UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

Come,
bury
f
how
this
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" those
of
156 UNCLE TOM'S CABIN
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OR.
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CHAPTER XLII.
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of this most atrocious affair ; is not the
are they that mourn, for theyshall be comforted."
and piledover with mountains of earthliness, is
time and place. But, sir,this innocent blood
shall have justice.I will proclaim this
AN AUTHENTIC GHOST STORY.
murder.
I will go to the very first magistrate, and expose For some remarkable reason, ghostlylegends
you."
"Do!" said Legree,snapping his were uncommonly rife,about this time, among
fingers, scornfully.
the servants on Legree's place.
" I VI like to see you doingit. Where It was whisperingly you goingto get witnesses ? you going footsteps,
to in the dead of night, had been heard descending
prove it? now ! "
the garretstairs,and patrolling the house, fn
George saw, at once, the force of this defiance. vain the doors of the upper entry had been
There was not a white person
on the place; and, locked ; the ghost either in all southern courts, the testimony of colored
duplicate key
in its pocket,
blood isnothing. Ke felt,
ghost'simmemorial
at that moment, as if
privilegeof comingthrough the keyhole,
he could have rent the heavens with his heart's and promenaded
indignant cry for justice;but in vain.
with a freedom that
"
After all,what a fuss,for a dead nigger !"
was alarming.
Authorities were somewhat divided as to the ouf"-
had noticed a dry,sandyknoll șhaded by a few
trees : there they made
"
Shall we take off the grave.
the cloak,Mas'r?"
The
Did
sheeteddead
squeak and gibberin the streets of Rome."
"
said the
negroes, when the grave was ready.
And, therefore, their all hittingupon this is a
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No, no, it with him ! It 's all I can
we recommend
give you, now, poor Tom, and shall have
you
striking pneumatology,Avhich
to the attention of spiritual media generally.
/t."
Be it as it may, we have private reasons for
Theylaidhim in ; and the men shovelled away, knowing that tall
silently.
figurein a white sheet did
They banked it up, and laid green turf walk, at the most approvedghostlyhours,around
over it.
the Legreepremises, pass out the doors, glide*
"
You may go, boys,"said George,slipping about the house," disappear at intervals,ar.i,
quarter into the hand of each. They lingered reappearing, pass up the silent stair-way, into
about,however.
that fatal garret; and that,in the morning,the
"If young Mas'r would pleasebuy us "
said
entrydoors were all found shut and locked as firm
one.
as ever.
"
We 'd serve him so faithful!" said the other. Legreecould not help overhearingthis whispering
"Hard times here, Mas'r!' said the first.
; and it was all the more exciting to him,
"
Do, Mas'r,buy us, please!"
from the painsthat were taken to conceal it from
"
I can't ! can*t !" said George, with difficulty,
him. He drank more brandy than usual ; held
motioning them off; " it 's impossible !"
up his head briskly,and swore louder than eve?,
The poor fellows looked dejected, and walked off in the day-time; but he had bad dreams, and the
in silence.
visions of his head on his bed were anythingbut
"
Witness,eternal God !" said George,kneelingagreeable nightafter Tom's bodyhad been
on the grave of his poor friend ; "0, witness carried away, he rode to the next town for a carouse,
that,from this hour, I will do what one man can
and had a high one. Got home late and
to drive out this curse of slavery from my land !" tired ; locked his door țook out the key, and went
There is no monument to mark the last restingplaceof
to bed.
our friend. He needs none ! His Lord After all,let a man take what pains he may to
knows where he lies,and will raise him up, immortal,
hush it down, a human soul is an awful ghostly,
to appear with him when he shall appear unquietpossession for a bad man to have. Who
in his glory.
knows the metes and bounds of it1 Who knows
Pityhim not ! Such a lifeand death is not for all its awful perhapses, shudderingsand
pityJ Not in the richesof omnipotenceis the tremblings,which it can no more live down
chief glory of God ; but in self-denying, suffering than it can outlive its own eternity love ! And blessed are the men whom he calls to fool is he who locks his door to keep out spirits.
a
fellowship with him,bearing their cross after him who has in his own bosom a spirit he dares not
with patience.Of such it is written, " Blessed meet alone," whose voice,smothered far down,
of doom !
said Legree.
ward form of the spirit,owing
The word was as a spark to a powdermagazine.
to a custom quite
prevalentamong and, for aught we
negroes,"
Prudence was never a cardinal virtue of the Kentucky
know, among
"
whites,too," invariably shutting
boy. Georgeturned,and, with one indignant
blow,knocked Legree the flat upon his face eyes, and coveringup heads under blankets,
; and, petticoats, oe whatever else mightcome in use for a
as he stood over him, blazingwith wrath and 'defiance,
shelter,on these occasions. Of course, as
everybody
he would have formed no bad personification
knows, when the
of his great namesake bodilyeyes are thus out of
triumphing over the the lists', the spiritual eyes
dragon
are uncommonly vivacious
and perspicuous;and,therefore,there were
Some men, however,are decidedlybettered by abundance of full-length portraits of the ghost,
beingknocked down. If a man laysthem fairlyabundantly flatin the dust,they seem immediately
sworn and testified to,which,as is
to conceive often the case with portraits, agreedwith each
a respect for him ; and Legreewas one of this other in no particular, exceptthe common family
.sort. As he ruse, therefore, and brushed the dust
peculiarity of the "
ghost tribe, the wearing
Yrom his clothes,he eyed the slowly-retreating of a white sheet. The
wagon with some evident consideration poor souls were not versed
; nor did in ancient history, and did not know that Shakspeare
had authenticated this costume,by telling
he open his mouth tillit was out of sight.
Beyondthe boundaries of the plantation, Georgehow
yet like the fore warringtrumpet