Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1898-04-14

that we Yield precedence IN parrlotlsm
to the people of no other county Of this
or any other southern statC
"Well, what den9" : ~aa ssSss 40 !. '' 9
Suzanne looked up timorously at a
stolid and unmoved audience. Somehow
the printedg words looked black and
meaningless when she spelled them out
80 laboriously: And yet they were the
same words that had stirred Mr.. Adrien
to such pitch Of joyous excitement
and the old master to an equally excited
pitch of lugubrious prophecy.
Sam Bates had taken advantage Of
the diversion to empty the jug provided
for general refreshment and had reeled
out of the hall in condition of glori-
GUS irresponability, soraping his bow
over the strings Of his instrument. TO-
the air Of "We'll dance all night, TIL
broad daylight, and go home wild the
gals in the mornin."
Sandy had followed his example,
pocketing his sighted bones with
grimace Of disgust bestowed upon Su-
zanne, and one verbal Parthian dart:
Chem that g willin to stan roun like
q 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 jerk.
plague on the paperl You is all q
passed. NV gunlps. Jus cause ! can't
read a thing off as glib as them that's
wife and zen studyin books all they
lives you all dom b'lieve there's moth
in in it. I kin tell it Of l can't find it in
the paper. It's there, though" she
concluded obstinately, as she slapped
the paper angrily with her fore6nger.
"Well, tell it then.
"I'm gettin sleepy"
can the torches is mos flared they
seffs out .... ...-
'The vito 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.
"Free?' 1t was full, deep, ques-
tioning chorus.
Eyes, free. Free as the birds OF
the ar. Nobody to say 90, and you got
to 90. Nobody to say stay, lax you was
a horse wild curb bit in your mouth,
and you got to stay. Free to go when
you like and whar you like. Free to
stay in bed tell 10 o'clock in de mornin
if you've q min ter, and den git up and
tex your own time bout things gin raj
ly."
An incredulous laugh rewarded black
Suzanne's efforts to fire the souls OF her
people with the joyous hope that was
even then making her own pulses bound
furiously. a Of. f..~a. ~, -.
"You don't b'lieve me yet. But,
thank God, that won't keep it from
comm, won't keep it from comm! Clio
nv halleluiah, it's comm, comm, conf
inr' -t
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 comm! Comm to me
and a-comin to you! Freedom, it a.
comm! Sent from de sliyes above!'
1t meant nothing to them, that abb
stract idea Of freedom 1t was an emp
ty, mystic sound to that herd Of laugh
ing, we'll fed, care free slaves. lie was
in it's essence, an impa!paDle good they
were too gross to grasp. Suzanne might
have read that edition of the Sessums-
port Herald to them with the utmost
tiuency and emphasis without STIRRING
them to anything more appreciative
than 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
initiative faculties to an emulous pitch,
and the festivities of the earlier hours
gradually waxed into paan to liber-
ty, that rose and swelled and died away
and moaned among the cavernous raft
ers until Suzanne's hands suddenly
dropped by her sides, and she stood
mute and exhausted among the swing
ing, chanting, bowling negroes, whom
she had stirred to a frenzy.
81 must 60 tell nanny" she said,
with sudden remorsefulness of aspect.
"Mammy's got mo- sense than all of US
Sput together. Good night, folks. "
Old Whey sat muttering and smok-
ing in the little lean to of room that
Strong Martin called kitchen. Just
across the CRASHES yard was small
howell where she and Suzanne slept to-
gether of nights, but she always waited
Tor the girl there by the kitchen fire,
when the nights were cold and the HOY
81 hearth comfortless.
The girl was long coming tonight,
and Viney's imperious temper was chat
ing under the delay.
e'"Dog on her for sassy drab! If she
amt here by de time de dinin room
clock strak 'leven she kin grope her own
way to bed in de cold an de dark I ain ,
goin stan much mo-"
But before the dining room clock
struck II the kitchen door opened very
softly and Suzanne and cold puff Of
wind entered together. -.
''Is that you, mammy?'
"Who you lows it is, If it amt
nanny? Who else gwine be fool 'nough
to set up for good for nothin critter
lax you? Say, gal"'
Don't scold tonight, nanny. got
somethin greet to tell you. Somethin
gre't's goin to happen to we all. To you
and to me and all de black folks" The
spell of prophecy still sounded in the
girls voice.
Whey tilted her chair forward until
she could reach the chimney jamb with
the bowl of her black pipe. Suzanne
looked at her beseechingly. That with
cred old crone was the one object of alb
ject fear that entered into her life.