Part 13 (1/2)
In this he left us a great heritage; it is a lesson for both sections, and all races of any section. White men of America, black men of America, by the eternal G.o.d of heaven, there can be no division of destiny on the same soil and in the bosom and in the lap of the same natural mother. Men may attempt and accomplish discrimination in a small way, but Almighty G.o.d and all-mothering nature are absolutely impartial.
They have woven the fabric of life so that the thread of each man's existence is a part of the whole. He who sets fire to his neighbor's house, endangers the existence of his own; he who degrades his neighbor's children, undermines the future of his own. Together we rise and together we fall is the plan of G.o.d and the rule of nature. We must lean together in the common struggle of life: the syncline is stronger than the anticline.
In a great nation with an increasing fame, the lesson of Lincoln's life must grow in importance. As long as the human heart loves freedom his name will be a word on the tongues of men. His name will be a watchword wherever liberty in her struggles with tyranny lifts her embattled banners. No man of the ancient or the modern world has a securer place in the hearts and memories of men than this man Lincoln, who was born in obscurity, who died in a halo, and who now rests in an aureole of historic glory.
RONDEAU
JESSIE FAUSET
When April's here and meadows wide Once more with spring's sweet growths are pied, I close each book, drop each pursuit, And past the brook, no longer mute, I joyous roam the countryside.
Look, here the violets shy abide And there the mating robins hide-- How keen my senses, how acute, When April's here!
And list! down where the s.h.i.+mmering tide Hard by that farthest hill doth glide, Rise faint sweet strains from shepherd's flute, Pan's pipes and Berecynthian lute.
Each sight, each sound fresh joys provide When April's here.
HOW I ESCAPED
FREDERICK DOUGLa.s.s
Although slavery was a delicate subject, and very cautiously talked about among grown-up people in Maryland, I frequently talked about it, and that very freely, with the white boys. I would sometimes say to them, while seated on a curbstone or a cellar door, ”I wish I could be free, as you will be when you get to be men. You will be free, you know, as soon as you are twenty-one, and can go where you like, but I am a slave for life. Have I not as good a right to be free as you have?”
Words like these, I observed, always troubled them; and I had no small satisfaction in drawing out from them, as I occasionally did, that fresh and bitter condemnation of slavery which ever springs from natures unseared and unperverted. Of all consciences, let me have those to deal with, which have not been seared and bewildered with the cares and perplexities of life.
I do not remember ever to have met with a boy while I was in slavery, who defended the system, but I do remember many times, when I was consoled by them, and by them encouraged to hope that something would yet occur by which I would be made free. Over and over again, they have told me that ”they believed I had as good a right to be free as they had,” and that ”they did not believe G.o.d ever made any one to be a slave.”
On Monday, the third day of September, 1838, in accordance with my resolution, I bade farewell to the city of Baltimore, and to slavery.
My success was due to address rather than courage; to good luck rather than bravery. My means of escape were provided for me by the very men who were making laws to hold and bind me more securely in slavery. It was the custom in the State of Maryland to require of the free colored people to have what were called free papers. This instrument they were required to renew very often, and by charging a fee for this writing, considerable sums from time to time were collected by the State. In these papers the name, age, color, height, and form of the free man were described, together with any scars or other marks upon his person.
Now more than one man could be found to answer the same general description. Hence many slaves could escape by impersonating the owner of one set of papers; and this was often done as follows: A slave nearly or sufficiently answering the description set forth in the papers, would borrow or hire them till he could by their means escape to a free state, and then, by mail or otherwise, return them to the owner. The operation was a hazardous one for the lender as well as the borrower.
A failure on the part of the fugitive to send back the papers would imperil his benefactor, and the discovery of the papers in possession of the wrong man would imperil both the fugitive and his friend. It was therefore an act of supreme trust on the part of a freeman of color thus to put in jeopardy his own liberty that another might be free. It was, however, not infrequently bravely done, and was seldom discovered. I was not so fortunate as to sufficiently resemble any of my free acquaintances to answer the description of their papers.
But I had one friend--a sailor--who owned a sailor's protection, which answered somewhat the purpose of free papers--describing his person, and certifying to the fact that he was a free American sailor. The instrument had at its head the American eagle, which gave it the appearance at once of an authorized doc.u.ment. This protection did not, when in my hands, describe its bearer very accurately. Indeed, it called for a man much darker than myself, and close examination of it would have caused my arrest at the start.
In order to avoid this fatal scrutiny I had arranged with a hackman to bring my baggage to the train just on the moment of starting, and jumped upon the car myself when the train was already in motion. Had I gone into the station and offered to purchase a ticket, I should have been instantly and carefully examined, and undoubtedly arrested.
In choosing this plan upon which to act, I considered the jostle of the train, and the natural haste of the conductor, in a train crowded with pa.s.sengers, and relied upon my skill and address in playing the sailor as described in my protection, to do the rest. One element in my favor was the kind feeling which prevailed in Baltimore, and other seaports at the time, towards ”those who go down to the sea in s.h.i.+ps.” ”Free trade and sailors' rights” expressed the sentiment of the country just then.
In my clothing I was rigged out in sailor style. I had on a red s.h.i.+rt and a tarpaulin hat and black cravat, tied in sailor fas.h.i.+on, carelessly and loosely about my neck. My knowledge of s.h.i.+ps and sailor's talk came much to my a.s.sistance, for I knew a s.h.i.+p from stem to stern, and from keelson to cross-trees, and could talk sailor like an ”old salt.”
On sped the train, and I was well on the way to Havre de Grace before the conductor came into the Negro car to collect tickets and examine the papers of his black pa.s.sengers. This was a critical moment in the drama.
My whole future depended upon the decision of this conductor. Agitated I was while this ceremony was proceeding, but still externally, at least, I was apparently calm and self-possessed. He went on with his duty--examining several colored pa.s.sengers before reaching me. He was somewhat harsh in tone, and peremptory in manner until he reached me, when, strangely enough, and to my surprise and relief, his whole manner changed.