Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-03-07
let's have it. Times a~.passin."

tN@S SN~N
paper SO as to bring into due promi-
hence the large headlines, which had
sounded so impressive when read aloud
by Adrien that afternoon. "Lis'n, folksl'
She began to read amid a silence 30
profound that the soft rustling Of the
paper in her hand was distinctly audi.
BILE. She was not a fluent elocutionist.
She halted n~ervously at every verbal
stumbling block which presented more
than two syllables to be mastered. But,
sustained by the consciousness that she
was doing it better than any one Of her
auditors could do it, and believing that
she had Jews worth communicating,
she forged ahead resolutely:
"The big letters at the top reads,
CONF -o-n-C Con-"
"Confound it'll 'Contraptionr"
"Shet up, boys. You is altogether too
brightly"
A resonant maternal cuff accompa.
MED this rebuke. The interruption had
been valuable to Suzanne. She resumed
glibly: Confederate states Of Amer
lea. INSTRUMENTATION meeting.
She heaved a sigh Of relief. 1t was
tougher work than she had anticipated,
but she proceeded under the cheering
conviction that she had tided over the
worst.
proceedings of a large meeting Of
the citizens Of Sessumsport, without
distinction Of former party lines, held
at the courthouse III S~essumsport Satur-
day, February 18, 1861"
"We all knows that much already.
Unc' Dolbear driv ole mars to the cote
house hisseff. Idon't hear nuthin bout
us folks in that"
This was discouraging. Suzanne put
a hand up to her turban with disarrang.
ing effect.
"But it is bout we all, all the same.
I'm comm to it. Mebbe l didn't begin
at the right place. Herel Ireckon I got
it this time:
"'That we are ready and willing to
support by arms and otherwise our state
and southern c-o-n-confedracee, and
that we yield precedence in patriotism
to the people Of no other county Of this
or any other southern state"
"Well, what den?'
Suzanne looked up timorously at a
stolid and unmoved audience. Somehow
the printed words looked black and
meaningless when she spelled them out
SO laboriously. And yet they were the
same words that had stirred Mr.. Adrien
to such a pitch Of joyous excitement
and the old master to al equally excited
pitch Of %lugubrious prophecy.
Sam Bates had taken advantage Of
the diversion to empty the jug provided
for general r~efreshment and had reeled
out of the hall in a condition Of glori-
GUS responsibility, scraping his bow
over the strings Of his instrument to
the air of "We'u dance all night, till
broad daylight, and go home wild the
gals in the mornin."
Sandy had followed his example,
pocketing his slighted bones with a
grimace Of disgust bestowed upon Su-
zanne, and one verbal Parthian dart:
"Them that's willin to stan roun like
a gander on one foot while Sue is root
in roun fur her news is welcome to stay
I'ze gwine home"
Suzanne flung the paper from her
tempestuously, but Immediately recov.
cred it with a jerk.
"Plague on the paperl You is all a
passed. NV gumps. JUS cause l can't
read a thing off as glib as them that's
wife and ben studyin books all they
lives you all dom b'lieve there's moth
in in it. l kin tell it eff / can't find it in
the paper. It's there, though" she
concluded obstinately, as she slapped
the paper angrily with her forefnger.
"Well, tell it then"
"I'm gettin sleepy"
"An the torches is mos fared they
seffs out"
"The wife folks is goin to fight.
They's goin to fight bout we all. They's
goin to fight to mex us free" Suzanne
looked about her triumphantly.
"Freer" 1t was a full, deep, ques-
tioning chorus.
eyes, free. Free as the birds Of
the ar. Nobody to say go, and you got
to go. Nobody to say stay, lax you was
a horse wild a curb bit in your mouth,
and you got to stay. Free to 60 when
you like and whar you like. Free to
stay in bed tell 10 o'clock in de mornin
if you've a min ter, and den git up and
tex your own time bout things gin'ral-
ly."
An incredulous laugh rewarded black
Suzanne's efforts to fire the souls Of her
people with the Joyous hope that wal
even then making her own pulses bound
furiously.
"You don't b'lieve me yet. But,
thank God, that won't keep it from
comm, won't keep it from cominl Clio
~ halleluiah, it's oomin, comm. com-
imp
She was swaying to and fro with
rhythmic grace, her long, pallid hands
clasped above her gay turban, her great
lustrous eyes fastened upon the cobweb.
bed, time blackened rafters overhead.
Freedom, it's cominl Comm to me
and a.comin to you'll Freedom, it's O.
cominl Sent from de skyes above"
It meant nothing to them, that alb
stract idea Of freedom. It was an emp
ty, mystic sound to that herd Of laugh
ing, we'll fed, care free slaves. It was,
in its essence, an impalpable good they
were too gross to grasp. Suzanne might
have read that edition Of the Sessums-
port Herald to them with the utmost
f1uency and emphasis without stirring
them to anything more appreciative
than a derisive laugh or a jesting taunt.
But the swaying grace Of the tall, 1.-the
form under the expiring pine torch, the
rhythmic melody Of that monotonous
chant, in which the word freedom re.
CURED again and again, stirred their