The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-02
OUR ANCIENT BRICK OVEN.
A Tale Of the Underground Rail-
road.

this story happened is sacred 10 US, ana
we'll it may be, for rhe farm has been IN
the possession of our family since the year
less. when it was purchased by our ancestor
from England of the Indians. BY the death
OF q childless uncle, the farm came into my
fathers hands when ] was twelve and my
brother Hal fourteen; so according to the
stipulation my father at once took posses
sion of the old place.
The house, although built more than o
century and a half ago, is still standing.
1t is built in the quaint, old-fashioned style,
with low. cross-beamed ceilings. wide, open
mouthed fireplaces, smoky with the fires
which have roared in them for more than
a century. In every room there are curious
cupboards and closets, but the dearest place
in the old house TO our childish eyes was
the brick oven in the kitchen, built into
the wall by the fireplace and large enough
and long enough for a well-grown boy to
hide in. The entrance to it was about two
feet square, and closed by a sheet-iron door
which fitted securely in, leaving a narrow
shelf in front about six inches wide. The
door. however. could be put in loosely, to
allow plenty of air to enter the oven. As
mother very seldom used it, Hal and I
utilized 1t in our games of hide and seek,
and so thoroughly did we enjoy this unique
hiding place that we never took any one
into our confidence regarding it, but en-
Joyed it to its utmost ourselves.
lit the story connected with it begins
at the time when mother went South for
her health, soon after we moved to the
far.l. bringing with her on her return a
young mulatto girl by the name of Dena,
whom she had purchased of a planter to
prevent her being sold into a life worse
than death. Dena was bright ana pretty,
and greatly appreciated her freedom, which
mother gave her on bringing her to our
New England home.
Hal and l liked her at once, and would
listen with delight to the wild stories she
told us of plantation life. Young as she
was. she had a lover, a slave on an adj
joining plantation, whom she described as
knowing most as much as wife fokeses."
She showed US the letters she occasionally
received from him. letters displaying a fair
amount of education and intelligence, and
in return we helped her indite the Won
drous epistles she sent in reply.
Time passed on. The North was agitat-
ing the slavery question more and more.
and the Southerners were enacting their
laws with more rightly than ever, when
one day Dena received a farewell letter
iSA lONNAs SOY lie biitb AlS u4dSICI UdAt
forbidden him to write another letter, also
that he had threatened to sell him farther
south. The letter closed with the assur-
ance that at his earliest opportunity he
would break for the North and freedom.
Dena showed the letter to Hal and me:
and many were the promises we made to
her of assisting Jim if ever he came our
way, little dreaming that he would ever
claim our assistance.
The weeks and months passed by in quick
succession, but no word came from jim.
Dena was very much worried about him.
fearing that he had been sold farther south.
Hal and / sympathized with her, but father
and mother did not know that she had a
lover. 1t was a secret between us. three.
One lovely afternoon in the latter part of
August Dena and 1 went down to the gar
den, which was some distance from the
house toward the river, to gather some ripe
tomatoes and cucumbers for supper. After
we had filled our basket, as it was still
early, we extended our walk to the river,
Dena singing, as we went, a grooming plan
tation melody. l Joined with her, but we
stopped suddenly, for as we came to the
rivers brink / saw, crouching on the stones
on the opposite side, partly hid by the
bushes, the most abject specimen of hu-
mainly l ever saw. l drew back in terror,
but Dena, after one startled glance, gave
a cry of exultation, and bounding from
stone to stone crossed the river and clasped
the fugitive in her strong young arms.
/ had sense enough to know that if this
We're really Jim Madsen. the runaway
slave, the knowledge of his being in the
neighborhood must be kept a secret from
every one; so L hastily crossed on the step
pfnU-cfopae tho ritror hoiV,o wary low anJ
cautioned Dena about making any outcry.
She looked up through her tears. ITS
Jim. sho' huff. Miss Nelly; an heben
knows how he eber got here, as he's mos
dead Already"
Jim raised his head and looked at me
in his large, pathetic eyes that | have
often noticed in the eyes of an intelligent
ger, his feet raw and bleeding, while his
clothing hung in shredS on his wasted
limbs. He was slightly built, and not over
an eighth black, and his voice was that of
a white mans when he spoke.
Deed an 1 can't stand it much longer,
Miss Nelly" he said pitifully.. Il have been
away since Mach, and they've chased me
all the time. / give EN- the slip a while
back in New York State, but they're afte~
But why did you come here?' 1 asked.
''They will surely look for you near Dena.
And how did you know that this was the
u wanted to see Dena," he replied hum
bly,, land / thought that this was the place
and I'm so near dead that they will get
whars." The tears rolled down his face
as he spoke, and he did not look able to
travel another mile. Without thinking of
the consequences / promised him that we
would hide him until he was able to go on,
and cautioned him to remain hidden in the
bushes until after dark, when, / told him,
Hal would come to aid him. We then gave
him the tomatoes and m we had
gathered. which he devoured with the hum
ger of a starving man, and then came
away.
felt perfectly secure OF her lovers safety,
but before we reached the house l began
to have my misgivings about our probable
success and told her not TO hint the sub
ject to any one, but to leave 1t all 10 Hal
and me.
As soon as he came from the fields 1
went with him to the pasture for the cows,
and soon told him the whole story. lie
realized better than l the enormity of our
task, for father was a Southerner at heart.
and we had often heard him say that he
would neither aid nor abet a runaway
slave, nor allow ii TO be done if he could
help it. Mother, on the contrary, was a
very strong AbOlitioniSt, but we knew that
she would not go against father, neither
would she tell a lie nor SWerVe from the
truth to shield any one. Therefore we could
not take them into our confidence, and
what was done to aid Jim we must do our
selves.
We proposed many plans for his assist
ance. only to reject them as soon as pro-
posed, until Hal thought of the brick oven.
I'VE could hide him there a few days until
he is able to go on. He will be perfectly
safe there, as mother never uses il, and if
the men should come after him they would
never think of looking for him there" he
exclaimed delightedly. You girls get
mother out of the house tonight and rig
up the oven with some food and a blanket
or two and I'll sneak him In when every