The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-06-04
AUNT CHARLOTTE'S
RESPONSIBILITY.
The Story of Faithful Slaves
Faith In Her Masters Prom
Use to Return.
BY HAYS BLACKMAN.
BY HAYS BLACKMAN.

In the plat were two graves-thoss
of a grown person and little child.
Without the rail fence nature had
done her best, hiding the scars of wal
under tangle of wild honeysucklt
that wrapped the vines of the old man
sion In caressing greenery.
But within the Enclosure there was
evidence that nature had a helper in
her ministry.
The plantation kitchen was a brick
building that stood just back of the
ruins of the house. From the door the
frequent passage of feet had worn q
path through the buffalo grass to the
rail fence and the top rail of the panel
of fence to which the path led was
smooth and sagging where an old
negress had climbed over it every day
for many years.
She stood this morning In the little
burying ground. She had been clipping
the grass In the Enclosure and the
graves were coyerd with roses-white
roses of the old fashioned Thousand
leaved" variety that grow in old gar
dens. The old woman had brought
them from the garden at Captain Ter
ribs, where Captain Terrill's wife, the
new mistress of the plantation, gave
her flowers for the graves or provi-
sions for her larder with beautiful
impartiality.
Captain Terrill, riding down the levee
road to the field, saw the pathetic fig
ure by the graves and drew rein at the
fence
"Howdy, Aunt Charlotte?' he called.
"Your graves look mighty nice this
morning."
The old woman Strengthened her bent
back.
''How you come on, Mist joe" she
inquired. you lookin peart. Use jist
tolluble, thanky, sub. Yes, sub, de
grades moughty fine. Miss Dell gin
me de roses fo' Miss Magnets grade
dis mawnin Miss Dell moughty good
to me, Mist joe"
The young owner of the plantation
smiled and nodded as he touched bay
Selim with the whip.
That's all right, Aunt Charlotte"
he called over his shoulder. you go
to your Miss Dell for anything you
need."'
Aunt Charlotte watched him out of
sight beyond the bend in the levee
road. She sighed as she turned back
to the graves.
ch cold
STOPPING to touch a flower on Miss Mar
garet's grave. "She moughty good, but
her an Mist Joe amt my own folkses."
A tear rolled down her withered
cheek and fell among the roses.
miss Ma'gret" she whispered, Use
lonesome, Miss Ma'gret. Cyan't you
ak de good Lord to SEN Marse Cunnel
home an tex POI ole Charlotte long
er you an liz Marse John|
One June morning, just after the des-
perate struggle to rend the Union asun-
der began. Colonel Murray rode away
forces. From the door of the big house
Miss Margaret watched him, and Char
Iotte held the colonel's little son up in
her arms that he might watch the erect
figure on the big horse out of sight be-
yond the bend in the levee road.
"Charlotte," Colonel Murray had said,
81 know you are faithful. leave your
Miss Margaret and your little Marse
John in your especial care. Until
come home again will hold you re-
sponsible for their welfare"
After her master had ridden away
Aunt Charlotte took up her trust. How
faithfully she had fulfilled it only Miss
Margaret and little Marse John could
have told-Miss Margaret and little
Marse John who slept beneath the
roses.
The colonel had never come back to
Riverview. The tide of war swept
over the plantation and the soldiers left
desolation behind them. When they
burned the big house. the flames spared
the brick kitchen, that. after the south
ern fashion, stood at some distance
from the main building. And here,
while the flames from the house, the
outbuildings and the negro cabins in
the quarter lighted the level delta
country for miles, Aunt Charlotte car
ried her mistress and little Marse John.
And here she had lived ever since
The little boy died of slow fever the
last year of the war Aunt Charlotte
herself dug the little grave near the
house so that Miss Margaret might still
have her boy close to her. Miss Mar
garet lived till three years after the
war, a heartbroken woman. for whom
the faithful negress cared tenderly and
patiently as for an ailing, fretful child.
When at last Charlotte turned from
the new grave beside little Marse Johns,
it was to new respensihisity-to wait
for Marse Colonel; to keep the graves
fresh and green; to give back to him
the trust she had kept She had waited
now for more than 30 years and though
to every one else the coloneTs name
was only a memory Aunt Charlotte still
believed that he would come.
On the night after Captain Terrill
had stopped at the fence on his way to
the fields Aunt Charlotte sat by the
hearth in the old kitchen. As always,
her thoughts were in the past. For her
the breeze that blew through the open
door, damp and sweet, was heavy with
the fragrance of the roses that bloom
ed by the galleries of the big house 80
years before.
A negro melody broke the stiffness OF
the night. To the old woman the song
came from the quarters where long age
the negroes sang on summer nights
like this, and the years rolled back
to give her again master and mistress
and the old care free, irresponsible
happy life.
eve gwine fix dis heah place up wen
Marse Cunnel come home" Aunt Char
lotte unused. "Miss Dell say Marst
Cunnel daid. She say he amt neval
gwine come back. Law! Miss Dell AIM
know my ole marster. Miss DELL
say, my Marse Cunnel nevah bruk he
wud Wit. He done low he gwine come
back, an he COMM Moughty Ions
time hit tex i'm. Spec he done chase
dem Yankees dat fur norf dat hit tuI
i'm all dis time to git back. But hF
sho' gwine come. / spec i'm erlonl
emmy time. Law, law, 'twouldn't 'spris'
me none to see Marse Cunnel walk II
dat are do dis berry minnit'-
In her eagerness she turned to thu
open door. The words died on her lips
Her jaw dropped, and her face grew
gray with fear.
A man stood in the doorway. Be
hind him the darkness made frame
for his figure and the fire that fiickeret