St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-06-21
"Dat Ar Illinoy."
BY MARY E. C. WYETH.
From the Christian Union.

The Captain was an early riser.
"Atrociously early" said his daughter
Jenny, who was wont to aver that her
respected papa patrolled the house
through all the dead hours of the night,
and entertained himself by calling upon
some one of the hapless sleepers to
wake up and see the sun rise.
The fact was that the vigorous, breezy
nature of the man would not content
itself with only so much of the stimulus
of outdoor air and exercise as the lin
itations of purely city life permitted.
Every morning he was up with the
dawn, and after waking all the house
with his somewhat hilarious prepara-
tions would tramp off miles and miles
into the sweet, pure country and back
again before breakfast.
Of course, every member of the fam
lily turned over in their beds and thank
ed Providence heartily the moment
they heard the echoes of his departing
footsteps out upon the pave, and wrap
ping the draperies of their couches
about them, took up again, as best they
might, the broken thread of their rude
ly interrupted pheasant Dreams"
At least this was the general rule
with the Captains household, though
like other general rules it had its ex-
ceptions. Now and again the Captain
has succeeded in enticing Miss Jenny
from her beauty nap to accompany him
on his morning ramble. And once,
when he had ordered barouche for a
A. M, Mrs. Chamberlaine had actually
risen and allowed herself to be driven
behind a spanking team fifteen miles
before breakfast. She, however, like
her daughter, declared that such per-
fOrmance extracted the whole days
elixir in the one first quaff, and that the
remainder of the twenty-fOur hours
might as well not have been, for all the
good it amounted to so far as she was
concerned.
But it is of Gabe's exception-the
solitary time he was ever known to
''get up in the morning early" without
deal of assistance, amounting at times
to cOerciOn-that our story concerns
itself.
Gabriel Blennerhasset, chattel per-
sOnal, pertaining to the estate of Bryan
BlennerIasset, failing to persuade the
Captain, by whom he was held to ser
vice for certain compensation paid to
the Widow Blennerhasset, to buy him
of his ''ole mistis," had determined after
mature deliberatiOn, and much vague
speculation, to take matters into his own
yet shackled hands and make one des-
perate venture for freedom. In other
words, he "'lOwed ter run away ter dat
ar lllinoy, whar all de niggers was free"
1t was on a bright and frosty morning
in the autumn of '49. The fury of the
pestilence had abated. King Cholera
no longer swayed a relentless scepter
over the stricken city. Men walked the
streets and bought and sold and got
gain with more hopeful faces and freer
hearts. The keen winds and crisp.
frosty mornings seemed to purify the
all and invigOrate the spirits of those
who through the long, hot summer had
bTeathed the sultry vapors loaded with
disease and death. The city stirred
with freshened life through all her
pulses. All things were changing
Gabe's prospects among them. With
the approaching New Year, Gabe's
''time" with the Captain was "out.r
Miss Jenny, whose reign and rule in
her fathers house was supreme, was
tired of the boy and resolved to keen
him no longer.
The dearest wish of poor Gabriel's
heart was to have the Captain for his
master. Failing in securing that hap
piness, the second wish of his chattel
heart was to become his own master.
The first wish was for luxury, the second
for liberty. Seeing he could not have
what he most wanted, the lad phil
osophically resolved to take what he
could get, or at least what he thought
he could get; and, accordingly, one
morning when the Captain rose cheerily
and Justify, as usual, and made ready
for his morning excursion, Gabe rose
also, but glumly and stealthily, and
prepared likewise for his excursion. As
on former attempt his bundled effects
had betrayed his intentions, and there
by thwarted his plans, he determined
to prepare no evidence against himself,
and fortified his future with no tenn
poral provision save that which might
be afforded by the handful of specie
that he carefully tied in his Sunday
handkerchief.
Liberty was not to be sought fol
throughout the broad State of Missouri,
Gabe knew that right well. But ovei
the river, in "dat ar Illinoy," ah what
limitless freedom might he not find I
Thither in the grey dawn of that crisp
November morning our hero was fain
to direct his steps. And circuitous
route he must make of it too, in order
to avoid the Argus-eyed guardians OF
the night not yet off duty, and who
would be likely to turn their question
ing gaze and perhaps lay their hinder
ing hand on a young tourist out toe
early in the day for the proprieties
recognized by the established order OF
things south of Mason and Dixon's
line.
Slipping through the dark alleys
dOdging around corners, watching all
points of the compass at once, Gabe
made his way unmolested to the ferry
boat. In his deep mind he had pre-
pared for many emergencies, none OF
which had Glanced to him. But here
was one for which even his deep mind
could have made no possible prepara-
ton. For, as his freedom-seeking feet
touched the gang plank, he lifted his
eyes to the upper deck, and bebeld
outlined in bold relief against the east
ern sky, the familiar fern of his whilon
employer, the Captain.
"GoOd gOlly" calculated Gabe, ac-
tually turning pale, as he rolled his ewes
in his own peculiar fashion when utter
ly bewildered, "what de goodness gurra-
cious ole Gabe gwine to do under such
circumstance ?n
"Why, halo, Gabem called out the
CHEEKY voiced Captain, espying the lad
'What set you off so early in the morn
ingi Want to go over the river All
right, come on board.n And Gabe, ac-
custOmed to obey the masterful voice.
| Snranp nnicklv to the snnnmnns