St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-11-09
How June Found MaSSa
LinkuIn.
BY ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS.

idhlnS IL nap up SldlIS, anu, IoI ID lew
moments at least, the coast seemed to
be quite clear.
June was a little girl who had lived
in Richmond ever since she could re-
member, who had never been outside
the city boundaries, and who had a
vague idea that the north lay just
above the Chickahominy, and the Gulf
of Mexico about mile below the
James. She could not tell A from u,
nor the figure | from 40; and when
ever Madame Joliet made those funny
little curves and dots and blots with
pen and ink, in drawing up her bill to
send i'll to the dodgers up stairs, June
considered that she was moved thereto
by witches. Her authority for this
theory lay in a charming old woman
across the way, who had one tooth and
wore a yellow cap, and used to tell her
ghost stories sometimes in the evening.
Somebody asked June once how old
she was.
aspect Is hundred-dunno," she
said gravely.
Exactly how old she was nobody
knew. She was not tall enough to be
more then seven, but her face was like
lllO lslaC vi al llbilt Olu W IL W diS al
queer face, with thick lips and low fore
head, and great mOurnful eyes. There
was something strange about those
eyes. Whenever they looked ut one
they seemed to cry right out, as if they
had voice. But no one in Richmond
cared about that. Nobody cared about
June ut all. When she was unhappy,
no one asked what was the matter !;
when she was hungry, or cold, or
frightened, Madame Joliet laughed at
her, and when she was sick she beat
her. If she broke Il teacup or spilled
mug of coffee, she had her ears
boxed, or was shut up in terrible
dark cellar where the rats were as
large as kittens. If she tried to sing II
little i'll her sorrowful smOthered way
over her work, Madame Joliet shook
her for making so much noise. When
she stopped, she scOlded her for being
sulky. Nothing that she could do
ever happened to he right everything
was sure to he wrong. She had not
half enough to eat or half enough to
wear. What was worse than that, she
had nobody to kiss her; nobody to
love and pet her; nobody in all the
wide world to care whether she lived
or died, except a half-starved kitten
that lived in the woodshed. For June
was black, and n slave; aud this
Frenchwoman, Madame Joliet, was her
mistress.
Hungry was the kitten. June had
named it so because it was black. She
had an idea that every thing black was
hungry in the nature of things.
That there had been IA war, June had
gathered from old Creline, who told
her the ghost stories. What it was all
about she did not know. Madame
Joliet said some terrible giants, called
Yankees, were coming down to eat up
all the little black girls in Richmond.
Creline said the Yankees were the
Messiah's people, and were coming to
set the negroes free. Who the Messiah
was June did not know; but she had
heard vague legends from Creline Of
old-time African princes, who lived i'll
great free forests, and sailed on spark
ling rivers in boats of painted bark,
and she thought that he must be one
of them.
Now, this morning, Creline had
whispered mystcriOusly to June, as she
went up the street to sell some eggs foi
Madame Joliet, that Massa Limkum
was coming that very day. June knew
nothing of those grand, immortal words
of his which had made every slave i'll
Richmond free; it had never entered
| Madame JOliet's plan that she should
| know. No one can tell, reasoned Ma
dame, what notions the little nigger
will get if she finds it out. She might
even ask for wages, or take a notion to
! learn to read, or run away, or some
thing. June saw no one; ; she kept heI
! prudemtly in the house. Tell her
Non, NON, impossible!
But June had heard the beautiful
news this morning, like all the rest
and June was glad, though she hadn't
the slightest idea why. So, while hel
mistress was safely asleep up stairs
she had stolen out to watch for the
wonderful sight.
She was standing there on tiptOe OF
the fence, in her little ragged dress
with the black kitten in her arms
when Il great crowd turned Il corner
and threw up a cloud of dust, ant
swept up the street. There were
armed soldiers with glittering uni
forms, and their flags flying, and merry
voices shouting, and huzzas and bles
sings distinct upon the air. There
were long lines of dusky faces uptnrneC
and wet with happy tears. There were
angry faces, too, scowling from win
dows and lurking in dark corners.
1t swept on, and it swept up, anC
June stood still and held her breath t.
look, and saw in the midst of it all,
tall man dressed in black. He had :
thin white face, sad-eyed, and kindl,
and quiet. and he was bowling ant
smiling to the people on either side.
"God bress yer, Massa Linkum, Go,
bress yer! ~ shouted the happy voices
and then there was chorus of wilt
hurrahs, and June laughed outright fo
glee, and lifted up her thin little voic
and cried, ''Bress yer, Massa Linkum!
with the rest, and knew 10 more thai
the kitten what she did it for.
The great man turned, and saw Jun
standing there alone in the sunlight
the fresh wind blowing her ragge
dress, her little black shoulders jus
reaching to the top of the fence, he
e wide-open, mOurnful eyes, and tn
: kitten squeezed in her arms. And h
: looked right at her, oh, so kindly an
D gave her smile all to herself one {
I his rare smiles, with "A bit of IA quive
4 in it-and bowed, and was gone.
J. Take me long wild yer, Mass
= Linkum, Massa Linkum ~ called poo
e June, family. But no one heard her
and the crowd swept on, and June
voice broke into "A cry, and the he
- tears came, and she laid her face dow
on Hungry to hide them. You see
all her life no one had ever looked 5
at poor June before.
!. June, June, come here !" called
sharp voice from the house. But Jun
was sobbing so hard she did not hea