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44 - 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 three 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. Aunt Rose, Chapter forty three.
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  Speaker 1: One morning early, Aunt Rose came to our room just
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  Speaker 1: as Princess had commenced to prepare my breakfast. She brought
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  Speaker 1: a piece of nicely brown toast covered with scalded milk,
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  Speaker 1: an egg cooked very rare, and a good cup of tea. Now, Princess,
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  Speaker 1: you go down and eat with the boys. I'll stay
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  Speaker 1: and visit with Mary until your return. I was so
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  Speaker 1: busy yesterday I didn't call in, and have felt badly
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  Speaker 1: about it all the morning. Then, turning to me, she continued,
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  Speaker 1: I can see now, Mary, you are gaining a little
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  Speaker 1: every day. With patience and care, you will soon have
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  Speaker 1: strength so as to go home and make your mother's
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  Speaker 1: heart glad. Aunt Rose, you have been God's good angel
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  Speaker 1: of mercy to me ever since I entered the hospital.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. I can't understand why you have been
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  Speaker 1: so good and kind to a stranger when there was
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  Speaker 1: no possible prospect of reward. Your devotion has been the
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  Speaker 1: very climax of mother love. Are you so blind, My
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  Speaker 1: dear boy, I have a boy somewhere, oh I don't
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  Speaker 1: know where, who was torn away from me and sold
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  Speaker 1: five long years ago, like you, a little younger, perhaps,
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  Speaker 1: can't you understand and how one mother may feel for
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  Speaker 1: another when both alike are wayed down with anxiety and sorrow.
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  Speaker 1: I can't tell why it is, Marian, but I have
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  Speaker 1: thought of your mother so much since you entered the hospital.
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  Speaker 1: Every cup of cold water, every little act of mercy,
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  Speaker 1: every time I bathed your head and soothed the pain,
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  Speaker 1: it was for her as much as you, and all
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  Speaker 1: cheerfully and freely done and given in Jesus's name. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: Aunt Rose, I wish you could see and read my heart,
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  Speaker 1: that you might know how grateful I am. And two
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  Speaker 1: I do so wish you could see and know my mother.
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  Speaker 1: She is good and kind and gentle, just like you.
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  Speaker 1: And when I get home, if I ever do, I'll
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  Speaker 1: tell her all you've done for her, poor sick, suffering boy,
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  Speaker 1: and she will thank and bless you in heaven when
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  Speaker 1: you meet. Can you not indicate something we can do
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  Speaker 1: for you? Now? You know the President's proclamation, which took
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  Speaker 1: effect the first day of January, freed every slave where
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  Speaker 1: the Union Army has control, and you are free, and
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  Speaker 1: your children also, and my children are free too. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: aunt Rose, if they are within our lines? Do you
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  Speaker 1: have any knowledge where they are? Oh? No, I never knew.
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  Speaker 1: My heart has been so crushed with sorrow that I
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  Speaker 1: could not tell my story or ask for help. It
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  Speaker 1: all came on so suddenly and unexpectedly. I felt and
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  Speaker 1: knew the first time I called at your cabin that
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  Speaker 1: you had passed through great sorrow. You promised to tell
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  Speaker 1: me when I got able to hear. I am now able.
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  Speaker 1: We may start home the first of next month, and
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  Speaker 1: possibly we might be able to help you. Won't you
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  Speaker 1: please tell us if only a little of your history
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  Speaker 1: enough to give us a clue, Please do, Yes, Mary,
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  Speaker 1: and I will try. And just then Prentice came in
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  Speaker 1: and we both listened to Aunt Rose's story. As near
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  Speaker 1: as I can remember, my mother was as light colored
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  Speaker 1: as I am, but was the child of a slave mother,
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  Speaker 1: and under our law, doomed to a life of serfdom.
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  Speaker 1: I was told many times that I was the child
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  Speaker 1: of my mother's master, and for that reason he sold
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  Speaker 1: me when I was six years old to John W. Belmont,
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  Speaker 1: a good man living on a large plantation at Hampton Center.
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  Speaker 1: He and his wife were born in Scotland and were
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  Speaker 1: very earnest and consistent Christian people. She took me to
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  Speaker 1: church and Sabbath school every Sunday. I sat in the
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  Speaker 1: same pew with her, and always at the same table
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  Speaker 1: with the family. I did not call her mistress, but
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  Speaker 1: by her request called her aunt. So very few if
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  Speaker 1: any knew that I was a slave. Mister and Missus
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  Speaker 1: Belmont had a son, an only child, four years my senior,
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  Speaker 1: named after his father, John w As a boy, he
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  Speaker 1: was very diffident and bashful, and very much devoted to
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  Speaker 1: reading an study. He was very kind to me from
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  Speaker 1: the first, bought me books and seemed delighted when he
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  Speaker 1: could help me along with my studies. I had been
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  Speaker 1: in the family but a short time till he and
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  Speaker 1: I were the best of friends, and when he went
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  Speaker 1: away to school, my heart always ached till his return.
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  Speaker 1: When he did return, I was the first one he
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  Speaker 1: called for. So you understand how we grew up not
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  Speaker 1: only to like but to love each other. From childhood.
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  Speaker 1: When I was sixteen, my aunt, or rather my mistress died,
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  Speaker 1: and from that time on. I took charge of the house.
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  Speaker 1: When I was a little past eighteen, my master died.
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  Speaker 1: Then young John W. Came home from college at Cincinnati
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  Speaker 1: and took charge of the plantation. He was much like
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  Speaker 1: his father, kind and good to his people, who almost
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  Speaker 1: worshiped him. Not many months after he came home to stay,
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  Speaker 1: I began to live with him as his wife, and
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  Speaker 1: soon after this relation began, we both started for Cuba,
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  Speaker 1: where he had business. From thence to Scotland to his
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  Speaker 1: father's old home and relatives, and after a visit of
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  Speaker 1: three months there, we took a tour over the most
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  Speaker 1: of Europe. In all our trip and in all our
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  Speaker 1: lives together, he always introduced me as his wife, always
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  Speaker 1: seeming more contented and happy when I was by his side.
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  Speaker 1: A few months after our return home, our twins were born.
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  Speaker 1: We named them Lawrence J. W. And Lawrence B. W.
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  Speaker 1: When they were four years old, we went to New York,
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  Speaker 1: and while there mister Belmont consulted a lawyer and had
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  Speaker 1: free papers made out for me and the two children.
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  Speaker 1: This package was brought home and he, in my presence,
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  Speaker 1: placed the papers in his large fireproof safe, where we
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  Speaker 1: thought they were so secure that their existence was forgotten.
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  Speaker 1: Until our children were old enough to send away to school,
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  Speaker 1: we employed a teacher in our home. Then they were
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  Speaker 1: sent to Cincinnati, first to high school, then to college,
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  Speaker 1: and in one more term they would have graduated. When
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  Speaker 1: their father was stricken down and died suddenly in response
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  Speaker 1: to a telegram, they came home to attend the funeral,
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  Speaker 1: and the next day. The next day, Oh Marian, she sobbed.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot tell of that terrible day. I have wanted
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  Speaker 1: to so badly, but I cannot. Now. Her voice failed
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  Speaker 1: her entirely, and she was sobbing like a child, with
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  Speaker 1: her face pressed down on my bed at rose and
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  Speaker 1: I spoke to her the second time. Don't grieve. So
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  Speaker 1: we will not ask you to tell more of that
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  Speaker 1: sad story. We know all about it, since we know
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  Speaker 1: who you are. How your husband's nephews robbed the safe
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  Speaker 1: of the free papers, How you were all seized by
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  Speaker 1: the sheriff, put in irons, confined in jail, and advertised
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  Speaker 1: and sold at auction. Oh Marian, how did you know?
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  Speaker 1: I never told you? I never could tell anyone. Then
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  Speaker 1: how did you know? Your daughter Florence told us? And
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  Speaker 1: brother will tell you all. Then Prentice told her the
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  Speaker 1: whole story as told by Florence to us, including the
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  Speaker 1: horrors of the arrest, the auction sale, her escape to Cincinnati,
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  Speaker 1: then on the underground railroad to Canada, which country she
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  Speaker 1: reached in safety, and that we had received several letters
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  Speaker 1: from her, and that she was married to a good
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  Speaker 1: man and had a good home. At Rose sat as
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  Speaker 1: one in a trance. She scarcely moved and hardly seemed
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  Speaker 1: to breathe. So eager was she to catch every word
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  Speaker 1: and watch every motion of his lips. And when he
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  Speaker 1: got through the glad tears were reined down her face
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  Speaker 1: as she cried out, Oh, thank God, Florence is safe.
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  Speaker 1: And then would head bowed down in my bed, She responded,
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  Speaker 1: Oh Lord, I thank THEE that thou hast heard my
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  Speaker 1: prayers and remembered me in mercy. Then she went to Princess,
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  Speaker 1: raised his hands to her lips and kissed them. Came
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  Speaker 1: to my bed, put her arm under my neck and
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  Speaker 1: kissed my forehead. Oh, Marian, had I known from the
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  Speaker 1: first how good and kind you were to my poor
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  Speaker 1: girl when she was fleeing for her life from a
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  Speaker 1: fate worse than death. I should have taken your mother's
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  Speaker 1: place and watched you day and night. You did take
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  Speaker 1: my mother's place, Aunt Rose, Oh you could, and mother's thanks.
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  Speaker 1: When you meet heaven, we'll add another start to your crown.
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  Speaker 1: What little we did for your poor homeless girl in
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  Speaker 1: her race for life and honor was a pleasure to us,
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  Speaker 1: and costs but very little trouble. It was simply casting
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  Speaker 1: our bread on the waters. It has returned to me, Manifold.
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  Speaker 1: I am your debtor. Now do you think you can
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  Speaker 1: hear some more good news? Or shall we wait another day? Oh? Yes? Now?
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  Speaker 1: Now can you tell me anything of Lawrence? My boy?
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  Speaker 1: Can you? Marian? Oh? Can you? She saw me smile,
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  Speaker 1: then sprang to my bed and caught my hand again
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  Speaker 1: before I could speak. Oh, Marian, can you tell me
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  Speaker 1: anything of him? Is he alive? Alive and free? Two? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: he is alive and free, and here in camp, not
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  Speaker 1: more than one half mile away. He has been to
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  Speaker 1: see me many times since I've been sick, and once
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  Speaker 1: when I was in the room below and came very
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  Speaker 1: near meeting you at my cot as you had just
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  Speaker 1: gone out when he came in, and he sat up
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  Speaker 1: with me many nights when I was so bad at
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  Speaker 1: Rose sprang to her feet again. Oh, Marian, in this house,
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  Speaker 1: in that room below, I almost met him, My boy,
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  Speaker 1: how can this be true? How did you know him?
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  Speaker 1: And he know you? Where did you find him? And
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  Speaker 1: where is he now? And the glad tears broke loose again,
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  Speaker 1: and her words came so thick and fast I could
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  Speaker 1: hardly answer her. He will tell all when he comes, Rose.
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  Speaker 1: He was thrown from a horse nearly two months ago,
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  Speaker 1: but gets around nicely now on crutches. When you go down,
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  Speaker 1: send up the older of those two colored boys that
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  Speaker 1: room in one of your cabins, and I'll send John
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  Speaker 1: a message that will bring him to your room in
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  Speaker 1: less than an hour, where you can meet him alone.
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  Speaker 1: Aunt Rose kissed my hand and tripped out, with her
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  Speaker 1: face illumed, looking twenty years younger, Prentice, That woman was beautiful,
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  Speaker 1: once beautiful as Florence before that great sorrow crushed her heart. Yes, beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: But his answer was merely mechanical, for he commenced to
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  Speaker 1: walk the floor, an old habit of his when in
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  Speaker 1: a deep study or excited. And I knew he was
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  Speaker 1: trying to hold himself down. But it had to come Oh,
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  Speaker 1: Land of the Free and home of the brave, How
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  Speaker 1: many times I've heard that song? How long, oh Lord,
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  Speaker 1: how long shall this high crime against God and this
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  Speaker 1: people last? Just think of this poor woman who has
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  Speaker 1: passed through enough to make the carnal hart a smoldering hell.
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  Speaker 1: And she has treasured up no bitterness, no hatred, no revenge. No.
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  Speaker 1: Her crushed and bleeding heart that has been so trampled
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  Speaker 1: on by mercenary brutes, is now full of love for
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  Speaker 1: all of God's creatures, praying for those daily who's greed
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  Speaker 1: for gold to put her and her children on the
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  Speaker 1: auction block and have them so like horses, mules and
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  Speaker 1: swine to fill the pockets of miserly airs. And her
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  Speaker 1: prayer has been Father, forgive them, for they knew not
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  Speaker 1: what they did. Just then the boy came in. I
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  Speaker 1: gave him this note, Jack Hale, care of General Hawkins,
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  Speaker 1: eleventh Kentucky Regiment. Dear Jack, we have got trace of
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  Speaker 1: your mother. Come at once call at the middle cabin
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  Speaker 1: back of our hospital. A lady is waiting there now
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  Speaker 1: who can tell you all you wish to know. Come.
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  Speaker 1: She is waiting yours in haste, Marian. Just then the
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  Speaker 1: chaplain came and greeted us with why Mary and I
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  Speaker 1: never saw such a gain in anyone in so short
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  Speaker 1: a time. Your face is flushed and your eyes sparkle.
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  Speaker 1: Have you fever? No fever? Chaplain? Thank you? Something better?
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  Speaker 1: Then I went on and told him the whole story
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  Speaker 1: of aunt Rose's life, while Prentiss watched at the window
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  Speaker 1: for Jack. What joy there will be in that little
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  Speaker 1: cabin to day, said he. It will make the angels
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  Speaker 1: in heaven rejoice. How much that poor woman must have suffered,
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  Speaker 1: with her intelligence and refinement, and then her children, about
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  Speaker 1: ready to graduate from college, seized by the sheriff, thrown
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  Speaker 1: in jail, and sold at public sale like I've heard
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  Speaker 1: a swine here. The chaplain was interrupted by the arrival
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  Speaker 1: of Jack in an ambulance, halting close in front of
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  Speaker 1: our open window. Scarcely had he touched the ground and
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  Speaker 1: gathered his crutch when the anxious mother met him, and
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  Speaker 1: in an instant we heard, Oh Mother, Lawrence, God be praised.
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  Speaker 1: Then all was silent, for Aunt Rose was weeping in
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  Speaker 1: the arms of her long lost son during this meeting
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  Speaker 1: so sacred we sat in silence till they passed out
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  Speaker 1: of our sight back of the hospital to aunt Rose's cabin. Now, Chaplin,
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  Speaker 1: since you made me feel a little vain by your
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  Speaker 1: remarks on my rapid improvement, I propose to get out
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  Speaker 1: of this bed while you were here and walk across
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  Speaker 1: this room. No, no, said Prentice, not today. Well, then
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  Speaker 1: let me get up and stand on my pigs with
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  Speaker 1: a little help. I stood for a moment, the first
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  Speaker 1: time i'd borne my weight on my feet for months.
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  Speaker 1: Then I said, get out of the way, don't let
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  Speaker 1: me fall, and here goes across the room, and I
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  Speaker 1: started with brother and chaplain one on either side with
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  Speaker 1: their hands outstretched. This set me to laughing, and I
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  Speaker 1: guess I should have fallen when I got to the wall,
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  Speaker 1: but they caught me. I stood and rested a moment,
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  Speaker 1: and then said, boys, let go here. I go now,
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  Speaker 1: and reached the bed and got on alone. Some tired,
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  Speaker 1: but a good tired, and when covered up, was ready
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  Speaker 1: to rest. Well done, said the chaplain. I didn't think
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  Speaker 1: you could stand. In fact, I never expected you to
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  Speaker 1: get out of that room below until removed in a casket.
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  Speaker 1: But honestly, you are the poorest man I ever saw
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  Speaker 1: standing up or lying down. Yes, chaplain I'm poor. There
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  Speaker 1: isn't fat enough about me to grease a gunpatch. But
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  Speaker 1: mark you, if nothing new develops, I'll someday be as
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  Speaker 1: good as new and ready to start for home in
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  Speaker 1: a few days, not till you're stronger, Marian, you must
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  Speaker 1: be patient. I shall walk every day now over this room,
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  Speaker 1: back and forth. This reunion that's now occurring in the
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  Speaker 1: little cabin is the best tonic I ever took, and
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  Speaker 1: I am thankful that I have been able to pay
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  Speaker 1: in part what Aunt Rose did for me when I
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  Speaker 1: was helpless and unconscious. She was like a mother to
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  Speaker 1: you marrying, and I don't wonder you feel grateful to her.
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  Speaker 1: She did all she could for all the boys, but
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  Speaker 1: for some unaccountable reason, she seemed to select you as
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  Speaker 1: her special charge. One time I came in just as
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  Speaker 1: she did. You were wild with pain and raving. She
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  Speaker 1: ran to her cabin, got a picture of cold water,
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  Speaker 1: took your head off the cot, and showered it till
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  Speaker 1: the pain left you and your ravings stopped. Then, with
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  Speaker 1: a soft towel, she wiped and dried your hair, and
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  Speaker 1: as I left, you were asleep. Another time I went
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  Speaker 1: in and you were in a deep stupor. I asked
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  Speaker 1: the doctor how you were. He replied, nothing can rouse him.
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  Speaker 1: He'll not live through the night. Soon, aut Rose came
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  Speaker 1: in and sat down on your cot. She had some linen,
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  Speaker 1: a tumbler and pitcher of water, and began to moisten
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  Speaker 1: your lips and bathe your face and hands, and gave
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  Speaker 1: you a spoonful of wine. She fussed with you till
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  Speaker 1: you opened your eyes and smiled and said in a whisper, Why, mother,
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  Speaker 1: when did you come? I sat down by her side
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  Speaker 1: on the cot, and I saw she was shedding tears. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: it don't seem to me that he must die if
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  Speaker 1: I had him in my cabin. I know he get well. No, chaplain,
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  Speaker 1: I can't give him up, and I can't explain why
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  Speaker 1: I have felt such a deep interest in him since
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  Speaker 1: he came. He someway puts me in mind my boy
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  Speaker 1: who was a little younger, and maybe some mother will
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  Speaker 1: do for him the same that I'm doing for Marian. Oh, chaplain,
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  Speaker 1: she continued, I have prayed for my children without seizing,
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  Speaker 1: day and night since they were torn from me. Will
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  Speaker 1: you hear me? Yes, Aunt Rose, yours is practical praying,
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  Speaker 1: and your prayers will be answered, and so they have, Marian,
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  Speaker 1: sooner than I expected. And I am glad you have
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  Speaker 1: been instrumental in helping to bring this blessing about. End
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  Speaker 1: of chapter forty three