Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-07-31
Delano. 3. But we are all attached to her !;
and our house being shut up for the summer,
we were unwilling to trust her with strang

Wlnked her eye, without stlrrlng from the
corner of the cage, where she was rolled up
like ball of feathers. Then she croaked
out an English phrase, which she had learned
of the children, q Polly wants a cracker
90 She shall have cracker said good
natured Mr.. Bright; and Rosa and little
Lila were soon furnished with cracker and
lump of sugar for Poll.
In short time they were summoned to
tea and after enjoying Mrs. Bright's light
bread and sweet butter, they saw no more of
their host and hostess for the evening. In
the morning the whole family were up before
the hour appointed for breakfast, and were
out in the garden, taking a look at the en-
virOnments of their new abode. As Mrs
Blumenthal was walking about among the
bushes, Mr.. Bright's blooming face suddenly
uprose before her, from where he was stoop-
ing to pluck up some weeds.
- Good morning, ma am, " said he. - Do
you hear that old thief trying to come Paddy
over the Lord ~
As he spoke, he pointed his thumb back
ward toward Deacon Still ham s house, whence
proceeded a very loud and monotonOus voice OF
prayer.
Mrs Blumenthal smiled as she inquired,
Z" hat did you mean by saying he sold
women and children %
'' Made his money by slave-trading down
in Carolina, ma am. | reckon a man has to
pray great deal to get himself out of that
scrape; needs to pray pretty loud too, or the
voice of women screaming for their babies
would get to the throne afore him. He don t
like US over and above well, cause we re
Abolitionists. But there Betsey calling me :;
| must mt stop here talking
Mrs. Blumenthal amused her companions
by repetition of his remarks concerning
the Deacon. She was much entertained by
b tbair sty-la of hu
as she termed it. After breakfast she said :
- There he is in the garden. Let's go and
talk with him, Florimond.
And taking her parasOl, she went out,
leaning on her husbands arm.
81 So you re an Abolitionist?'' said Mr..
Blumenthal, as they stopped near their host
Mr.. Bright tossed his Jat on a bush, and 3,
leaning on his hoe, sang in a stentorian
voice - l m an Abolitionist | glory in the
name. There said he, laughing, . l let
out all my voice, that the Deacon might
hear He can pray the loudest; but reckon
| can sing the loudest. I'll tell you what
first made me begin to think about slavery.
You see | was never easy without | could be
doing something in the musical way, so
undertook to teach singing. One winter, l
thought | should like to run away from Jack
Frost and | looked in the Southern papers
to see if any of 'em advertised for a singing
master. The first thing my eye lighted on
was this advertisement =
Run away from the subscribers stout mulatto,
slave, named Joe; has light sandy hair, blue eyes.
and ruddy complexion; is intelligent, and will pass
himself for white man. l will give one hundred
dollars reward 10 whoever will seize him and put
him in jail"
4 =. By George said |. :. that 5 a descrip-
tion of me- | did n I know before that was
a mulatto. 1t llnever do for me to 90 there
So l went TO Vermont to teach. | told EN- |
was runaway slave, and showed EN- the adj
vertisement that described me. Some of EN-
believed me, till | told 'em it was Joke.
Well, it is Just as bad for those poor black
fellows a. it would have been for me but
that blue-eyed Joe seemed to bring the mat
ter home to me 1t set me to thinking about
slavery, and | have kept thinking ever
since
- Not exactly such silent thinking as the
apothecary' famous owl, judge, said Mrs.
Blumenthal.
No." replied he, laughing. - never
had the Quaker gift of gathering INTO the
stiffness, that's a fact. But | reckon even
that 'pothecary's owl would mt be silent if
he could hear and understand all that Betsev
told me about the goings-on down South.
Before | married her, she went there to
teach but she s woman o feeling, and she
could mt stand it long. But, dear me, if
>
think it was just about the pleasantest thing
in the world to be sold and that the niggers
down South had nothing pom earth to dc
but lick treace and swing gate. Then
he proves it to be a Divine institution from
Scripture, chapter and verse. You may
have noticed, perhaps, that such chaps are
mighty well posted up about the orig gina
designs of Providence; especially as to who :.
foreordained to be kept down. lie says Coo
cussed Ham, and the niggers are the descend
ants of Ham, | told him if there was ar
estate of Hams left unsettled, | reckonec
t would puzzle the 'cutest lawyer to hunt
up the rightful heirs
- think so,'' reJoined Mr.. Blumenthal
smiling; . especially when the We become
so mixed up that they advertise runaway
negroes with sandy hair, blue eyes, anc
ruddy complexion.'
When the Deacon feels the ground
little shaky under him, resumed Mr. Bright
:. he leans on his minister down in Carolina
who, he SAYS, is Northern man, and st
pious that folks come from far and near t,
get him to pray for rain in dry time
thinking the prayers of such a godly MAJ
will be sure to bring down the showers. H'
says that man preached a sermon that PROVED
niggers were born to be servants of servants
unto their brethren. | told him l did n
doubt that part of the prophecy was fulfilled
about their serving their brethren; and
showed him the advertisement about sand,
hair and blue eyes. But as for being serv
ants of SERVANTS, | never heard of slavchold
ers serving anybody except-a chap who's
name it amt polite to mention before ladies
As for that preacher, he put me in mind 0
a minister my father used to tell of He
been to a wedding, and when he come HON
he conld mt light his lamp. After trying
: long spell he found out that the extingushe
, was on it. | told the deacon that minister
down South had put cxtinguisher on thei
: lamp, and could mt be expected to raise mucl
of light from it to guide anybody's steps.
% Some of the Northern ministers are no
much better guides, / think rejoined Mr.
Blumenthal.
just So replied his host; = caus
they we got the same extinguisher on< an
ain t it curious to see 'em putting and blow
; ing at the old lamp? | get most tired @
talking common sense and common feeling t
the Deacon. You can't get it into him, an
it won't stay on him. You might wei
try to heap peck o fax-seed. He keep
eating his own words, too though the
don't seem to agree with him, neither. ii
+, maintains that the slaves are perfectly con
tented and happy and the next minute,
you quote any Of their cruel laws, he tell
YOU they are obliged to make such laws o
else they would rise and cut their masters
throats. He says blacks and whites won
mix any more than oil and water; and th
next minute he says if the slaves are free
they'll marry our daughters. l tell him hi
arguments are like the Kilkenny cats, tha
ate one another up to the tips o. their tails
The Deacon is sensible enough, too, abou
,, many other subjects but he nor no othe
man can saw straight with a crooked saw.
q It's an old saying rejoined Blumen