 Chapter 33 of Dread, A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For further information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by William Jones in Benita Springs, Florida. Chapter 33 The Legal Decision The time for the session of the Supreme Court had now arrived, and Clayton's cause was to be reconsidered. Judge Clayton felt exceedingly chagrined as the time drew near. Being himself the leading judge of the Supreme Court, the declaration of the bench would necessarily be made known through him. It is extremely painful to me, he said to Mrs. Clayton, to have this case referred to me, for I shall be obliged to reverse the decision. Well, said Mrs. Clayton, Edward must have fortitude to encounter the usual reverses of his profession. He made a gallant defense and received a great deal of admiration, which shall not be at all lessened by this. You do not understand me, said Judge Clayton. It is not the coming out in opposition to Edward, which principally annoys me. It is the nature of the decision that I am obliged to make, the doctrine that I feel myself forced to announce. And must you then, said Mrs. Clayton? Yes, I must, said Judge Clayton. A judge can only perceive and declare. What I see, I must speak, though it go against all my feelings and all my sense of right. I don't see, for my part, said Mrs. Clayton, how that decision can possibly be reversed without allowing the most monstrous injustice. Such is the case, said Judge Clayton, but I said in my seat not to make laws, nor to alter them, but simply to declare what they are. However bad the principle declared, it is not so bad as a proclamation of a falsehood would be. I have sworn truly to declare the laws, and I must keep my oath. Have you talked with Edward about it? Not particularly. He understands in general the manner in which the thing lies in my mind. This conversation took place just before it was time for Judge Clayton to go to his official duties. The courtroom on this occasion was somewhat crowded. Barker, being an active, resolute, and popular man with a certain class, had talked up a considerable excitement with regard to his case. Clayton's friends were interested in it on his account. Lawyers were, for the sake of the principle, so that upon the whole there was a good deal of attention drawn toward this decision. Among the spectators on the morning of the court, Clayton remarked Harry. For reasons which our readers may appreciate, his presence there was a matter of interest to Clayton. He made his way toward him. Harry, he said, how came you here? The ladies, said Harry, thought they would like to know how the thing went, and so I got on my horse and came over. As he spoke he placed in Clayton's hand a note, and as the paper touched his hand a close spectator might have seen the color rise in his cheek. He made his way back to his place and opened a law book which he held up before his face. Inside the law book, however, was a little sheet of guilt-edged paper on which were written a few words in pencil. More interesting than all the law in the world. Shall we commit the treason of reading over his shoulder? It was as follows, quote, you say you may today be called to do something which you think right, but which will lose you many friends, which will destroy your popularity, which may alter all your prospects in life, and you ask if I can love you yet? I say in answer that it was not your friends that I loved, nor your popularity, nor your prospects, but you. I can love and honor a man who is not afraid nor ashamed to do what he thinks to be right, and therefore I hope ever to remain yours, Nina. P.S., I only got your letter this morning, and have but just time to scribble this and send by Harry. We are all well, and shall be glad to see you as soon as the case is over. Close quote. Clayton, my boy, you are very busy with your authorities, said Frank Russell behind him. Clayton hastily hid the paper in his hand. It's charming, said Russell, to have little manuscript annotations on law. It lights it up like the illuminations in old missiles. But say, Clayton, you live at the fountain-hit. How's the case going? Against me, said Clayton. Well, it's no great odds, after all. You have had your triumph. These afterthoughts cannot take away that. But, hush, there's your father going to speak. Every eye in the courtroom was turned upon Judge Clayton, who was standing with his usual, self-poised composure of manner, in a clear, deliberate voice he spoke as follows. A judge cannot but lament when such cases as the present are brought into judgment. It is impossible that the reasons on which they go can be appreciated, but were institutions similar to our own exist, and are thoroughly understood. The struggle to, in the judge's own breast, between the feelings of the man, and the duty of the magistrate, is a severe one, presenting strong temptation to put aside such questions, if it be possible. It is useless, however, to complain of things inherent in our political state, and it is criminal in a court to avoid any responsibility which the laws impose. With whatever reluctance, therefore, it is done. The court is compelled to express an opinion upon the extent of the dominion of the master over the slave in North Carolina. The indictment charges a battery on Millie, a slave of Louisa Nesbitt. The inquiry here is whether a crew, an unreasonable battery on a slave by the hirer, is indictable. The judge below instructed the jury that it is. He seems to have put it on the ground that the defendant had but a special property. Our laws uniformly treat the master or other person having the possession and command of the slave as entitled to the same extent of authority. The object is the same, the service of the slave, and the same powers must be confided. In a criminal proceeding, and indeed in reference to all other persons but the general owner, the hirer and possessor of the slave in relation to both rights and duties is, for the time being, the owner. But upon the general question whether the owner is answerable, criminality for a battery upon his own slave, or other exercise of authority or force not forbidden by this statute, the court entertains but little doubt that he is so liable, has never been decided, nor as far as is known, been hitherto contended. There has been no prosecution of the sort. The established habits and uniform practice of the country, in this respect, is the best evidence of the portion of power deemed by the whole community requisite to the preservation of the master's dominion. If we thought differently, we could not set our notions in array against the judgment of everybody else, and say that this or that authority may be safely locked off. This has indeed been assimilated at the bar to other domestic relations, and arguments drawn from the well-established principles which confer and restrain the authority of the parent or the child, the tutor over the pupil, the master over the apprentice have been pressed on us. The court does not recognize their application. There is no likeness between the cases. They are in opposition to each other, and there is an impassable gulf between them. The difference is that which exists between freedom and slavery, and a greater cannot be imagined. In the one, the end in view is the happiness of the youth born to equal rights with that governor on whom the duty devolves of training the young to usefulness, in a station which he is afterward to assume among freemen. To such an end, and with such a subject, moral and intellectual instruction seem the natural means, and for the most part they are found to suffice. Moderate force is super-added only to make the others effectual. If that fail, it is better to leave the party to his own headstrong passions and the ultimate correction of the law than to allow it to be immoderately inflicted by a private person. With slavery it is far otherwise. The end is the profit of the master, his security, and the public's safety. The subject, one doomed in his own person and his posterity to live without knowledge and without the capacity to make anything his own, and to toil that another may reap the fruits. What moral considerations shall be addressed to such a being, to convince him what it is impossible, but that the most stupid must feel and know can never be true, that he is thus to labor upon a principle of natural duty, or for the sake of his own personal happiness? Such services can only be expected from one who has no will of his own, who surrenders his will in implicit obedience to that of another. Such obedience is the consequence only of uncontrolled authority over the body. There is nothing else which can operate to produce the effect. The power of the master must be absolute to render the submission of the slave perfect. I most freely confess my sense of the harshness of this proposition. I feel it as deeply as any man can, and as a principle of moral right every person in his retirement must repudiate it. But in the actual condition of things it must be so. There is no remedy. This discipline belongs to the state of slavery. They cannot be disunited without abrogating at once the rights of the master and absolving the slave from his subjection. It constitutes the curse of slavery to both the bond and the free portions of our population. But it is inherent in the relation of master to slave. That there may be particular instances of cruelty and deliberate barbarity where in conscience the law might properly interfere is most probable. The difficulty is to determine where a court may properly begin. Merely in the abstract it may well be asked which power of the master accords with right. The answer will probably sweep away all of them. But we cannot look at the matter in that light. The truth is that we are forbidden to enter upon a train of general reasoning on the subject. We cannot allow the right of the master to be brought into discussion in the courts of justice. The slave to remain a slave must be made sensible that there is no appeal from his master. That his power is in no instance usurped but is conferred by the laws of man at least if not by the law of God. The danger would be great indeed if the tribunals of justice should be called on to graduate the punishment appropriate to every temper and every dereliction of menial duty. No man can anticipate the many and aggravated provocations of the master which the slave would be constantly stimulated by his own passions or the instigation of others to give or the consequent wrath of the master prompting him to bloody vengeance upon the turbulent traitor. A vengeance generally practiced with impunity by reason of its privacy. The court therefore disclaims the power of changing the relation in which these parts of our people stand to each other. I repeat that I would gladly have avoided this ungrateful question but being brought to it the court is compelled to declare that while slavery exists among us in its present state or until it shall seem fit to this legislature to interpose express enactments to the contrary it will be the imperative duty of the judges to recognize the full dominion of the owner over the slave except where the exercise of it is forbidden by statute and this we do upon the ground that this dominion is essential to the value of slaves as property to the security of the master and the public tranquility greatly dependent upon their subordination and in fine as most effectively securing the general protection and comfort of the slaves themselves judgment below reversed the judgment entered for the defendant during the delivery of the decision Clayton's eyes by accident became fixed upon Harry who was standing opposite to him and who listened through the hole with breathless attention he observed as it went on that his face became pale his brow clouded and that a fierce and peculiar expression flashed from his dark blue eye never had Clayton so forcibly realized the horrors of slavery as when he heard them thus so calmly defined in the presence of one into whose soul the iron had entered the tones of judge Clayton's voice so passionless clear and deliberate the solemn calm unflinching earnestness of his words were more than a thousand passionate appeals in the dead silence that followed Clayton rose and requested permission of the court to be allowed to say a few words in view of the decision his father looked slightly surprised and there was a little movement among the judges but curiosity perhaps among other reasons led the court to give consent Clayton spoke I hope it will not be considered a disrespect or impertence for me to say that the law of slavery and the nature of that institution have for the first time been made known to me today in their true character I had before flattered myself with the hope that it might be considered a guardian institution by which a stronger race might assume the care and instruction of the weaker one and I had hoped that its laws were capable of being so administered as to protect the defenseless this illusion is destroyed I see but too clearly now the purpose and object of the law I cannot therefore as a Christian man remain in the practice of law in a slave state I therefore relinquish the profession into which I have just been inducted and retire forever from the bar of my native state close quote there there he goes said Frank Russell the sticking point has come at last his conscience is up and start him now who can there was a slight motion of surprise in the court and audience but judge Clayton set with unmoved serenity the words had struck to the depth of his soul they had struck at the root of one of his strongest hopes in life but he had listened to them with the same calm and punctilious attention which it was his habit to give to every speaker and with unaltered composure he proceeded to the next business of the court a step so unusual occasioned no little excitement but Clayton was not one of the class of people to whom his associates generally felt at liberty to express their opinions of his conduct the quiet reserve of his manners discouraged any such freedom as usual in cases where a person takes an uncommon course from conscientious motives Clayton was severely criticized the more trifling among the audience contented themselves with using the good set phrases quixotic absurd ridiculous the elder lawyers and those friendly to Clayton shook their heads and said rash precipitate unadvised there's a want of ballast about him somewhere said one he is unsound said another radical and impractical added a third yes said Frank Russell who had just come up Clayton is as radical and impracticable as the Sermon on the Mount that's the most impractical thing I know of in literature we all can serve God in Mammon we have discovered that happy medium in our day Clayton is behind the times he is Jewish in his notions don't you think so Mr. Titmarsh addressing the Reverend Mr. Titmarsh it strikes me that our young friend is extremely ultra said Mr. Titmarsh I might feel disposed to sympathize with him in the feelings he expressed to some extent but it having pleased the divine providence to establish the institution of slavery I humbly presume it is not competent for human reason to judge of it and if it had pleased the divine providence to have established the institution of piracy you say the same thing I suppose said Frank Russell certainly my young friend said Mr. Titmarsh whatever is defiantly ordered becomes right by that fact I should think said Frank Russell that things were divinely ordered because they were right no my friend replied Mr. Titmarsh moderately they are right because they are ordered however contrary they may appear to any of our poor notions of justice and humanity and Mr. Titmarsh walked off did you hear that said Russell and they expect really to come at over us with stuff like that now if a fellow don't go to church Sundays there's a dreadful outcry against him for not being religious and if they get us there that's the kind of thing they put down our throats as if they were going to make practical men give in to such humbugs and the reverent Mr. Titmarsh went off in another direction lamenting to a friend as follows quote how mournfully infidelity is increasing among the young men of our day they quote scripture with the same freedom that they would a book of plays and seem to treat it with no more reverence I believe it's the want of catechetical instruction while they are children there's been a great falling back in the teaching of the assembly's catechism to children when they are young I shall get that point up at the general assembly if that were thoroughly committed when they are children I think they would never doubt afterwards close quote Clayton went home and told his mother what he had done and why his father had not spoken to him on the subject and there was that about judge Clayton which made it difficult to introduce a topic unless he signified an inclination to enter upon it he was as usual calm grave and considerate attending to every duty with unwearing regularity at the end of the second day in the evening judge Clayton requested his son to walk into his study the interview was painful for both sides you are aware my son he said that the step you have taken is a very painful one to me I hope that it was not taking precipitately from any sudden impulse you may rest assured it was not said Clayton I followed the deepest and most deliberate convictions of my conscience in that case you could not do otherwise replied judge Clayton I have no criticism to make but will your conscience allow you to retain the position of a slave holder I have already relinquished it replied Clayton so far as my own intentions are concerned I retain the legal relation of owner simply as a means of protecting my servants from the cruelties of the law and of securing the opportunity to educate and elevate them and suppose this course brings you into conflict with the laws of the state said judge Clayton if there is any reasonable prospect of having the law altered I must endeavor to do that said Clayton but said judge Clayton suppose the law is so rooted in the nature of the institution that it cannot be repealed without uprooting the institution what then I say repeal the law if it do uproot the institution said Clayton I suppose that would be your answer said judge Clayton patiently that is undoubtedly the logical line of life but you are aware that communities do not follow such lines your course therefore will place you in opposition to the community in which you live your conscientious convictions will cross self-interest and the community will not allow you to carry them out then said Clayton I must with myself and my servants remove to some region where I can't do this that I supposed would be the result said judge Clayton and have you looked at the thing in all its relations and consequences I have said Clayton you are about to form a connection with Miss Gordon said Judge Clayton have you considered how this will affect her yes said Clayton Miss Gordon fully sustains me in the course I have taken I have no more to say said Judge Clayton every man must act up to his sense of duty there was a pause of a few moments and Judge Clayton added you perhaps have seen the implication which your course throws upon us who still continue to practice the system and uphold the institution which you repudiate I meant no implications said Clayton I presume not but they result logically from your course said his father I assure you I have often myself pondered the question with reference to my own duties my course is sufficient evidence that I have not come to the same result human law is at best but an approximation a reflection of many of the ills of our nature imperfect as it is it is on the whole a blessing the worst system is better than anarchy but my father why could you not have been a reformer of the system my son no reform is possible unless we are prepared to give up the institution of slavery that will be the immediate result and this is so realized by the instinct of self-preservation which is unfailing in this accuracy that every such proposition will be ignored till there is a settled conviction in the community that the institution itself is a moral evil and a sincere determination felt to be free from it I see no tendency of things in that direction that body of religious men of different denominations called par excellence the church exhibit a degree of moral apathy on this subject which is to me very surprising it is with them that the training of the community on which any such reform could be built must commence and I see no symptoms of their undertaking that the decisions and testimonies of the great religious assemblies in the land in my youth were frequent they have grown every year less and less decided and now the morality of the thing is openly defended in our pulpits to my great disgust I see no way but that the institution will be left to work itself out to its final result which will in the end be ruinous to our country I am not gifted myself with the talents of a reformer my turn of mind fits me for the situation I hold I cannot hope that I have done no harm in it but the good I hope will outweigh the evil if you feel a call to enter this course fully understanding the difficulties and sacrifices it would probably involve I would be the last one to throw the influence of my private wishes and feelings into the scale we live here but a few years it is of more consequence that we should do right than that we should enjoy ourselves Judge Clayton spoke this with more emotion than he usually exhibited and Clayton was much touched by a dear father he said putting nine his note into his hand you made illusion to miss Gordon this note which I received from her on the morning of your decision will show you what her spirit is Judge Clayton put on his spectacles and read over the note deliberately twice he then handed it formally to his son and remarked with his usual brevity she'll do end of chapter 33 the legal decision chapter 34 of dread a tale of the great dismal swamp by Harriet Beecher Stowe this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording by Michelle Frye Baton Rouge Louisiana dread chapter 34 the cloud bursts the shadow of that awful cloud which had desolated other places now began to darken the boundaries of the plantation of Kanema no disease has ever more fully filled out the meaning of those awful words of scripture the pestilence that walketh in darkness none has been more irregular and apparently more perfectly capricious in its movements during the successive seasons that it had been epidemic in the country it has seemed to have set the defiance the skill of the physicians the system of medical tactics which has been wrought out by the painful experiences of one season seems to be left to scorn by the varying type of the disease in the next certain sanitary laws and conditions would seem to be indispensable yet those who are familiar with it have had fearful experience how like a wolf it will sometimes leap the boundaries of the best and most carefully guarded fold and spite of every caution and protection sweep all before it its course through the towns and villages has been equally singular sometimes descending like a cloud on a neighborhood it will leave a single village or town untouched amidst the surrounding desolations and long after when health is restored to the whole neighborhood come down suddenly on the omitted towns as a ravaging army sends back a party for prey to someplace which has been overlooked or forgotten sometimes entering a house in 24 hours it will take all who are in it sometimes it will ravage all the city except some one street or locality and then come upon that while all else is spared its course upon southern plantations was marked with similar capriciousness and was made still more fatal by that peculiar nature of plantation life which withdraws the inmates so far from medical aid when the first letters were received describing the progress of it in northern cities and nesbitt felt much uneasiness and alarm it is remarkable with what tenacity people often will cling to life whose enjoyments in it are so dull and low that a bystander would scarcely think them worth the struggle of preservation when at length the dreaded news began to be heard from one point and another in their vicinity and nesbitt said one day to nina your cousins the gardens in e have written to us to leave the plantation and come and spend some time with them till the danger is over why said none do they think the caller can't come there well said aunt nesbitt they have their family under most excellent regulations and living in a town so they are within call of a doctor if anything happens and perhaps you'd better go but i will stay with my people why don't you feel afraid none no and i don't besides i think it would be very selfish for me to live on the services of my people all my life and then run away and leave them alone when a time of danger comes the least i can do is stay and take care of them this conversation was overheard by harry who was standing with his back to them on the veranda near the parlor door where they were sitting child said aunt nesbitt what do you suppose you can do you haven't any experience harry and millie can do a great deal better than you can i'll leave millie here it's our first duty to take care of our health no aunt i think there are some duties before that it's true i haven't a great deal of strength but i have courage and i know my going away would discourage our people and fill them with fear and that they say predisposes to the disease i shall get the carriage up and go directly over to see the doctor and get directions and medicines i shall talk to our people and teach them what to do and see that it is done and when they see that i am calm and not afraid they will have courage but and if you are afraid i think you had better go you are feeble you can't make much exertion and if you feel any safer or more comfortable i think it would be best i should like to have millie stay and she harry and i will be the board of health to the plantation harry she said if you'll get up the carriage we'll go immediately again harry felt the bitterness of his soul sweetened and tranquilized by the noble nature of her to whose hands the law had given the chain which bound him galling and intolerable as it would have been otherwise he felt when with her that her service was perfect freedom he had not said anything to nina about the contents of the letter which he had received from his sister he saw that it was an evil which she had no power over and he shrank from annoying her with it nina supposed that his clouded and troubled aspect was caused wholly by the solicitude of responsibility in the same carriage which conveyed her to the town sat and nesbitt also and her cap boxes whose importance even the fear of the cholera could not lessen in her eyes nina found the physician quite a fey on the subject he had been reading about mesma and animalculae and he entertained nina nearly half an hour with different theories as to the cause of the disease and with the experiments which had been made in foreign hospitals among the various theories there was one which appeared to be his particular pet and nina couldn't help thinking as he stepped about so alertly that he almost enjoyed the prospect of putting his discoveries to the test by dent however a very practical and positive questions nina drew from him all the valuable information which he had to give her and he wrote her a very full system of directions and put up a case of medicines for her assuring her that he should be happy to attend in person if he had time on the way home nina stopped at uncle john gordon's plantation and there had the first experience of the difference between written directions for a supposed care and the actual awful realities of the disease her uncle john had been seized only half an hour before in the most awful manner the household was all in terror and confusion and the shrieks and groans of agony which proceeded from his room were appalling his wife busy with the sufferer did not perceive that the messengers who had been sent in haste for the doctor were ringing their hands in fruitless terror running up and down the veranda and doing nothing harry said nana take out one of the carriage horses and ride quick for your life and bring the doctor over here in a minute in a few moments the thing was done and harry was out of sight she then walked up to the distracted servants and commanded them in a tone of authority to cease their lamentations her resolute manner and the quiet tone of voice which she preserved acted as a sedative on their excited nerves she banished all but two or three of the most reasonable from the house and then went to the assistance of her and before long the doctor arrived when he had been in the sick room a few moments he came out to make some inquiries of nana and she could not help contrasting the appalled and confounded expression of his countenance with the dapper consequential air with which only two hours before he had been holding forth to her on an amalculae and miasma the disease he said presented itself in an entirely different aspect from what he had expected the remedies he said it did not work as he anticipated the case was a peculiar one alas before three months were over poor doctor you found many peculiar cases do you think you can save his life child only god can save him said the physician nothing works right but why prolong the torture of that scene or rehearse the struggles groans and convulsions nine a poor flowery child of seventeen summers stood with the rest in mute despair always tried that could be done or thought of but the disease like some blind deaf destroyer marched on turning neither to right nor left till the cries and groans grew fainter the convulsed muscles relaxed and the strong floored man lay in the last stages of that fearful collapse which in one hour shrivels the most healthy countenance and the firmest muscles to the shrunken and withered image of decrepit old age when the breath had passed and all was over nana could scarcely believe that that altered face and form so withered and so worn could have been her healthy and joyous uncle and who never had appeared healthier and more joyous than on that morning but as a person passing under the foam and spray of niagra clings with blind confidence to a guide whom he feels but cannot see nana in this awful hour felt she was not alone the redeemer all powerful over death and the grave of whom she had been thinking so much of late seemed to her sensibly near and it seemed to her as if a voice said to her continually fear not for i am with thee be not dismayed for i am thy god how come you are my child said amir to her i wouldn't have thought it was in you i don't know what we should do without you but now a frightful well was hurt oh we're all dying we're all going oh mrs come quick peter has got it oh daddy has got it oh my child my child and the doctor exhausted as he was by the surprise and excitement of this case began flying from one to another of the cabins in the greatest haste two or three of the house servants also seemed to be struck in the same moment and only the calmness and courage which nana and her aunt maintained prevented a general abandonment to panic nana possessed that fine elastic temperament which with the appearance of extreme delicacy possesses great powers of endurance the perfect calmness which she felt enabled her to bring all her faculties to bear on the emergency my good auntie you mustn't be afraid bring out your religion trust in god she said to the cook who was ringing her hands in terror remember your religion sing some of your hymns and do your duty to the sick there is a magic power in the cheerful tone of courage and nana succeeded in rallying the well ones to take care of the sick but now came a messenger in hot haste to say that the cholera had broken out on the plantation at home will harry said nana with a face pale yet unmoved our duty calls us away and accompanied by the weary physician they prepared to go back to canamon before they had proceeded far a man met them on horseback is dr butler with you yes said nana putting her head out of the carriage oh doctor i've been riding all over the country after you you must come back to town this minute judge peters is dying i'm afraid he's dead before this time and there's a dozen more cases right in that street here get on my horse and ride for your life the doctor hastily sprang from the carriage and mounted the horse then stopping a moment he cast a look of good-natured pity on the sweet pale face that was leaning out of the carriage window my poor child he said i can't bear to leave you who will help you god said nana i'm not afraid come come said the man do hurry and with one hasty lance more he was gone now harry said nana everything depends on our keeping up our courage and our strength we shall have no physician we must just do the best we can after all it is our lord jesus that has the keys of death and he loved us and died for us he will certainly be with us oh miss nana you are an angel said harry who felt at that moment as if he could have worshiped her arrived at home nana found a scene of terror and confusion similar to that which she had already witnessed old hundred lay dead in his cabin and the lamenting crowd gathering round were yielding to the full tide of fear and excitement which predisposed them to the same fate nana rode up immediately to the group she spoke to them calmly she silenced their outcries and bade them obey her if you wish all of you to die she said this is the way towards it but if you'll keep quiet and come and do what ought to be done your lives may be saved harry and i have got medicines we understand what to do you must follow our directions exactly nana immediately went to the house and instructed millie and rose and two or three of the elderly women in the duties to be done millie rose up in this hour of terror with all the fortitude inspired by her strong nature breast to lord she said for his grace to you child the lord is a shield he's been with us in six troubles and he'll be with us in seven we can sing in the swellings of jordan harry meanwhile was associating to himself a band of the most reliable men on the place and endeavoring in the same manner to organize them for action a messenger was dispatched immediately to the neighboring town for unlimited quantities of the most necessary medicines and stimulants the plantation was districted off and placed under the care of leaders who held communication with harry in the course of two or three hours the appalling scene of distress and confusion was reduced to the resolute and orderly condition of a well-managed hospital millie walked the rounds in every direction appealing to the religious sensibilities of the people and singing hymns of trust and confidence she possessed a peculiar voice suited to her large development of physical frame almost as deep as a man's base with rich softness of a feminine tone and nana could now and then distinguish as she was moving about the house or grounds that triumphant tone singing god is my son and he my shade to guard my head by night or noon has done not given thy word to save my soul from death and i can trust my lord to keep my mortal breath i'll go and come nor fear to die till from on high thou call me home the house that night presented the aspect of a beleaguered garrison nana and millie had thrown open all the chambers and such as were peculiarly exposed to the disease by delicacy of organization or tremulousness of nervous system were allowed to take shelter there now child said millie when all the arrangements had been made you just lie down and go to sleep in your own room i'll see how tis with you the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak child there isn't much of you but there won't nothing go without you so you take care of yourself first never you be afraid the people's quiet now and the sequence has been took care of and the folks is all doing the best they can so now you try and get some sleep because if you goes we shall all go accordingly nana retired to her room but before she lay down she wrote to clayton we are all in affliction here my dear friend poor uncle john died this morning of the cholera i had been to e to see a doctor and provide medicines when i came back i thought i would call a few moments at the house and found a perfect scene of horror poor uncle died and there are a great many sick on the place now and while i was thinking that i would stay in health and a messenger came in all haste saying that the disease had broken out on our place at home we were bringing the doctor with us in our carriage when we met a man riding full speed from e who told us that judge peters was dying and a great many others were sick on the same street when we came home we found the poor old coachman dead and the people in the greatest consternation it took us some time to tranquilize them and to produce order but that is now done our house is full of the sick and the fearful ones milley and harry are firm and active and inspire the rest with courage about 20 are taken with the disease but not as yet in a violent way in this awful hour i feel a strange peace which the bible truly says pass it all understanding i see now that though the world and all that is in it should perish christ can give us a beautiful immortal life i write to you because perhaps this may be the only opportunity if i die do not mourn for me but thank god who give us the victory through our lord jesus christ but then i trust i shall not die i hope to live in this world which is more than ever beautiful to me life has never been so valuable and dear since i have known you yet i have such trust in the love of my redeemer that if he were to ask me to lay down i could do it almost without a sigh i would follow the lamb whether so he goeth perhaps the same dreadful evil is around you perhaps said magnol you grow i will not be selfish in calling you here if an needs you more perhaps she has not such reliable help as harry and millie are to me so do not fear and do not leave any duty for me our father loves us and will do nothing amiss millie walks about the entry singing i love to hear her sing she sings in such a grand triumphant tone hark i hear her now i'll go and come nor fear to die till from on high they'll call me home i shall write you every mail now till we are better living or dying every your own nana after writing this nana lay down and slept slept all night as quietly as if death and disease were not hanging over her head in the morning she rose and dressed herself and millie with anxious care brought to her room some warm coffee and crackers which she insisted on her taking before she left her apartment how are they all millie said nana well child the midnight cry has been heard among us and rose is gone and big sam and jack and sally they's all gone but the people is all more quiet love and they's determined to stand it out how is harry said nana in a tremulous voice he isn't sick he has been up all night working over to sick but he keeps up good heart the older ones is going to have a little prayer meeting after breakfast as a sort of funeral to them that's dead and perhaps miss nana you'd read us the chapter certainly i will it was yet an early hour when a large circle of family and plantation hands gathered together in the pleasant open salon which we have so often described the day was a beautiful one the leaves and shrubbery around the veranda moist and tremulous with the glittering freshness of morning dew there was a murmur of tenderness and admiration as nana and a white morning wrapper and a cheek as white came into the room sit down all my friends she said sit down looking at some of the plantation men who seemed to be different about taking the sofa which was behind them it's no time for ceremony now we're standing on the brink of the grave where all are equal i'm glad to see you so calm and so brave i hope your trust is in the savior who gives us the victory over death sing she said milley began the well-known prayer and must this feeble body fail and must it faint and die my soul shall quit this gloomy veil and soar to realms on high shall join the disembodied saints and find its long sought rest that only rest for which it pants on the redeemer's breast every voice joined and the words rose triumphant from the very gates of the grave when the singing was over nana in a tremulous voice which grew clearer as she went on read the undaunted word of the ancient song he that dwelleth in the spirit of the place most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty i will say of the lord he is my refuge and my fortress my god in him will i trust surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the north some pestilence he shall cover thee with his feathers under his wings shall thou trust thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night nor for the arrow that flyeth by day nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the destruction that wasted that noonday a thousand shall fall by thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee he shall give thee his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways it is possible said nana that we may some of us be called away but to those that love christ there is no fear in death it is only going home to our father keep up courage then in all cases like this the first shot brings with it more terror than any which succeeds the mind can become familiar with anything even with the prospect of danger and death so that it can appear to be an ordinary condition of existence everything proceeded calmly on the plantation and all stimulated by the example of their young mistress seemed determined to meet the exigency firmly and faithfully in the afternoon of the second day as nana was sitting in the door she observed the wagon of uncle tiff making its way up the avenue and with her usual impulsiveness ran down to meet her humble friend oh tiff how do you do in these dreadful times oh miss nana said the faithful creature removing his hat with habitual politeness if you're please i was brought to baby here because it's dreadful sick and i's been doing all i could for him and he don't get no better and i's brought miss fanny and teddy because i was afraid to leave him because i see a man yesterday and and he tell me day was dying everywhere on all the places round well said nana you have come to a sorrowful place for they're dying here too but if you feel any safer here you and the children may stay and will do for you just as we do for each other give me the baby while you get out it's asleep isn't it yes miss nana it's sleep pretty much all the time now nana carried it up the steps and put it into milley's arm it's sleeping nicely she said oh honey said milley it'll never wake up out of that there that dark sleep ain't a good kind well said nana we'll help him take care of it we'll make room for him and the children milley because we have medicines and directions and they have nothing out there so tiff and his family took shelter in the general fortress towards evening the baby died tiff held it in his arms to the very last and it was with difficulty that nana and milley could persuade him that the little flickering breath was gone forever when forced to admit it he seemed for a few moments perfectly inconsolable nana quietly opened her testament and read to him and they brought little children under him that he should touch them and his disciples rebuked those that brought them but jesus said suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of heaven breasted lord said tiff i'll give him up i will i won't hold out no longer i won't forbid him to go if it does break my old heart law's we's dreadful selfish but the poor little thing he was getting so pretty end of chapter 34 the cloud bursts chapter 35 of dread a tale of the great dismal swamp by harriet beecher stowe this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot org recording by john brandon dredd chapter 35 the voice in the wilderness clayton was quietly sitting in his law office looking over and arranging some papers necessary to closing his business a color boy brought in letters from the mail he looked them over rapidly and selecting one read it with great agitation and impatience immediately he started with the open letter crushed in his hand seized his hat and rushed to the nearest livery stable give me the fastest horse you have one that can travel night and day he said i must ride for life or death and half an hour more saw clayton in full speed on the road by the slow uncertain and ill managed mail route it would have taken three days to reach kanema Clayton hoped by straining every nerve to reach there in 24 hours he pushed forward keeping the animal at the top of his speed and at the first stage stand changed him for a fresh one and thus proceeding along he found himself at three o'clock of the next morning in the woods about 15 miles from kanema the strong tension of the nervous system which had upheld him insensible to fatigue until this point was beginning slightly to subside all night he had ridden through the loneliness of pine forests with no eye looking down on him save the twinkling mysterious stars at the last place where he had sought to obtain horses everything had been horror and confusion three were lying dead in the house and another was dying all along the route at every stopping place the air had seemed to be filled with flying rumors and exaggerated reports of fear and death as soon as he began to perceive that he was approaching the plantation he became sensible of that shuttering dread which all of us may remember to have had in slight degrees in returning home after a long absence under a vague expectation of misfortune to which the mind can set no definite limits when it was yet scarcely light enough to see he passed by the cottage of old tiff a strange impulse prompted him to stop and make some inquiries there before he pushed on to the plantation but as he rode up he saw the gate standing a jar the door of the house left open and after repeated callings received no answer he alighted and leading his horse behind him looked into the door the gloaming starlight was just sufficient to show him that all was desolate somehow this seemed to him like an evil omen as he was mounting his horse preparing to ride away a grand and powerful voice rose from the obscurity of the woods before him singing in a majestic minor key tune these words thrown on a cloud our god shall come bright flames prepare his way thunder and darkness fire and storm lead on the dreadful day wearied with his night ride his nervous system strained to the last point of tension by the fearful images which filled his mind it is not surprising that these sounds should have thrilled through the hearer with even a superstitious power and clayton felt a singular excitement as under the dim arcade of the pine trees he saw a dark figure approaching he seemed to be marching with a regular tread keeping time to the mournful music which he sang who are you call clayton making an effort to recall his manhood i replied the figure i am the voice of one crying in the wilderness i am a sign unto this people of the judgment of the lord our readers must remember the strange dimness of the hour the wildness of the place and circumstances and the singular quality of the tone in which the figure spoke clayton hesitated a moment and the speaker went on i saw the lord coming with ten thousand of his saints before him went the pestilence and burning coals went forth at his feet thy bow is made quite naked oh god according to the oaths of the tribes i saw the tents of cushion in affliction and the curtains of the land of midian did tremble pondering in his mind what this wild style of address might mean clayton rode slowly onward and the man for such he appeared to be came out of the shadows of the wood and stood directly in his path raising his hand with a commanding gesture i know whom you seek he said buddy shall not be given you for the star which is called wormwood hath fallen and the time of the dead is come that they shall be judged behold their citizen the white cloud one like the son of man having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle then waving his hand above his head with a gesture of wild excitement he shouted thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe behold the wine press shall be trodden without the city and there shall be blood even to the horses bridles whoa whoa whoa to the inhabitants of the earth because of the trumpets of the other angels which are yet to sound the fearful words peeled through the dim aisles of the forest like the curse of some destroying angel after a pause the speaker resumed in a lower and more plaintive tone weep ye not for the dead neither bewail her behold the lamb standeth on Mount Zion and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand having his father's name written on their foreheads these are they which follow the lamb wither so ever he goeth and in their mouth is found no guile for they are without fault before the throne of god behold the angel having the seal of god is gone forth and she shall be sealed in her forehead unto the lamb the figure turned away slowly singing as he made his way through the forest in the same weird and funereal accents but this time the song was a wild plaintive sound like the tolling of a heavy bell ding dong dead and gone farewell father bury me in egypt's land by my dear mother ding dong ding dong dead and gone clayton as he slowly wound his way along the unfrequented path felt a dim brooding sense of mystery and terror creeping over him the tones of the voice and the wild style of the speaker recalled the strange incident of the camp meeting and though he endeavored strenuously to reason with himself that probably some wild and excited fanatic made still more frantic by the presence of death and destruction all around was the author of these fearful denunciations still he could not help a certain weight of fearful foreboding this life may be truly called a haunted house built as it is on the very confines of the land of darkness and the shadow of death a thousand living fibers connect us with the unknown an unseen state and the strongest hearts which never stand still for any mortal terror have sometimes hushed their very beating at a breath of a whisper from within the veil perhaps the most resolute unbeliever in spiritual things has hours of which he would be ashamed to tell when he too yields to the powers of those awful affinities which bind us to that unknown realm it is not surprising that clayton in spite of himself should have felt like one mysteriously warned it was a relief to him when the dusky dimness of the solemn dawn was pierced by long shafts of light from the rising sun and the day broke gladsome and jubilant as if sorrow sighing and death or a dream of the night during the whole prevalence of this fearful curse it was strange to witness the unaltered regularity splendor and beauty with which the movement of the natural world went on amid fears and dying groans and wailings and sobs and broken hearts the sun rose and set in splendor the dues twinkled and twilight folded her purple veil heavy with stars birds sung waters danced and warbled flowers bloomed and everything in nature was abundant and festive and joyous when clayton entered the boundaries of the plantation he inquired eagerly of the first person he met for the health of its mistress thank god she is yet alive said he it was but a dream after all end of chapter 35 recording by john brandon chapter 36 of dread a tale of the great dismal swamp by harriott beecher stowe this is a leber vox recording all leber vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit leber vox.org this recording by michelle fry baton rouge louisiana chapter 36 the evening star the males in the state of north carolina like the prudential arrangements of the slave states generally were very little to be depended upon and therefore a week had elapsed after the mailing of nina's first letter describing the danger of her condition before it was received by clayton during that time the fury of the shock which had struck the plantation appeared to have abated and while on some estates in the vicinity it was yet on the increase the inhabitants of kenema began to hope that the awful cloud was departing from them it was true that many were still ailing but there were no new cases and the disease in the case of those who were ill appeared to be yielding to nursing and remedies nina had arisen in the morning early as her custom had been since the sickness and the gone the rounds to inquire for the health of her people returned a little fatigued she was sitting in the veranda under the shadow of one of the pillar roses enjoying the cool freshness of the morning suddenly the tramp of horses feet was heard and looking she saw clayton coming up the avenue there seemed but a dizzy confused moment before his horse's bridle was thrown to the winds and he was up the steps holding her in his arms oh you are here yet my rose my bride my lamb god is merciful this is too much oh i thought you were gone no dear not yet said nina god has been with us we've lost a great many but god has spared me to you are you really well said clayton holding her off and looking at her you look pale my little rose that's not wonderful said nina i've had a great deal to make me look pale but i am very well i have been well through it all never in better health and it seems strange to say it but never happier i have felt so peaceful so sure of god's love do you know said clayton that that peace alarms me that strange unearthly happiness it seems so like what is given to dying people no said nina i think that when you have no one but our father to lean on he comes nearer than he does any other time and that is the secret of this happiness but come you look woefully tired have you been riding all night yes ever since yesterday morning at nine o'clock i have ridden down four horses to get to you only think i didn't get your letter till a week after it was dated well perhaps that was best said nina because i have heard them say that anybody coming suddenly and unprepared in the epidemic when it is in full force is almost sure to be taken by it immediately but you must let me take care of you don't you know that i'm mistress of the fortress here commander in chief and head physician i shall order you to your room immediately and merely shall bring you up some coffee and then you must have some sleep you can see with your eyes now that we are all safe and there's nothing to hinder your resting come let me lead you off like a captive released from the pressure of overwhelming fear Clayton began now to feel the reaction of the bodily and mental straining which he had been enduring for the last 24 hours and therefore he willingly yielded himself to the directions of his little sovereign retired to his room after taking his coffee which was served by milley he fell into a deep and tranquil sleep which lasted till some time in the afternoon at first overcome by fatigue he slept without dreaming but when the first weariness was passed the excitement of the nervous system under which he had been laboring began to color his dreams with a vague and tumultuous images he thought that he was again with nina at magnolia grove and that the servants were passing around in procession throwing flowers at their feet but the wreath of orange blossoms which fell in nina's lap was tied with black crepe but she took it up laughing through the crepe away and put the wreath on her head and he heard the chorus singing oh to north carolina rose oh to north carolina rose and then the sound seemed to change to one of lamentation and the floral procession seemed to be a funeral and a deep melancholy voice like the one he had heard in the woods in the morning saying weep for the roses withered the north carolina rose he struggled heavily in his sleep and at last waking sat up and looked about him the rays of the evening sun were shining on the treetops of the distant avenue and nina was singing on the veranda below he listened and the sound floated up like a rose leaf carried on a breeze the summer hath its heavy cloud the rose leaf must fall but in our land joy wears no shroud never doth it fall each new morning ray leaves no sigh for yesterday no smile passed away would we recall the tune was a favorite melody which had found much favor with the popular ear and bore the title of the hindu dancing girl's song and is perhaps a fragment of one of those mystical songs in which the oriental literature abounds in which the joy and reunion of earthly love are told in shadowy symbolic resemblance to the everlasting union of the blessed above it had a wild dreamy soothing power as verse after verse came floating in like white doves from paradise as if they had borne healing on their wings then haste to the happy land where sorrow is unknown but first in a joyous band i'll make thee my own haste haste fly with me where love's banquet waits for thee thine all its sweets shall be thine thine alone a low tap at his door at last aroused him the door was partly opened and a little hand threw in a half open spray of monthly rose buds there's something to remind you that you're yet in the body said a voice in the entry if you're arrested i'll let you come down now and clayton heard the light footsteps tripping down the stairs he roused himself and after some little attention to his toilet appeared on the veranda tea has been waiting for some time said nana i thought i'd give you a hint i was lying very happy hearing you sing said clayton you may sing me that song again was i singing said nana why i didn't know it i believe that's my way of thinking sometimes i'll sing to you again after tea i like to sing after tea they were sitting again in the veranda and the whole heavens were one rosy flush of filmy clouds how beautiful said nana it seems to me i've enjoyed these things this summer as i never have before it seemed as if i felt an influence from them going through me and feeling me as the light does those clouds and as she stood looking up into the sky she began singing again the words that clayton had heard before i am come from the happy land where sorrow is unknown i have parted a joyous band to make thee my own haste haste fly with me where love's banquet waits for thee thine all its sweet shall be thine thine alone the summer has its heavy cloud the rose leaf must fall she stopped her singing suddenly left the veranda and went into the house do you want anything said clayton nothing she said hurriedly i'll be back in a moment clayton watched and saw her go to a closet in which the medicines and cordials were kept and take something from a glass he gave a start of alarm you're not ill are you he said fearfully as she returned oh no only a little faint we have become so prudent you know that if we feel the least beginning of any disagreeable sensation we take something at once i have felt this faintness quite often it isn't much clayton put his arm around her and looked at her with a vague yearning of fear and admiration you look so like a spirit he said that i must hold you do you think i've got a pair of hidden wings she said smiling and looked gaily in his face i am afraid so don't you feel quite well now yes i believe so only perhaps we'd better sit down i think perhaps it's it's a reaction to so much excitement makes me feel rather tired clayton seated her on the setee by the door still keeping his arm anxiously around her in a few moments she drooped her head wearily on his shoulder you are ill he said in tones of alarm oh no i feel very well only a little faint and tired it seems to me it is getting a little cold in here isn't it she said with a slight shiver clayton took her up in his arms without speaking carried her in and laid her on the sofa then rang for harry and milley get a horse instantly he said to harry as soon as he appeared and to go for the doctor there's no use in sending said nonna he's driven to death and can't come besides there's nothing to matter with me only i'm just a little tired and cold shut the doors and windows and cover me up no no don't take me upstairs i like to lie here just put a little shawl over me that's all i am thirsty give me some water the fearful and mysterious disease which was then in the ascendant has many forms of approach and development one and the most deadly is that which takes place when a person has so long and gradually imbibed the fatal poison of an infected atmosphere that the resisting powers of nature have been insidiously and quietly subdued so that the subject sinks under it without any violent outward symptom by a quiet and certain yielding of the vital powers such as has been likened to the bleeding to death by an internal wound in this case before an hour had passed though none of the violent and distressing symptoms of the disease appeared it became evident that the seal of death was set on that fair young girl a messenger had been dispatched riding with the desperate speed which love and fear can give but harry remained in attendance nothing is the matter with me nothing is the matter she said except fatigue and this change in the weather if i only had more over me and perhaps you had better give me a little brandy or some such thing this is water isn't it that you have been giving me alas it was the strongest brandy but there was no taste and the heart's horn that they were holding had no smell and there was no change in the weather it was only the creeping deadness affecting the whole outer and the inner membrane of the system yet still her voice remained clear though her mind occasionally wandered there is a strange impulse which sometimes comes in the restlessness and distress of dissolving nature to sing and as she lay with her eyes closed apparently in a sort of trance she would sing over and over again the verse of the song which she was singing when the blow of the unseen destroyer first struck her the summer hath its heavy cloud the rose leaf must fall but in our land joy wears no shroud never doth it poem at last she opened her eyes and seeing the agony of all around the truth seemed to come to her i think i'm cold she said oh i'm so sorry for you all don't grieve so my father loves me so well he cannot spare me any longer he wants me to come to him that's all don't grieve so it's home i'm going home too will be only a little while and you'll come to all of you you are satisfied are you not edward and again she relapsed into the dream you trans and sang in that strange sweet voice so low so weak in our land joy wears no shroud never doth it poem clayton what did he what could he do what have any of us done who have sat holding in our arms a dear form from which the soul was passing the soul for which gladly we would have given our own in exchange when we have felt it going with inconceivable rapidity from us and we ignorant and blind vainly striving with this and that to arrest the inevitable doom feeling every moment that some other thing might be done to save which is not done and that that which we are doing may be only hastening the course of the destroyer oh those awful agonizing moments when we watch the clock and no physician comes and every stroke of the pendulum is like the approaching step of death oh is there anything in heaven or earth for the despair of such hours not a moment was lost by the three around that dying bed chafing those cold limbs administering the stimulants which the dead exhausted system no longer felt she doesn't suffer thank god at any rate for that said clayton as he knelt over her in anguish a beautiful smile passed over her face as she opened her eyes and looked on them all and said no my poor friends i don't suffer i'm come to the land where they never suffer i'm only so sorry for you edward do you remember what you said to me once it has come now you must bear it like a man god calls you to some work don't shrink from it you are baptized with fire it all lasts only a little while it will be over soon very soon edward take care of my poor people tell time to be kind to them my poor faithful good harry oh i'm going so fast the voice sunk into a whispering sigh life now seemed to have retreated to the citadel of the brain she lay apparently in the last sleep when the footsteps of the doctor were heard on the veranda there was a general spring to the door and dr butler entered pale haggard and worn from constant exertion and loss of rest he did not say in words that there was no hope but his first dejected look said it but too plainly she moved her head a little like one who was asleep uneasily on her pillow opened her eyes once more and said goodbye i will arise and go to my father the gentle breath gradually became fainter and fainter all hope was over the night walked on with silent and solemn footsteps soft showers fell without murmuring upon the leaves within all was still as death they watched her breathing through the night her breathing soft and low as in her breast the wave of life kept heaving to and fro so silently they seemed to speak so slowly moved about as they had lent her half their powers to eat her living out their very hopes belied their fears their fears their hopes belied they thought her dying when she slept and sleeping when she died for when the mourn came dim and sad and chill with early showers her quiet eyelids closed she had another mourn than ours end of chapter 37 the evening star chapter 37 of dread a tale of the great dismal swamp by harriet beecher stowe this is a labor vox recording all labor vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit labor vox org dread chapter 37 the tie breaks clayton remained at kanama several days after the funeral he had been much affected by the last charge given him by naina that he should care for her people and the scene of distress which he witnessed among them at her death added to the strength of his desire to be of service to them he spent some time in looking over and arranging naina's papers he sealed up the letters of her different friends and directed them in order to be returned to the writers causing harriet to add to each a memorandum of the time of her death his heart sunk heavily when he reflected how little it was possible for anyone to do for servants left in the uncontrolled power of a man like tom gordon the awful words of his father's decision with regard to the power of the master never seemed so dreadful as now when he was to see this unlimited authority passed into the hands of one whose passions were his only law he recalled to what naina had said of the special bitterness existing between tom and harry and his heart almost failed him when he recollected that the very step which naina in her generosity had taken to save lisette from his lawlessness had been the means of placing her without remedy under his power under the circumstances he could not but admire the calmness and firmness with which harry still continued to discharge his duties to the estate visiting those who were still ailing and doing his best to prevent their sinking into a panic which might predispose to another attack of disease recollecting that naina had said something of some kind of a contract by which harry's freedom was to be secured in case of her death he resolved to speak with him on the subject as they were together in the library looking over the papers clayton said to him harry is there not some kind of contract or understanding with the guardians of the estate by which her liberty was secured in case of the death of your mistress yes said harry there is such a paper i was to have my freedom on paying a certain sum which is all paid into five hundred dollars i will advance you that money said clayton unhesitatingly if that is all that is necessary let me see the paper harry produced it and clayton looked it over it was a regular contract drawn in proper form and with no circumstance wanting to give it validity clayton however knew enough of the law which regulates the condition in which harry stood to know that it was of no more avail in this case than so much blank paper he did not like to speak of it but sat reading it over weighing every word and dreading the moment when he should be called upon to make some remark concerning it knowing as he did that what he had to say must dash all harry's hopes the hopes of his whole life while he was hesitating a servant entered and announced mr jackal and that gentle man with a business like directness which usually a characterized his movements entered the library immediately after good morning mr clayton he said and then nodding patronizingly to harry he helped himself to a chair and stated his business without further preamble i have received orders for mr gordon to come and take possession of the estate and chattels of his deceased sister without delay as clayton set perfectly silent it seemed to occur to mr jackal that a few moral reflections of a general nature would be an etiquette on the present occasion he therefore added in the tone of voice which he reserved particularly for that style of remark we have been called upon to pass through most solemn and afflicting dispensations of divine providence lately mr clayton these things remind us of the shortness of life and of the necessity of preparation for death mr jackal paused and as clayton still said silent he went on there was no will i presume no said clayton there was not ah so i supposed said mr jackal who had now recovered his worldly tone in that case of course the whole property reverts to the air at law just as i had imagined perhaps mr jackal would look at this paper said harry taking his contract from the hand of mr clayton and passing it to mr jackal who took out his spectacles placed them deliberately on his sharp nose and read the paper through were you under the impression said he to harry that this is a legal document certainly said harry i can bring witnesses to prove mr john gordon's signature and miss ninas also oh that's all evident enough said mr jackal i know mr john gordon's signature but all the signatures in the world couldn't make it a valid contract you see my boy he said turning to harry a slave not being a person in the eye of the law cannot have a contract made with him the law which is based on the old roman code holds him pro nullis pro mortuus which means harry that he's held as nothing as dead inert substance that's his position in law i believe said harry in a strong and bitter tone that is what religious people call a christian institution hey said mr jackal elevating his eyebrows what's that harry repeated his remark and mr jackal replied in the most literal manner of course it is it is a divine ordering and not to be met in a proper spirit there's no use my boy in rebellion hath not the potter power over the clay to make one lump to honor and the other to dishonor mr jackal i think it would be expedient to confine the conversation simply to legal matters peace also that none of the hand shall at any time leave the plantation until he arrives i brought two or three officers with me in case there should be any necessity for enforcing order when will mr gordon be here said clayton tomorrow i believe said mr jackal young man he added turning to harry you can produce the papers and books and i can be attending to the accounts clayton rose and left the room leaving harry with the imperturbable mr jackal who plunged briskly into the business of the accounts talking to harry with as much freedom and composure as if he had not just been destroying the hopes of his whole lifetime if by any kind of inward clairvoyance or sudden clearing of his mental vision mr jackal could have been made to appreciate the anguish which at that moment overwhelmed the soul of the man with whom he was dealing we deem it quite possible that he might have been moved to a transient emotion of pity even a thorough paced political economist may sometimes be surprised in this way by the near view of a case of actual irremediable distress but he would soon have consoled himself by a species of mental algebra that the greatest good of the greatest number was nevertheless secure therefore there was no occasion to be troubled about infinitesimal amounts of suffering in this way people can reason away every kind of distress but their own for it is very remarkable that even so slight enablement as a moderate toothache will put this kind of philosophy entirely to route it appears to me said mr jackal looking at harry after a while with more attention than he had yet given him that something is the matter with you this morning aren't you well in body said harry i am well well what is the matter then said mr jackal the matter is said harry that i have all my life been toiling for my liberty and thought i was coming nearer to it every year and now at 35 years of age i find myself still a slave with no hope of getting free mr jackal perceived from the outside that there was something the matter inside of his human brother some unknown quantity in the way of suffering such as his algebra gave no rule for ascertaining he had a confused notion that this was an affliction and that when people were in affliction they must be talked to and he proceeded accordingly to talk my boy this is a dispensation of divine providence i call it a dispensation of human tyranny said harry it pleased the lord continued mr jackal to fordome the race of ham mr jackal that humbug don't go down with me i'm no more of the race of ham than you are i'm colonel gordon's oldest son as white as my brother who you say owns me look at my eyes and my hair and say if any of the rules about ham pertain to me well said mr jackal my boy you mustn't get excited everything must go you know by general rules we must take that course which secures the greatest general amount of good on the whole and all such rules will work hard in particular cases slavery is a great missionary enterprise for civilizing and christianizing the degraded african way to you see tom gordon's management on this plantation said harry and you'll see what sort of a christianizing institution it is mr jackal you know better you throw such talk as that in the face of your northern visitors and you know all the while that's adam and gamora don't equal some of these plantations where nobody isn't anybody's husband or wife in particular you know all these things and you dare talk to me about a missionary institution what sort of missionary institutions are the great trading marts where they sell men and women what are the means of grace they use there and the dogs and the negro hunters those are for the greatest good too if your soul were in our soul's stead you'd see things differently mr jackal was astonished and said so but he found a difficulty in presenting his favorite view of the case under the circumstances and we believe those ministers of the gospel and elders who entertained similar doctrines would gain some new views by the effort to present them to a live man in harry's circumstances mr jackal never had a more realizing sense of the difference between the abstract and concrete harry was now thoroughly roused he had inherited the violent and fiery passions of his father his usual appearance of steady calmness and his habits of death he was now wholly desperate and reckless he saw himself already delivered bound hand and foot into the hands of a master from whom he could expect neither mercy nor justice he was like one who had hung suspended over an abyss by grasping a wild rose the frail and beautiful thing was broken and he felt himself going with only despair beneath him he rose and stood the other side of the table his hands trembling with excitement mr jackal he said it is all over with me 20 years of faithful service have gone for nothing myself and wife and unborn child are the slaves of a vile rich hush now i will have my say for once i've borne and borne and borne and it shall come out you men who call yourselves religious and stand up for such tyranny you serpents you generation of vipers how can you escape the damnation of hell you keep the clothes of them who stone steven you encourage theft and robbery and adultery and you know it you are worse than the villains themselves who don't pretend to justify what they do now go tell tom gordon go i shall fight it out to the last i've nothing to hope and nothing to lose let him look out they made sport of samson they put out his eyes but he pulled down the temple over their heads after all look out there is something awful in an outburst of violent passion the veins in harry's forehead were swollen his lips were livid his eyes glittered like lightning and mr jackal cowered before him there will come a day said harry when all this shall be visited upon you the measure you have filled to us shall be filled to you double mark my words harry spoke so loudly in his vehemence that clayton overheard him and came behind him silently into the room he was pained shocked and astonished and obeying the first instinct he came forward and laid his hand and treating leon harry's shoulder my good fellow you don't know what you are saying he said yes i do said harry and my words will be true another witness had come behind clayton tom gordon in his traveling dress with pistols at his belt he had ridden over after jackal and had arrived in time to hear part of harry's frantic ravings stop he said stepping into the middle of the room leave that fellow to me now boy he said fixing his dark and evil eye upon harry you didn't know that your master was hearing you did you the last time we met you told me i wasn't your master now we'll see if you'll say that again you went whimpering to your mistress and got her to buy lisette so as to keep her out of my way now who owns her say do you see this he said holding up along lith gutta percha cane this is what i whip dogs with when they don't know their place now sir down on your knees and ask pardon for your impudence or i'll thresh you within an inch of your life i won't kneel to my younger brother said harry with a tremendous oath tom struck him and as if a rebound from the stroke harry struck back a blow so violent as to send him stumbling across the room against the opposite wall then turned quick as thought sprang through the open window climbed down the veranda vaulted onto tom's horse which stood tied at the post and fled as rapidly as lightning to his cottage door where lisette stood at the ironing table he reached out his hand and said up quick lisette tom gordon's here and before tom gordon had fairly recovered from the dizziness into which the blow had thrown him the fleet blood horse was whirling harry and lisette past bush and tree till they arrived at the place where he had twice before met dread dread was standing there even so he said as the horse stopped and harry and lisette descended the vision is fulfilled behold the lord shall make the witness and commander to the people there's no time to be lost said harry well i know that said dread come follow me and before sunset of that evening harry and lisette were tenants of the wild fastness in the center of the swamp end of chapter 37 the tie breaks chapter 38 of dread a tale of the great dismal swamp by harry at beecher stowe this is a labor box recording all labor box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit labor box dot org dread chapter 38 the purpose it would be scarcely possible to describe the scene which harry left in the library tom gordon was for a few moments stunned by the violence of his fall and clayton and mr. jackal at first did not know but he had sustained some serious injury and the latter in his confusion came very near attempting his recovery by pouring in his face the contents of the large ink stand certainly quite as appropriate a method under the circumstances as the exhortations with which he had deluged harry but clayton with more presence of mind held his hand and rang for water in a few moments however tom recovered himself and started up furiously where is he he shouted with a volley of oaths which made mr. jackal pull up his shirt collar as became a good elderly gentleman preparatory to a little admonition my young friend he began blast you none of your young friends to me where is he he has escaped said clayton quietly he got right out of the window said mr. jackal confound you why didn't you stop him said tom violently if that question is addressed to me said clayton i do not interfere in your family affairs you have interfered more than you ever shall again said tom roughly but there's no use talking now that fellow must be chased he thinks he got away from me we'll see i'll make such an example of him as shall be remembered he rang the bell violently jim he said did you see harry go off on my horse yes saw then why in thunder didn't you stop him i thought master tom sent him did so you know better you dog and now i tell you order out the best horses and be on after him and if you don't catch him it will be the worst for you stay get me a horse i'll go myself clayton saw that it was useless to remain any longer at canama he therefore ordered his horse and departed tom gordon cast an evil eye after him as he wrote away i hate that fellow he said i'll make him mischief one of these days if i can as to clayton he wrote away in bitterness of spirit there are some men so constituted that the site of injustice which they have no power to remedy is perfectly maddening to them this is a very painful and unprofitable constitution so far as this world is concerned but they can no more help it than they can the toothache others may say to them why what is it to you you can't help it and it's none of your concern but still the fever burns on besides clayton had just passed through one of the great crisis of life all there is in that strange mystery of what man can feel for woman had risen like a wave within him and gathering into itself for a time the whole force of his being had broken with one dash on the shore of death and the waters had flowed helplessly backward in the great void which follows such a crisis the soul sets up a craving and cry for something to come in to fill the emptiness and while the heart says no person can come into that desolate and sacred enclosure it sometimes embraces a purpose as in some sort of substitute in this manner with solemnity and earnestness clayton resolved to receive as a life purpose a struggle with this great system of injustice which like a parasitic weed had struck its roots through the whole growth of society and was sucking thence its moisture and nourishment as he rode through the lonely pine woods he felt his veins throbbing and swelling with indignation and desire and there arose within him that sense of power which sometimes seems to come over man like an inspiration and leads him to say this shall not be and this shall be as if he possess the ability to control the crooked course of human events he was thankful in his heart that he had taken the first step by entering his public protest against this injustice including the bar of his native state what was next to be done how the evil was to be attacked how the vague purpose fulfilled he could not say Clayton was not aware any more than others in his situation have been of what he was undertaking he had belonged to an old and respected family and always as a matter of course been received in all circles with attention and listened to with respect he who glides dreamily down the glassy surface of a mighty river floats securely making his calculations to roll upward he knows nothing what the force of that seemingly glassy current will be when his one feeble ore is set against the whole volume of its waters Clayton did not know that he was already a marked man that he had touched a spot in the society where he lived which was vital and which that society would never suffer to be touched with impunity it was the fault of Clayton and is the fault of all such men that he judged mankind by himself he could not believe that anything except ignorance and inattention could make men upholders of deliberate injustice he thought all that was necessary was the enlightening of the public mind the direction of general attention to the subject in his way homeward he revolved in his mind immediate measures of action this evil should no longer be tampered with he would take on himself the task of combining and concentrating those vague impulses towards good which he supposed were existing in the community he would take counsel of leading minds he would give his time to journeyings through the state he would deliver addresses right in the newspapers and do what otherwise lies in the power of a free man who wishes to reach an utterly unjust law full of these determinations Clayton entered again his father's house after two days of solitary writing he had written in advance to his parents of the death of Nina and had begged them to spare him any conversation on that subject and therefore on his first meeting with his mother and father there was that painful blank that heavy dullness of suffering which comes when people meet together feeling deeply on one absorbing subject which must not be named it was a greater self-denial to his impulsive warm-hearted mother than to Clayton she earned to express sympathy to throw herself upon his neck to draw forth his feelings and mingle them with her own but there are some people with whom this is impossible it seems to be their fate that they cannot speak of what they suffer it is not pride nor coldness but a kind of fatal necessity as if the body were a marble prison in which the soul were condemned to bleed and suffer alone it is the last triumph of affection and magnanimity when a loving heart can respect that suffering silence of its beloved and allow that lonely liberty in which only some natures can find comfort Clayton's sorrow could only be measured by the eagerness and energy with which in conversation he pursued the object with which he endeavored to fill his mind i am far from looking forward with hope to any success from your efforts said judge Clayton the evil is so radical i sometimes think said mrs Clayton that i regret that edward began as he did it was such a shock to the prejudices of people people have got to be shocked said Clayton in order to wake them up out of old absurd routine use paralyzes us to almost every injustice when people are shocked they began to think and to inquire but would it not have been better said mrs Clayton to have preserved your personal influence and thus have insinuated your opinions more gradually there is such a prejudice against abolitionists and when a man makes any sudden demonstration on this subject people are apt to call him an abolitionist and then his influence is all gone and he can do nothing i suspect said Clayton there are multitudes now in every part of our state who are kept from expressing what they really think and doing what they ought to do by this fear somebody must brave this mad dog cry somebody must be willing to be odious and i shall answer the purpose as well as anybody have you any definite plan of what is to be attempted said his father of course said Clayton a man's first notion on such a subject must be crude but it occurred to me first to endeavor to excite the public mind on the injustice of the present slave law with a view to altering it and what points would you alter said judge Clayton i would give to the slave the right to bring suit for injury and to be a legal witness in court i would repeal the law forbidding their education and i would forbid the separation of families judge Clayton sat pondering at length he said and how will you endeavor to excite the public mind i shall appeal first said Clayton to the church in the ministry you can try it said his father why said mrs. Clayton these reforms are so evidently called for by justice and humanity and the spirit of the age that i can have no doubt that there will be a general movement among all good people in their favor judge Clayton made no reply there are some cases where silence is the most disagreeable kind of dissent because it admits of no argument and reply in my view said Clayton the course of legal reform in the first place should remove all those circumstances in the condition of the slaves which tend to keep them in ignorance and immorality and make the cultivation of self-respect impossible such as the want of education protection in the family state and the legal power of obtaining redress for injuries after that the next step would be to allow those masters who are so disposed to emancipate giving proper security for the good behavior of their servants they might then retain them as tenants under this system emancipation would go on gradually only the best masters would at first emancipate and the example would be gradually followed the experiment would soon demonstrate the superior cheapness and efficiency of the system of free labor and self-interest would then come in to complete what principle began it is only the first step that costs but it seems to me that in the course of my life i have met with multitudes of good people groaning in secret under the evils and injustice of slavery who would gladly give their influence to any reasonable effort which promises in time to ameliorate and remove them the trouble is said judge Clayton that the system the erroneous in the long run to communities is immediately profitable to individuals besides this it is a source of political influence and importance the holders of slaves are an aristocracy supported by special constitutional privileges they are united against the spirit of the age by a common interest in danger and the instinct of self-preservation is infallible no logic is so accurate as a matter of personal feeling many slaveholders would rejoice in some of the humane changes which you propose but they see at once that any change in dangers the perpetuity of the system on which their political importance depends therefore they'll resist you at the very outset not because they would not many of them be glad to have justice done but because they think they cannot afford it they will have great patience with you they will even have sympathy with you so long as you can find yourself merely to the expression of feeling but the moment your efforts produce the slightest movement in the community then my son you will see human nature in a new aspect and know more about mankind than you know now very well said Clayton the sooner the better well Edward said mrs. Clayton if you are going to begin with the ministry why don't you go and talk to your uncle cushing he is one of the most influential among the Presbyterians in the whole state and I have often heard him lament in the strongest manner the evils of slavery he has told me some facts about its effect on the character of his church members both bond and free that are terrible yes said judge Clayton your brother will do all that he will lament the evils of slavery in private circles and he will furnish you any number of facts if you will not give his authority for them and don't you think that he will be willing to do something no said judge Clayton not if the cause is unpopular why said mrs. Clayton do you suppose that my brother will be deterred from doing his duty for fear of personal unpopularity no said judge Clayton but your brother has the interest of Zion on his shoulders by which he means the Presbyterian organization and he will say that he can afford to risk his influence and the same will be true of every leading minister of every denomination the Episcopalians are keeping watch over Episcopacy the Methodists over Methodism the Baptists over Baptism none of them dare espouse an unpopular cause less the others taking advantage of it should go beyond them in public favor none of them will want the odium of such a reform as this but I don't see any odium in it said mrs. Clayton it's one of the noblest and one of the most necessary of all possible changes nevertheless said judge Clayton it will be made to appear extremely odious the catch words of abolition and senderism fanaticism will fly thick as hail and the storm will be just in proportion to the real power of the moment it will probably end in Edwards expulsion from the state my father I should be unwilling to think said Clayton that the world is quite so bad as you represent it particularly the religious world I was not aware that I was representing it as very bad said judge Clayton I only mentioned such facts as everybody can see about them there are undoubtedly excellent men in the church but said Clayton did not the church in the primitive ages stand against the whole world in arms if religion be anything must it not take the lead of society and be its sovereign and teacher and not its slave I don't know as to that said judge Clayton I think you'll find the facts much as I have represented them what the church was in the primitive ages or what it ought to be now is not at all to our purpose in making practical calculations without any disrespect I wish to speak of things just as they are nothing is ever gained by false expectations oh said mrs. Clayton you lawyers get so uncharitable I'm quite sure that Edward will find brother ready to go heart and hand with him I'm sure I shall be glad of it if he does said judge Clayton I shall write to him about it immediately said mrs. Clayton and Edward shall go and talk with him courage Edward our woman's instincts after all have some prophetic power in them at all events we women will stand by you to the last Clayton side he remembered the note Nina had written him on the day of the decision and thought what a brave hearted little creature she was and like the faint breath of a withered rose the shadowy remembrance of her seemed to say to him go on end of chapter 38 the purpose