St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-11-09

with OON on the ear, ana dragged lef
up stairs. There was terrible look
on Madame's face. Just what hap
pened up stairs have not the heart to
tell you.
That night June was crOuched, sob
bing, and bruised and bleeding, be-
hind the kitchen stove, when Creline
came in on an errand for her mistress.
Madame Joliet was obliged to leave
the room for a few minutes and the
two were alone together. June .crawled
out from behind the stove.
'T see him see Massa Linkum,
Creline."
''De Lord bress him foreber'n'eber,
Amen exclaimed CreliDe, fervently,
throwing up her old thin hands.
June crept little nearer, and looked
all around the room to see if the doors
were shut.
"Creline, what's he done gone come
here fur 2 Am he de Messiah ?"
"Bress yer soul chile dom We know
better'n dat ar ?"
''Don' know nuf1in," said June snl-
lenly. "Nebber knows muffin; 'spects
never's gwine to. Cam go ont in the
road to fine Out-she beat me. Can
ask muffin, she just glib me push down
cellar. Oh, Creline, dar's sech rats
down dar nOw-dar is ~
"Yer poor critter ~ said Creline,
with great contempt for her ignorance.
"Why, Massa Linkum, everybody
knows bout he ! He's done gone made
we free-whole heap on We"
"Freew echoed June with puzzled
eyes.
"Laws, yes, chile! pears like YER
drefful stupid. Yer dom b'long''
line lowered her voice to Il mysterious
whisper, and looked carefully at the
closed door-''yer dom b'long to Missus
Jolly no more dan she b'lOng to you,
an dat's de trufe now, case Massa
Linkum say sO-GOd bress him ~
Just then Madame Joliet came back.
"What's that you're talking about ?"
she said sharply.
June was jes' saying what a heap
she tink oh 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 that she was free.
But many days passed, and Madame
said nothing about it. Creline's son had
left his master and gone north. Gre
line 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 trifling fault, and they had
just begun to beat him in the yard,
when II Union officer stepped up and
stopped them. A little girl, not II
quarter of Il 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 soldiers.
But nothing had happened to June.
Everything went on as i'll the old days
before Massa Linkum came. She
washed the dishes, and scrubbed
knives, and carried baskets of wood, so
heavy that she tOttcred under their
weight, and was scOlded if she dropped
so much as Il shaving on the floor; she
swept the rooms with broom three
times rs tall as she was, and had her
ears boxed because she could not get
the dust up with such tiny hands. She
NOIkttl anu StIubDttl. anu IdI Oil I'll
randS from morning to night, till her
feet ached so that she cried out with
the pain. She was whipped, and scold-
ed, and threatened, and frightened,
and shaken, just as she had been ever
since she could remember. She WAS
kept shut up like prisoner i'll the
house, with Madame Joliet's cold gray
eyes forever on her, and her sharp
voice forever in her ear. And still not
IL word was said about MaSsa Linkum
and the beautiful freedom he had given
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.
One night Creline was going by the
house when June called to her softly
through the fence.
"Crelinc :"
"What's de matter ~ said Creline,
who was in Il great hurry.
"I's gwine to find Massa Linkum-
don't yer tell nobody"
claws massy, what young un dat
ar chile isr' said Creline, thinking
that June had just walked up from a
dream, and forthwith forgetting all
about her.
Madame Joliet always locked June
into her room, which was nothing but
closet with a window in it, and &
heap of rags for bed. On this par.
ticular night she turned the key a,
usual and then went to her house
where she was soon soundly asleep.
About eleven o'clock, when all the
house was still, the window of June:
closet softly opened. There was {
rooted doorway just underneath it with
an old grape vine trellis running III
one side of it, A little dark figure
stepped out timidly on the narrow
steep roof, clinging with its hands t.
! keep it balance, and then down upor
the trellis, which it began slowly t.
crawl down. The old wood creakeC
and grOaned and trembled, and tn,
little figure trembled, and stood still
If she should give way and fall crash
ing to the ground
She stood minute looking down
| then she took a slow, careful step
then another and another, hand unde
hand, upon the bars. The trelli
creaked and shook and cracked, but i
held on, and June held on and dropped
softly down, gasping and terrified a
what she had done, all in little heal
ON the grass below.
She lay there a moment perfect,
still. She could not catch her breatl
ut first, and she trembled so that sh
could not move.
Then she crept on tiptoe to tn
wOodshed. She ran a great risk i
opening the wOodshed door, for tn
hinges were rusty and it creaked wit
a terrible noise. But Hungry was il
there. She could not 20 withOu
Hungry. She went in and called it i
Il faint whisper. The kitten knew hel
dark as it was, and ran out from tn