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49 - My Story of the Civil War and the Under-Ground Railroad by Marvin Benjamin Butler · My Story of the Civil War and the Under-Ground Railroad

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Speaker 1: Chapter forty eight of My Story of the Civil War
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Speaker 1: and the Underground Railroad by Marvin Benjamin Butler. This libribox
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Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. The Reunion chapter forty eight.
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Speaker 1: During the months of June, July and August eighteen sixty three,
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Speaker 1: nearly all the Federal troops were withdrawn from Murphysboro, only
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Speaker 1: a sufficient number remaining to guard the town and care
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Speaker 1: for the sick and convalescent soldiers. The most of the
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Speaker 1: citizens who left the place in panic on that memorable
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Speaker 1: Friday night had returned to their homes discouraged and impoverished.
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Speaker 1: Since the army became gan to leave, times were getting harder,
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Speaker 1: and now the first of August, there was neither money
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Speaker 1: nor demand for labor. Confederate script circulated by the returning
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Speaker 1: fugitives was worthless, Supplies were exhausted, and provisions were very high.
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Speaker 1: Such was the condition that John felt that he could
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Speaker 1: not remain longer in a Confederate community among a people
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Speaker 1: who were supporting a system that had brought sorrow and
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Speaker 1: ruin to his home and family. Crushed his mother's heart
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Speaker 1: caused his sister to flee for her life and honor
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Speaker 1: to a foreign land. Robbed and beggared them, and sold
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Speaker 1: them like cattle into degrading a hopeless bondage. He felt
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Speaker 1: that sometime in the future he might forgive, but while
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Speaker 1: retaining his reason, could never forget. On the seventeenth of August,
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Speaker 1: he received a letter from Florence, dated on the tenth,
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Speaker 1: stating that they had sold their property in Windsor, Canada,
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Speaker 1: and would move to Cincinnati, and that they hoped to
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Speaker 1: reach there by the first of September. That mister Bassett
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Speaker 1: would buy, build, or rent a machine shop, and desired
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Speaker 1: him to take an interest in the business, no matter
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Speaker 1: how small. Come at once with mother and rent a
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Speaker 1: small house so as to be ready to receive us.
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Speaker 1: John dispatched a letter by the first male's saying, quote,
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Speaker 1: we will be in Cincinnati on the morning of the
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Speaker 1: twenty second of August and be ready for you. Quote.
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Speaker 1: John and aunt Rose had saved from their earnings in washing, mending,
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Speaker 1: and for milk, sold the boys some four hundred and
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Speaker 1: fifty dollars. At five o'clock am on the twenty second,
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Speaker 1: they reached Cincinnati, and John, being familiar with the city,
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Speaker 1: soon rented a small furnished house on the same street
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Speaker 1: and not more than eight blocks out from missus Leyman's.
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Speaker 1: At five o'clock PM of the same day, they were
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Speaker 1: comfortably situated and had had a good supper in their
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Speaker 1: own home. Soon after supper, John received a daily and
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Speaker 1: in looking through the column of entertainments, his eye caught
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Speaker 1: one item that brought the blood to his face. Quote
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Speaker 1: musical entertainment by Miss Ruth Leyman and her class at
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Speaker 1: Corinthian Church on North Gerard Street, all cordially invited. Doors
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Speaker 1: open at seven thirty pm. Admission twenty five cents, children
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Speaker 1: ten cents. Unquote. Mother said, John, can I go? It's
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Speaker 1: only three blocks away, and I should like to see
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Speaker 1: Ruth before she hears that I'm in the city. She
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Speaker 1: will not recognize me in the audience, and I will
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Speaker 1: have a good opportunity to study her and determine whether,
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Speaker 1: in my humble condition I can approach her in her
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Speaker 1: own home. Yes, John, go, I can stay here safely,
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Speaker 1: and I feel so much at home in these cozy
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Speaker 1: rooms that I shall not be lonesome. But you have
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Speaker 1: not forgotten what Florence has written of her, how noble
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Speaker 1: she is, and the love and affection she has expressed
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Speaker 1: in her letters to you. Oh, no, mother, I have
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Speaker 1: forgotten nothing. She is noble, God bless her. But I
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Speaker 1: cannot forget the years of my degradation and my poverty.
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Speaker 1: But remember she told Florence that you were not degraded
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Speaker 1: by any act of yours, and that she loved you
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Speaker 1: more than when surrounded by many friends and abundant wealth. Yes, Mother,
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Speaker 1: she was but a child, then a little girl when
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Speaker 1: we became attached. Now she is an accomplished woman, beautiful
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Speaker 1: and cultured, with no taint in her blood or on
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Speaker 1: her name. She loved me then as a child I
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Speaker 1: was her ideal. I was older. I entered into her sports.
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Speaker 1: I taught her many useful things, helped her in her
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Speaker 1: studies so that she was at the head of her classes,
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Speaker 1: and petted but not spoiled by her teachers and friends.
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Speaker 1: But now, while I longed to take her in my
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Speaker 1: arms and press her to my heart, I tremble when
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Speaker 1: I remember her nobility, her beauty, her culture, and her
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Speaker 1: social position. John said the mother. Don't you know Ruth
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Speaker 1: better than that one? Noble as she can't love as
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Speaker 1: she loved you and throw that love away, it will
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Speaker 1: nothing but crime or dissipation. On your part, could cancel
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Speaker 1: but not destroy, that affection. And then her high moral
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Speaker 1: nature would compel her to refuse you as she ought,
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Speaker 1: but in doing that her suffering would be greater than yours. Well, mother,
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Speaker 1: I will go tonight and see her for myself, and
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Speaker 1: then I shall be better able to determine my course
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Speaker 1: for tomorrow. Lawrence bade his mother goodbye and passed out
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Speaker 1: into the street, leaving her sitting in her rocking chair
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Speaker 1: that she had used for so many years in the
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Speaker 1: little log cabin back of the Spence Hospital. In a
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Speaker 1: few minutes she arose and went to a small case
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Speaker 1: and took out Florence's first letter, which was well worn
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Speaker 1: and blotted with tears, and read over and over that
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Speaker 1: portion that interested her now, and said to herself out loud,
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Speaker 1: Yes she is noble, but is she more noble than he?
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Speaker 1: John was at the church early. He requested a seat
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Speaker 1: in front and about midway between the door and rostrum,
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Speaker 1: and watched the people as they eagerly pressed in through
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Speaker 1: the door to their seats. The curtain was down now,
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Speaker 1: he thought to himself, I will have a fair view
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Speaker 1: when the curtain goes up. But in this he was
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Speaker 1: disappointed for hearing a rustling of silks at the door.
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Speaker 1: All eyes were turned in that direction, and then came
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Speaker 1: Ruth at the head of her class. Did she hear
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Speaker 1: his throbbing heart as she passed down the aisle? She
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Speaker 1: looked around, but he had turned his head in time,
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Speaker 1: and she did not catch his eye or see his face. Yes,
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Speaker 1: the child and little girl that followed him in Florence
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Speaker 1: to the train that fatal day, when he asked if
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Speaker 1: sometime in the future she could learn to love him
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Speaker 1: enough to be his wife, and she dropped her head
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Speaker 1: and cried, but could not answer, and only answered when
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Speaker 1: she pressed his hand goodbye. Had surely grown and developed
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Speaker 1: into a fine, graceful and beautiful woman. The audience was
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Speaker 1: all in and many standing in the aisles. When the
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Speaker 1: curtain was raised. Ruth stood at the front of the
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Speaker 1: stage with the program in her left hand, resting her
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Speaker 1: right on a high chair at her side. Why did
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Speaker 1: she cast her eyes over the the audience and let
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Speaker 1: them rest on Lawrence till their eyes meant Did she
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Speaker 1: feel his presence? Yes, though she did not know that
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Speaker 1: he was in the city. Why did the blood surge
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Speaker 1: from heart to brain and then recede for a moment
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Speaker 1: and leave her face deathly pale. She knew that he
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Speaker 1: was there, and with a mighty effort, she became herself
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Speaker 1: again and sang the first solo for John, as she
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Speaker 1: never sang before or since. When the curtain dropped, the
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Speaker 1: house rang with applause, and the audience called again and again,
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Speaker 1: but she only thanked them and said she would sing
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Speaker 1: with and play for the class. But her voice rang
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Speaker 1: through the audience. It's clear and soft, often so pathetic
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Speaker 1: that many were shedding tears. Altogether, the concert was a
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Speaker 1: grand success. As soon as the program was finished, Lawrence
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Speaker 1: passed out through the door, entered the street, and walked
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Speaker 1: rapidly home, in a condition of mind hard to analyze.
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Speaker 1: The next morning, at half past eight, John was at
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Speaker 1: the door of the back parlor. Missus Leyman opened it,
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Speaker 1: invited him in and asked him to be seated. No,
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Speaker 1: said he, removing his hat and making a bow. This
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Speaker 1: is Missus Lehman. I believe my name is Warren. I
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Speaker 1: am looking for a quiet. He did not finish the sentence,
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Speaker 1: for he heard some one rush through the front parlor,
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Speaker 1: and raising his eyes, saw Ruth standing in the door
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Speaker 1: only for an instant, for she flew like a chaste
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Speaker 1: and frightened bird into his open arms. Oh, John, John,
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Speaker 1: she cried. Perhaps you can fool mother, but you can't
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Speaker 1: fool me. Then, resting her head lovingly on his shoulder,
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Speaker 1: with her arms around his neck and her eyes full
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Speaker 1: of glad tears, she said, John, I knew that you
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Speaker 1: were in the room at the concert last night before
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Speaker 1: our eyes met. I knew it when I passed down
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Speaker 1: the aisle when the curtain raised, My eyes wandered for
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Speaker 1: an instant over the audience, and almost instantly rested on you.
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Speaker 1: I sang that first solo for you, John, as I
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Speaker 1: know I never sang before. How my heart thrilled and
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Speaker 1: leaped for joy. But please, now, John, i'llnloose your arms
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Speaker 1: and let me breathe. Are they not getting tired? We'll
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Speaker 1: just sit on the couch while you rest them. And
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Speaker 1: while we rest, let me introduce you to Missus Layman,
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Speaker 1: my mother and your mother. Missus Layman had been a
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Speaker 1: silent spectator, but as the two recoiled from each other's
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Speaker 1: embrace to take a little breath, she came forward, and
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Speaker 1: while her heart was too full to speak, she gave
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Speaker 1: him a mother's kiss and such a welcome that his
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Speaker 1: humiliation was all gone, and he felt himself a man
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Speaker 1: once more. THEE did not suffer alone, John, We suffered
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Speaker 1: with THEE and prayed daily for THEE and thy deliver.
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Speaker 1: Oh yes, said Ruth as she looked up into his eyes,
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Speaker 1: now glistening through the tears. I almost died for THEE, John,
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Speaker 1: and I fear I should had not Florence given me
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Speaker 1: courage to hope that sometime you might escape. Mother can
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Speaker 1: tell THEE sometime. How she held me on her lap
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Speaker 1: all day and night, And oh how my heartache for THEE.
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Speaker 1: It felt empty and dry as a desert. Everything seemed dead,
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Speaker 1: and the world a great, impenetrable void. But since I
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Speaker 1: got your first letter, though brief, I have been happy
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Speaker 1: and felt that I could wait patiently till you could
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Speaker 1: find your mother, My dear Ruth, said John. Florence told
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Speaker 1: me all about your suffering, and had I realized it
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Speaker 1: during my activity, it would have added tenfold to mine.
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Speaker 1: And now right here I must make a confession and
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Speaker 1: ask your pardon. I felt my humiliation, degradation, and poverty
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Speaker 1: so keenly since I reached the city. That it was
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Speaker 1: with trembling and foreboding that I called on you. I
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Speaker 1: feared when you saw me and remembered all you could
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Speaker 1: not receive me into your heart again. John, I abjure
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Speaker 1: you by my love that you never never mention that again.
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Speaker 1: You root me once from Louisville. I think about the
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Speaker 1: same thing, and had you been here, I fear I
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Speaker 1: should have boxed your ears. Now promise me never never
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Speaker 1: to allude to that again, do you so promise? John? Yes, Ruth,
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Speaker 1: my dear girl, I promised, upon my sacred honor never
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Speaker 1: never to mention it again. And since you and mother
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Speaker 1: Layman have given me such a royal welcome as neither
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Speaker 1: prince nor potentate could receive in our country, notwithstanding all
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Speaker 1: my suffering during my captivity, I am now the happiest
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Speaker 1: man living. John said Ruth, in the excessive joy of
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Speaker 1: our first meeting, we have forgotten the rights and interests
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Speaker 1: of another. What of your mother and my mother? Where
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Speaker 1: is she? Has she no interest in our happiness? Go
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Speaker 1: at once and get an easy cab. I have introduced
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Speaker 1: you to mine and yours. Now take me at a
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Speaker 1: cab and introduce me to your mother and we will
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Speaker 1: bring her here to dine with us as you wish,
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Speaker 1: said John, So what shall be? The cab was secured,
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Speaker 1: and very soon John and Ruth were being driven down
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Speaker 1: the street eight blocks to a neat but humble home,
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Speaker 1: where Aunt Rose sat looking over at Florence's first letter.
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Speaker 1: She rose to her feet and bowed. John gave the introduction,
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Speaker 1: Ruth Layman, let me introduce you to missus Belmont, my
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Speaker 1: mother and your mother. It was enough. Ruth threw her
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Speaker 1: arms around the lady's neck and gave her a daughter's kiss. Yes,
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Speaker 1: it was enough. Aunt Rose's heart was full and she
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Speaker 1: wept with joy, and then said, I have just been
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Speaker 1: reading Florence's letter, and every time I read it it
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Speaker 1: increases my love for you, my dear daughter. May God
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Speaker 1: bless you, my children, and help you to be kind
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Speaker 1: and faithful to each other. She then accepted the invitation
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Speaker 1: and was seated in the cab and driven back to
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Speaker 1: Mother Layman's, where dinner was waiting. Ruth seated them at
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Speaker 1: the table, and Mother Layman returned thanks a prayer full
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Speaker 1: of pathos and reverent love, asking the father's blessing on
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Speaker 1: those who had suffered and had been so severely wounded
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Speaker 1: without cause by this sinful world and closed by devout
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Speaker 1: thanks for their deliverance by the same divine, loving arm
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Speaker 1: that delivered Israel from bondage. After dinner, they all took
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Speaker 1: their seats in the back parlor, Ruth and John on
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Speaker 1: the couch, the same couch where Florence and Elmer sat.
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Speaker 1: When Murray and the US Marshall entered the front parlor,
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Speaker 1: Ruth was first to speak. John, did you notice how
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Speaker 1: I seated you at the table? You sat in the
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Speaker 1: same chair, at the same place where you sat at
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Speaker 1: your last meal and dinner in our house. And Mother
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Speaker 1: Rose sat on your left where Florence always sat, and
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Speaker 1: Mother at the head of the table as always. And I, then,
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Speaker 1: but a young and silly girl, is sat at your
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Speaker 1: right as I sat today and expect to sit while
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Speaker 1: we both shall live. We were scarcely half done eating
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Speaker 1: when the boy entered and handed you the telegram from
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Speaker 1: Mother Rose announcing your father's sudden death and request to
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Speaker 1: hasten home. It was almost train time when you took
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Speaker 1: me by the hand this hand John, and led me,
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Speaker 1: and on the way asked me if in the years
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Speaker 1: to come I could learn to love you and be
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Speaker 1: your wife. You did not know then the pain I
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Speaker 1: felt at parting, that my heart was so full I
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Speaker 1: could not answer yes. I tried, my lips moved, but
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Speaker 1: I could not speak. I felt and knew that something
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Speaker 1: terrible would soon happen to you, Oh John. I waited
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Speaker 1: and waited for yours and Florence's return, And finally, after
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Speaker 1: many days, that letter from Margaret came and told us all, Oh,
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Speaker 1: how I regretted that I could not and did not
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Speaker 1: tell you. Ruth's voice broke and the tears rushed through
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Speaker 1: her eyes. John placed his arm gently around her and
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Speaker 1: stroked her hair and said, please don't, Ruth, you must
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Speaker 1: not think of that anymore. Let us thank God that
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Speaker 1: it will never occur again to me or anyone else
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Speaker 1: in this government. Pray. Let me tell you of a
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Speaker 1: few amusing things that occurred during my martyrdom. I got
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Speaker 1: some fun out of it, as well as much sorrow.
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Speaker 1: I believe that the man who bought me was, if possible,
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Speaker 1: meaner than missus Stowe's lagree. He Bradley, we called him
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Speaker 1: Old Brad was a bloated, blear eyed, unscrupulous, ignorant coward gorilla.
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Speaker 1: I was quite well dressed when he and I reached
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Speaker 1: the plantation, located some two and one half miles from
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Speaker 1: any neighbors, in an hour or so. He brought out
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Speaker 1: an old, dirty, ragged suit of clothes and ordered me
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Speaker 1: to change. I said, no, sir, mister Bradley, I'll not
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Speaker 1: put them on. You won't eh you refuse, do you?
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Speaker 1: And raise his heavy black snake whip to strike Stop you, villain,
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Speaker 1: I said, strike me, sir, and you die that second.
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Speaker 1: I will work for you faithfully while I am your property.
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Speaker 1: But don't you ever dare strike me unless you are
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Speaker 1: anxious to die. I stood in a position to have
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Speaker 1: knocked him down, and could have handled three like him,
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Speaker 1: for he was weak, clumsy, and a blustering coward. We'll
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Speaker 1: see you about this later, Yes, we'll see, I said,
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Speaker 1: but now I give you fair warning to attempt to
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Speaker 1: strike me. Please don't forget what I say. And after
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Speaker 1: telling me to go and tear down that old fence
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Speaker 1: and pile up the rails, he went off, muttering and
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Speaker 1: sat down under the shade where he could watch me.
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Speaker 1: I went at the rails with a will. I was
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Speaker 1: stout and spry and rails never flew so rapidly on
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Speaker 1: that plantation before. I did more than three hours in
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Speaker 1: that boiling sun than any three of his best men
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Speaker 1: would have done. I intended to show him that I was, not,
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Speaker 1: as he thought, an ordinary nigger. When done, he called
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Speaker 1: me and asked, do you work all the time that way? Yes?
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Speaker 1: I could work all the time the same way when
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Speaker 1: treated like a man and not like a dog. Well,
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Speaker 1: just sit down and rest a while, No, sir, I'm
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Speaker 1: not tired. Give me anoother work. I can never sit
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Speaker 1: still when there's any thing to do. He gave me
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Speaker 1: some light work around the house, and I put in
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Speaker 1: the day. He soon learned that I could accomplish more
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Speaker 1: in one day than any hand he had in two.
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Speaker 1: But all the time I could see he was watching
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Speaker 1: for an opportunity to humiliate me. I heard him one
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Speaker 1: day tell a neighbor that I was worth three common
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Speaker 1: niggers to work, but that I must come down and
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Speaker 1: learn my place or he'd break my head. Well, things
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Speaker 1: ran along quite smoothly for a month, when one day
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Speaker 1: he called me and gave me an old ten pail
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Speaker 1: and ordered me to follow him. I did so about
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Speaker 1: forty or fifty rods to a cesspool at the terminus
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Speaker 1: of two drains, one drained from the house and the
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Speaker 1: other from the slave quarters. The pool was dug down
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Speaker 1: to the rock, and the fluid then was about three
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Speaker 1: feet deep. I think I never saw such a filthy place,
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Speaker 1: and never one that gave such a vile odor. No,
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Speaker 1: take your pail, get in there and dip that stuff out,
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Speaker 1: he ordered. No, sir, mister Bradley, I replied, I'll not
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Speaker 1: get in there at all. I'll fasten this pole to
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Speaker 1: the pail and dip it out, but will not get
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Speaker 1: in that hole. I knew he had been drinking and
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Speaker 1: had planned a scheme in his head, and washed him closely.
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Speaker 1: You won't, eh, No, sir, I won't. He stood a
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Speaker 1: few feet behind me, and as I said, no, sir,
25:45
Speaker 1: he bounded forward with full force. I saw the movement
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Speaker 1: and stepped aside just in time, so that he missed
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Speaker 1: me and went head first into the pool. He went
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Speaker 1: to the bottom in such a he was I never saw.
26:02
Speaker 1: As he got to his feet, the poisonous fluid closed
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Speaker 1: his eyes, that smarted and burned his hair and heavy
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Speaker 1: shaggy beard, all full and bedaubed. He boiled and bubbled
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Speaker 1: and snorted and swore, and ordered me to take his
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Speaker 1: hand and help him out. No, mister Bradley, I'll not
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Speaker 1: take your hand. Take hold of this pole and I'll
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Speaker 1: pull you out. I'll shoot you, you wretch, when I
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Speaker 1: get out. No you won't, I said, for I'm going
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Speaker 1: to let you stay in there all day and night.
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Speaker 1: Lay down there, you dog, and rest. Oh, let me out,
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Speaker 1: Help me out, please, I'll die here. I handed him
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Speaker 1: the pole then and pull him out, the most pitiable
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Speaker 1: object I ever saw, and well sobered, for he had
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Speaker 1: emptied his stomach thoroughly of applejack. John. He said, will
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Speaker 1: you go to the house and get me some clean clothes? Yes, sir,
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Speaker 1: mister Bradley, I will pull off those and go to
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Speaker 1: the brook and wash yourself clean, and I'll be back
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Speaker 1: in a minute. Well, he washed, and I helped him
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Speaker 1: dress and got him to the house. But I never
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Speaker 1: saw a sicker man. The doctor was with him all
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Speaker 1: night and could not account for the condition of his
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Speaker 1: stomach and his terrible breath. Three days after this, he
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Speaker 1: called me in the room and asked, John, will you
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Speaker 1: take charge of the men and work until I get well? Yes, sir,
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Speaker 1: mister Bradley, I'll do the best I can. John had
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Speaker 1: hardly finished his story when a boy came in and
27:50
Speaker 1: handed him a telegram, which was dated early that morning,
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Speaker 1: saying quote, we will be at your station tomorrow morning
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Speaker 1: at eight o'clock, signed Elmer Bassett. This was unexpected. John said, Ruth,
28:13
Speaker 1: go to the station and order a bus and tell
28:15
Speaker 1: the driver to bring them here. We must participate in
28:19
Speaker 1: this reunion, so fly around. Wait a minute, Ruth, I
28:24
Speaker 1: wish to ask you a question, the same I asked
28:27
Speaker 1: you years ago. He quietly placed his arm around her waist,
28:33
Speaker 1: and looking deep down in her eyes that he might
28:36
Speaker 1: read the very thoughts of her heart. Ruth, Dear Ruth,
28:41
Speaker 1: will you be my wife? Yes, John, I will, and
28:46
Speaker 1: placed her arm around his neck. When raising her face
28:53
Speaker 1: to his as if expecting a kiss, she said, tomorrow,
28:59
Speaker 1: as soon as Lawrence comes. End of chapter forty eight