The National tribune., 1885-08-06

people. Bress de Land; he is good to us. I
tell yo'. de man what said to dig hole fo'
him-is bad man his name is Whitthorne.
member de name, kase knowed de Whit
thornes in Jackson, Miss, when libbed thar.
Yes, DAT so.'
AT this Mary broke down again. She
felt sure that this was some Of her family.
Aunty continued:
"s0le Massa Gawge (George), that we
blonced to, move up heah six year ago, on
dis place. from Jackson. He libbed up dar on
the hill in dat white house dat yo' see up dar,
dat am locked up an no one is in it. Dey
got lot OBJ t'ings in dar. When de Unions whip
de aSesh at Dolinsburg and de Sesh "come
dis way, gwine home or somewhar, den Massa
Gawge an all de family dey go, too, an take
ali de niggers 'cepin' me and Ham. Dey say
we's too OLE an dey done lef' us to take keer
oh de place dey leabe de smokehouse so we
kin git in an git sumpin to eat. Well, dey
is plenty in dar, an we lib all right, and,
brcss de Laud, dat save Massa Toms life. De
good Laud fix it dat way, sho' as yo' born.
He take keer OBJ de good folks
sold Ham, who had been silent, broke
out:
"'Yes, dat's so, massa, dat's so. De Laud
do dis. He done told me up at de smoke
house to take all dat we wanted, an dat
when Massa Tom done git well, dat we mus
go wild him way from heah an lib wild Massa
Tom; dat de Sesh kill us when dey fine
out we done cure him up. Yes, sab, de Laud
say dat to me, sho.'
al said to him: Ham are you sure the
Lord said that; did you not dream it, or was
it not Aunt Martha that said it?'
"' No massa, no; de Laud told me, sho!
know twas he De words come rite down
trough de smolSehouse when / was gittin'
meal to make de Cruel for Massa Tom. o, no,
massa: Martha was down heah. / told
Martha when 1 come back
a. Well, Ham, what did Martha say?'
"'She say dat we must hey de Lord dat
he was mo- our massa den Massa George; don't
we blongs 10 de Laud mo- dan to Massa
George. Den / say dat's well, Martha; yOu
know, and if you b'leve in dat we go. An
we was gwine wild massa, sho.'
"If you should go, Ham, they would ac-
cuse us of stealing you, and have us arrested
for it.
"'Well, doesn't know bout dat. knows
we can steal our ownself away, an go to de
place whar MaSsa Tom lib / know dat. We's
gwine; dat's done fix; wes gwine'
''The Colonel had been listening, and smiled
to find that these two good old people loved
him so, and he nodded his head to Ham,
which caused him to laugh immoderately.
Its done fix said Ham, and he lett the
cabin.
" said: Aunty, have you any children =
al Land bless yo' good soul, we has SIX
chillen somewhar; don't know whar. Massa
George he sole our chillen way from us, soon
as dey was six year old. [ never see any ob
dem since den; peber heard anything bout
dem He sole 'em way down on de Gulf
somewhar; neber would tell us. Dey done
forgot us, or whar we lib, long go; dey so
young when dey taken way. o, dey do dat
way, so de ole folks not fine em. 1 tell you,
Massa Lyon, it's purity hard on ole folks, to
lose de chiilen dat way. Ii dey die an de
Laud take dem way, dat's all rite; de Laud
know he own blsness; butwhen dey sole way,
dat hard. You see, desc people dey got chillen,
bnt dey tink we no keer for our'n. Dat is
whar dey don't know. We does keer jes' as
much as de white folks, but we can't help
ourself, dats all. tell you dat's bad. o, l
cry myself nearly to def bout my chillen;
see dem any mo-. If | was to dey would
not know me, an me not know dem;
so no good now to cry any mo-; dey he
all dead, maybe,-hope dey am,-den dey
work fo' de Laud and Master all de time,
and not be worked all de time fo' de people
for nuffin' and doin' no good. Yes, hope
dey is all done dead. Wish l knowed dey
was, den I'd be feelin' good. You see, me
an Ham talked dis all ober. We neber see
our chillen no mo, no matter whar we is; so
We am gwine whar we will be counted wild de
people an not wild de cattle Yes. sab dat's
whit we's got in our heads; dar's no use
tFyin' to put it out; it in dar, an dar it stay.
We's gwine, sho'.'
sstNell, well aunty, all right; / viii see
that you go. / will take the consequences.
viii not see as good an old couple as you
are held like cattle if can help it
"The old woman shouted glory and hob
bled cut the cabin to tell Ham, Ipresume,
what / had said.
Il By this time the Colonel had recovered
somewhat from his excitement, and quietly
and in q low voice told us how he came to
be there He said that when he was wounded
onathe works at Doiinsburg and left for dead,
thatseaae one came along and stanched the
yfiowof blood by binding some cloth around
the wound saturated with something,-his
wound was through the right breast, touch
ing slightly the right lung; that in the
afternoon, when portion of the rebel army
pSssad over the ground that he occupied,
Col hitthorne, his wife's brother, discovered
him and had him placed In one of his am
bnIanees, bringing him away; had no
knowledge as to what his intention was
whether to take him to some place of safety
some hospital, or let him die and bury him
where his remains could afterwards be found
by his family that up to within a few days
he had no idea of where he was that these
old colored people had kept his whereabouts
a profound secret, except among a few of
their race whom they could trust; that
when he found force was stationed at Do
linsburg, he got them TO send there and give
the information, so that he might make some
arrangement about getting away, for fear of
recapiure by theenemy, and they had sent the
boy that we met He was anxious to get
away, and thought that he could bear being
moved IN some easy conveyance to Dolins-
burg in two or three days travel. We con-
sui1ed together, and Capt. Day sent a mes
eenger back with letter TO Col Harden,
asking him to send an ambulance and Sur
geon the next day, we remaining with the
Colonel until their coming. There was
plenty of fodder at the plantation barns, and
the men took care of the horses Aunty pre-
pared sufficient quantity of wholesome
food for ourselves. We passed the night
without much sleep, the Captain and sleep
ing il our chairs, as there was not sufficient
accommodation for us ALL Mrs. Anderson
slept ON the bed by her husband, and the men
found comfortable quarters in the stables
We enjoyed ourselves, however, having Aunt
ho al r.. I,