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George Shelby had written to his mother merely a line, stating
the day that she might expect him home. Of
the death scene of his old friend he had not the heart to write.
He had tried several times, and only succeeded in half choking himself;
and invariably finished by tearing up the paper, wiping his eyes, and rushing
somewhere to get quiet.
There was a pleased bustle all though
the Shelby mansion, that day, in expectation of the arrival of young Mas'r
George.
Mrs. Shelby was seated in her
comfortable parlor, where a cheerful hickory fire was dispelling the chill of
the late autumn evening. A
supper-table, glittering with plate and cut glass, was set out, on whose
arrangements our former friend, old Chloe, was presiding.
Arrayed in a new calico dress, with
clean, white apron, and high, well-starched turban, her black polished face
glowing with satisfaction, she lingered, with needless punctiliousness, around
the arrangements of the table, merely as an excuse for talking a little to her
mistress.
"Laws, now! won't it look natural
to him?" she said. "Thar,--I
set his plate just whar he likes it,round by the fire. Mas'r George allers wants de warm seat. O, go way!--why didn't Sally get out de _best_ tea-pot,--de
little new one, Mas'r George got for Missis, Christmas?
I'll have it out! And Missis has heard from Mas'r George?" she said,
inquiringly.
"Yes, Chloe; but only a line, just
to say he would be home tonight, if he could,--that's all."
"Didn't say nothin' 'bout my old
man, s'pose?" said Chloe, still fidgeting with the tea-cups.
"No, he didn't.
He did not speak of anything, Chloe.
He said he would tell all, when he got home."
"Jes like Mas'r George,--he's
allers so ferce for tellin' everything hisself.
I allers minded dat ar in Mas'r George.
Don't see, for my part, how white people gen'lly can bar to hev to write
things much as they do, writin' 's such slow, oneasy kind o' work."
Mrs. Shelby smiled.
"I'm a thinkin' my old man won't
know de boys and de baby. Lor'!
she's de biggest gal, now,--good she is, too, and peart, Polly is.
She's out to the house, now, watchin' de hoe-cake.
I 's got jist de very pattern my old man liked so much, a bakin'.
Jist sich as I gin him the mornin' he was took off.
Lord bless us! how I felt, dat ar morning!"
Mrs. Shelby sighed, and felt a heavy
weight on her heart, at this allusion. She
had felt uneasy, ever since she received her son's letter, lest something should
prove to be hidden behind the veil of silence which he had drawn.
"Missis has got dem bills?"
said Chloe, anxiously.
"Yes, Chloe."
"'Cause I wants to show my old man
dem very bills de _perfectioner_ gave me. `And,'
say he, `Chloe, I wish you'd stay longer.'
`Thank you, Mas'r,' says I, `I would, only my old man's coming home, and
Missis,--she can't do without me no longer.'
There's jist what I telled him. Berry
nice man, dat Mas'r Jones was."
Chloe had pertinaciously insisted that
the very bills in which her wages had been paid should be preserved, to show her
husband, in memorial of her capability. And
Mrs. Shelby had readily consented to humor her in the request.
"He won't know Polly,--my old man
won't. Laws, it's five year since
they tuck him! She was a baby
den,--couldn't but jist stand. Remember
how tickled he used to be, cause she would keep a fallin' over, when she sot out
to walk. Laws a me!"
The rattling of wheels now was heard.
"Mas'r George!" said Aunt
Chloe, starting to the window.
Mrs. Shelby ran to the entry door, and
was folded in the arms of her son. Aunt
Chloe stood anxiously straining her eyes out into the darkness.
"O, _poor_ Aunt Chloe!" said
George, stopping compassionately, and taking her hard, black hand between both
his; "I'd have given all my fortune to have brought him with me, but he's
gone to a better country."
There was a passionate exclamation from
Mrs. Shelby, but Aunt Chloe said nothing.
The party entered the supper-room.
The money, of which Chloe was so proud, was still lying on the table.
"Thar," said she, gathering it
up, and holding it, with a trembling hand, to her mistress, "don't never
want to see nor hear on 't again. Jist
as I knew 't would be,--sold, and murdered on dem ar' old plantations!"
Chloe turned, and was walking proudly
out of the room. Mrs. Shelby
followed her softly, and took one of her hands, drew her down into a chair, and
sat down by her.
"My poor, good Chloe!" said
she.
Chloe leaned her head on her mistress'
shoulder, and sobbed out, "O Missis! 'scuse me, my heart's broke,--dat's
all!"
"I know it is," said Mrs.
Shelby, as her tears fell fast; "and _I_ cannot heal it, but Jesus can.
He healeth the broken hearted, and bindeth up their wounds."
There was a silence for some time, and
all wept together. At last, George,
sitting down beside the mourner, took her hand, and, with simple pathos,
repeated the triumphant scene of her husband's death, and his last messages of
love.
About a month after this, one morning,
all the servants of the Shelby estate were convened together in the great hall
that ran through the house, to hear a few words from their young master.
To the surprise of all, he appeared
among them with a bundle of papers in his hand, containing a certificate of
freedom to every one on the place, which he read successively, and presented,
amid the sobs and tears and shouts of all present.
Many, however, pressed around him,
earnestly begging him not to send them away; and, with anxious faces, tendering
back their free papers.
"We don't want to be no freer than
we are. We's allers had all we
wanted. We don't want to leave de
ole place, and Mas'r and Missis, and de rest!"
"My good friends," said
George, as soon as he could get a silence, "there'll be no need for you to
leave me. The place wants as many
hands to work it as it did before. We
need the same about the house that we did before.
But, you are now free men and free women. I shall pay you wages for your work, such as we shall agree
on. The advantage is, that in case
of my getting in debt, or dying,--things that might happen,--you cannot now be
taken up and sold. I expect to
carry on the estate, and to teach you what, perhaps, it will take you some time
to learn,--how to use the rights I give you as free men and women.
I expect you to be good, and willing to learn; and I trust in God that I
shall be faithful, and willing to teach. And
now, my friends, look up, and thank God for the blessing of freedom."
An aged, partriarchal negro, who had
grown gray and blind on the estate, now rose, and, lifting his trembling hand
said, "Let us give thanks unto the Lord!"
As all kneeled by one consent, a more touching and hearty Te Deum never
ascended to heaven, though borne on the peal of organ, bell and cannon, than
came from that honest old heart.
On rising, another struck up a Methodist
hymn, of which the burden was,
"The year of Jubilee is come,-- Return,
ye ransomed sinners, home."
"One thing more," said George, as he stopped the
congratulations of the throng; "you all remember our good old Uncle
Tom?"
George here gave a short narration of
the scene of his death, and of his loving farewell to all on the place, and
added,
"It was on his grave, my friends,
that I resolved, before God, that I would never own another slave, while it was
possible to free him; that nobody, through me, should ever run the risk of being
parted from home and friends, and dying on a lonely plantation, as he died.
So, when you rejoice in your freedom, think that you owe it to that good
old soul, and pay it back in kindness to his wife and children.
Think of your freedom, every time you see UNCLE TOM'S CABIN; and let it
be a memorial to put you all in mind to follow in his steps, and be honest and
faithful and Christian as he was."
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