--her duty to him as a Christian mother, to watch over him, pray for him, and bring him up in a Christian way; and now what can I say, if you tear him away, and sell him, soul and body, to a profane, unprincipled man, just to save a little money? I have told her that one soul is worth more than all the money in the world; and how will she believe me when she sees us turn round and sell her child?--sell him, perhaps, to certain ruin of body and soul!"