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20 - Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup · Twelve Years a Slave

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty of Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northulp.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Faithful to
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  Speaker 1: his word. The day before Christmas, just at nightfall, Bass
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  Speaker 1: came riding into the yard. How are you, said Epps,
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  Speaker 1: shaking him by the hand, glad to see you. He
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  Speaker 1: would not have been very glad had he known the
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  Speaker 1: object of his errand quite well, quite well, answered Bass
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  Speaker 1: had some business out on the by you, and concluded
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  Speaker 1: to call and see you and stay overnight. Epps ordered
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  Speaker 1: one of the slaves to take charge of his horse,
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  Speaker 1: and with much talk and laughter, they passed into the
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  Speaker 1: house together, not however, until Bass had looked at me
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  Speaker 1: significantly as much to say, keep dark. We understand each other.
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  Speaker 1: It was ten o'clock at night before the labors of
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  Speaker 1: the day were performed. When I entered the cabin. At
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  Speaker 1: that time, Uncle Abram and Bob occupied it with me.
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  Speaker 1: I laid down upon my board and feigned I was asleep.
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  Speaker 1: When my companions had fallen into a profound slumber. I'm
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  Speaker 1: moved stealthily out of the door and watched and listened
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  Speaker 1: attentively for some sign or sound from Bass. There I
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  Speaker 1: stood until long after midnight, but nothing could be seen
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  Speaker 1: or heard. As I suspected, he dared not leave the
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  Speaker 1: house through fear of exciting the suspicion of some of
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  Speaker 1: the family. I judged correctly, he would rise earlier than
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  Speaker 1: was his custom and take the opportunity of seeing me
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  Speaker 1: before Epps was up. Accordingly, I aroused Uncle Abram an
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  Speaker 1: hour sooner than usual, and sent him into the house
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  Speaker 1: to build a fire, which, at that season of the
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  Speaker 1: year is a part of Uncle Abram's duties. I also
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  Speaker 1: gave Bob a violent shake and asked him if he
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  Speaker 1: intended to sleep till noon, saying Master would be up
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  Speaker 1: before the mules were fed. He knew right well the
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  Speaker 1: consequence that would follow such an event, and jumping to
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  Speaker 1: his feet was at the horse pasture in a twinkling. Presently,
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  Speaker 1: when both were gone, Bass slipped into the cabin. No
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  Speaker 1: letter yet, Platt said he. The announcement fell upon my
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  Speaker 1: heart like lead. Oh, do write again, Master, Bass, I cried,
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  Speaker 1: I will give you the names of a great many
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  Speaker 1: I know. Surely they are not all dead. Surely someone
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  Speaker 1: will pity me. No use, Bass replied, no use, I
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  Speaker 1: have made up my mind to that. I fear the
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  Speaker 1: Marksville Postmaster will mistrust something I have inquired so often
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  Speaker 1: at his office. Too uncertain, too dangerous. Then it is
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  Speaker 1: all over, I exclaimed, Oh my god, how can I
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  Speaker 1: end my days here? You're not going to end them here,
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  Speaker 1: he said, unless you die very soon. I've thought this
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  Speaker 1: matter all over and have come to a determination. There
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  Speaker 1: are more ways than one to manage this business, and
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  Speaker 1: a better and suer way than writing letters. I have
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  Speaker 1: a job or two on hand which can be completed
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  Speaker 1: by March or April. By that time I shall have
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  Speaker 1: a considerable sum of money. And then Platt, I am
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  Speaker 1: going to Saratoga myself. I could scarcely credit my own
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  Speaker 1: senses as the words fell from his lips, but he
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  Speaker 1: assured me in a manner that left no doubt of
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  Speaker 1: the sincerity of his intention, that if his life were
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  Speaker 1: spared until spring, he should certainly undertake the journey. I
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  Speaker 1: have lived in this region long enough, he continued, I
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  Speaker 1: may as well be in one place as another. For
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  Speaker 1: a long time, I have been thinking of going back
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  Speaker 1: once more, to the place where I was born. I'm
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  Speaker 1: tired of slavery as well as you. If I can
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  Speaker 1: succeed in getting you away from here. It will be
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  Speaker 1: a good act that I shall like to think of
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  Speaker 1: all my life, and I shall succeed. Platt, I'm bound
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  Speaker 1: to do it. Now, let me tell you what I want.
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  Speaker 1: Epps will be up soon, and it won't do to
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  Speaker 1: be caught here. Think of a great many men at
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  Speaker 1: Saratoga and Sandy Hill and in that neighborhood who wants
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  Speaker 1: new you. I shall make excuse to come here again
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  Speaker 1: in the course of the winter, when I will write
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  Speaker 1: down their names. I will then know who to call
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  Speaker 1: on when I go north. Think of all you can
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  Speaker 1: cheer up. Don't be discouraged. I'm with you life or death.
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  Speaker 1: Good Bye, God bless you. And saying this, he left
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  Speaker 1: the cabin quickly and entered the Great House. It was
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  Speaker 1: Christmas morning, the happiest day in the whole year for
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  Speaker 1: the slave. That morning he need not hurry to the
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  Speaker 1: field with his gourd and cotton bag. Happiness sparkled in
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  Speaker 1: the eyes and overspread the countenances of all the time
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  Speaker 1: of feasting and dancing had come. The cane and cotton
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  Speaker 1: fields were deserted. That day the clean dress was to
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  Speaker 1: be donned. The red ribbon displayed there were to be
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  Speaker 1: reunions and joy and laughter, and hurrying to and fro.
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  Speaker 1: It was to be a day of liberty among the
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  Speaker 1: children of slavery. Wherefore they were happy and rejoiced. After breakfast,
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  Speaker 1: Epsom Bass sauntered about the yard, conversing upon the price
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  Speaker 1: of cotton and various other topics. Where do your niggers
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  Speaker 1: hold Christmas? Bass inquired? Platts going to Tanners today? His
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  Speaker 1: fiddles in great demand. They want him at Marshal's Monday,
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  Speaker 1: and Miss Mary McCoy on the old Norwood Plantation writes
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  Speaker 1: me a note that she wants him to play for
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  Speaker 1: her Niggers Chief Tuesday. He is rather a smart boy,
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  Speaker 1: ain't he said? Bass? Come here, Platt? He added, looking
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  Speaker 1: at me as I walked up to them, as if
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  Speaker 1: he had never thought before to take any special notice
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  Speaker 1: of me. Yes, replied Epps, taking hold of my arm
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  Speaker 1: and feeling it. There isn't a bad joint in him.
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  Speaker 1: There ain't a boy on the by you worth more
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  Speaker 1: than he is. Perfectly sound, and no bad tricks damn him.
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  Speaker 1: He isn't like other niggers, doesn't look like him, don't
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  Speaker 1: act like him. I was offered seventeen hundred dollars for
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  Speaker 1: him last week and didn't take it. Bass inquired, with
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  Speaker 1: an air of surprise. Take it, no devilish clear of it.
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  Speaker 1: Why he's a regular genius. Can make a plowbeam, wagon,
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  Speaker 1: tongue anything as well as you can. Marshall wanted to
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  Speaker 1: put up one of his niggers, agin him and raffle
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  Speaker 1: for them, but I told him I'd see the devil
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  Speaker 1: have him first. I don't see anything remarkable about him,
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  Speaker 1: Bass observed, Why just feel of him now, Epps rejoined.
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  Speaker 1: You don't see a boy very often put together any
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  Speaker 1: closer than he is. He's a thin skinned cuss and
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  Speaker 1: won't bear as much whipping as some, but he's got
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  Speaker 1: the muscle in him, and no mistake Bass felt of me.
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  Speaker 1: Turned me round and made a thorough examination epps All
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  Speaker 1: the wild dwelling on my good points, but his visitor
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  Speaker 1: seemed to take but little interest finally in the subject,
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  Speaker 1: and consequently it was dropped. Bass soon departed, giving me
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  Speaker 1: another sly look of recognition and significance as he trotted
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  Speaker 1: out of the yard. When he was gone, I obtained
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  Speaker 1: a pass and started for Tanners, not Peter Tanner's, of
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  Speaker 1: whom mention has previously been made, but a relative of his.
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  Speaker 1: I played during the day and most of the night,
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  Speaker 1: spending the next day Sunday in my cabin. Monday I
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  Speaker 1: crossed the Bayou to Douglas Marshalls, all EPP's slaves accompanying me,
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  Speaker 1: and on Tuesday went to the old Norwood Place, which
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  Speaker 1: is the third plantation above Marshals on the same side
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  Speaker 1: of the water. The estate is now owned by Miss
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  Speaker 1: Mary McCoy, a lovely girl some twenty years of age.
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  Speaker 1: She is the beauty and the glory of Bayou birth.
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  Speaker 1: She owns about one hundred working hands, besides a great
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  Speaker 1: many house servants, yard boys, and young children. Her brother
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  Speaker 1: in law, who resides on the adjoining estate, is her
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  Speaker 1: general agent. She is beloved by all her slaves, and
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  Speaker 1: good reason indeed have they to be thankful that they
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  Speaker 1: have fallen into such gentle hands. Nowhere on the by
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  Speaker 1: you are there such feasts, such merrymaking as at young
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  Speaker 1: Madame McCoy's. Thither more than to any other place. To
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  Speaker 1: the old and the young for miles around, loved to
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  Speaker 1: repair in the time of the Christmas holidays. For nowhere
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  Speaker 1: else can they find such delicious repasts. Nowhere else can
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  Speaker 1: they hear a voice speaking to them so pleasantly. No
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  Speaker 1: one is so well beloved, No one fills so large
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  Speaker 1: a space in the hearts of a thousand slaves as
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  Speaker 1: young Madame McCoy, the orphan mistress of the old Norwood Estate.
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  Speaker 1: On my arrival at her place, I found two or
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  Speaker 1: three hundred had assembled. The table was prepared in a
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  Speaker 1: long building which she had a directed expressly for her
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  Speaker 1: slaves to dance in. It was covered with every variety
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  Speaker 1: of food the country afforded, and was pronounced by general
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  Speaker 1: acclamation to be the rarest of dinners. Roast, turkey, pig, chicken, duck,
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  Speaker 1: and all kinds of meat baked, boiled and broiled formed
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  Speaker 1: a line the whole length of the extended table, while
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  Speaker 1: the vacant spaces were filled with tarts, jellies, and frosted
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  Speaker 1: cake and pastry of many kinds. The young mistress walked
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  Speaker 1: around the table, smiling and saying a kind word to
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  Speaker 1: each one, and seemed to enjoy the scene exceedingly. When
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  Speaker 1: the dinner was over, the tables were removed to make
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  Speaker 1: room for the dancers. I tuned my violin and struck
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  Speaker 1: up a lively air, while some joined in a nimble reel.
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  Speaker 1: Others patted and sang their simple but melodious songs, filling
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  Speaker 1: the great room with music mingled with the sound of
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  Speaker 1: human voices and the clatter of many feet. In the evening,
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  Speaker 1: the mistress returned and stood in the door a long
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  Speaker 1: time looking at us. She was magnificently a Her dark
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  Speaker 1: hair and eyes contrasted strongly with her clear and delicate complexion.
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  Speaker 1: Her form was slender but commanding, and her movement was
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  Speaker 1: a combination of unaffected dignity and grace. As she stood there,
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  Speaker 1: cloud in her rich apparel, her face animated with pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: I thought I had never looked upon a human being
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  Speaker 1: half so beautiful. I dwell with delight upon the description
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  Speaker 1: of this fair and gentle lady, not only because she
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  Speaker 1: inspired me with emotions of gratitude and admiration, but because
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  Speaker 1: I would have the reader understand that all slave owners
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  Speaker 1: on buy Yu birth are not like EPP's or Tibet's
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  Speaker 1: or Jim Burns. Occasionally can be found rarely it may be, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: a good man like William Ford, or an angel of
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  Speaker 1: kindness like young Mistress McCoy. Tuesday, concluded the three holidays,
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  Speaker 1: Epps yearly allowed us. On my way home Wednesday morning,
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  Speaker 1: while passing the plantation of William Pierce, that gentleman hailed me,
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  Speaker 1: saying he had received a line from EPP's brought down
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  Speaker 1: by William Varnell, permitting him to detain me for the
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  Speaker 1: purpose of playing for his slaves. That night. It was
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  Speaker 1: the last time I was destined to witness a slave
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  Speaker 1: dance on the shores of bar U Birth. The party
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  Speaker 1: at Pierces continued their jollification until broad daylight, when I
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  Speaker 1: returned to my master's house, somewhat wearied with the loss
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  Speaker 1: of rest, but rejoicing in the possession of numerous bits
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  Speaker 1: and picker yunes which the whites, who were pleased with
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  Speaker 1: my musical performances, had contributed. On Saturday morning, for the
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  Speaker 1: first time in years, I overslept myself. I was frightened
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  Speaker 1: on coming out of the cabin to find the slaves
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  Speaker 1: were already in the field. They had preceded me some
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  Speaker 1: fifteen minutes, leaving my dinner and water goard. I hurried
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  Speaker 1: after them as fast as I could move. It was
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  Speaker 1: not yet sunrise, but Epps was on the piazza as
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  Speaker 1: I left the hut, and cried out to me that
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  Speaker 1: it was a pretty time of day to be getting
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  Speaker 1: up by extra exertion. My roe was up when he
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  Speaker 1: came out after breakfast. This, however, was no excuse for
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  Speaker 1: the offense of oversleeping. Bidding me strip and lie down,
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  Speaker 1: he gave me ten or fifteen lashes, at the conclusion
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  Speaker 1: of which he inquired if I thought after that I
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  Speaker 1: could get up sometime in the morning. I expressed myself
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  Speaker 1: quite positively that I could, and with back stinging with pain,
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  Speaker 1: went about my work. The following day, Sunday, my thoughts
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  Speaker 1: were upon Bass and the probabilities and hopes which hung
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  Speaker 1: upon his action and determination. I considered the uncertainty of life,
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  Speaker 1: that if it should be the will of God that
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  Speaker 1: he should die, my prospect of deliverance and all expectation
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  Speaker 1: of happiness in this world would be wholly ended and destroyed.
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  Speaker 1: My sore back perhaps did not have a tendency to
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  Speaker 1: render me unusually cheerful. I felt downhearted and unhappy all
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  Speaker 1: day long, and when I laid down upon the hard
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  Speaker 1: board at night, my heart was oppressed with such a
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  Speaker 1: load of grief. It seemed that it must break. Monday morning,
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  Speaker 1: the third of January eighteen fifty three, we were in
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  Speaker 1: the field Betimes. It was a raw, cold morning, such
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  Speaker 1: as is unusual in that region. I was in advance,
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  Speaker 1: Uncle Abram next to me. Behind him, Bob, Patsy and Wiley,
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  Speaker 1: with our cotton bags about our necks. Epps happened a
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  Speaker 1: rare thing, indeed, to come out that morning without his whip.
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  Speaker 1: He swore in a manner that would shame a pirate,
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  Speaker 1: that we were doing nothing. Bob ventured to say that
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  Speaker 1: his fingers were so numb with cold he couldn't pick fast.
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  Speaker 1: Epps cursed himself for not having brought his raw hide,
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  Speaker 1: and declared that when he came out again, he would
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  Speaker 1: warm us. Well, yes, he would make us all hotter
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  Speaker 1: than that fiery realm in which I am sometimes compelled
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  Speaker 1: to believe he will himself eventually reside. With these fervent expressions,
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  Speaker 1: he left us. When out of hearing, we commenced talking
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  Speaker 1: to each other, saying how hard it was to be
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  Speaker 1: compelled to keep up our tasks with numb fingers, how
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  Speaker 1: unreasonable Master was, and speaking of him generally in no
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  Speaker 1: flattering terms. Our conversation was interrupted by a carriage passing
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  Speaker 1: rapidly towards the house. Looking up, we saw two men
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  Speaker 1: approaching us through the cotton field. Having now brought down
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  Speaker 1: this narrative to the last hour I was to spend
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  Speaker 1: on by u birth, Having gotten through my last cotton picking,
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  Speaker 1: and about to bid Master EPP's farewell, I must beg
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  Speaker 1: the reader to go back with me to the month
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  Speaker 1: of August, to follow Bass's letter on its long journey
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  Speaker 1: to Saratoga, to learn the effect it produced, and that
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  Speaker 1: while I was repining and despairing in the slave hut
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  Speaker 1: of Edwin Epps, through the friendship of Bass and the
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  Speaker 1: goodness of Providence, all things were working together for my deliverance.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter twenty