UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

"
the
"
an
130 UNCLE TOM S CABIN : OR,
The woman gave a sudden start,and,drawinghuman beings, of whom nothinggood was expected
back, said,suddenly,
and desired ; and who, treated "n every
"0, Mas'r ! I left my
old man in New Orleans."
way likebrutes, had sunk as nearlyto tneir level
as it was possiblefor human beingsto do. To a
late hour in the nightthe sound of'the grinding
" What of that, you ; won't you want one
here? None o' your words," go long!" said was protracted ; for the millswere few in nmnber
Legree,raising his whip.
comparedwith the grinders, and the weary and
feeble ones were driven back by the strong, and
"
Come, mistress,"he said to Emmeline, " you
go
in here with me."
came on last in their turn.
A dark,wild face was seen, for a moment, to
"
Ho yo !" said Sambo, coming to the mulatto
glance at the window of 'the house ; and, as Legree woman, and throwing down a bagof corn before
opened the door,a female voice said somethingin
"
her ; what a cuss yo
name ?"
a quick,imperative Tom, who was looking
"
Lucy," said the woman.
witlianxious interestafter Emmeline, as she went
"
Wal, Lucy,yo woman now. "b grind
in,noticed this,and heard Legreeanswer, angrily, dis yer corn, and
my
get my supper baked, ye
"
You may hold your tongue ! I '11do as I please, har ? ' '
for all you !"
"I an't your woman, and I won't be !" said
Tom heard no more ; for he was soon followingthe woman, with a sharp,sudden courage of
Sambo to the quarters. The quarters was a little despair : " you go long !"
Sambo, raising his
sort of street of rude shanties,in a row, in a part
"
I '11kick then !" said
if the plantationfar off from the house. They
yo,
foot threateningly.
had a tbrlorn,brutal,forsaken air. Tom's heart "Ye
may kill me, if ye choose," the soonci
sunk when he saw them. He had been comfortingthe better ! Wish't I was dead !" said she.
himself with the thought of a cottage,rude, indeed,
"
I Sambo, you go to spilin'the hands,
say,
but one which lie might make neat and I'll tell Mas'r o' you,"said Quimbo who was
quiet,and where he might have a shelf for his busy at the mill,from which he had viciously
driven two or three tired women, who were waiting
Bible,and a placeto be alone out of his laboring
hours. He looked into several; theywere mere
rude shells,destituteof any species of furniture,
except a heap of straw, foul with dirt,spread
confusedly over the floor, which was merelythe
bare ground țrodden hard by the tramping of
innumerable feet.
"
Which of these will be mine?" said he, to
Sambo, submissively.
"
Dunno ; ken turn in here, I 'spose," said
Sambo; " spects thar 's room for another thar ;
thar 's a pretty smart heap o' niggersto each on
em, now; sure, I dunno what I 's to do with
It was late in the evening when the weary
dawn of the day,they had been in the fields,
pressed to work under the driving lash of the
overseers
,
for it was now in the very heat and
hurryof the season, and no means wTas left untried
to press every one up to the top of their
"
capabilities. True," says the negligentlounger;
"pickingcotton isn't hard work." Isn't if!
And it isn't much inconvenience,eitherțo have
one drop of water fall on your head ; yet the
worst torture of the inquisition is producedby
drop after drop,drop after drop,fallingmoment
after moment, with monotonous succession,
the same spot; and work, in itselfnot hard,
after hour,
becomes so, by beingpressed, hour
with unvarying,unrelentingsameness, with not
to grindtheir corn.
"
And I '11 tell him ye
won't let the women
come to the mills, yo old nigger! ' said Sambo.
"
Yo jeskeep to yo
Tom was hungry with his day'sjourney,
own row."
almost faint for want of food.
and
"Thar, yo!" said Quimbo, throwingdown a
coarse bag, which contained a peck
"
thar,nigger,grab țake car on 't,"
of corn ;
you won't
get no more, dis yer week."
Tom waited till a late hour, to get a place at
the mills ; and then,moved by the utter weariness
of two women, whom he saw trying to grind their
corn there,he ground for them, put togetherthe
decayingbrands of the fire,where many had
baked cakes before them, and then went about
occupants of the shanties came flockinghome, "
men and women, in soiled and tattered garments, getting his own supper.
It was a new kind of
surly and uncomfortable, and in no mood to look work a deed of there," charityșmall as it was ;
pleasantly on new7comers. The small village but it woke an answering touch in their hearts,
was alive with no inviting sounds ; hoarse,guttural
expressionof womanly kindness came over
voices contendingat the hand-mills where their hard faces ; they mixed his cake for him,
their morsel of hard corn was yet to be groundand tended its baking; and Tom sat down by the
into meal, to fit it for the cake that was to constitute
light of the fire, and drew out his for he
Bible,"
their only supper. From the earliest had need of comfort.
"
What 's that!" said one of the women.
"
A Bible," said Tom.
"Good Lord! han't seen un since I was iu
Kentuck."
with
' ' Was you raised in Kentuck 1' ' said Tom
,
interest.
"
Yes, and well raised țoo ; never 'spected to
come to dis yer!" said the woman, sighing.
"What's dat ar book, any way!" said the
other woman.
"Why,
the Bible."
" Laws a me ! what 's dat?" said the woman.
''Do tell! you
never beam on't?" said the
"
I used to har Missis a readin'
other woman.
on 't șometimes,in Kentuck ; but, laws o' me !
even the 3onsciousness of free-willto take from its we don't har nothin' here but crackin' and
tediousness. Tom looked in vain among the gang, swarin'."
as they pouredalong, for companionable faces. "Read a piece,anyways?"
said the first
He saw onlysullen,scowling,imbruted men, and woman, curiously, seeingTom attentively
feeble,discouragedwomen, or women that were over it.
"
AOt women, strongpushingaway the weak, Tom Come unto Me, all read," ye that labor
^-the gross, unrestricted animal selfishness of and are heavyladen,and I will giveyou rest."
poring