The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-10-23
WILL.
". B. seabrook in the Cottage Hearth.

mechanically he gathered the kindIing wood
for his NANNY" who was the cook and
slimbed into the stable loft and threw down
,b. fodder for his ''paupa" father, who
was the hostler. Occasionally. too, he &C
COMMANDED his father to the suburbs of the
ctv ofvenest into the forest for frewood,
sometimes to the creek sides for marsh
GRASS. not infrequently into the
oak groves for moss-the marsh grass
haine famous food for horses. the moss ia
nous for mich COWS and the very stuff FOR
mattresses. He liked the moss gathering
hest Of all. He loved to revel among the
branches Of the pAtriArchal oaks, to strip of
their venerable boards, and to fill the great
rack of the wagon beneath two TO one faster
than his father, who worked on terra firma
with a pole. And when the rack was filled
70 the top it was his browning delight to
climb higher and higher, and to "crawfish"
to the end of q limb. and to cry out, Now,
naupa row" and TO come sailing through
space with a scream of delight, into the
wagon, down into the moss, out OF sight
VIII for such was our little friends sole
and only uAme) was exactly when, one
morning. his mistress summoned him to the
xard stems 'My boy =" she said, 81 perceive
by the family Bible that you are just
years Of age"
"Yesm," SAID Will
1.-THE age as which we require all Of our
slaves 20 begin the attendance Of divine
service"
"Yes'm."
.sYou will therefore begin next Sabbath"
continued Mrs. Lining.
''Yesm."
Accompanying your parents TO ST.
Philips and occupying with them a seat in
that portion OF the edidce set apart for the
slaves"
"Yesm again said VIII.
''You have never been to st. Philip'a.
believed"
The boy muttered zone time" and began
20 sob. Another strange thing happened
Mrs Innings eyes filed with tears. and the
lady's maid, passing up the steps at the
moment, paused in amazement and alarm.
at ia nothing, Jane, said Mrs. Lining,
only b remembers little Philip and has
reminded me of him. You were not with
US when our little nephew died. His parents
and himself had wintered with us, and he
and this child had become inseparable COM
psnlons. Indeed, their devotion to one an
other was of the strongest aud most unselfish
character, and when little Philip fell asleep,
Will, here, could not be comforted."
II have heerd tell. mA'am," interrupted
jane
Therefore" continued the lady, 81 take
great interest In this boy, and some day be
shall become our butler. perhaps, Robert 10
growing old-now think Of IL, win, you
may assist him. Smart boys Of s oftsn work
little, eh, JansT
81 .hAvei hserd tell, snaam," said the
maid.
Very well, then; give some bread and
jam, and tell Robert to take him under his
tuition at once"
On the very next Sunday little Will,
smartly dressed and nervously delighted,
walked proudly between his parents TO
church. He had scarcely seated himself
when, looking In amazement about him,
his eyes fell upon an object occupying
little nook in the wall slightly above and
at the head of his masters pew. A marble
slab representing cot. and upon the cot
the figure Of little child asleep. Tho pill
low and the case with its tasseIed corners,
the curly head resting upon an arm, and
the two little hands meeting upon the pillow
and folded, the one above the other-this
was what little VIII saw. He looked at
it long and searchingly; for little while.
indeed, he saw nothing else.
Presently, however, he turned inquiringly
to his father, who stopped and whispered
started, his eyes sought the marble Image
again. and those about him, who were by
this time noticing his strange behavior, saw
two great tears well from his eyes and
course slowly down his cheeks.
st. Philips church and its surroundings
that he never missed service if he could
help it. He stood beside the little figure
and touched it once, but only once-it was
30 cold, he said. Ever afterwArd he liked
best to gaze at it from distance.
As he grew older Win became more and
more favorIte with both master and mis-
tress. My little Indispensable" said Mrs.
Lining, mot at all like negro, except that
he will climb trees and rend his garments"
Climb! IL was a mania with him to
climb. Ii he accompanied his father in
quest Of moss, the boy luxuriated among
the branches Of the oaks always taking, it
may be added In parenthesis, that glorious
leap at the LAST; IL for marsh grass, he
nested himself amid the green folias o of
the cedars, awaiting Paupa's" return from
the creeks; il into the forest for back
logs" he sported in the tops of the very
talest trees whose trunks were not alto
gether unreasonable in the matter OF cir
conference. II his mistress lost sight OF
I'm at home, she said despairingly; Jane,
he's on the housetop again" il his father
missed him in the woods, he looked upward
70 find him, or called to him TO "come
Gown without looking at all. Lit
Tie dreaming his mistress, little dream
Ing his father, little dreaming VIII, him
self, that, In obedience TO a will not his
own, he was unconsclously fitting himself
Tor the accomplishment of a sublime act of
heroism, to be rewarded by a greater re-
ward than the wealth of the whole world
would have equaled in his eyes.
At 10, win was already half butler;
robert, who was very old, kept him busy,
ana he was quick to learn. When he was
~ Robert died. Will Immediately became
butler and lorded it over the other do
1nesAos accordingly. And he was happy.
Dld bis bondage trouble himi Only at
lmes-at long intervals-he did dream OF
freedom, thinking what it meant. OF its
pleasures, its ecstasies; but be did not make
hluselt miserable yearning after the inn
sslol0. He was born slave, he must die
one-he only sighed and thought Of some
thing else.
o. AT A. 10, 1s, VIII was still happy; at 90
~ happy still, and still the butler, trusted
end favored; attending divine service
regularly, holding sacred the little marble
image and the memory it psrpetuated; ven
Grating still the church-his church-and
all belonging to it.
June 49, 1895. The city of Charleston, In
south Carolina (Charestown at that
period J, seemed TO doze beneath the fiery
rays OF the sun, which had all but paralyzed
us traitlc. The neat was intense. 1t pulsed
elong The house tops, throbbed through the
streets pnrched the foliage, and wIthered
sne nowers. Nevertheless, heat Of another
Sort WINS at hand