An Unoficial Patriot

ce whispers.

st be separated from his wife and child, or Sallie must be sold, or Mr. Davenport must buy John and keep him here! The final issue had come! John begged to be bought. Sallie

it'im ter buy John! Yoh kin. I knows mon'sous well dat yoh kin! He g

ase to him fully, and Sallie's black face peered in behind hi

by step, to what I felt was wrong long ago, until now I am caught in the tangle

nd, swaying to and fro, swung her s

t heah, if yo' don' hep me, Mos' Grif! Ain't I been a good girl? Ain't I nus de chillun good, an' did'n I pull Mos' Beverly outen de crick when he

it out toward Griffith and stared through streaming eyes at his face to see if he had relented. And still

at He gib yoh my Mis' Katherine fo'?'Cause He know yoh gwine ter be good an' kine, an'-an' dat

r master's clenched hands, and struggled to open them as she talke

s long-all de days ob ouh lifes, des fo' dat little, teenchy six hund'ud dollahs, what Mos' Bradley got ter hab fo' John! A

her husbond's shoulder. Her eye

st two months-ever since it was decided to sell John to that man when he comes. It is heart-breaking. You know, darling, she played with me ever since we were bab

el it his duty to do would seem to his wife like cruelty.

us give Sallie her freedom,

ne ter let him gib me away, is yoh? I don' belong to nobody ter gib away, but des ter my Mis' Kate, an' she ain't gwine ter gib me 'way arter I done nus her chillun an' save de life of Mos' Beverly! Dat ain't dekine o' lady my Mis' Kat

rom the floor again and

d, holding the baby up in front of her. "All free, bofe ob us, ain't wuf dat little much t' ouh Mos' Grift All free, bofe ob us! A little, teenchy, ugly six hund'ud dollahs! He radder hab hit in de bank er in de desk er in he pocket-dat little six hund'ud dollahs what's mo' bigger dan all ob us-

holding a handkerchief to her face. H

y John, Sa

o hands again. They w

Grif gwine ter buy John!" and she fell on her knees again and sobbed for joy. She caught the little black baby up from the floor where it lay, laughing and kicking its toes

now he done strangle me wid joy, befo' I got ter cry, chile! Yoah po' mammy's hawt done bus' wide open wid joy now. Dat's what make I can't talk no sense, Mos' Gr

suddenly held up both arms toward

Mos' Grif! I knows dat dey ain't, but I got ter

said; and Katherine threw her arms around hi

iber was weakening. He had broken the vow taken so long ago. He felt that the bonds were tightening about him, and that it would be harder t

cience against me, done this wrong! I have paid money for a human being. I know it is a wrong-I know-I

floated in through the open window the refrain fr

trouble, an' d

o' trouble fo

o' sorrer, an

trouble fo' me,

banks ob de

in de pro

Lawd, when He

o mo' trou

ays, when he

o de gates

a harp, an' I

o mo' sorr

ong, and two of the black boys stopped in their race with Beverly, over t

ot remember when he had thought otherwise, that for one in his position, at least, even the mere ownership of slaves could not be right. He recalled that it had come to him at first in the form of purchase and sale, and it had seemed to him that under no

imself, in deed and in truth "Mos' Grif" to all these dependent creatures, it had borne more and more heavily upon his conscience. He had tried to think and plan some way out of it and had failed, and now he had been forced to face the final issue-the one phase which he had felt could never touch him,-the purchase for money of a black man, and he had yielded at the first test! His heart had outweighed his head and his conscience combined, and the line he had fixed so long ago as the one boundary of this evil which he could never pass,

to the matter in hand which Sallie had duly reported an hour after she had won and her ma

y for the future moral life of h

of honor and a credit to the religion in which he believed he had, so far, found all his loftiest ideals. He could plainly see, now, that this phase of the terrible problem would be sure to arise and confront him again and again as time went on, and h

he ones you've got. If you'll allow an old neighbor to make a suggestion, I think you read those Yankee papers altogether too much and too seriously. It perverts your judgment. It's a good sight easier for those fellows up there to settle this question than it is for us to do it. They simply don't know what they are talking about, and we do. With them it's all theory. Here it's a cold fact. What in the name of

baffled me. I'm not judging, now, for you, Mr. Bradley, not in the least. I feel myself too thoroughly caught in the meshes of our social fabric to presume to unravel it for other people. But-but in my position-for myse

enport! Criminal! Ha, h

did not join the laugh which

ll do it-I, a preacher of God! For you, I cannot judge. 'Judge not, that ye be not judged,' is

government addressed to the "Fourth ward," or the members of Congress. It was, in short, subversive of the established order of things, and neither you, nor I, nor they, accept quite gracefully such propositions, if in their application to ourselves, they would be a sore and bitter loss-if it would render less secure and lofty our seat on the social or political throne. We revolt and we blame the disturber of the old established order of things-the order, which having been good enough for our fathers is surely good enough for you and for me. In short, was not the way in reli

e questioned if you would not have agreed with Mr. Bradley in his covert opinion that "Davenport's squeamishness was all damned nonsense," and that he might far better stop reading those Yankee newspapers. But be that as it may, the deed was done. The transfer was made, and th

ped at the home "stile" and Griffith still sat on his back, apparently oblivious of the fact that t

dy, Mos' Grif. Mis' Kath'rin

unted, more like an old man than l

e asked absently. "Feed him, but don't put

ick, is you,

n recognizing the look of anxiety on the fait

. Hit ain't seem like yo'se'f. I des fought d

hip at the boy. Jerry dodged the stroke, but r

rascal, if you don't just knock off and go fis

a nice mess of trout, boy, and you'll see my insides, as y

y was co