The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-06-18
Bread Cast
On the Waters
IOriginal.1

IL was ID the spring OF 1860 tnaL the |
wife of Colonel Travers, who had fall |
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
a freeman; but, unlike the rest of my
men and women, you have continued
to stay with me and work for me.
you have always served me faithfully.
You know that besides this plantation
I own a small one in the next county.
It is of no use to me, since | have nc
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 a deed
for it. Take it and see whether you
can make the gift valuable"
"Wha'-wha' yo' goin' to do, mis-
tress? Yo 'goin'~to glib away de place
widout nottin' paid TO- it?"
Eyes. Zach. Pm going to give it to
you, hoping that it 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 i'll the army
and since you were made free by the
proclamation. still have this large
plantation, but l don't feel that l can
make it pay me anything. I am un-
used to hiring hands to work, and l
have not the business capacity nor the
capital to raise and dispose of a crop
You can begin in a small way, doing
some of the work yourself and hiring
few hands to help you when necessary.
Go, Zach. 1 wish you success"
"Mist'ess," said the negro, eff yo'll
jist let me kiss yo' hand once I'll take
yo' gift and see what can do with il. "
She held out her hand to him. and he
touched it reverently with his lips,
then went out to take possession of his
plantation.
Twenty years passed.
The widow had each year made a
desperate effort to raise q 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 were least willing
to engage, and when she succeeded in
inducing them to do so there was NO
way of keeping them up to their work
The days of the overseer were ended
and the widow had not found a sub
stitute. The consequence was that al
last she saw herself an old, brok en-
down woman, her buildings dilapidat-
ed for want of having been kept up
her farming utensils either broken OF
taken away by her hired hands and
her treasury empty.
Meanwhile Zach had proceeded or
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 as his boys grew older. awaiting
himself of their help. Every season
he cultivated more acres than the pre-
ceding one till the whole plantation
was productive. While many planter:
sold their best seed to the cottonseet
oil manufacturers Zach declined t.
sell his seed at any price, putting i
all into the ground. The result wa
that he got larger crops, better cottol
and higher prices than his neighbors
The time came when he had NOR
in no MI 10 10 f0 7
his planting.
Zach had often visited his fOrme
mistress and begged her to let him d.
something for her, but the idea of &C
! cepting anything from one who hat
been her slave was repugnant to her
and she always concealed her impov
r erished condition. But one morning
2 Zach went to the old plantation and a
I he entered the grounds noticed tina
there was not a negro on the place
9 Going into the house he found his mis-
r tress sitting before a table on which
r though it was her dinner hour, Their
4 was nothing but corn pone. The tear
e came into the mans eyes.
3 "Mist'ess,' he said "yo' hain't bee
a treatin' me far. Yo' been sayin' "
3 didn't need nottin', and here yo' al
n eatin' what want fit TO- yo' fell
8 hands in de days when Mars Cunne
q war a-libin. Yo' glib me yo' leetl
q plantation, and TUX it. Now yo' nee
0 meat and bread an yo' won't take 'e1
p from me. l know hain't fittin' to 81
0 nottin' to a fine white lady who Away
s. glib tings away herself, but this al
j. gottin' into bad way-a mighty ba
y way-and somepin' hes to be done.
e hain't goin' to stand it no Longer