Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-05-07
DAILY SHORT STORY
Bread Cast on the Waters.
lOriginaI.l


en- in one of the battles of the civil war
fighting for the COnfederacy, called
one of her former slaves into her
house and thus spoke to him:
Zach, you have for some time been
freeman; but, unlike the rest OF my |
men and women, you have continued |
TO stay with me and work for me.
have not been surprised at this. for |
you have always served me faithfully.
You know that besides this plantation
l own q small one in the next county. |
1t is of no use to me, since have no
people to work it. The buildings are
going TO ruin, and, the fences having |
been used for firewOod by the soldiers
of both sides, the place is left entirely |
unprotected. / have determined TO give
the plantation to you. There is deed |
for It. Take 1t and see whether you
can make the gift valuable"
"Wha'-wha' yo' Goin' to do. mis-
tress? 70 'goin' TO glib away de place
wldout nottin' paid TO it,"
Yes, Zach. I'm going to give it to
you. hoping that 1t may serve as some
reward for your devotion to me during
trying times, for standing by me
through four bitter years of war when
your master was away in the army
and since you We're made free by the
proclamation. ! still have this large
plantation, but / don't feel that l can
make it pay me anything. l am I'M
used TO hiring hands to work, and
have not the business capacity nor the
capital to raise and dispose OF Il crop.
You can begin I'm a small way. doing
| some of the work yourself and hiring
few hands to help you when necessary.
Go. Zach. 1 wish you success"
Mistress" said the negro, ''if YOU
| jist let me kiss yo' hand once I'll take
| yo' gift and see what / can do with it."
She held out her hand to him, and he
touched 1t rcverently with his lips,
then went out TO take possession of his
| plantation.
Twenty years passed.
The widow had each year made
| desperate effort to raise crop of cot
ton and market it. Some years she
| had succeeded in reaping sufficient
profit to enable her to live and put in
| the seed for the next years crop. But
| she found that when she most needed
hands the negroes We're least willing
to engage. and when she succeeded in
! inducing them to DO so there was no
way Ofkccping them up to their work.
The days of the OvcrScer We're ended,
and the widow had not found n sub
stitutc. The consequence was that at
last she saw herself an old, broken
down woman. her buildings dilapidat-
ed for want of having been kept up.
her farming utensils either broken or
! taken away by her hired hands and
her treasury empty.
Meanwhile Zach had proceeded on
the advice given him by his mistress,
beginning by working few acres him
self. saving most of the proceeds of his
crops. repairing his buildings with his
own hands during the winter season
and. us his boys grew older, awaiting
himself OF their help. Every season
he cultivated more acres than the pre-
ceiing one till the whole plantation
was productive. While many planters
sold their best seed to the cottonseed
oil manufacturers Zach declined to
sell his seed ut any price. putting 1t
all into the ground The result was
that he got larger crops, better cotton
and higher prices than his ncighbors.
The time came when he had more
money in bank than lie cared to use I'm
his planting.
Zach had often visited his former
mistress and begged her to let him do
something for her. but the idea Of ac
cepting anything from one who had
| 70
and she always concealed her impOv-
crushed condition. But one morning
Zach went to the old plantation and as
lie entered the grounds noticed that
there was not Il negro on the place.
Going into the house he found his mis-
r trcss sitting before a table on which.
though it was her dinner hour, there
was nothing but corn pone. The tears
came into the mans eyes.
: "Mist'ess,' he said, ''yo' hain't been
treatin' me far Yo' been sayin yo'
: didn't need nottin'. and here yo' air
eatin' what want fit fo' yo' field
! hands in de days when Mars Cunnel
. war a-libin. YO' glib me yo' leetle
? plantation and TUX it. Now yo' need
meat and bread an yo' won't take 'em
I from me. / know hain't fittin' TO glib
nOtun 10 me "nlte IIuS WIN AWAY ,
; glib tings away herself, but this air
gottin' into a bad way-a mighty bad
way-and somepin' hes to be done. 1
hain't goin' to stand it no longer.
I'd come hyer and wuk yo' plantation
2 TO yO' myself. but I'd hat to hire a
;. lot OF these lazy niggers, and 1 got
D, nuff of 'em now. 1 got a check fo'
q some cotton dis mawnin', and I'm
Y goin' to make it paid to yo'. Don't
h say nottin': hain't gibin' yo' no mon
: ey-only gibin' yO' back leetle bit of
- what xo' Cib mo What | he today