The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-04-04

friendship, much like that Mrs. Harrie
Beecher Stowe wrote of so many year
ago as existing between little Eva an(
Uncle Tom, and petted by every one, Will,
Uncle Tome, noble man, was a slave, II
the friendship of Gerald and Jim it Is diff
ferent Jim, like Uncle Tom, is black, bu
he is free; while Gerry only resembles
Eva in that he is a Caucasian, for he was
poor and miserable and a wee captive
But the cloe friendship of the white child
and the old black man is the same now
as then, only this time more beautiful be-
cause it is true
! Uncle Jim CruXton was a slave, born on
the large plantation Of Henry Cole in
| York County, S. C., sixty miles from Co
| lumbia. 1t was there he learned to sing
| the negro melodies that little Gerry loved
to hear, and where he learned to play on
his old violin in the twilight when the
work was done and the blacks were gath
| cred together under the trees in the soft
Southern air, 1t was there he learned the
| fantastic negro dances, and in the little
chapel on the plantation that he learned
to pray. For Jim was a general favorite
with his master and all the people on the
place through his quick wit and the cOur-
teous manner that comes natural to those
cultured colored fanatics long in surveil-
lance. He was 10 ears old when declared
free and his own master.
The devotion to Uncle Jim to Gerald
Lapiner was from the first of great in
tensity From the first night that the
child slept in mis- bed to the day of the
boys rescue Jim was his firm friend. No
longer did Gerry go hungry as long as
there was anything to eat in the house
and Jim could manage to smuggle the
little fellow away from his captors Jim
was told the child was Howard Collins, the
son of John Collins, but he says the treat
ment accorded the baby was such that he
never believed it.
According to the stories of both the
baby and Uncle Jim. Mr.. Collins and Mrs.
Ingersoll would frequently tie Gerry to
table, lock up the house, and, going to
PainsvilIe, two miles distant leave him
thus for hours at a time. For weeks Uncle
Jim says, he did not discover this, but
one day, coming in from his work during
the afternoon, he looked through the
kitchen window and beheld the baby, tied
in a wooden, hgh-backed chair, with no
food or water near, looking as if he had
been there in that one painful position for
hours Uncle Jim tried the door, It was
locked. He ran around the house to the
other door, but it also resisted his efforts
to open it, Back to the window he went
and gazed eorrowfully at the baby, who
held out his tiny hands and in an ecstasy
80 - ,v,Tv- f~.r r,I
" face ne knew Iisped: Dim, Dim, Dim,
take How off.
Beneath the window lay a milk stool.
Jim picked it up and with one fierce blow
the window broke in, scattering fragments
of glass over the table. The babies cries
OF delight sounded above the crash, and
a moment more the little fellow was IN
tied and patting his benefactor's grizzled
cheek in his baby way Of expressing graft
tude. To wash him and remove his sOiled
clothes and prepare for him some food,
Jim says. was the next thing he did. Then
he worked near the house instead Of re-
turning to the field 50 ne could watch the
child that no harm befeu him and that he
might play about on the soft grass and
enjoy full the bright sunshine of the warm
summer day,
ut Mr.. Collins doesn't care" the wo-
man would reply. But Uncle Jim never
cared what reply was made, just so ne won
his point
II was the old black man who taught the
child 20 talk, for he spoke but little when
he left the Prairie avenue home Of Ms
father. And the sweet voice of the child
learned to speak in the soft accents Of
the Southern tongue. The old violin fur
n.shed the chief entertainment for Gerry
and his playmate. Uncle jim Seated on
a stn chair before the wood stove, jim
would tuck his violin under MS chin and
draw the bow across the strings IN the
quick time for a dance, and Gerry learned
70 hold on 10 something and move his
Httle hare fee; up and down in imitation
Of inns Jig Then the tuns would change
10 ..Peek-Aboo' the little fellows favorite
niece. or some plantation song OF Ji-n's
childhood. ana the Cd man and the young
child would sing together q rough bass
mingled with tha broken strains % the
baby's voice
Gerry. not TO he outdone. haunted about
until he found two sticks which he called
..How-s hG'" and he would place oae
asains. his tiny shoulder and rub Is across
the othar stick. making a raspins sound.
while he called. rather shan sang u COM
Danv 70 J5m-s wel-kzown song 81 The
slave:
Way down Souf IN ole Virsinny-
HI my yeIler gal,
Twas dar los ny p.cksnlnnie-
HI. my yslier gali
Msssa says I doan co muffin
Misses says I dean &c muffin