 Chapter 14 of Many's Sacrifice by Francis C. W. Harper. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 14. Where was he steering? And now the course of his life was changed. What kind of future must he make for himself? Had it been in time of peace, he could have easily decided as he had a large amount of money in the north which his father left him. When he came of age he would have no difficulty as to choosing the means of living for he was well supplied as far as that was concerned, but here was a most unpleasant dilemma in which he had placed himself. Convinced that he was allied to the Negro race, his whole soul rose up against the idea of laying one straw in its way. If he belonged to the race he would not join its oppressors and yet his whole sympathy had been so completely with them that he felt that he had no feeling in common with the north. And as to the colored people of course it never entered his mind to join their ranks and allow himself to them, he had always regarded them as inferior and this sudden and unwelcome revelation had not changed the whole tenor of his thoughts and opinions. But what had he to do must be done quickly, for in less than three days his company would start for the front, to desert was to face death, to remain was to wed dishonor. He surveyed the situation calmly and bravely and then resolved that he would face the perils of recapture rather than the contempt of his own soul. While he was deciding he heard Camilla step in the passage, he opened the door and beckoned her to a seat and said very calmly, I've been weighing the whole matter in my mind and I have concluded to leave the south. How can you do it? said Camilla. I tremble lest you should be discovered. Oh slavery, what occurs? Our fathers sowed the wind and we are reaping the whirlwind. What continued she as if speaking to herself? What are your plans? Have you any? None except to disguise myself and escape. When? As soon as possible. Suppose I call Miriam, she can help you. Shall I? Yes. Camilla called Miriam and after a few moments consultation he was decided that Louis should escape that night and that Miriam should prepare whatever was needed for his hasty flight. Don't trust your secret to any white person. Said Miriam, but if you meet any of the colored people just tell them that you is for the Lincoln soldiers and it will be all right. We don't know all about this war but we feel somehow we's all mixed up in it. And so with many prayers and blessings from Miriam and said farewells from Camilla he left his home to enter upon that perilous flight. The whole current of his life changed. It was in the early part of winter but the air was just as pleasant as early spring in that climate. Louis walked all that night guiding himself northward at night by the light of the stars and a little pocket compass. Camilla had just given him before starting and avoiding the public roads during the day and thus he travelled for two days when his lunch was exhausted his lips parched with thirst and his strength began to fail. Just in this hour of extremity he saw seated by the corner of a fence a very black and homely looking woman there was something so gloomy and sullen in her countenance that he felt repelled by its morose expression. Still he needed food and was very weary and drawing near he asked her if she would give him anything to eat and got nothing. The soldiers dumbed in here and eat all up. Louis drew near and whispered a few words in her ear and immediately a change passed over her whole countenance. The sullen expression turned to a look of tenderness and concern. The harsh tones of her voice actually grew mellow and rising up in haste she almost sprang over the fence and said, I've been looking for you if you use Northman use mighty welcome and she set before him her humble store of provisions. Do you know, said Louis, where I will find the Lincoln soldiers or where the Sashis are encamped? No, said she, but my old man's mighty smart and he'll find out you come with me. Nothing doubting he went and found the husband ready to do anything in his power to help him. You'd better not go any further today I'll get you a place to hide where nobody can't find you and then I'll pump Massa about the soldiers. True to his word, he contrived to find out whether the soldiers were near. Massa said he's scratching his head and looking quite sober. Massa, how did I better hide the mules? Oh, I was afraid the Lincoln soldiers might come take them cause they gobbles up every ting day on just like geese. How your day was coming. Must I hide the mules? No, Sam, the scallywags are more than a hundred miles away. They are near, not just. Well, maybe it was our own federate soldiers. No, Sam, our nearest soldiers are a baton rouge. All right, Massa, I don't want to lose all them fine mules. As soon as it was convenient, Sam gave Louis the desired information. Here, said Sam, when Louis was ready to start again, is something to break your fast and if you go this way you mustn't let the white folks know what you's up to. But you trust this, said he, laying his hand on his own dark skin. His new friend went with him several miles and pointing him out the way left him to pursue his journey onward. The next person he met with was a colored man who bowed and smiled and took off his hat. Louis returned the bow and was passing on when he said, Massa, excuse me for speaking to you. But damn sesh has been hunting all day for a zirter, him Captain Day say. Louis turned pale but bracing his nerves he said, where are they? Days in the house is you, he. I am a union man, Louis said, and I'm trying to reach the Lincoln soldiers. Then said the man of debt, am the fact I's got a place for you, come with me. And Louis having learned to trust the colored people, bother him to a place of safety. Soon it was noise abroad that another deserter had been seen in that neighborhood, but the colored man would not reveal the real bout of Louis. His master beat him severely but he would let neither threats nor torture ring the secret from his lips. Louis saw the faithfulness of that man and he thought was shame of his former position to the race from whom such unswerving devotion could spring. The hunt proving ineffectual, Louis after the search and excitement, had subsided, resumed his journey northward, meeting with first one act of kindness and then another. One day he had a narrow escape from the bloodhounds. He had trusted his secret to a colored man who faithful like the rest was directing him on his way when deep ominous sounds fell on their ears. The colored man knew that sound too well. He knew something of the nature of bloodhounds and how to throw them off the track. So hastily opening his pen night he cut his own feet so that the blood from them might deepen the scent on one track and throw them off from Louis' path. It was a brave deed and nobly done and Louis began to feel that he had never known them and then how vividly came into his mind the words of Dr. Charming. After all, we may be trampling on one of the best branches of the human race. Here were men and women, two who had been trampled on for ages ready to break to him their bread. I share with him their scanty store. One had taken the shoes from his feet and almost forced him to take them. What was it impel these people? What was the Union to them? And who were Lincoln's soldiers that they should be so ready to gravitate to the Union army and bring the most reliable information to the American general? Was it not the hope of freedom which they were binding as amulets around their hearts they as a race had lived in a measure upon an idea? It was the hope of deliverance yet to come. Faith in God had underlain the life of the race and was it strange if when even some of our politicians did not or could not read the signs of the times a right these people with deeper intuitions understood the war better than they did. But at last Lewis got beyond the borders of the Confederacy and stood once more on free soil appreciating that section as he had never done before. End of chapter 14 Chapter 16 of Many's Sacrifice by Francis E. W. Harper this LibroVox recording is in the public domain Chapter 16 and I said many will help you pay it and so their young hearts had met at last and with the approval and hearty consent of Anna Many and Lewis were married. It was decided that many should spend the winter in southern France and then in the spring they returned to America on their arrival they found the war still raging and Lewis was ready and anxious to benefit that race to whom he felt he owed his life and with whom he was connected by lineage. He had plenty of money, a liberal education and could have chosen a life of ease but he was too ardent in his temperament to decided in his character not to feel an interest in the great events which were then transpiring in the country. He made the acquaintance of some anti-slavery friends and listened with avidity to their doctrines. He attended a number of war meetings and caught the enthusiasm which inspired the young men who were coming from Bally Hill and Plain to fill up the broken ranks of the Union Army. Many educated in peace principles could not conscientiously encourage him and yet when she saw how the liberty of a whole race was trembling in the balance she could not help wishing success to the army nor find it in her heart to dissuade him from going. Others had given their loved and cherished ones to camp and field. The son of a dear friend had said to his mother I know I shall be killed but I go to free the slave. His presentiment had been met for he had been brought home in his shroud. Another dear friend had said I have drawn my sword I shall never sleep in its scabbard till the nation is free and she had heard that summer of 64 how bravely the colored soldiers had stood at Fort Wagner when the storms of death were sweeping through the darkened sky how they summoned the world to see the grandeur of their courage and the daring of their prowess. How corny had held with unyielding hand the nation's flag and even when he was wounded still held it in his grasp and crawling from the scene of action exclaimed I only did my duty the old flag I didn't let it trail on the ground and she felt on reading it with tearful eyes that if she belonged to that race they had not shamed her by their want of courage and so when Lewis came to her and told her his intention she would not attempt to oppose him and when he was ready to depart with many prayers and sad farewells she gave him up to fight the battles of freedom for such it was to him who went with every nerve in his right arm tingling to strike a blow for liberty either to Lewis had known the race by their tenderness and compassion but the war gave him an opportunity to become acquainted with men brave to do brave to dare and brave to die a colored man was the hero of one of the most tender touching and tragic incidents of the war a number of soldiers were in a boat exposed to the fire of the rebels on board was a colored man who had not enrolled as a soldier though his soul was full of sublime valor the bullets hissed and split the water each but all their efforts were in vain the treacherous mud had caught the boat and someone must pair a life and limb to shove that boat into the water and this man the member of a doomed a fated race who had been trodden down for ages comprehending the danger said someone must die to get us out of this and it mounts well be me as anybody you are soldiers and you can fight if they kill me it is nothing and with these words he arose gave the boat a push received a number of bullets and died within two days after Lewis acquitted himself bravely and rapidly rose in favor with his superior officers to him the place of danger was the post of duty he often received letters from many but they were always hopeful for she had learned to look on the bright side of everything she tried to begile him with the news of the neighborhood and to inspire him with bright hopes for the future that future in which they should class pans again and find their duty and their pleasure in living for the welfare and happiness of our race we often say a race upon whose brows God had poured the chrism of a new era a race newly anointed with freedom oh how the enthusiasm of her young soul gathered around that work she felt it was no mean nor common privilege to be the pioneer of a new civilization if he who makes two blades of grass grow where only one flourish before is a benefactor of the human race how much higher and holier it must his or her work be who dispenses light instead of darkness knowledge instead of ignorance and over the ruins of the slave pen in auction block erects institutions of learning she would say in her letters to Lewis that the south will never be rightly conquered until another army should take the field and that must be an army of civilizers the army of the pen and not the sword not the destroys of towns and cities but the builders of machines and factories the organizers of peaceful industry and honorable labor and as soon as she possibly could she intended to join a great army sometimes Lewis would shake his head doubtfully and tell her that the south was a very sad place to live in and would be for years and while he was willing to bear a toil and privation in the cause he had learned to love yet he shrank from exposing her to the social ostracism which she must bear whether she identified herself with the colored race or not however her brave young heart never failed her but kept true to its purpose to join that noble band who left the sunshine of their homes to help build a new south on the basis of a higher and better civilization Lewis remained with the army till Lee had surrendered the storm cloud of battle had passed away and the thunders of contending batteries no longer crashed and vibrated on the air and then he returned to many who still lived with Thomas Carpenter very tender and joyous was their greeting Lewis thought he would rest awhile and then arrange his affairs to return to the south in this plan he was heartily seconded by many Thomas and Anna were sorry to part with her but they knew that life was not made for a holiday of ease and luxury and so they have no words of discouragement for them if duty called them to the south it was right that they should go and so they would not throw themselves across the purpose of their souls end of chapter 16 chapter 17 of many's sacrifice by Francis C. W. Harper this LibriVox recording is in the public domain chapter 17 before he located Lewis concluded to visit the old homestead and to present his beautiful young bride to his grandmother and Camilla he knew his adopted sister too well to fear that many would fail to receive from her the warmest welcome and so with eager heart he took passage on one of the Mississippi boats to New Orleans intending to stop in the city a few days and send word to Camilla but just as he was passing from the Levy to the hotel he caught a glimpse of Camilla walking down the street and stopping the carriage he alighted and spoke to her she immediately recognized him although his handsome face had become somewhat bronzed by exposure in camp and field do not go to the hotel she said you are heartily welcome come home with me come home as you are but like myself she is colored it does not matter I should not think of your going to a hotel while I have a home in the city Camilla following wondering how she would like the young wife she had great kindness and compassion for the race but as far as social equality was concerned though she had her strong personal likings yet except with Lewis neither custom nor education had reconciled her to the maintenance my wife said Lewis introducing Camilla to many Camilla immediately reached out her hand to the young wife and gave her a cordial greeting and they soon fell into a pleasant and animated conversation mutually they were attracted to each other and when they reached their destination many had begun to feel quiet at home with Camilla how is Aunt Miriam or rather my grandmother said Lewis she is well and often wonders what has become of her poor boy but she always has persisted in believing you again and I know her dear old eyes will run over with gladness but things have changed very much since we parted we have passed through the fire since I saw you and our troubles are not over yet but we are hoping for better days but we are at home let us alight and Lewis and many were ushered into a home who's quiet and refined beauty were very pleasant to the eye for Camilla had inherited from her father his aesthetic tastes and made her home and its surroundings models of loveliness half a dozen varieties of the sweetest and brightest roses clamored up the walls and arrayed them with a garb of rare beauty jessamines breath their fragrance on the air magnolias reared their stately heads and gladdened the eye with the exquisite beauty of their flowers this is an unexpected pleasure said Camilla removing many's bonnet engaging with unfeigned admiration upon her girlish face but really someone must enjoy this pleasure besides myself Camilla rang the bell a bright smiling girl of about ten years appeared tell Miriam she said to come that her boy Lewis is here Miriam appeared immediately and throwing her arms around his neck gave vent to her feelings and a burst of joy I always said you come back eyes prayed for you night and day and I always believed I'd see you before I died and now my words come true there's nothing like having faith here's my wife said Lewis turning to Minnie your wife is you married honey well I hopes you'll have a good time Minnie came forward and gave her hand to Miriam as Lewis said this is my grandmother a look of proud satisfaction passed over the old woman's face and a sudden joy lit up her eyes at these words of pleasant recognition ah my child said Miriam we's had a mighty heap of trouble since you left then miserable says Jess search the house all over for you when you was gone and they was mighty sassy but we didn't mind that so they didn't catch you how did you get along we was dreadfully uneasy about you Lewis then told them of the kindness of the colored people his thrilling adventures and her breath escapes and unfolded to them his plans for the future Camilla listened with deep interest and turning to Minnie who had left the peaceful sunshine of her mother's home to dwell in the midst of that rough and rude state of society she said I cannot help feeling sad to see you exposing yourself to the dangers that lay around your path the few Southern women who have been faithful to the flag have had a sad experience since the war we have been ostracized and abused and often our husbands have been brutally murdered in a number of instances when they were faithful to the dear old flag a friend of mine who was an angel of mercy to the union prisoners dressing their wounds and carrying them relief had a dear son who always kept a union flag at home which he regarded with almost religious devotion this made him a marked boy in the community and during the war he was so cruelly beaten by some young rebels that he never recovered and colored women who would win their way under the darkness and cover of night to eight-hour suffering soldiers were in danger of being flogged if detected and I understand that one did receive 75 lashes for such an offense and I heard of another who was shot down like a dog for giving bread to a prisoner who said Mammy I am starving I think but I have no right to dictate to you had I been you and my home in the north that I would have preferred staying there where to say the least you could have had pleasant or social relations you and Lewis are nearer the white race than the colored why should you prefer the one to the other because of many the prejudices of society are so strong against the people with whom I'm connected on my mother's side that I could not associate with white people unequal terms without concealing my origin and that I scorned to do the first years of my life past without my knowing that I was connected with the colored race but when it was revealed to me by mother who suddenly claimed me at first I shrank from the social ostracism to which the knowledge doomed me and it was sometime before I was reconciled to the change or there are lessons of life that we never learn in the bowers of ease they must be learned in the fire for months life seemed to me a dull sad thing and for a while I did not care whether I lived or died the sunshine is suddenly faded from my path in the future looks so dark and cheerless but now when I look back upon those days of gloom I think they were among the most fruitful of my life for in those days of pain and sorrow my resolution was formed to join the fortunes of my mother's race and I resolved to brighten her old age with a joy, with a gladness she had never known in her youth and how could I have done that had I left her unrecognized and palmed myself upon society as a white woman and to tell you the truth having passed most of my life in white society I did not feel that the advantages of that society would have ever paid me for the loss of my self-respect by passing as white when I knew that I was colored when I knew that any society however cultivated wealthy or refined would not be a social gain to me if my color and not my character must be my passport of admission so when I found out that I was colored I made up my mind that I would neither be pity nor patronized by my former friends but that I would live out my own individuality and do for my race as a colored woman what I never could accomplish as a white woman I think I understand you said Camilla and although I tremble for you in the present state yet you cannot do better than live out the earnest purpose of your life I feel that we owe a great debt to the colored race and I would aid and not hinder any hand that is ready to help do the needed work I felt for many years that slavery was wrong and I'm glad from the bottom of my heart that it has at last been destroyed and what are your plans Lewis we're going to open a school and devote our lives to the up-building of the future race I intend to bring into some plan to facilitate the freedmen in obtaining homes of their own I want to see this newly enfranchised race adding its quota to the civilization of the land I believe there is power and capacity only let it have room for exercise and development we demand no social equality no supremacy of power all we ask is that the American people will take their christless godless prejudices out of the way and give us a chance to grow an opportunity to accept life not merely as a matter of ease and indulgence but of struggle conquest and achievement yes Camilla what you want and what the nation should be just enough to grant you is fair play yes that is what we want to be known by our character not by our color to be permitted to take whatever position in society we are fitted to fill we do not want to be bolstered and propped up on the one hand nor to be crushed and trampled down on the other well Lewis I think that we are coming to that I feel that all this baptism of fire and blood through which we have passed has been in vain slavery as an institution has been destroyed slavery as an idea still lives but I believe that we shall outgrow the spirit of caste and proscription which stills tarnishes our civilization both north and south end of chapter 17 chapter 18 of many sacrifice by Francis C. W. Harper this is in the public domain chapter 18 after spending a few weeks with Camilla Lewis resolved to settle in the town of L. Blanke in and as soon as he had chosen his home and made arrangements for the future he sent for Ellen and in a few days she joined her dear children as she called Lewis and many very pleasant were the relations between many and the newly freed people she had found her work and they had found their friend she did not content herself with teaching them mere knowledge of books she felt that if the race would grow in the right direction it must plant the roots of progress under the hearthstone she had learned from Anna those womanly arts that give beauty strengthen grace to the fireside and it was her earnest desire to teach them how to make their homes bright and happy Lewis too with his practical turn of mind used his influence teaching them to be saving and industrious and to turn their attention towards becoming land owners he attended their political meetings not to array class against class nor to inflame the passions of either side he wanted the vote of the colored people not to express the old hates and animosities of the plantation but the new community of interest arising from freedom for a while the aspect of things looked hopeful the reconstruction act by placing the vote in the hands had given him a new position there was a law in southern violence it was a great change from the fetters on his wrist to the ballot in his right hand and the uniform testimony of the colored people was we are treated better than we were before some of the rebels indulged in the hope that their former slaves would vote for them but they were learning the power of combination and having no political past they were radical by position and when southern state after state its majorities on the radical side then the vials of wrath were poured upon the heads of the colored people and the courage and heroism which might have gained them recognition perhaps among heathens made them more obnoxious here still Lewis and many kept on their labors of love their inner lives daily growing stronger and broader for they learn to lean upon a strength greater than their own and some of the most beautiful lessons of faith and trust they had ever learned they were able to read people often would many enter these humble homes and listen patiently to the old story of wrong and suffering sympathizing with their lot she would give them counsel and help when needed when she was leaving they would look after her wistfully and say she might be good we slow down but she feels for we and thus day after day of that earnest life was spent in deeds and words of love and kindness but let us enter their pleasant home Lewis has just started a new art journey to the city and has brought with him the latest northern papers he is looking rather sober and many ready to detect the least change of his countenance is that his side what is the matter many asked in a tone of deep concern I'm really discouraged what about look here city handing her the New York Tribune state after state has rolled up a majority against Negro suffrage I've been trying to persuade our people to vote the Republican ticket they feel like blushing for the party they are weakening our hands and strengthening those of the rebels but Lewis they were not Republicans who gave these majorities against us but darling if large numbers of these Republicans stayed at home and let the election go by default the result was just the same now every rebel can throw it in our teeth and say see you're a great Republican party they refuse to let the Negro vote with them but they force him upon us they don't do it out of regard to us I don't think many that I am much given to gloomy forebodings but I see from that temper in actions of these rebels that they are encouraged and emboldened by these tidings from the north and today they are turning people out of work for voting the radical ticket a while ago they tried flattery and cajolery you could hear it on almost every side we are the best friends of the colored people appeals were made to the memories of the past how they hunted and played together and searched for birds nests and the rotten trees and when the colored people were not to be caught by such chaff some were trying to force them into submission by intimidation and starvation just then a knock was heard at the door and a dark man entered there was nothing in his appearance that showed any connection with the right race there was a tone of hopefulness in his speech though his face wore a somewhat anxious expression good morning Mr. Jackson said Lewis for indifference to their feelings he had dropped the aunt and uncle of bygone days good morning replied the man while a pleasant smile flitted over his countenance how does the world use you said Lewis well times are rather bilious with me but I'm beginning to pick up a little I get a few boots and shoes to mend I always used to go to the mountains and get plenty of work to do but this year they wouldn't give me the situation because I had joined the radicals what a shame said Lewis these men who have always had their rights of citizenship seem to know so little of the claims of justice and humanity that they are ready to browbeat and intimidate these people for voting according to their best interests and what saddens me most is to see so many people of the north clasping hands with these rebels and traitors and to hear it repeated that these people are too ignorant to vote ignorant as they are so many during the war they knew more than their masters for they knew how to be true to their country when their masters were false to it and rallied around the flag when they were trampling it under foot and riddling it with bullets uh said uncle Richard I knows them all bold last week some of them offered me five hundred dollars if I would desert my party but I wasn't going to forsake my people I've been in pretty tight places this year one night when I come home my little girl said to me daddy there ain't no bread into house now that just got me but I begun to pray and the next day I found a quarter of a dollar and then some of my colored friends said it wouldn't do to let uncle jack start and they made me up 75 cents my wife sometimes gets out of heart but she don't see very far off I wish that loose after mr. Jackson had left that some of our northern men would only see the heroism of that simple minded man here he stands facing an uncertain future no longer young in years stripped by slavery his wife not in full sympathy with him and yet with what courage he refused the bribe he has said many five hundred dollars means a great deal of for a man landless and poor with no assured support for the future it means a comfortable fire when the blast of winter are roving around your home it means bread for the little ones and medicine for the sick child and little start in life but on the other hand said lucid meant portrayal of the interests of his race and I honor the faithfulness which his hands from receiving the bribe and clasping hands politically with his lifelong oppressors and I asked myself the question while he was telling his story which hand was the custodian of the ballot the white hand that offered the bribe or the black one that refused it I think the time will come when some of the Anglo-Saxon race will blush to remember that when they were trailing the banner of freedom in the dust black men were grasping it with earnest hands bearing it aloft amid persecution pain and death Lewis said many very seriously I think the nation makes one great mistake in settling this question of suffrage it seems to me that everything gets in the government why not lay the whole foundation anew and base the right of suffrage not on the claims of service or sex but on the broader basis of our common humanity because many we are not prepared for it this hour belongs to the negro but Lewis is it not the negro woman's hour also has she not as many rights and claims as the negro man well perhaps she has but darling you cannot better the condition of the colored men without helping the colored women what elevates him helps her all that may be true but I cannot recognize that the negro man is the only one who has pressing claims at this hour today our government needs woman's conscience as well as man's judgment and while I would not throw a straw in the way of the colored man even though I know that he would vote against me as soon as he gets his vote yet I do think that women should have some power to defend herself from oppression and equal laws as if she were a man but really I should not like to see you being your way through rough and brawling mobs to the polls because these mobs are rough and coarse I would have women vote I would soften the asperity of the mobs and bring into our politics a deeper and broader humanity when I see in temperance send its floods of ruin and shame to the homes of men and pass by the grog shops that are constantly grinding out their fearful grist of poverty ruin and death along for the hour when women's vote will be leveled against these tronal houses and have I hope the power to close them throughout the length and breadth of the land why darling said Lewis gazing admiringly upon the earnest enthusiasm lighting up her face I shall begin to believe that you are a strong minded woman surely you would not have me a weak minded woman in these hours of trial but darling I do not think that you were such an advocate for women's voting I think Lewis that basing our rights on the ground of our common humanity is the only true foundation for national peace and durability if you would have the government strong and enduring you should entrench it in the hearts of both the men and women of the land I think you're right in that remark said Lewis and thus their evenings were enlivened by pleasant and interesting conversations upon the topics of the day once when a union friend was spending an evening at their home Lewis entered looking somewhat animated and many ever ready to detect his moods and feelings wanted to know what had happened oh I've been to a wedding since I left home and pray who was married guess I don't know whom to guess one of our friends yes was it Mr. Willand yes and who did he marry is she a northern woman and a staunch unionist well I can't imagine who she can be why he married Miss Henson who sent you those beautiful flowers while Lewis is it possible why she is a colored woman I know but how came he to marry her for the same reason I married you because he loved her well said the union man who sat quietly listening I'm willing to give to the colored people every right that I possess myself but as to intermarrying with them I'm not prepared for that I think Sir Lewis that marrying and social equality among the races will simply regulate itself I do not think under the present condition of things that there will be any general intermarrying of the races but this idea of rooted antagonism of races to me is all moonshine I believe that what you call the instincts of race are only the prejudices which are the result of custom and education and if there's any instinct in the matter it is rather the instinct of nature to make a semi tropical race in a semi tropical climate well Anne told me that he had met his wife when she was a slave that he loved her then and would have bought her had it been in his power but now that freedom had come to her he was glad to have the privilege of making her his wife he is an Englishman by birth and he intends taking her home with him to England when a favorable community presents itself and that is far more honorable and manly than living together after the old order of things I think Sir Lewis facing the floor that a cruel wrong was done to many and myself when life was given to us under conditions that doomed us to hopeless slavery and from which we were rescued only by good fortune I've heard some colored persons boasting of the white blood but I always feel like blushing for mine much as my father did for me he could never return for giving me life under conditions he did never mind so many it all turned out for the best yes darling said Lewis growing calmer for it gave me you and that was life's compensation but the question of the intermingling of the races in marriage is one of that scares the interest this question the question that presses upon us with the most fearful distinctness is how can we make life secure in the south I sometimes feel as if the very air was bursting with bayonets there is no law here but the revolver there must screw loose somewhere and this government that taxes its men in peace and drafts them a war ought to be wise enough to know its citizens and strong enough to protect them end of chapter 18 chapter 19 of many sacrifice by Francis E. W. Harper this LibriVox recording is in the public domain chapter 19 but the pleasant home life of Lewis and many was destined to be rudely broken up he began to receive threats and anonymous letters such as these Lewis Le Coix you are a doomed man we are determined to tolerate no scallywags nor carpetbaggers among us beware the sacred serpent has his but Lewis brave and resolute kept on the even tenor of his way although he never left his home without some forebodings that he tried in vain to cast off but his young wife being less in contact with the brutal elements of society in that sin cursed region did not comprehend the danger as Lewis did and yet she could not help feeling anxious for her husband's safety they never parted without her looking after him with a sigh and then turning to her school or whatever work or reading she had on her hand she would strive to suppress her heart's forebodings but the storm about to burst into dark and forever the sunshine of that home was destined to fall on that fair young head imperative business called Lewis from home for one night many stood at the door and said Lewis I hate to have you go I've been feeling so badly here lately as if something was going to happen come home as soon as you go darling he said kissing her tenderly again and again I do feel rather loathe to leave you but death is everywhere always lurking in ambush a man may escape from an earthquake to be strangled by a hare so darling keep in good spirits till I come many stood at the door watching him till he was out of sight and then turning to her mother with a sigh she said what a wretched state of society goes I never feel easy till he returns I do wish we had a government under which our lives would be just as safe as they were in Pennsylvania Ellen felt very anxious but she tried to hide her disquietude and keep many spirits from sinking and so she said this is a hard country we color people have seen our hard times here but mother don't you sometimes feel bitter towards these people who have treated you so unkindly no many I used to but I don't now God says we must forgive and if we don't forgive he won't forgive the mother how did you get to feeling so why honey I used to suffer until my heart was almost ready to burst but I learned to cast my burden on the lord and then my misery all passed away my burden fell off at the foot of the cross and I felt that my feet were planted on a rock how wonderful so many is this faith how real it is to them how near some of these suffering people have drawn to God yes said Ellen Mrs. Sumter had a colored woman to whom they were real mean and cruel and one day they ripped her and beat her on her feet to keep her from running away but she made up her mind to leave and so she packed up her clothes to run away but before she started I believe she kneeled down and prayed and asked you and something reasoned with her and said stand still and see what I'm going to do for you and so she unpacked her clothes and stayed and now the best part of it was this Millie's son had been away and he came back and brought with him money enough to buy his mother for he had been out begging money to buy her and so Millie got free and she was mighty glad that she had stayed because when he'd come back if she had been gone he would not have known where to find her well it is wonderful somehow these people have passed through the darkness and laid their hands on God's robe of love and light and have been sustained it seems to me that some things they see clearer through their tears mother said many as it is Saturday I will visit some of my scholars well many I would you look troubled and maybe you'll feel better yes mother I often feel strengthened after visiting some of these good old souls and getting glimpses into their inner life I sometimes ask them after listening to the story of their past wrongs what has sustained you what has kept you up and the almost invariable answer has been the power of God some of these poor old souls who have been turned adrift to shift for themselves don't live by bread alone they live by bread and faith in God I asked one of them a few days since are you not afraid of starving and the answer was not while God lives after many left she visited the number of lowly cabins entered was the home of an industrious couple who were just making a start in life the room in which many was had no window lights only an aperture that supplied them with light but also admitted the cold why don't you have window lights and many though we must crawl before we walk and yet even in this humble home they had taken two orphan children of their race and were giving them food and shelter and this kindness to the orphans of their race many found to be a very praiseworthy practice among of those people who are not poor than themselves the next cabin she entered was very neat though it bore evidences of poverty the woman in referring to the past told her how her child had been taken away when it was about two years old and how she had lost all trace of him and would not know him if he stood in her presence how did you feel said many I felt as I was going to my grave but I thought if I wouldn't get justice here I would get it in another world my husband said another asked if God is a just God how would Sitch as slavery be and something answered and said Sitch shan't always be and you couldn't beat it out of my husband's head that the spirit didn't speak to him and thus the morning waned away and many returned calmer than when she had left a holy peace stole over her mind she felt that for high and low rich and poor there was a common refuge that there was no corner so dark that the light of heaven could not shine through and that these people and their ignorance and simplicity had learned to look upon God as a friend coming near to them in their sorrows and taking cognizance of their wants and woes many loved to listen to these beautiful stories of faith and trust to her they were grand inspirations of faith and duty sometimes many would think when listening to some dear aged saint I can't teach these people religion I must learn from them she returned home and began to work upon a dress for a destitute an orphan child and when night came she retired quite early being somewhat worried with her day's work during his absence Louis had been among the freedmen in a new settlement where he had lately established a school where notwithstanding all their disadvantages he was pleased to see evidences of growth in progress there was an earnestness and growing manliness that commanded his respect they were beginning to learn the power and the combination and gave but little heed to the cajolian words we are your best friends don't you think Louis said to an intelligent freedman that the rebels are your best friends I'll think so when I lose my senses but you are ignorant Louis said to another one how will you know whom to vote for well if I don't I know how not to vote for a rebel how do you know you didn't vote for a rebel said Louis to another one who came from one of the most benighted districts for one of my own color as if treason and a black skin were incompatible in the evening Louis called the people together and talked with them trying to keep them from being discouraged for the times were evil and the days were very gloomy the main pagement had failed state after state in the north had voted against enfranchising the colored men in their midst the spirit of the loss caused revived murders multiplied the Ku Klux spread terror and death around the item of northern meanness to the colored people in their midst was a message of hope to the rebel element of the south which had only changed ballot and bullet had failed but another resort was found in secret assassination men advocating equal rights did so at the peril of their lives for violence and murder were rampant in the land oh those dark and weary days when politicians were flattering for a place and murdered union men were sleeping in their bloody shrouds Louis's courage did not desert him and he tried to nerve the hearts of those that were sinking with fear in those days of gloom and terror his advice to the people was defend your firesides if they are invaded live as peaceably as you can spare no pains to educate your children be saving and industrious try to get land under your feet and homes over your heads my faith is very strong in political parties but as the world has outgrown other forms of wrong I believe that it will outgrow this also we must trust and hope for better things what else could he say and yet there were times when his words seemed to him almost like bitter mockery he was outrage upon outrage committed upon these people and to tell them to hope and wait for better times but seemed like speaking hollow words oh he longed for our central administration strong enough to put down violence and misrule in the south if Johnson was clasping hands with rebels and traitors was there no power in congress security to life must they wait till murder was organized into an institution and life and property were at the mercy of the mob and if so would not such government be a farce and such a civilization of failure with these reflections passing through his mind he fell asleep but his slumber was restless and disturbed he dreamed but it seemed so plain to him that he thought it was hardly a dream that many came to his side and pressed her lips to his but they were very pale and very cold he reached out his hand clasped her but she was gone but as she vanished he heard her say my husband restless and uneasy he arose there was a strange feeling around his soul a great sinking and depression of his spirits he could not account for his feelings he arose and walked the floor and looked up at the heavens but the night was very bright and beautiful still he could not shake off his strange and sad forebodings and as soon as it was light he started for home End of Chapter 19 Chapter 20 of Many's Sacrifice by Francis E. W. Harper This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Chapter 20 In the afternoon when the body had been prepared for the grave the sorrowing friends gathered around tearfully noting the look of peace and rest which had stolen over the pale dead face and all traces of the death agony had passed away by the contraction of the muscles that is just the way she looked yesterday set a sad-eyed woman whose face showed traces of a deep and fearful sorrow Louis drew near for he was eager to hear any word that told him of many before death had robbed her of life and him of peace he came near enough to hear but not to interrupt the conversation she was at my house yesterday trying to comfort me when I was telling her how these seshesh used to cruelize us I was telling her about my poor daughter Amy and what a sprightly pert piece she was and how dim awful seshesh took my poor child and hung her hund aunt Susan oh how was that set half a dozen voices where you see it was just this way my daughter Amy was a mighty nice child and Massa could trust her with anything so when the Lincoln soldiers had gone through this place Massa got her to move some of his things over to another place now when Amy see the soldiers had come through she was mighty glad she said in a kind of childish way I was so glad I'm going to marry a Lincoln soldier instead of housekeeping for myself I don't expect she were in earnest about marrying the soldier but she did want her freedom well nobody couldn't blame her for that for freedom's a mighty good thing I don't like it I just loves it said one of aunt Sue's auditors and I does too because I'd rather live on bread and water than be back again in the old place but go on on Susan well when she said that miserable old Heston Heston I know that wretch I bound the devils waiting for him now got his pitch fork already well he had my poor girl took him up and poor child she was beat shameful and then they had her up before the soldiers and had her try to for saying sendiary words and then they had my poor girl hunged and the poor old woman bowed her head and rocked her body to and fro well she continued after a moment's pause I was telling that sweet angel dare my trouble and she was mighty sorry for her promise I hope in a better world that you'll see a joy according to all the days wherein you have seen sorrow bless her sweetheart she's got into shining gate for me but I bound to meet her on the sunny banks of deliverance and she was at my house yesterday said another she come to see if I wanted anything and I told her I would like to have the room it is so bad and she said I should have it then she asked me if I didn't like freedom best I told her I would rather live in a corn crib and so I would it is hard getting along but I hoped for better times and then she took down the bible and read with that sweet voice of hers about the eagle stirring up her nest and then she said when the old eagle was very young to fly she broke up the nest and the little eagles didn't know what was the matter but somehow they didn't feel so comfortable cause the little twigs and sticks stuck in them and then they would work their wings and that was the way she said we must do the old nest of slavery was broke up but she said we mustn't get discouraged but we must plume our wings by our flying oh she did tell it so pretty I wish I could say it like she did it did my heart so much good poor thing she done gone and folded her wing into heavenly mansion I wish I was long-sighted but I was bound to meet her cause I'm going to set out afresh for heaven and eternal glory and thus did these stricken children of sorrow unconsciously comfort an almost breaking heart of Louis Lacroix and their words of love and hope were like rays of light shimmering amid the gloomy shadows that overhung his suddenly darkened life surely thought Louis if the blessings and tears of the poor and needy and the prayers of him who was ready to perish would crystallize a path to the glory land then many's exit from earth must have been over a bridge of light above whose radiant arches hovering angels would delight to bend while these thoughts were passing through his mind a knock was heard at the door and Louis rose to open it and then he saw a sight which shook all his gathered firmness to tears headed by the eldest of many scholars came up procession of children each one bearing a bunch of fairest and brightest flowers to spread around the couch of their beloved teacher and others through themselves beside the corpse and wept bitter burning tears all shared in Louis's grief for all had lost a dear good friend and loving instructor Louis summoned all the energies of his soul to bear his mournful loss it was his task to bow to the chastener and let his loved one go feeling that when he had later in the earth that he left her there in the hope of a better resurrection life with its solemn responsibility still met him its earnest duty still confronted him and though he sometimes felt like a weary watcher at the gates of death longing to catch a glimpse of her shining robes and the radiant light of her glorified face yet he knew it was his work to labor and to wait saw in danger that his way and he felt his soul more strongly drawn out than ever to share the fortunes of the colored race he felt there were grand possibilities stored up in their future the name of the Negro had been associated with slavery ignorance and poverty and he determined as far as his influence could be exerted to lift that name from the dust of the centuries and place it among the most honored names in the history of the human race he still remained in the south for many's grave had made the south to him a sacred place the place in which to labor and to wait until peace like bright dew should descend where carnage had spread ruin around and freedom and justice like glorified angels should reign triumphant where violence and slavery had held their fearful carnival of shame and crime for ages earnestly he said himself to bring around the hour when peace white-robed impure should move or rifts of ruin deep and wide when her hands should span with lasting love the chasms rent by hate and pride and he was blessed in his labors of love and faith End of Chapter 20 Conclusion of many's sacrifice by Francis E. W. Harper this LibriVox recording is in the public domain Conclusion and now in conclusion may I not ask the indulgence of my readers for a few moments simply to say that Lewis and many are only ideal beings touched here and there with a coloring from real life but while I confess not wishing to misrepresent the most lawless of the Ku Klux that many has only lived and died in my imagination may I not modestly ask that the lesson of many shall have its place among the educational ideas for the advancement of our race the greatest want of our people if I understand our wants a right is not simply wealth nor genius nor mere intelligence but live men and earnest lovely women whose lives shall represent not a stagnant mass but a living force we have wealth among us but how much of it is ever spent in building up the future of the race in encouraging talent in developing genius we have intelligence but how much do we add to the reservoir of the world's thought we have genius among us but how much can it rely upon the colored race for support take even the Christian recorder where are the graduates from colleges and high school whose pens and brains lend beauty, strength and grace and culture to its pages if when their school days are over the last composition shall have been given at the examination will not the disused faculties revenge themselves by rusting if I could say it without being officious and intrusive I would say to some who are about to graduate this year do not feel your education is finished when the diploma of your institution is in your hands look upon the knowledge you have gained only as a stepping stone to a future which you are determined shall grandly contrast with the past while some of the authors of the present day have been weaving their stories about white men marrying beautiful noon girls who in so doing were lost to us socially I conceived of one of that same class to whom I gave a higher holier destiny a life of lofty self-sacrifice and beautiful self-consecration finished at the post of duty and rounded off with the fiery crown of martyrdom changes into a diadem of glory the lesson of many's sacrifice is this that it is braver to suffer with one's own branch of the human race to feel that the weaker and the more despised they are the closer we will cling to them for the sake of helping them than to attempt to creep out of all identity with them in their feebleness for the sake of mere personal advantages and to do this at the expense of self-respect and a true manhood and a truly dignified womanhood that with whatever gifts we possess whether they be genius culture, wealth or social position we can best serve the interests of our race by a generous and loving inclusion then by a narrow and selfish isolation which after all is only one type of the barbarous and anti-social state End of conclusion End of Many's Sacrifice by Francis E. W. Harper