The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1882-09-29
cried. "Bress yer, Massa Linkump with


kindly and gave her smile all to ht
self--one of his rare smiles with a bit
quiver in it-and bowed, and W
gone.
"Take me long wild yer, Massa Ii
KUN " called poor June, family. But !
one heard her; and the crowd swept o
the hot tears came, and she laid her ia
down OH Hungry to hide them. VI
see, in all her life, no one had ever loo
ed SO at poor June before.
"June, June, come herew called
sharp voice from the house. But Jun
was sobbing 80 hard that she did NJ
hear
"Venez ici-vite, vitei Junel Voilo
The little nigger will be the death of M
She tears my heart. June, rite, ] say =
June started, and jumped down froI
the fence, and ran into the house wit
great frightened eyes.
81 Jest didn't mean to, noways, missu
| want to see Massa Linkum, an he loo
at me, an done forgot eberyting.
missus, don't beat me dis yer time, al
4 I'll neber-"
But Madame Joliet interrupted he
with box On the ear, and dragged he
| up StdlTS. lHcIC was d tcIIlDlc lOOh VI
Madame's face. Just what happened u
stairs, l have not the heart to tell you.
That night, June was crouched, sob
bing and bruised and bleeding, behint
the kitchen stove, when Creline came il
Joliet was obliged to leave the room fo
few moments, and the two were alone
together. June crawled out from behinC
the stove.
81 see him. see Massa Linkum, Gre
line"
"De Lord bress him toreber m eber
Amen" exclaimed Creline fervently
throwing up her old thin hands.
June crept up a little nearer, and look.
ed all around the room to see if the doors
were shut
"Creline, what he done gone come
down here fur? Am he de Messiah ?"
"Bress yer SOUL chile dom ye know
better N dat arr"
don know nuffin," said June sulen-
ly. "Neber knows muffin; spects neber
5 gwine to. Can go out in de road to
fine out,-she beat me. Can ask muffin,
she jest glib me a push down cellar. o
Creline, deres sech rats down dar now,-
dar is p
Yer poor critter" said Creline, with
great contempt for her ignorance. "Why,
Massa Linkum, eberybody knows bout
he He s done gone made we Free
whole heap on we."
Free !" echoed June, with puzzled
eyes.
Laws, yes, chile; pears like yer s
drefful stupid. Yer don't b'long-" Gre
line lowered her voice to mysterious
whisper, and looked carefully at the
closed door,-"yer don't b'long to Missus
Jolly no more dan she b'longs to you, an
dat's de trufe now, case Massa Linkum
say so,-God bress him!"
Just then Madame Joliet came back.
"Wha's that you re talking about?" she
said sharply.
"June was jes' sayin' what heap she
think OBJ you, missus," said Creline, with
grave face.
June lay awake a long time that night,
thinking about Massa Linkum, and the
wonderful news Creline had brought,
and wondering when Madame Joliet
would tell her she was free.
But many days passed, and Madame
said nothing about it. Creine's son had
left his master and gone North. Creline
herself had asked and obtained scanty
wages for her work. A little black boy
across the street had been sentenced to |
receive twenty-five lashes for some tri-
fling fault, and they had just begun to beat |
him in the yard, when Union officer |
stepped up and stopped them. A little |
girl, not quarter of mile away, whose
name June had often heard, had just |
found her father, who had been sold
away from her years ago, and had come
into Richmond with the Yankee SOL
diers. But nothing had happened to
June. Everything went on as in the old
days before Massa Linkum came. She
washed dishes, and scrubbed knives and
carried baskets of wood, SO heavy that
she tottered under their weight, and
was scolded if she dropped SO much as a
shaving on the floor; she swept the
rooms with broom three times as tall
as she was, and had her ears boxed be-
cause she could not get the dust up with
such tiny hands. She worked and scrub
bed and ran on errands from morning
to night, till her feet ached so that she
cried out with the pain. She was whip
ped and scolded and threatened and
and shaken, just as she had
been ever since she could remember.
She was kept shut up like prisoner in
the house, with Madame Joiet's cold
gray eyes forever on her, and her sharp
voice forever in her ear. And still not
word was said about Massa Linkum and
the beautiful freedom he had iven to all
such as little June, and not a word did
June dare to say.
But June thought. Madame Joliet
could not help that. If Madame had
known just what June was thinking, she
would have tried hard to help it.
Well, so the days passed, and the
weeks, and still Madame said not word
and still she whipped and scolded and
shook, and June worked and cried, and
nothing happened. But June had not
done all her thinking for nothing.
One night Creline was going by the
house, when June called her softly
through the fence.
"Creine v'
"What g de matter?" said Creline, who
was in great hurry.
81 s gwine to fine Massa Linkum,-
lon yer tell nobody" i
Laws a massy, what young un dat
III chile isl" said Creline, thinking that
June had just walked up from a dream,
md forthwith forgetting all about her.
Madame Joliet always locked June in
o her room, which was nothing but
,loset with window in it, and heap
If rags for bed. On this particular
tight she turned the key as usual, and
hen went to her own room at the other
md of the house. where she was soon
cundly asleep.
About eleven o'clock, when all the
house was still, the window of June's
loset softly opened. There was a roof
d doorway Just underneath it, with an
Id grapevine trellis running up one side
# il. A little dark figure stepped out
mildly on the narrow, steep roof, cling
ng with its hands to keep its balance,
nd then down upon the trellis, wnicn it
,egan to crawl slowly down. The old
wood creaked and groaned and trembled,
nd the little figure trembled aud stood :
till. If il should give wav, and fall
rsshing to the ground q
She stood minute looking down then ,
he took a slow, careful step; then !
mother. and another, hand under h md /,
pom the bars. The trellis creaked and
hook and cracked, but il held on, and
une held on. and dropped softly down,
asping and terrified at what she had /,
one, all IN little heap on the grass De-
)w. v
She Law there a moment perfectly still. a
he could not catch her breath at first, S
nd she trembled so that she could not
love. a
Then she crept along on tiptoe to the q
-oodshed. She ran great risk IN open c
~ the woOdshed door, for the hinges
ere rusty, and it creaked with terri y
le noise. But Hungry was in there. =
be could not go without Hungry She J.
ent in. and called in a faint whisper
he kitten knew her. dark as 10 was, and n