UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

" and
what
and
I
UNCLE TOM S CABIN I OR,
old and have a bed got readyfor you in
"
men,
-
"
Lord
"
"
"
boughta quarter of a township of good, rich land,
"ight," he,heartily "and I'll cal. up the own sorrow, to comfort thybeloved ones ! Tom
made out free papers for all his people,
no
woman,
time."
women and children," packed them up in wagons?
senator,
"
Thank you, my goodfriend,"said the
and sent them off to settle down ; and then
"
T must be along țo take the nightstage for
honest John turned his face up the creek, and Columbus."
sat quietlydown on a snug, retired farm,to enjoy
"
Ah ! well,then,if you must, I '11 go
a piece
his conscience and his reflections.
with you, and show you a cross road that will
"
Are you the man that will shelter a poor take you there better than the road you came on.
woman and child from slave-catchers?"said the That road 's mighty bad."
senator,explicitly.
John equippedhimself,and, with a lantern
'
in
"
I rather think I am," said honest John,with hand, was soon seen guidingthe senator's carriage
some considerableemphasis.
towards a road that ran down in a hollow,
"
I thoughtso," said the senator.
back of his dwelling. When they parted țhe
"It there's anybody comes," said the good senator put into his hand said,briefly.
a ten-dollar bill.
man, stretching Ms tall,muscular form upward,
"
It 's for her," he
"'
why, here I 'm ready for him : and I 've got "Ay, ay," said John,with equalconciseness
Seven sons, each six foot high, and they'll be They shook hands, and parted.
ready for 'em. Give our respectsto 'em," said
John; "tell 'em it's no matter how soon they
call," make no kinder differenceto us," said
John,running his fingersthrough the shock of
CHAPTER X.
hair that thatched his head, and bursting out
THE PROPERTY IS CARRIED OFF.
into a greatlaugh.
Weary, jaded and spiritless, Eliza dragged Tire Februarymorninglooked gray and drizzling
herself up to the door,with her child lyingin a through the window of Uncle Tom's cabin. It
heavysleepon her arm. The rough man held looked on downcast facesțhe imagesof mournful
the candle to her face,and uttering a kind of hearts. The littletable stood out before the fire,
compassionate grunt,openedthe door of a small covered with an ironing-cloth ; a coarse but clean
bed-room adjoining to the largekitchen where shirt or two, fresh from the iron,hung on the
they were standing,
go in. back of a chair by the fire,and Aunt Chloe had
He took down a candle,and lightingit șet it another spreadout before her on the table. Carefully
upon the table,and then addressed himself to she rubbed and ironed every
fold and every
Eliza.
hem, with the most scrupulous exactness, every
"
Now, I say, gal,you need n't be a bit afeared, now and then raisingher hand to her face to
let who will come here. I 'm up to all that sort wipe off the tears that were coursing down her
o' thing," said he, pointingto two or three cheeks.
goodly rifles over the mantel-piece; "and most Tom sat by,with his Testament
open
on his
peoplethat know me know that 'twould n't be knee,and his head leaningupon his hand ; but
healthy to try to get anybody out o' my house neither spoke. It was yetearly, the children
when I 'm agin it. So now you jist go to sleep, lay all asleeptogether in their littlerude trundlebed.
now, as quietas if yer mother was a rockin'ye,"
said he,as he shut the door.
Tom, who had, to the fullțhe gentle,domestic
"
Why, this is an uncommon handsome un," heart,which, woe for them ! has been a peculiar
he said to the senator. "Ah, well; handsome characteristic of his ui?happy race, got up and
uns has the greatest cause to run, sometimes,if walked silently to look at his children.
they has any kind o' feelin', such as decent women
"
It 's the last time!" he said.
should. I know all about that."
Aunt Chloe did not answer, onlyrubbed away
The senator, in a few words,briefly explained over and over on the coarse shirt,alreadyas
Eliza'shistory.
smooth as hands could make it ; and finally "0! ou ! aw! now, I want to know?" said her iron suddenly down with a despairing
the goodman, pitifully ; " sho ! now, sho ! That 's plunge șhe sat down to the table,and " lifted up
natur now, poor crittur!hunted down,now, like a her voice and wept."
deer," hunted down,jestfor havin' natural feelin's,and
S'pose we must be "
; but resigned 0, .
doin' what no kind o' mother could help how ken I ? If I know'd anything whar you 's
a doin' ! I tell ye what, these yer things make me goin',or how 'd they sarve you ! Missis says
come the nighes to swearin',noAv, o' most anything,"
she '11 try and 'deem ye, in a year or two ; but
said honest John, as he wiped his eyes Lor ! nobody never conies up that goes down
with the back of a great,freckled,yellowhand. thar ! They kills 'em ! I 've hearn 'em tell
"I tell yer what, stranger, it was years and how dey works 'em up on dem ar plantations."
there,Chloe,that
years before I.'d jine the church,'cause the ministers
"
There '11 be the same God
round in our parts used to preachthat the there is here."
Bible went in for these ere cuttings up,
I
"
Well," said Aunt Chloe, " s'pose dere will ;
could n't be up to 'em with their Greek and but de Lord lets drefful thingshappen sometimes
Hebrew, and so I took up agin'em, Bible and I don't seem to get no comfort dat way."
all. I never jinedthe church tillI found a minister
"
I 'm in the Lord's hands," said Tom; "nothin'
that was up to 'em all in Greek and all
can go no furder than he lets it ; thar 's
that,and he said rightthe contrary; and then I one thingI can thank him for. It 's me that 's
took right hold, and jinedthe I did sold and church," goingdown, and not nur
you
the chil'en.
now, fact," said John, who had been all this Here you 're safe ; comes will come only
time uncorkingsome very frisky bottled cider, on me ; and the Lord,he '11 helpme, know
which at this juncturehe presented.
he will."
"
Ye 'd better jestput up here, now, tillday- Ah, brave, heart," mnnly smothering thine