Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-06-27


amid his bowings, 'fhank you, sab, but | am
not a boz any more, am a man" ] looked
Mt him with fresh interest and said, some
what coldly,
"Well, what can do for youY'
~ am come, sah," he said, "hopo you Is
not offended, sab, to get you TO marry me-
to marry me to Miss Seely Madison"
''To Miss -- who p / demanded.
'Miss- -Seely- Madison, sab. She dat
was de cook oh de Madison family" he re-
piled.
"Then your name is s-- ?" / began.
"AIr. Milton Mcpherson Berrien yes, sah,
he said eve hab to hab some more name
dan we had before. She took her massa's
name | took mine. Fust families, as you
know, sab. Dat is dc reason we want you to
Marquis. You may be sure I will pay you,
sab, wedding fee, sab" he added with bow
and wave Of his hand.
'"rhen | will not do it, Milton ! snid.
"You will need every cent you can get, boy
l added with sorrowful look at him ''do
you know"
But I did not go on. Why should l cloud
the wedding gloryY Besides, his eye had
lost its light and his check its color as spoke;
evidently he did know, in part at least. We
have all Of us read about Uudinc a creature,
and JOYOUS one, of the elements. Beauti-
full Undne had no soul, was merely a water
nymph. going back at death into the air like
the foam of the sea- 1t was the coming Of n
soul to her at her marriage with her lover,
which brought care and suffering, as well as
immortality. SO with the ex-slave, the COM
ing of freedom hnd brought to him weight as
well AZ wings. There was no longer II mas
ter to relieve him of all care as to home and
clothing, as TO food and physic and Milton
tn1- vic nj
ready.
They were married ut Mr.. Madson's house.
Mrs. Madison had lost by the freeing of Secly
one thousand dollars, and nearly that sum in
every one of their house servants, to say
nothing Of the people on their plantation
but she entered none the less, into the spirit
of the occasion. Woman is an angel There
was Mr.. Madison, for instance, so broken
hearted by his ruin that he had suddenly be-
come old. Not so his wife; she had as sud
denly become ten years younger; had put
forth wings hidden otherwise until death
was bearing up herself, her children, her
husband, her entire circle of ruined asso-
ciates, upon the strong pinions of her love
and faith. Her husbands voice had sunk in
to wall hers had risen into a song instead.
/ never knew what q beautiful aud happy
woman Mrs. Madison was until that night OF
"The only extravaganza Seely was guilty
of, she told me before the ceremony begun,
"was this. We had promised all our people
pay, you see after they were freed. Well,
Seely put them up to it aud they all saved,
the house servants, / mean, every cent OF
their first months wages. At the end of the
month they laid it all out in the materials
and Seely cooked and iced dozens Of cakes OF
every sort and they deliberately sat dowr
and gave a night to eating them up. They
ate enough to kill them But you know
nothing they eat ever hurts than at all. Sine,
then all their money goes. at least that Of
all the rest of our negroes (and that Is the
way with them all over the South, suppose
for bright calicoes brass jewelry, candy, anC
all sorts of canned fruit, oysters and the like
Poor things But am so glad you consent
ed to marry them. Try and not laugh herr
they come ~
Ii could have been wished that there haC
been fewer bridesmaids, seeing, especially
that there were for me, at least, too many
groomsmen. When the bridal party cam,
into the large parlor, the very multitud,
thereof tangled matters so that it was witt
difficulty l kept from marrying the wront
couple. Had there been less jewelry, short
er trains, greater parsimony in the article o
wells, more economy as to grandeur in genor
al, it might have been better. Sure, | am
that the marriage Of Victoria and Prince Al
bert could not have seemed quite so moment
GUS to the parties on that occasion but tn
individuals in this instance were not born {,
the purple, and the weight was too heavy
funeral would have been lively in compari
son. As l knew that nothing would pleas
them so much, the ceremony was made yer
long, and never did a clergyman have great
er excuse thnn did then for admonishing
wedding pair minutcly and at length. Blu
they We're married at last, thoroughly mar
rcd and the crowd fell back into hopeless
tanglc again as they left the room. The wed
| ding supper came more natural to them
| that is, so long rs they were waiting upon tn
white people seated ut table, which they di
eagerly and well bridegroom, bride and all
| Immediately after, they arranged woddin
| feast for themselves in the kitchen, and, wit
Mrs. Madison's cordial assistance, it had bee
made as sumptuous as possible. But, ala'
| the moment they sat down to it solemn S
| lence fell upon them. In former days the
would have been the happiest Of people, the
talk and laughter as heart felt and free rs til
chattering of squirrels, or the song of bird
Not so now. They hardly dared TO smile
much less laugh. twas all too new to them
the grandeur was too great!
1t was in vain that good, bright faced Mr.
Madison demonstrated with Seely afterwarC
Seely loved her mistress dearly and was sem
| ible enough, but her husband had other ideas
and Immediately after the wedding they WEI
| to housekeeping. A wretched little leak
shanty it was in which they began, wit
nothing but the clothes they had on, and a
most no furniture at all. If they could hav
been contented to remain as servants undo
Mr.. Madison's roof they would have had the
board and lodging free, and could, in tim
have saved enough to begin an independei
life comfortably. But nO,-at least Milto
said SO, they could not tt6I free unless the
were of by themselves, even If they had
be in their tumble-down hoyel. 1t was foo
ish, but it was nature, and you and !, pc
haps, might have done the same.
Ten years afterward, and what change
The bridegroom had become the Hon. Miltc
Mcpherson Berrien. They lived in a ham
some house which he had bought and pa
for. There were piano and pictures, hori
and buggy bills coming in for groceries al
ice-cream, and the like. Under all her supe
abundant millinery, Mrs Seely Berrien WI
very much the same sensible soul as befor
but by no means rs much happier as OF
would have thought. Very rarely was h
husband at home those days. He was in Il
legislature, on the stump, in the newspap
offices, along the streets, refining in his fiji
horse beside the cotton fields TO have, co
temptuous of the helpless overseer, polite
talk with the freedmen at work therein. Hl
you known him before the war, you won
have been astonished at the alteration in Il
man 1t was a something beyond the tran
formation of the meanest of grubs into Il
most brilliant of butterflies. You had
idea hitherto that the range of transform
tion in human being was SO great; it ga
one new conception of the possibiliti
which death may bring to us all. The ''yC
low boy" willingly ignorant when slave
everything in the universe, without thoug
beyond his horses his master, his Sund
clothes, and, at the very highest his Seel
was now-what? You could not meet a M
on Wall street who would have been readi
to talk to you about greenbacks as dist
guished from gold, or fuller of confidence
TO the best ways of making money. The
was no Yankee in New England more willil
to engage with you in argument upon Al
subject whatever the Hon. Milton thoroug
ly understanding religious themes as well
all others, but generally escaping as soon
he could to politics, as to topic of more prn