St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-09-26
Cesar.
! TRI r STORY.

Oiu- anu ne would tel You no uouDl
as he used to tell us children, about tn,
war of the Revolution, which happened
when he was boy.
He lived then with his father, il
IL great stone house on the banks of TIL,
Hudson in Westminster county. IL,
was ii patriot. and at the battle o
Brooklyn was. captured, and for a lonG
time, shut up i'll Il. church which til,
British made into a prison.
Thirty Years ago, when grandfathe
used to tell us these stories, peopl,
were beginning to take sides. fol
and against slavery. Harry, who wa.
Il fiery little aboliti0nist. used To bring
his high chair and sit close to grand,
father and ask thousand questions
while | listened on Il cushion at hi,
feet. and darling Fanny would sit qui-
city upon his knee, leaning her head
upon his breast, her bright beautiful
eyes looking up lovingly into his face.
We liked all the stories about the
ItNblulloll, nut illt nest Oh all tnt $40
ry about Caesar not Julius Caser,
nor dog Caesar. just Caesar. Pleas,
then imagine grandfather seated in hi,
arm chair, his audience eagerly attent-
i've, though it may he the twentieth
time they have heard the story.
"One morning in October. when
was little boy about ten years old,
there came along tire country road on
which we lived. three of the strangest
looking black figures You ever saw-;l
man and woman. and Il little boy
about my own age. They were so
frightened and suspicious that no one
could approach them. not even our
own slaves
"Slave>" interrupted Harry, Nv hat
do Hou mean. grandfather lou nev-
or owned slaves"
NO" said grandfather, 'but my ia
ther did"
ITarry's face Redeemed with vexation
us he half muttcred. Il didn't believe
there were ever any slave holders in
this state thought they all lived
down South"
"YOu will bc surprised. my boy, to
know that there was slave market.
before the Revolution, in Wall street,
New York, and that it was forty years
after the Revolution before the last
slave was free i'll the state"
They must have known that it was
wicked, Oh, feel disgraced to think
that my great grandfather was Il slave
holder" said Harry, rushing away to
the window to hide his tears.
Grandfather waited little while.
playing with Fanny, pinching her
checks and her nose. Finally he said,
II guess we wont wait any longer for
Harry to come back; we will 20 on
with our story. Well. these strange
looking beings | began to tell you
about we're native Africans who had
before. The owner of the ship was il
Carolinian. who had sent it to Africa
for its cargo. 1t was destined for
Charleston | suppose. Bnt the Cap
tain of the ship ran into New York.
thinking to sell few slaves and keep
the money himself"
GLOW did YOU find out that p asked
Harry, coming back To his seat. You
shall hear" said grandfather, going OH
with the story again. while we were
wondering, and trying to discover
what it all meant, two men rode up i'll
great haste calling out loudly, help
catch those niggers '"
"The poor creatures were too tired
and too much frightened to run far, so
the men were soon binding them with
cords and putting on shackles. They
cursed and swore, and treated the poor
Africans so BADLY that my father re-
proved them"
well, well, old Dutchman." said
one, seen you're so tender-heartcd.
what'll you give for the lot p Father
said he had all the slaves he needed.
vet rather than see them ill-used he
would buy them. and Il bargain was
soon made. They took the gold f;l-
ther gave them and rode away.
II always thought that they must
have left other children i'll Africa, be
cause they seemed SO unhappy, and for
a long time so determined to run away
We tried To make them understand
that the ocean which they thought 50
terrible must he crossed. before they
could get back To their home. Perhaps
We succeeded, for at last they gave us
no more trouble. But they were per-
fectly useless to us. | think the father
and mother were heart broken. because
before the winter was half gone, they
died. ! see you all wonder what
could become of Caesar now. Well.
everybody pitied the poor little fellow.
He was petted and nUrSed by all the
household, white and black. and when
summer came. the warm sunshine seem
ed to make him happy again, and he
began to grow. BY this time he was
eighteen, he was as strong as a man.
and knew how to do all kinds of farm
work. He had the blacklist skin and a
wild untamed sort Of a look. as if the
freedom of his old life always haunted
him. He liked to have his own way,
and would fight fearlc>>ly for his rights,
but he was never treacherOus or COW