 Chapter 43 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. Recording by William Jones, Benita Springs, Florida Dread Chapter 43, The Slave's Argument On his return home, Clayton took from the post office a letter which we will give to our readers. Mr. Clayton, I am now an outcast. I cannot show my face in the world. I cannot go abroad by daylight. For no crime as I can see except resisting oppression. Mr. Clayton, if it were proper for your fathers to fight and shed blood for the oppression that came upon them, why isn't it right for us? They had not half the provocation that we have. Their wives and families were never touched. They were not bought and sold and traded like cattle in the market as we are. In fact, when I was reading that history, I could hardly understand what provocation they did have. They had everything easy and comfortable about them. They were able to support their families, even in luxury, and yet they were willing to plunge into war and shed blood. I have studied the Declaration of Independence. The things mentioned there were bad and uncomfortable to be sure. But after all, look at the laws which are put over us. Now, if they had forbidden them to teach their children to read, if they had divided them all out among masters and declared them as incapable of holding property as the mule before the plow, there would have been some sense in that revolution. Well, how was it with our people in South Carolina? Denmark Vasey was a man. His history is just what George Washington's would have been if you had failed. And what sent him on his course? The Bible and your Declaration of Independence. What does your Declaration say? We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to any of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it. Now, what do you make of that? This is read to us every 4th of July. It was read to Denmark Vasey and Peter Poyas and all those other brave good men who dared to follow your example and your precepts. Well, they failed and your people hung them. And they said they couldn't conceive what motive could have induced them to make the effort. They had food enough and clothes enough and were kept very comfortable. Well, had not your people clothes enough and food enough? And wouldn't you still have had enough even if you had remained a province of England to this day? Much better living, much better clothes and much better laws than we have today. I heard your father's interpretation of the law. I heard Mr. Jekyll's. And yet when men rise up against such laws, you wonder what in the world could have induced them. That's perfectly astonishing. But of all the injuries and insults that are heaped upon us, there is nothing to me so perfectly maddening as the assumption of your religious men who maintain and defend this enormous injustice by the Bible. We have all the right to rise against them that they had to rise up against England. They tell us the Bible says, servants obey your masters. Well, the Bible says also the powers that are ordained of God and whoso resists the power resists the ordinance of God. If it was right for them to resist the ordinance of God, it is right for us. If the Bible does justify slavery, why don't they teach the slave to read it? And what's the reason that two of the greatest insurrections came from men who read scarcely anything else but the Bible? No, the fact is they don't believe this themselves. If they did, they would try the experiment fairly of giving the Bible to their slaves. I can assure you the Bible looks as different to a slave from what it does to a master as everything else in the world does. Now, Mr. Clayton, you understand that when I say you, along here I do not mean you personally, but the generality of the community of which you are one. I want you to think these things over and whatever my future course may be, remember my excuse for it is the same as that on which your government is built. I am very grateful to you for all your kindness. Perhaps the time may come when I shall be able to show my gratitude. Meanwhile, I must ask one favor of you, which I think you will grant for the sake of that angel who is gone. I have a sister who as well as myself is the child of Tom Gordon's father. She was beautiful and good, and her owner, who had a large estate in Mississippi, took her to Ohio, emancipated and married her. She has two children by him, a son and a daughter. He died and left his estate to her and her children. Tom Gordon is the heir at law. He has sued for the property and obtained it. The act of emancipation has been declared null and void, and my sister and her children are in the hands of that man with all that absolute power. They have no appeal from him or for any evil whatsoever. She has escaped his hands, so she wrote me once, but I have heard a report that he has taken her again. The pious Mr. Jekyll will know all about it. Now, may I ask you to go to him and make inquiries and let me know? The letter sent to Mr. James Twitchell at the post office near Canemaw, where our letters used to be taken, will get to me. By doing this favor, you will secure my eternal gratitude. Harry Gordon End of Harry's Letter Clayton read this letter with some surprise and a good deal of attention. It was written on very coarse paper, such as is commonly sold at the low shops. Where Harry was and how concealed was to him only matter of conjecture. But the call to render him any assistance was a sacred one, and he determined on a horseback excursion to E, the town where Mr. Jekyll resided. He found that gentleman very busy in looking over and arranging papers in relation to that large property which had just come into Tom Gordon's hands. He began by stating that the former owner of the servants at Canemaw had requested him on her deathbed to take an interest in her servants. He had therefore called to ascertain if anything had been heard from Harry. Not yet, said Mr. Jekyll, pulling up his shirt collar. Our plantations in this vicinity are very unfortunate in their proximity to the swamp. It's a great expense of time and money. Why, sir, is inconceivable the amount of property that's lost in that swamp? I have heard it estimated at something like three millions of dollars. We follow them up with the laws, you see. They are outlawed regularly after a certain time, and then the hunters go in and chase them down. Sometimes kill two or three a day, or something like that, but on the whole they don't effect much. Well, said Clayton, who felt no disposition to enter into any discussion with Mr. Jekyll. So you think he is there? Oh yes, I have no doubt of it. The fact is there's a fellow that's been lurking about this swamp off and on for years and years. Sometimes he isn't to be seen for months, and then again he is seen or heard of, but never so that anybody can get hold of him. I have no doubt that niggers on the plantation know him, but then you can never get anything out of them. Oh, they are deep. They are a dreadfully corrupt set. Mr. Gordon has, I think, a sister of Harry's who came in with this new estate, said Mr. Clayton. Yes, yes, said Mr. Jekyll. She has given us a good deal of trouble too. She got away and went off to Cincinnati, and I had to go up and hunt her out. It was really a great deal of trouble and expense. If I hadn't been assisted by the politeness and kindness of the Marshall and Brother officers, it would have been very bad. There was a good deal of religious society too in Cincinnati. And so, while I was waiting, I attended anniversary meetings. Then you did succeed, said Clayton. I came to see whether Mr. Gordon would listen to a proposition for selling her. Oh, he has sold her, said Mr. Jekyll. She is at Alexandria now in Beaton and Burns establishment. And her children too? Yes, the lot. I claim some little merit for that myself. Tom is a fellow of rather strong passions, and he was terribly angry for the trouble she had made. I don't know what he would have done to her if I hadn't talked to him. But I showed him some debts that couldn't be put off any longer without too much of a sacrifice. And on the whole, I persuaded him to let her be sold. I have tried to exert a good influence over him in a quiet way, said Mr. Jekyll. Now if you want to get the woman, like you know, she may not be sold as yet. Clayton, having thus ascertained the points which he wished to know, proceeded immediately to Alexandria. When he was there he found a considerable excitement. A slave woman, it was said, who was to have been sent off in a couple the next day, had murdered her two children. The moment that Clayton heard the news, he felt an instinctive certainty that this woman was Cora Gordon. He went to the magistrates court where the investigation was being held, and found it surrounded by a crowd so dense that it was with difficulty he forced his way in. At the bar he saw seated a woman dressed in black, whose face, haggard in one, showed yet traces of former beauty. The splendid dark eyes had a peculiar and fierce expression. The thin lines of the face were settled into an immovable fixedness of calm determination. There was even an air of grave solemn triumph in her countenance. She appeared to regard the formalities of the court with the utmost indifference. At last she spoke in a clear, thrilling, distinct voice. If the gentleman will allow me to speak, I'll save them the trouble of that examination of witnesses. It's going to be a long way round to find a very little thing. There was an immediate movement of curiosity in the whole throng, and the officer said, you are permitted to speak. She rose deliberately, untied her bonnet strings, looked around the whole court with a peculiar but calm expression of a mingled triumph in power. You want to know, she said, who killed those children? Well, I will tell you. And again her eyes traveled round the house with that same strong, defiant expression. I killed them. There was a pause and a general movement through the house. Yes, she said again, I killed them. And oh, how glad I am that I have done it. Do you want to know what I killed them for? Because I loved them, loved them so well that I was willing to give up my soul to save theirs. I have heard some person say that I was in a frenzy, excited, and didn't know what I was doing. They are mistaken. I was not in a frenzy. I was not excited, and I did know what I was doing. And I bless God that it is done. I was born the slave of my own father. Your old proud Virginia blood is in my veins, as it is in half of those you whip and sell. I was the lawful wife of a man of honor who did what he could to evade your cruel laws, and set me free. My children were born to liberty. They were brought up to liberty till my father's son entered a suit for us and made us slaves. Judge and jury helped him. All your laws and your officers helped him to take away the rights of the widow and the fatherless. The judge said that my son being a slave could no more hold property than the mule before his plow, and we were delivered into Tom Gordon's hands. I shall not say what he is. It is not fit to be said. God will show us at the judgment day, but I escaped with my children to Cincinnati. He followed me there, and the laws of your country gave me back to him. Tomorrow I was to have gone in a coffin and leave these children, my son, a slave for life, my daughter. She looked around the courtroom with an expression which said more than words could have spoken. So I heard them say their prayers and sing their hymns, and then while they were asleep and didn't know it, I sent them to lie down in green pastures with the Lord. They say this is a dreadful sin. It may be so. I am willing to lose my soul to have theirs saved. I have no more to hope or fear. It's all nothing now where I go or what becomes of me, but at any rate they are safe. And now if any of you mothers in my place wouldn't have done the same thing, you either don't know what slavery is or you don't love your children as I have loved mine. This is all. She sat down, folded her arms, fixed her eyes on the floor and seemed like a person entirely indifferent to the further opinions and proceedings of the court. She was remanded to jail for trial. Clayton determined in his own mind to do what he could for her. Her own declaration seemed to make the form of a trial unnecessary. He resolved, however, to do what he could to enlist for her the sympathy of some friends of his in the city. The next day he called with a clergyman and requested permission to see her. When they entered her cell she rose to receive them with the most perfect composure as if they had called on her in a drawing room. Clayton introduced his companion as the Reverend Mr. Denton. There was an excited flash in her eyes, but she said calmly, Have the gentleman business with me? We called, said the clergyman, to see if we could render you any assistance. No, sir, you cannot, was the prompt reply. My dear friend, said the clergyman in a very kind tone, I wish it were in my power to administer to you the consolations of the gospel. I have nothing to do, she answered firmly, with ministers who pretend to teach the gospel and support oppression and robbery. Your hands are defiled with blood, so don't come to me, I am a prisoner here and cannot resist. But when I tell you that I prefer to be left alone, perhaps it may have some effect even if I am a slave. Clayton took out Harry's letter, handed it to her and said, After you have read this you will perhaps receive me if I should call again tomorrow at this hour. The next day, when Clayton called, he was conducted by the jailer to the door of the cell. There was a lady with her now reading to her. Then out, not to interrupt her, said Clayton, hesitating. Oh, I suspect he would make no odds, said the jailer. Clayton laid his hand on to stop him. The sound that came distinctly through the door was the voice of prayer. Some woman was interceding in the presence of eternal pity for an oppressed and brokenhearted sister. After a few moments the door was partly opened and he heard a sweet voice saying, Let me come to you every day, may I, I know what it is to suffer. A smothered sob was the only answer and then followed words imperfectly distinguished which seemed to be those of consolation. At any moment the door was opened and Clayton found himself suddenly face to face with a lady in deep mourning. She was tall and largely proportioned, the outlines of her face strong yet beautiful and now wearing the expression which comes from communion with the highest and serenest nature. Both were embarrassed and made a momentary pause. In the start she dropped one of her gloves. Clayton picked it up, handed it to her, bowed and she passed on. By some singular association this stranger with a serious radiant face suggests to him the sparkling glittering beauty of Nina and it seemed for a moment as if Nina was fluttering by him in the air and passing away after her. When he examined the emotion more minutely afterwards he thought perhaps it might have been suggested by the perception as he lifted the glove of a peculiar and delicate perfume which Nina was fond of using. So strange and shadowy are the influences which touch the dark electric chain of our existence. When Clayton went into the cell he found its inmate in a softened mood. There were traces of tears on her cheek and an open Bible on the bed but her appearance was calm and self-possessed as usual. She said, excuse my rudeness Mr. Clayton at your last visit we cannot always command ourselves to do exactly what we should. I thank you very much for your kindness to us. There are many who are kindly disposed towards us but it's very little that they can do. Can I be of any assistance in securing counsel for you? said Clayton. I don't need any counsel I don't wish any said she I shall make no effort. Let the law take its course. If you ever should see Harry give my love to him that's all and if you can help him pray do. If you have time influence or money to spare and can get him to any country where he will have the common rights of a human being pray do. And the blessings of the poor will come on you. That's all I have to ask. Clayton rose to depart. He had fulfilled the object of his mission. He had gained all the information and more than all that he had wished. He queried with himself whether it were best to write to Harry at all. The facts that he had to relay researches were calculated to kindle to a fiercer flame the excitement which was now consuming him. He trembled when he thought of it lest that excitement should blaze out in forms which should array against him with still more force that society with which he was already at war. Thinking however that Harry perhaps might obtain the information in some less guarded form he sat down and wrote him the following letter. I have received your letter. I do not say that I am sorry for all that has taken place. Sorry for your sake and for the sake of one very dear both to me and to you. Harry I freely admit that you live in a state of society which exercises great injustice. I admit your right and that of all men to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I admit the right of an oppressed people to change their form of government if they can. I admit that your people suffer under greater oppression than ever our forefathers suffered. And if I believed that they were capable of obtaining and supporting a government I should leave in their right to take the same means to gain it. But I do not at present. And I think if you reflect on the subject you will agree with me. I do not think that should they make an effort they would succeed. They would only embitter the white race against them and destroy that sympathy which many are beginning to feel for their oppressed condition. I know it seems a very unfeeling thing for a man who is at ease to tell someone who is oppressed and suffering to be patient and yet I must even say it. It is my place and your place to seek repeal of the unjust laws which oppress you. I see no reason why the relation of master and servants may not be continued through our states and the servants yet be free men. I am satisfied that it would be for the best interests of master as well as slave. If this is the truth time will make it apparent and the change will come. With regard to you the best counsel I can give is that you try to escape to some of the northern states and I will furnish you with the means to begin life there under better auspices. I am very sorry that I have to tell you something very painful about your sister. She was sold to a trading house in Alexandria and in desperation she has killed both her children. For this she is now in prison awaiting her trial. I have been to see her and offered every assistance in my power. She declines all. She does not wish to live and has already avowed the fact making no defense and wishing none to be made for her. Another of the bitter fruits of this most unrighteous system she desired her love and kind wishes to you. Whatever more is to be known I will tell you at some future time. After all that I have said to you in this letter I cannot help feeling for myself how hard and cold and insufficient it must seem to you. If I had such a sister as yours and her life hadn't been so wrecked I feel that I might not have patience to consider any of these things and I am afraid you will not. Yet I feel this injustice to my heart. I feel it like a personal affliction and God helping me I will make it the object of my life to remedy it. Your sister's trial will not take place for some time and she has friends who do all that can be done for her. End of Clayton's letter. Clayton returned to his father's house and related the result of his first experiment with the clergy. Well now, said Mrs. Clayton, I must confess I was not prepared for this. I was, said Judge Clayton, it's precisely what I expected. You have tried the Presbyterians with whom our family are connected and now you may go successively to the Episcopalians, the Methodists, the Baptists and you will hear the same story from them all. About half of them defend the thing from the Bible in the most unblushing, disgusting manner. The other half acknowledge and lament it as an evil, but they are cowed and timid and can do nothing. Well, said Clayton, the greatest evidence to my mind of the inspiration of the scriptures is that they are yet afloat when every new absurdity has been successively tacked to them. But, said Mrs. Clayton, are there no people that are faithful? None in this matter that I know of, said Judge Clayton, except the Covenanters and the Quakers among us and the Free Will Baptists and a few others at the North. And their number and influence is so small that there can be no great calculation made on them for assistance. Of individuals, there are not a few who earnestly desire to do something, but they are mostly without faith or hope, like me. And from the communities, from the great organizations in society, no help whatsoever is to be expected. End of chapter 43, The Slave's Argument. Chapter 44 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. Recording by William Jones, Benita Springs, Florida. Dread, Chapter 44, The Desert. There's no study in human nature more interesting than the aspects of the same subject, seen in the points of view of different characters. One might almost imagine that there were no such thing as absolute truth, since a change of situation or temperament is capable of changing the whole force of an argument. We have been accustomed, even those of us who feel most, to look on the arguments for and against the system of slavery, with the eyes of those who are at ease. We do not even know how fair is freedom, for we were always free. We shall never have all the materials for absolute truth on this subject. To be taken to account with our own views and reasonings, the views and reasonings of those who have bowed down to the yoke and felt the iron enter into their souls, we all console ourselves too easily for the sorrows of others. We talk and reason coolly of that which, did we feel it ourselves, would take away all power of composure and self-control. We have seen how the masters feel and reason, and how good men feel and reason, whose public opinion and Christian fellowships support the master and give him confidence in his position. We must add also to our estimate the feelings and reasonings of the slave, and therefore the reader must follow us again to the fastness in the dismal swamp. It is a calm, still, Indian summer afternoon. The whole air is flooded with a golden haze in which the treetops move dreamily to and fro, as if in a whispering reverie. The wild climbing grapevines, which hang in thousandfold festoons around the enclosure, are purpling with grapes. The little settlement now has among his inmates Old Tiff and his children and Harry and his wife. The children and Tiff had been received in the house of the widow whose husband had fallen a victim to the hunters, as we mentioned in one of our former chapters. All had united in building for Harry and Lisette a cabin contiguous to the other. Old Tiff with his habitual industry might now be seen hoeing in a sweet potato patch which belonged to the common settlement. The children were roaming up and down, looking after autumn flowers and grapes. Dredd, who had been out all the night before, was now lying on the ground on the shady side of the clearing with an old, much-worn, much-thumbed copy of the Bible by his side. It was the Bible of Denmark Vaseys, and in many a secret meeting its wild, inspiring poetry had sounded like a trumpet in his youthful ear. He lay with his elbow resting on the ground, his hands supporting his massive head and his large, gloomy dark eyes fixed in reverie on the moving treetops as they waved in the golden blue. Now his eye followed sailing islands of white cloud, grifting to and fro above them. There were elements in him which might, under other circumstances, have made him a poet. His frame, capacious and energetic as it was, had yet that keenness of excitability which places the soul on rapport with all the great forces of nature. The only book which he had been much in the habit of reading, the book in fact which had been the nurse and forming power of his soul, was the Bible, distinguished above all other literature for its intense sympathy with nature. Dredd, indeed, resembled an organization and tone of mind some of those men of old who were dwellers in the wilderness and drew their inspiration from the desert. It is remarkable that in all ages communities and individuals who have suffered under oppression have always fled for refuge to the Old Testament and to the book of Revelation in the New. Even if not definitely understood, these magnificent compositions have a wild, inspiring power, like a wordless yet impassioned symphony played by a sublime orchestra in which deep and awful sub-base instruments mingle with those of ethereal softness and wild miners twine and interlace with marches of battles and bursts of victorious harmony. They are much mistaken who say that nothing is efficient as a motive that is not definitely understood. Whoever thought of understanding the mingled wail and roar of the Mercedes, just this kind of indefinite stimulating power has the Bible to the souls of the oppressed. There is also a disposition which is manifested itself since the primitive times by which the human soul bowed down beneath the weight of mighty oppressions and despairing in his own weakness seizes with avidity the intimations of a coming judgment in which the Son of Man appearing in his glory and all his holy angels with him shall right earth's mighty wrongs. In Dredd's mind this thought had acquired an absolute ascendancy, all things in nature and in Revelation he interpreted by this key. During the prevalence of the cholera he had been pervaded by a wild and solemn excitement. To him it was the opening of a seal, the sounding of the trumpet of the first angel and other woes were yet to come. He was not a man of personal malignity to any human being. When he contemplated schemes of insurrection and bloodshed he contemplated them with the calm, immovable firmness of one who felt himself an instrument of doom in a mightier hand. In fact, although seldom called into exercise by the incidents of his wild and solitary life, there was in him a vein of gentleness which softens the heart toward children and the inferior animals. The amusement of his vacant hours was sometimes to exercise his peculiar gifts over the animal creation by drawing towards him the birds and squirrels from the coverts of the forest and giving them food. Indeed he commonly carried corn in the hunting-dress which he wore to use for this purpose. Just at this moment as he lay absorbed in reverie he heard Teddy, who was near him, calling to his sister. Oh Fanny, do come and see this squirrel, he is so pretty. Fanny came running eerily. Where is he? she said. Oh he is gone. He just went behind that tree. The children in their eagerness had not perceived how near they were to dread. He had turned his face towards them and was looking at them with a pleased expression, approaching to a smile. Do you want to see him? he said. Stop a few minutes. He rose and scattered a train of corn between him and the thicket and sitting down on the ground began making a low sound resembling the call of a squirrel to its young. In a few moments Teddy and Fanny were in a tremor of eager excitement as a pair of little bright eyes appeared among the leaves and gradually their owner, a brisk little squirrel, came out and began rapidly filling its chops with the corn. Dredd still continued with his eyes fixed on the animal to make the same noise. Very soon two others were seen following their comrade. The children laughed when they saw the headmost squirrel walk into Dredd's hand, which he had laid upon the ground. The other soon followed his example. Dredd took them up and softly stroking them they seemed to become entirely amenable to his will. And to amuse the children he let them go into his hunting pouch to eat the corn that was there. After this they seemed to make a rambling expedition over his wool person, investigating his pockets, hiding themselves in the bosom of his shirt and seemingly apparently perfectly fearless and at home. Fanny reached out with her hand timbly. Won't they come to me? she said. No, daughter, they don't know you. In the new earth the enmity will be taken away and then they'll come. I wonder what he means by the new earth? said Fanny. Dredd seemed to feel a kind of pleasure in the admiration of the children, to which perhaps no one is woolly insensible. He proceeded therefore to show them some other of his accomplishments. The wood was resounding with the afternoon song of birds and Dredd suddenly began answering one of the songstress with an exact imitation of his note. The bird eventually heard it and answered back with still more spirit and thus an animity conversation was kept up for some time. You see that I understand the speech of birds. After the great judgment the elect shall talk with the birds and the beast in the new earth. Every kind of bird has a different language in which they show why men should magnify the Lord and turn from their wickedness. But the sinners cannot hear it because their ear is waxed gross. I didn't know, said Fanny, hesitating, as that was so. How did you find it out? The spirit of the Lord revealed it unto me, child. What is the spirit, said Fanny, who felt more encouraged as she saw Dredd stroking his squirrel? It's the spirit that spoke in the old prophets. Did it tell you what the birds say? I am not perfected in holiness yet and cannot receive it, but the birds fly up near the heavens, wherefore they learn droppings of the speech of angels. I never kill the birds because the Lord hath set them between us and the angels for a sign. What else did the spirit tell you, said Teddy? He showed me that there was a language in the leaves. For I rose and looked, and behold, there were signs drawn on the leaves and forms of every living things with strange words, which the wicked understand not. But the elect shall read them, and behold, the signs are in blood, which is the blood of the Lamb that descendeth like dew from heaven. Fanny looked puzzled. Who were the elect? she said. They? They are the hundred and forty and four thousand that follow the Lamb, whether so ever he goeth, and the angels have charged saying, Hurt not the earth, till these are sealed in their forehead. Fanny instinctively put her hand to her forehead. Do you think they'll seal me? she said. Yes, such as you are of the kingdom. Did the spirit tell you that? said Fanny, who felt some considerable anxiety. Yea, the spirit hath shown me many such things. It hath also revealed to me the knowledge of the elements, the revolutions of the planets, the operations of the tide, and changes of the seasons. Fanny looked doubtfully, and taking up her basket of wild grapes slowly moved off, thinking that she would ask Tiff about it. At this moment there came a rustling in the branches of the oak tree, which overhung a part of the clearing near where Dredd was lying, and Harry soon dropped from the branches on to the ground. Dredd started up to receive him. How is it, will they come? Yes, by midnight tonight they will be here. See here, he added, taking a letter from his pocket, what I have received. It was the letter which Clayton had written to Harry. It was remarkable, as Dredd received it, how the wondering mystical expression of his face immediately gave place to one of shrewd and practical earnestness. He sat down on the ground, laid it on his knee, and followed the lines with his finger. Some passages he seemed to read over two or three times with the greatest attention, and he would pause after reading them and set with his eyes fixed gloomily on the ground. The last part seemed to agitate him strongly. He gave a sort of suppressed groan. Harry, he said, turning to him at last, Behold the day shall come when the Lord shall take out of our hand the cup of trembling and put it into the hand of those that oppress us. Our soul is exceedingly filled now with the scorning of them that are at ease and with the contempt of the proud. The prophets prophesy falsely. The rulers bear rule by their means, and the people love to have it so. But what will it be in the end thereof? Their own wickedness shall reprove them, and their backsliding shall correct them. Listen to me, Harry, he said, taking up his Bible, and see what the Lord saith unto thee. Thus saith the Lord, my God, feed the flock of the slaughter, whose possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty, and they that sell them say, blessed be the Lord, for I am rich, and their own shepherds pity them not. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord, but lo, I will deliver the men, every one into his neighbor's hand, and into the hand of his king, and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, oh ye poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves, the one I call beauty, and the other I call bands, and I fed the flock, and I took my staff, even beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I made with all the people. And it was broken in that day, so the poor of the flock that waited on me knew it was the word of the Lord. Then I cut asunder mine other staves, even bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretches forth the heavens, and layeth the foundations of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling to all the people round about. Also in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. All that burden themselves with it shall be cut to pieces. In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment and every rider with madness. And I will open mine eyes on the house of Judah and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf, and they shall devour all the people on the right and the left. Harry, these things are written for our learning. We will go up and take away her battlements, for they are not the lords. The gloomy fervor with which Red read these words of Scripture, selecting, as his eye glanced down the prophetic pages, passages whose images most affected his own mind, carried with it an overpowering mesmeric force. Who shall say that in this world where all things are symbolic, bound together by mystical resemblances, and where one event is the archetype of thousands, that there is not an eternal significance in these old prophecies? Do they not bring with them springing and germinate fulfillments, wherever there is a haughty and oppressive nation and a flock of slaughter? Harry, I have fasted and prayed before the Lord, lying all night on my face, yet the token cometh not. Behold, there are prayers that resist me, the lamb yet beareth, and the opening of the second seal delayeth. Yet the Lord had shown unto me that we should be up and doing to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. The Lord hath said unto me, Speak to the elders and to the prudent men, and prepare their hearts. One thing, said Harry, fills me with apprehension. Hark, that brought me this letter, was delayed in getting back, and I'm afraid that he'll get into trouble. Tom Gordon is raging like a fury over the people of our plantation. They have always been held under a very mild rule, and everyone knows that a plantation so managed is not so immediately profitable as it can be made for a short time by forcing everything up to the highest notch. He has got a man there for overseer, Old Hockham, that has been famous for his hardness and meanness, and he has delivered the people unreservedly into his hands. He drinks and frolics and has his oyster suppers and swears. He'll shoot anyone that brings him a complaint. Hockham is to pay him so much yearly and have to himself all that he makes over. Tom Gordon keeps two girls there that he bought for himself and his fellows just as he wanted to keep my wife. Be patient, Harry, this is a great Christianizing institution, said Dredd with a tone of grave irony. I am afraid for Hark, said Harry. He is the bravest of brave fellows. He is ready to do anything for us. But if he is taken, there will be no mercy. Dredd looked on the ground gloomily. Hark was to be here tonight. Yes, said Harry, I wish we may see him. Harry, when they come tonight, read them the Declaration of Independence and the attendance of these United States and then let each one judge of our afflictions and the afflictions of their fathers and the Lord shall judge between us. I must go and seek counsel of the Lord. Dredd rose and giving a leap from the ground caught on the branch of the oak which overhung their head and swinging himself up on the limb, climbed in the thickness of the branches and disappeared from view. Harry walked to the other side of the clearing where his lodge had been erected. He found LaZette busy within. She ran to meet him and threw her arms around his neck. I am so glad you've come back, Harry. It was so dreadful to think what may happen to you while you were gone. Harry, I think we could be very happy here. See what a nice bed I have made in this corner. Out of leaves and moss. The women are both very kind and I am glad. We have got old Tiff and the children here. It makes it seem more natural. See, I went out with him this afternoon. How many grapes I have got. What have you been talking to that dreadful man about? Do you know Harry? He makes me afraid. They say he is a prophet. Do you think he is? I don't know, child, said Harry abstractedly. Don't stay with him too much, said LaZette. He will make you as gloomy as he is. Do I need anyone to make me gloomy, said Harry? Am I not gloomy enough? Am I not an outcast? And you too, LaZette? It isn't so very dreadful to be an outcast, said LaZette. God makes wild grapes for us if we are outcasts. Yes, child, said Harry, you are right. And the sun shines so pleasant this afternoon, said LaZette. Yes, said Harry, but by and by cold storms and rain will come and frosty weather. Well, said LaZette, then we will think what to do next. But don't let us lose this afternoon and these grapes at any rate. End of chapter 44, The Desert. Chapter 45 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. Read by William Jones, Benita Springs, Florida. Chapter 45, Jigar Sahaduta. At twelve o'clock that night, Harry rose from the side of his sleeping wife and looked out into the darkness. The belt of forest which surrounded them seemed a girdle of impenetrable blackness. But above, where the treetops fringed out against the sky, the heavens were seen of a deep, transparent, vibrant, blazing with stars. He opened the door and came out. All was so intensely still that even the rustle of a leaf could be heard. He stood listening. A low whistle seemed to come from a distant part of the underwood. He answered it. Soon a crackling was heard and a sound of cautious, suppressed conversation. In a few moments a rustling was heard. In the boughs overhead, Harry stepped under. Who's there? He said. The camp of the Lord's judgment was the answer and a dark form dropped on the ground. Hannibal, said Harry. Yes, Hannibal said the voice. Thank God, said Harry. But now the boughs of the tree were continually rustling. And one after another sprang down to the ground, each one of whom pronounced his name as he came. Where is the prophet, said one? He is not here, said Harry. Fear not, he will be with us. The party now proceeded to walk, talking in low voices. There's nobody from the Gordon Place yet, said Harry, uneasily. They'll be along, said one of them. Perhaps Holcombe was awakeful tonight. They'll give him the slip, though. The company had now arrived at the lower portion of the clearing who stood the blasted tree, which we've formally described, with its funeral wreaths of moss. Over the grave, which had recently been formed there, dread had piled a rude and ragged mud. In the top of one of the highest stumps was stuck a pine knot, to which Harry now applied a light. It candled and rose with a broad red, fulliginous glare, casting a somber light on the circle of dark faces around. There were a dozen men, mulatto, quadruun, and negro, who were in the middle of the night. They were in the middle of the night, there were a dozen men, mulatto, quadruun, and negro. Their countenances all wore an expression of stern gravity and considerate solemnity. Their first act was to clasp their hands in a circle and join in a solemn oath never to betray each other. The moment this was done, dread emerged mysteriously from the darkness and stood among them. Brethren, he said, this is the grave of your brother, whose wife they would take for a prey. Therefore he fled to the wilderness, but the assembly of the wicked compassed him about and the dogs tore at him and licked up his blood, and here I buried him. Therefore this heap is called J. Garsehaduta. For the God of Abraham and Nahor, the God of their fathers, shall judge betwixt us. He that regarded not the oath of brethren and betrayed counsel, let his arm fall from his shoulder blade. Let his arm be broken from the bone. Behold, this heap shall be a witness unto you for it hath heard all the words that ye have spoken. A deep murmured amen rules solemnly among them. Brethren, said dread, laying his hand upon Harry, the Lord caused Moses to become the son of Pharaoh's daughter that he might become learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians. To lead forth his people from the house of bondage. And when he slew an Egyptian, he fled into the wilderness where he abode certain days till the time of the Lord was come. In like manner hath the Lord dealt with our brother. He shall expound unto you the laws of the Egyptians. And for me I will show you what I have received from the Lord. The circle now set down on the graves which were scattered around and Harry thus spoke. Brothers, how many of you have been at fourth of July celebrations? I have, I have always have, was the deep response, uttered not eagerly but in low and earnest tones. Brethren, I wish to explain to you tonight the story that they celebrate. It was years ago that this people was small and poor and despised and governed by men sent by the King of England who they say oppressed them. Then they resolved that they would be free and govern themselves in their own way and make their own laws. For this they were called rebels and conspirators and if they had failed every one of their leaders would have been hung and nothing more said about it. When they were agreeing to do this they met together and signed a paper which was to show to all the world the reason why. You have heard this read by them when the drums were beating and the banners flying. Now hear it here while you sit on graves of men they have murdered. And standing by the light of the flaring torch Harry read that document which has been fraught with so much seed for all time. What words were those to fall on the ears of thoughtful bond men? Governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed. When a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same object evinces a determination to reduce them under absolute despotism it is their right and their duty to throw off such government. Brothers said Harry you have heard the grievances which are master's thought sufficient to make it right for them to shed blood. They rose up against their king and when he sent his armies into the country they fired at them from the windows of the houses from behind the barns and from out of the trees wherever they passed till they were strong enough to get together an army and fight them openly. Yes said Hannibal I heard my master's father tell of it he was one of them. Now said Harry the Lord judge between us and them if the laws that they put upon us be not worse than any that lay upon them. They complained that they could not get justice done to them in the courts but how stands it with us who cannot even come into a court to plead. Harry then in earnestness and vehement language narrated the abuse which had been inflicted upon Millie and then recited in a clear and solemn voice that judicial decision which had burned itself into his memory and which had confirmed and given full license to that despotic power. He related the fate of his own contract of his services for years to the family from which he had labored all ending in worse than nothing. And then he told his sister's history till his voice was broken by sobs the audience who sat around there profoundly solemn only occasionally a deep smothered groan seemed to rise from them involuntarily. Hannibal rose I had a master in Virginia he was a Methodist preacher he sold my wife and two children to Orleans and then sold me my next wife was took for debt and she's gone. A quadruined young man rose my mother was held by a minister in Kentucky my father was a good hard-working man there was a man set his eye on her and wanted her but she wouldn't have anything to do with him then she told her master and begged him to protect her but he sold her her hair turned all white in that year and she went crazy she was crazy till she died. I've got a story to tell on that said of middle-aged Negro man of low stature broad shoulders and a countenance indicative of great resolution who now grows I've got a story to tell go on Monday said Harry you spoke about the laws I've seen about them there now my brother Sam he worked with me on the Great Morton Place in Virginia and there was going to be a wedding there and they wanted money and so some of the colored people was sold to Tom Parker cause Tom Parker he was buying up round that airfall and he sold him to Souther and he was one of your dreffel mean white trash that lived down to the bush well Sam was nine bout stars and so he had to help himself the best way he could and he used fur to trade off one thing and another for meal to stone store and Souther he told him that he'd give him hell if he caught him so one day when he missed something off the place he come home and he brought stone with him and a man named Harry he told him that he was going to catch it I reckon they was all three drunk anyhow they tied him up in Souther he never stopped to cut him and to slash him and to hack him and they burned him with chunks from the fire and they scalded him with boiling water he was strong man but they worked him that way all day and at last he died they earned his creatures all the places round now brethren you just see what was done about it why master and some of the gentlemen round said that Souther wasn't fit to live and it should be brought into courts and sure enough it was and cause he is my own brother I listened for what they would say well first they begun with saying that it wasn't no murder at all cause slaves they said wasn't people and they couldn't be murdered but then the man on the other side he read heaps of things to show that they was people that they was human critters and the lawyer said that there wasn't no evidence that Souther meant for to kill him anyhow that it was the right of the master to punish his slave any way he thought fit and how was he going to know that it would kill him well so they had it back and forth and finally the jury said it was murder in the second degree lord if that bears being murdered in the second degree I like to know what the first is you see they said he must go to the penitentiary for five years but laws he didn't cause there's ways enough of getting out of these ear-tangs he took it up to the upper court and they said that it had been settled that there couldn't be nothing done again a masters for no kind of beating or abusing of their own slaves that the master must be protected even if it was ever so cruel so now brethren what do you think of that error at this moment another person entered the circle there was a general start of surprise and apprehension which immediately gave place to a movement of satisfaction and congratulation you have come have you Henry said Harry but at this moment the other turned his face full to the torchlight and Harry was struck with his ghastly expression for God's sake what's the matter Henry where's Hark dead said the other as one struck with a pistol shot leaps in the air Harry bounded with a cry from the ground dead he echoed yes dead at last there's all last night a killing of him oh I thought so oh I was afraid of it said Harry oh Hark Hark Hark God do so to me and more also if I forget this the thrill of a present interest drew everyone around the narrator who proceeded to tell how Hark having been too late on his return to the plantation had incurred the suspicion of being in communication with Harry how Holcomb Tom Gordon and two of his drunken associates had gathered together to examine him by scourging how his shrieks to the night before had chased sleep from every hut of the plantation how he died and gave no sign when he was through there was dead and awful silence dread who had been sitting during most of these narrations bowed with his head between his knees groaning within himself like one who was wrestling with oppressed feeling now rose and solemnly laying his hand on the mound said Jagar Sahaduta the god of their father's judge between us if they had a right to rise up for their oppressions shall they condemn us for judgment is turned away backward and just as standeth afar off truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter yea truth faileth and he that departed from evil maketh himself a prey they are not ashamed and neither can they blush they declare their sins as Sodom and hide it not the mean man boweth down and a great man humbleth himself therefore forgive them not saith the Lord dread paused a moment and stood with his hands uplifted as a thunder cloud trembles and rolls shaking with gather and electric fire so his dark figure seemed to dilate and quiver with a force of mighty emotions he seemed at the moment some awful form framed to symbolize to the human eye the energy of that avenging justice which all nature shudderingly declares he trembled his hands quivered drops of perspiration ruled down his face his gloomy eyes dilated with an unutterable volume of emotion at last the words heaved themselves up in deep chest tones resembling the wild hollow whale of a wounded lion finding vent in language to him so familiar that it rolled from his tongue in a spontaneous torrent as if he had received their first inspiration hear ye the word of the Lord against this people the harvest growth ripe the press is full the vats overflow behold saith the Lord behold saith the Lord I will gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat and will plead with them for my people whom they have scattered among the nations woe unto them for they have cast lots for my people and have given a boy for a harlot and sold a girl for wine that they may drink for three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof saith the Lord because they sold the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes they pant after the dust on the head of the poor and turn aside the way of the meek and a man and his father will go into the same maid to profane my holy name behold saith the Lord I am pressed under you as a cart is pressed full of sheaves the burden of the beast of the south the land of trouble and anguish from whence cometh the young and old lion the viper and fiery flying serpent go right it upon the table and note it in a book that it may be for time to come forever and ever that this is a rebellious people lying children children that will not hear the law of the Lord would say to the seers see not prophesy not unto us right things speak unto us smooth things prophesy deceits wherefore thus saith the holy one of Israel because ye despise his word and trust in oppression and perverseness and stay thereupon therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high wall whose breaking cometh suddenly in an instant and he shall break it as the breaking of a potter's vessel pausing for a moment he stood with his hands tightly clasped before him leaning forward looking into the distance at last with the action and energy of one who beholds a triumphant reality he broke forth who is this that cometh from Adam with dyed garments from Bosra this that is glorious in his apparel travelling in the greatness of his strength he seemed to listen and as if he had caught an answer he repeated I speak in righteousness mighty to save wherefore art thou read in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth the wine press I have trodden the wine press alone and of the people there was none with me for I will tread them in my anger and travel them in my fury and their blood shall be sprinkled on my garments and I will stain all my raiment for the day of vengeance is in my heart and the year of my redeemed is come and I looked and there was none to help and I wondered that there was none to uphold therefore my own arm brought salvation and my fury it upheld me for I will tread down the people in my anger and make them drunk in my fury gradually the light faded from his face his arms fell he stood a few moments with his head bowed down on his breast yet the spell of his emotion held everyone silent at last stretching out his hand he broke forth in passionate prayer how long oh lord how long awake why sleepest thou oh lord why withdrawst thou thy hand pluck it out of thy bosom we see not the sign is there no more any prophet neither any among us that knoweth how long wilt thou hold thy peace forever behold the blood of the poor cryeth unto thee behold how they hunt for our lives behold how they pervert justice and take away the key of knowledge they enter not in themselves and those that are entering in they hinder behold our wives taken for a pray behold our daughters sold to be harlots are thou a god that judges on the earth wilt thou not avenge thine own elect that cry unto thee day and night behold the scorning of them that are at ease and the contempt of the proud behold how they speak wickedly concerning oppression they set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth wilt thou hold thy peace for all these things and afflict us very sore the energy of the emotion which had sustained him apparently gradually to have exhausted itself and after standing silent for a few moments he seemed to gather himself together as a man waking out of a trance and turning to the excited circle around him to sit down when he spoke to them in his ordinary tone brethren he said the vision is sealed up and the token is not yet come the lamb still beareth the yoke of their iniquities there be prayers in the golden sensors which go up like a cloud and there is silence in heaven for the space of half an hour for the day cometh and what shall be the end thereof a deep voice answered dread it was that of Hannibal we will reward them as they have rewarded us and the cup that they have filled to us we will measure to them again God forbid that the elect of the Lord should do that when the Lord saith unto us might then will we smite we will not torment them with the scourge and fire nor defile their women as they have done with ours but we will slay them utterly and consume them from off the face of the earth at this moment the whole circle was startled by the sound of a voice which seemed to proceed deep in from among the trees singing in a wild ephemeral words of a hymn alas and did my savior bleed and did my sovereign die would he devote that sacred head for such a wretch as I there was a dead silence as the voice approached still nearer and the chorus was born again upon the night air oh the lamb the loving lamb the lamb of Calvary the lamb that was slain but liveth again and as the last two lines were sung Millie emerged and stood in the center of the group when dread saw her he gave a kind of groan and said putting his hand out before his face woman thy prayers will stand me oh brethren said Millie I mistrusted of your counsels and as been praying the Lord for you oh brethren behold the lamb of God pray not to be in it it's the Lord's strange work oh brethren is weed the fuss that's been took to the judgment seat that's been scourged and died in torment oh brethren who did it for us didn't he bang bleeding for three hours when they mocked him and gave him vinegar didn't he sweat great drops of blood in the garden and Millie sang again words so familiar to many of them that involuntarily several voices joined her agonizing in the garden on the ground your maker lies on the bloody tree behold him hear him cry before he dies it is finished sinners will not this suffice oh won't it suffice brethren bear all that and love us yet shan't we oh brethren there's a better way it's been where you be it's been in the wilderness yes I's heard the sound of that air trumpet oh brethren brethren there was blackness and darkness there but as come to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than that of Abel hasn't I suffered my heart has been broke over and over for every child the Lord give me and when they sold my poor Alfred and shot him and buried him like a dog oh but didn't my heart burn oh how I hated heard that soul him I felt like I'd kill her I felt like I'd be glad to see mischief come on her children but brethren the Lord turned like he'd done on Peter I saw him with the crown of thorns on his head bleeding bleeding and I broke down and forgave her and the Lord turned her heart and he was our peace he broke down the middle wall between us and we came together to poor sinners to the foot of the cross the Lord he judged her poor soul she wouldn't let off from her sins the children grew up to be a plague and a curse to her they broke her heart oh she was saved by fire but breast to Lord she was saved she died with her poor head on my arm she did had broke my heart wasn't that better than if I had killed her oh brethren pray to Lord to give him repentance leave the vengeance to him vengeance is mine I will repay safe the Lord like he loved us when we was enemies love your enemies a dead silence followed this appeal the keynote of another harmony had been struck at last dread rose up solemnly woman thy prayers have prevailed for this time he said the hour is not yet come footnote lest any of our readers should think the dark witness who is speaking mistaken in his hearing we will quote here the words which stand on the Virginia law records in reference to this very case quote it has been decided by this court in Turner's case that the owner of his slave malicious cruel and excessive beating of his own slave cannot be indicted it is the policy of the law in respect to the relation of the master and slave and for the sake of securing proper subordination and obedience on the part of the slave to protect the master from prosecution even if the whipping and punishment be malicious cruel and excessive seven gretin 673 1851 salar versus commonwealth close quote anyone who has sufficiently strong nerves to peruse the records of this trial will see the effect of the slave system on the moral sensibilities of educated men end of chapter 45 jager sahaduta chapter 46 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 read by William Jones Vanita Springs, Florida chapter 46 Frank Russell's Opinions Clayton was still pursuing the object which he had undertaken he determined to petition the legislature to grant to the slave the right of seeking legal redress in cases of injury and as a necessary to this the right of bearing testimony in legal action as Frank Russell was candidate for the next state legislature he visited him to present such a petition our readers will look in upon the scene in a small retired back room of Frank's office where his bachelor establishment as yet was kept Clayton had been giving him an earnest account of his plans and designs the only safe way of gradual emancipation said Clayton is the reforming of law and the beginning of all legal reform must of course is the beginning of slave legal personality it's of no use to enact laws for his protection in his family state or in any other condition till we open to him an avenue through which if they are violated his grievances can be heard and can be proved a thousand laws for his comfort without this are only a dead letter I know it said Frank Russell as cautious as our slave code it's a bottomless pit of oppression nobody knows it so well as we lawyers but then Clayton it's quite another thing what's to be done about it why I think it's very plain what's to be done said Clayton go right forward and enlighten the community get the law reformed that's what I have taken for my work and Frank just help me hmmm said Frank now the fact is Clayton if I wore a stiff white neck cloth and had a DD to my name I should tell you that the interest of Zion stood in the way and that it was my duty to preserve my influence for the sake of being able to take care of the Lord's affairs but as I am not so fortunate I must just say let me do compromise Frank Russell's interests Clayton I can't afford it that's just it it won't do you see our party can't take up that kind of thing it would be just setting up a fort from which our enemies could fire on us at their leisure if I go into the legislature I have to go in by my party I have to represent my party and of course I will compromise them well now Frank said Clayton seriously and soberly are you going to put your neck into such a noose is this to be led about all your life long the bond slave of a party not I by a good deal said Russell the noose will change ends one of these days and I'll drag the party but we must all stoop to conquer at first and you really propose nothing more to yourself than how to rise in the world said Clayton isn't there any great and good work that has beauty for you isn't there anything in heroism and self sacrifice well said Russell after a short pause maybe there is but after all Clayton is there the world looks to me like a confounded great hoax and everybody is going in for a grub and I say hang it all why shouldn't I have some of the grub as well as the rest man shall not live my bread alone said Clayton my bread's a pretty good thing though after all said Frank shrugging his shoulders but said Clayton Frank I am in earnest and you've got to be I want you to go with me the water is still and talk to me on honor this kind of half joking way that you have isn't a good sign Frank it's too old for you a man that makes a joke of everything at your age what will he do before he is 50 now Frank do you know that this system of slavery if we don't reform it will eat out this country like a cancer I know it it has eaten into us pretty well now said Clayton if for nothing else if we had no feeling of humanity for the slave we must do something for the sake of the whites for this is carrying us back into barbarism as fast as we can go Virginia has been ruined by it run all down North Carolina I believe has the unenviable notoriety of being the most ignorant and poorest state in the union I don't believe there's any country in old despotic Europe where the poor are more miserable vicious and degraded than they are in our slave states and it's depopulating us our men of ability in the lower classes who want to be respectable won't stand it they will go off to some state where things move on hundreds and hundreds move out of North Carolina and it's all this unnatural organization of society that does it we have got to contemplate some mode of abolishing this evil we have got to take the first step towards progress sometime or we ourselves are all undone Clayton said Frank in a tone now quite as serious as his own I tell you as a solemn fact we can't do it those among us who have got the power in their hands are determined to keep it and they are wide awake they don't mean to let the first step be taken because they don't mean to lay down their power the three fifth vote that they get by it is a thing they won't part with they'll die first we just look at it there is at least 24 millions of property held this way what do you suppose these men care about the poor whites and the ruin of the state and all that the poor whites may go to the devil for all them and as for the ruin of the state it won't come in their day and after us the deluge you know that's the talk these men are our masters they are yours they are mine they are the party in these United States they can crack their whips over the head of any statesman or clergyman from Maine to New Orleans that disputes their will they govern the country army, navy, treasury, church, state everything is theirs and whoever is going to get up must go up their ladder there isn't any other ladder there isn't an interest not a body of men in these whole United States will and I tell you Clayton you might as well throw ashes into the teeth of the North wind as undertake to fight their influence now if there was any hope of doing any good by this if there was the least prospect of succeeding why I'd join in with you but there isn't the whole thing is a fixed fact and why shouldn't I climb on it as well as everybody else nothing is fixed said Clayton that isn't fixed in right God and nature fight against evil well they do I suppose but it's a long campaign said Frank and I must be on the side that will win while I'm alive now Clayton to you I always speak the truth I won't humbug you I worship success I am a Frederick the Great's creed the strongest battalions I wasn't made for defeat I must have power the preservation of this system whole and entire is to be the policy of the leaders of this generation the fact is they stand where it must be their policy they must spread it over the whole territory they must get the balance of power in the country to build themselves up against the opinion of mankind while Clayton moral sentiment as you call it is a humbug the whole world acquiesces in what goes they always have there is a great outcry about slavery now but let it succeed and it won't be when they can outvote the northern states they'll put them down they have kept them subservient by intrigue so far that they'll have the strength to put them down by force England makes a fuss now but let them only succeed and she'll be civil as sheep of course men always make a fuss about injustice when they have nothing to gain by holding their tongues but England's mouth can be stopped with cotton you'll see it they love trade and hate war and so the fuss of anti-slavery and our hopes human nature is what's the use of bothering the whole race together aren't worth a button Clayton and self sacrifice for such fools is a humbug that's my program well Frank you have made a clean breast so will I the human race as you say may be a humbug but it's every man's duty to know for himself I do not worship success and will not and if a cause is a right and honourable one I will labour in it till I die whether there's any chance of succeeding or not well now said Frank Russell I dare say it so I respect your sort of folks you form an agreeable heroic poem with which one can amuse the tediousness of life that you're getting immensely unpopular with what you're doing no said Clayton it won't I am really afraid said Russell that they'll mob you some of these bright days very well said Clayton oh of course I knew it would be very well but say Clay what do you want to get up a petition on that point for why don't you get up one to prevent the destruction of families there's been such a must meet about that in Europe and all around the world that it's rather the fashion to move about that a little politicians like to appear to intend to begin to do something about it it has a pleasing effect and gives the northern editors and ministers something to say as an apology for our sins besides there are good many simple hearted folks that really think it's possible to do something effective on the subject if you get up a petition for that you might take the tide with you and I do something about it myself you know very well Frank for I told you that it's no use to pass laws for that without giving the slaves power to sue or give evidence in case of violation the improvement I propose touches the root of the matter that's the fact it surely does said Russell and for that very reason you'll never carry it now Clayton I just want to ask you one question can you fight will you fight will you wear a bowie knife and pistol and shoot every fellow down that comes at you well I know of course Frank you know that I never was a fighting man and I'm not to my taste then my dear sir you shouldn't set up for a reformer in southern states now I'll tell you one thing Clayton that I've heard you made some remarks at a public meeting up at E that have staked a mad dog cry which I suppose came from Tom Gordon see here have you noticed this article in the trumpet of liberty said he looking over a confused stack of papers on this table oh here it is at the same time he ended Clayton a sheet bearing the motto liberty and union now and forever one and inseparable and pointed to an article headed covert abolitionism citizens beware we were present a few evenings ago at the closing speech delivered before the Washington agricultural society in the course of which the speaker Mr. Edward Clayton gratuitously to make inflammatory and seditious comments on the state of laws which regulate our Negro population it is time for the friends of our institutions to be awake such remarks dropped in the ear of a restless and ignorant population will be a fruitful source of sedition and insurrection this young man is supposed to be infected with the virus of northern abolitionists we cannot too narrowly watch the course of such individuals for the only price at which we can maintain liberty is eternal vigilance Mr. Clayton belongs to one of our oldest and most respected families which makes his conduct the more inexcusable Clayton perused this with a quiet smile which was usual with him the hand of Job is in that thing said Frank Russell I'm sure I said very little I was only showing the advantage to our agriculture of a higher tone of moral feeling amongst our laborers which of course led me to speak of the state of the law regulating them I said nothing but what everybody knows but don't you know Clayton said Russell that if a fellow has an enemy anybody bearing him the least ill will that he puts a tremendous power in his hands by making such remarks it's so ignorant that they are in the hands of anybody who wants to use them they are just like a swarm of bees you can manage them by beating on a tin pan and Tom Gordon has got the tin pan now I fancy Tom intends to be a swell he is a born bully and he'll lead a rabble and so you must take care your family is considerable for you but after all everything who have you got to back you who have you talked with well said Clayton I have talked with some of the ministry and of course said Frank you found that the leading of providence don't indicate that they are to be martyrs you have their prayers in secret I presume and if you ever get the cause of the upper hillside then I'll tell you if Tom Gordon attacks you I'll pick a quarrel with him and shoot him right off the reel my stomach is nice about these matters and that sort of thing won't compromise me with my party thank you said Clayton I shall not trouble you my dear fellow said Russell you philosophers are very much mistaken about the use of cards and external weapons as long as you wrestle with flesh and blood you'd better use fleshly means at any rate a gentlemanly brace of pistols wouldn't hurt you and in fact Clayton I am serious you must wear pistols there are no two ways about it because if these fellows know that a man wears pistols and will use them it keeps them off in the world they are likely to have and I think Clayton you can fire off a pistol in as edifying and dignified a manner as you can say a grace on proper occasions the fact is before long there will be a roll kicked up I'm pretty sure of it Tom Gordon is a deeper fellow than you'd think and he has booked himself for Congress which will give him the vote of all the rabble he'll go into Congress to do the fighting and slashing there always must be a bully or two there you know to knock down fellows that you can't settle any other way and nothing would suit him better than to get his name up than heading a crusade against an abolitionist well said Clayton if it's come to that that we can't speak where are we my dear fellow why I know where we are and if you don't it's time you did discuss freely certain we can on one side of the question or on both sides of any other question than this but you can't discuss freely and they can't afford to let you as long as they mean to keep their power do you suppose that these poor devils whites get their bandages off their eyes then make them so easy to lead now they would be a pretty bill to pay if they did just now these fellows are in as safe and comfortable a condition for use as a party could desire because they have got votes and we have the guiding of them and they rage and swear and tear for our institutions because they are fools what hurts them then there's the niggers those fellows are deep they have as long ears as little pitchers and they are such a sort of fussy set that whatever is going on in the community is always in their mouths and so comes up that old fear of insurrection that's the awful word Clayton that lies at the bottom of a good many things in our state those niggers are a black well you never know what's at the bottom well said Clayton the only way the only safeguard to prevent this is reform they are a patient set and will bear a great while and if they only see that anything is being done it will be an effectual prevention if you want insurrection the only way is to shut down the escape valve for will ye nilly will rise you see in this day minds will grow they are growing there's no help for it and there's no force like the force of growth I have seen a rock split in two by the growing of an elm tree that wanted light and air and would make its way up through it look at all the aristocracies of Europe they have gone down under this force only one has stood that of England because it knew when to yield because it never can find discussion because it gave way gracefully before the growing force of the people that's the reason it stands today while the aristocracy of France has been blown into atoms my dear fellow said Russell this is all very true and convincing no doubt but you won't make our aristocracy believe it they have mounted the lightning right at Whippensperre they are going to annex Cuba and the Sandwich Islands and the Lord knows what and have a great and splendid slave-holding empire and the north is going to be what Greece was to roam we shall govern it and it will attend to the arts of life for us the south understands governing we are trained to rule from the cradle we have the leisure to rule what else to do the free states have their factories and their warehouses and their schools and their internal improvements to take out their minds and if we are careful and don't tell them too plain where we are taking them they will never know it till they get there well said Clayton there's one element of force that you've left out in your calculations God said Clayton I don't know anything about him said Russell you may have occasion to learn one of these days said Clayton I believe he is alive yet End of Chapter 46 Frank Russell's Opinions Chapter 47 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 Recording by John Brandon Dread Chapter 47 Tom Gordon's Plans Tom Gordon, in the meanwhile had commenced ruling his paternal plantation in a manner very different from the former indulgent system His habits of reckless and boundless extravagance and utter heedlessness caused his cravings for money to be absolutely insatiable and within legal limits he had as little care how it was come by as a highway robber It is to be remarked that Tom Gordon was a worse slaveholder and master from the very facts of certain desirable qualities in his mental constitution For as good wine makes the strongest vinegar did make the worst vice Tom had naturally a perfectly clear perceptive mind and an energetic prompt temperament It was impossible for him as many do to sophisticate and delude himself with false views He marched up to evil, lonely and with his eyes open He had very little regard for public opinion particularly the opinion and scrupulous people So he carried his purposes It was very little matter to him what anyone thought of them or him They might complain till they were tired After Clayton had left the place he often pondered the dying words of Nina that he should care for her people that he should tell Tom to be kind to them There was such an impassable gulf between the two characters It seemed impossible that any peaceable communication should pass between them Clayton thought within himself that it was utterly hopeless to expect any good arising from the sending of Nina's last message But the subject haunted him Had he any right to withhold it Was it not his duty to try every measure However, apparently hopeless Under the impulse of John and wrote to Tom Gordon an account worded with the utmost simplicity of the last hours of his sister's life hoping that he might read it and thus, if nothing more his own conscience be absolved Death and the grave it is true have sacred prerogatives and it is often in their power to awaken a love which did not appear in life There are few so hard to be touched by the record of the last days of those with whom they have stood in intimate relations A great moralist says there are few things not purely evil of which we can say without emotion this is the last The letter was brought to Tom Gordon one evening went for a wonder he was by himself his associates being off on an excursion he read it over therefore with some attention he was of too positive a character however, too keenly recipient not to feel immediate pain in view of it a man of another nature might have melted in tears over it indulged in the luxury of sentimental grief and derived some comfort from the exercise to go on in ways of sin not so with Tom Gordon but he had to be proud of his moral nature He was doing wrong of set purpose with defiant energy and his only way of keeping his conscience quiet was to maintain about him such a constant tumult of excitement as should drown reflection he could not afford a tainted take conversation with his conscience having resolved once for all to go on in his own wicked way that might occasion uncomfortable conflict in his mind he knew very well lost man as he was that there was something sweet and pure high and noble against which he was contending and the letter was only like a torch which a fair angel might hold up shining into the filthy layer of a demon he could not bear the light he could not hide the note then he cast it into the fire and rang violently for a hot brandy toddy and a fresh case of cigars the devil's last best artifice to rivet the fetters of his captives is the opportunity which these stimulants give them to command insanity at will Tom Gordon was taken to bed drunk the sorrowful guardian spirit hovered over him as he read the letter he did not hear the dejected rustle of its retreating wings the next day nothing was left only a more decided antipathy to Clayton were having occasioned him so disagreeable a sensation Tom Gordon on the whole was not unpopular in his vicinity he determined to rule them all and he did all that uncertain uninstructed vagrant population which abound in slave states were at his nod and beck they were his tools prompt to aid him in any of his purposes and convenient to execute vengeance on his adversaries Tom was a determined slave holder he had ability enough to see the whole bearings of that subject from the beginning to the end he determined that while he lived the first stone should never be pulled from the edifice in his state he was a formidable adversary because what he wanted in cultivation he made up in unscrupulous energy and where he might have failed in argument he could conquer by the cudgel and the bludgeon he was as Frank Russell had supposed the author of the paragraph in the trumpet of freedom which had already had its effect in awakening public suspicion but what stung him to frenzy when he thought of it was that every effort which he had hitherto made to recover possession of Harry had failed in vain he had sent out hunters and dogs the swamp had been tracked in vain he boiled and burned with fierce tides of passion as he thought of him in his security defying his power some vague rumors had fallen upon his ear of the existence in the swamp of a negro conspirator of great energy and power whose lair had never yet been discovered and he determined that he would raise heaven and earth to find him he began to suspect that there was somehow understanding and communication between Harry and those who were left on the plantation and he determined to detect it this led to the scene of cruelty and tyranny to which we made illusion in a former chapter the mangled body was buried and Tom felt neither remorse nor shame why should he protected by the express words of legal decision he had only met with an accident in the exercise of his lawful power on a slave in the act of rebellion the fact is kite he said to his boon companion the awfulest kite as they were one day sitting together I'm bound to have that fellow I'm going to publish a proclamation of outlawry and offer a reward for his head they will bring it in I'm thinking I'll put it up to a handsome figure for that will be better than nothing that he couldn't catch him alive said kite and make an example of him I know it said Tom I'd take him the long way round that I would that fellow has been an eyesore to me ever since I was a boy I believe all the devils that are in me are up about him Tom said kite no mistake to be sure I have said Tom I only want a chance to express him I wish I could get hold of the fellow's wife I could make him wince there I guess I'll get her too one of these days but now kite I'll tell you the fact is somebody round here is in league with him they know about him I know they do there's that squeaky leathery long nose skinflint trades with the niggers in the swamp I know he does but he is a double and twisted liar and you can't get anything out of him one of these days I'll burn up that old den of his and shoot him if he don't look out Jim Stokes told me that he slept down there one night when he was tracking I heard skinflint talking with somebody between twelve and one o'clock and he looked out and saw him selling powder to a nigger oh that couldn't be Harry said kite no but it's one of the gang he's in with and then there's that hark Jim says that he saw him talking giving a letter that he got out of the post office to a man that rode off towards the woods and I thought we'd have the truth out of his old hide but he didn't hold out as I thought he would Holcomb don't understand his business said kite he shouldn't have used him up so fast Holcomb is a bother said Tom like all the rest of those fellows hark was a desperately resolute fellow and it's well enough he's dead because he was getting sullen and making the others rebellious Holcomb you see had taken a fancy to his wife and hark was jealous quite a romance said kite laughing and now I'll tell you another thing said Tom that I'm bound to reform there's a canting sneaking dribbling whining old priest that's ravaging these parts and getting up a must among people about the abuses of the slaves and I'm not going to have it I'm going to shut up his mouth I shall inform him pretty succinctly that if he does much more in this region he'll be illustrated with a coat of tar and feathers good for you said kite now said Tom I understand that tonight he's going to have a general sniveling season in the old log church in the cross run and they're going to form a church on anti-slavery principles contemptible welps not a copper to bless themselves with dirty sweaty greasy mechanics with their spawn of children think of the impudence of their getting together and passing anti-slavery resolutions and resolving they won't admit slaveholders to the communion I have a great mind to let them try the dodge once by George if I wouldn't walk up and take their bread and wine and pitch it to thunder are they really going to form such a church that's the talk said Tom but they'll find they have reckoned without their host I fancy you see I just tipped Jim Stokes the wink says I Jim don't you think they'll want you to help the music there tonight Jim took it once and he said he would be on the ground with a dollar or two and some old tin pans oh we shall get them up in orchestra I promise you and some of our set are going over to see the fun as Bill Akers and Bob Story and Sim Dexter will be over here to dinner and towards evening we'll ride over end of chapter 47 recording by John Brandon