I escaped the punishment I should otherwise have suffered. Not so
with my venerable and venerated teachers. It was considered necessary to make an exampleof them, that others might be deterred
from the like attempts. Years passed, however, before I learned their fate. The cruel overseer would not tell me whither he
had removed them, but to all my inquiries he simply answered that he would take good care I never saw them again. My fancy
painted them as immured in a dungeon for the crime of teaching a slave to read. Their cottage of home remained uninhabited
for a time, and then strangers came and took possession of it. But Oh the difference to me. For days and weeks I was inconsolable,
and how I hated and blamed myself as the cause of their misery. After a time the intensity of my feelings subsided, and I
came to a more rational and consistent manner of thinking. I concluded that they were happy whatever might be their condition,
and that only by doing right and being good I could make anything like an adequate return for all they had done and suffered
for me.
Another year passed away. There was to be a change in our establishment, and the ancient mansion of Lindendale was to receive
a mistress. Hitherto our master had been a bachelor. He was a portly man, middle-aged, and of aristocratic name and connexions.
His estate had descended to him through many generations, and it was whispered though no one seemed to know, that he was bringing
his beautiful bride to an impoverished house.
holidays and the time for warming fires to be kindled in the dusty chimneys of southern chambers It was then that our master
brought home his bride The remembrance is fresh to me as that of yesterday. The holidays were passed, and we had been promised another in honor
of the occasion. But we were not animated with the idea of that half so much as because something had occurred to break the
dull monotony of our existence; something that would give life, and zest, and interest, to one day at least; and something
that would afford a theme for conversation and speculation. Then our preparations were quite wonderful, and the oldhousekeeper
nearly overdid herself in fidgetting and fretting and worrying while dragging her unwieldly weight of flesh up and down the
staircases, along the galleries and passages, and through the rooms where floors were undergoing the process of being rubbed
bright, carpets were being spread, curtains shaken out, beds puffed and covered and furniture dusted and polished, and all things prepared as beseemed the dignity of the family and the fastidious taste of
its expected mistress. It was a grand time for me as now I had an opportunity of seeing the house, and ascertaining what a
fine old place it was. Heretofore all except certain apartments had been interdicted to us, but now that the chambers were
opened to be aired and renovated no one could prevent us making good use of our eyes. And we saw on all sides the appearance
of wealth and splendor, and the appliances to every luxury. What a variety of beautiful rooms, all splendid yet so different,
and seemingly inhabited by marble images of art, or human forms pictured on the walls. What an array of costly furniture adorned
the rich saloons and gorgeous halls. We thought our master must be a very great man to have so much wealth at his command,
but it never occurred to us to inquire whose sweat and blood and unpaid labor had contributed to produce it.
The evening previous to the expected arrival of the bridal party Mrs Bry the housekeeper, announced the preparations to be
complete and all things in readiness. Then she remembered that the windows of one apartment had been left open for a freer
admission of air. It must be closed They must be closed and barred and the good old dame imposed that duty on me. “I am so excessively weary or I would attend
to it myself ” she said giving me my directions “but I think that I
with my venerable and venerated teachers. It was considered necessary to make an exampleof them, that others might be deterred
from the like attempts. Years passed, however, before I learned their fate. The cruel overseer would not tell me whither he
had removed them, but to all my inquiries he simply answered that he would take good care I never saw them again. My fancy
painted them as immured in a dungeon for the crime of teaching a slave to read. Their cottage of home remained uninhabited
for a time, and then strangers came and took possession of it. But Oh the difference to me. For days and weeks I was inconsolable,
and how I hated and blamed myself as the cause of their misery. After a time the intensity of my feelings subsided, and I
came to a more rational and consistent manner of thinking. I concluded that they were happy whatever might be their condition,
and that only by doing right and being good I could make anything like an adequate return for all they had done and suffered
for me.
Another year passed away. There was to be a change in our establishment, and the ancient mansion of Lindendale was to receive
a mistress. Hitherto our master had been a bachelor. He was a portly man, middle-aged, and of aristocratic name and connexions.
His estate had descended to him through many generations, and it was whispered though no one seemed to know, that he was bringing
his beautiful bride to an impoverished house.
holidays and the time for warming fires to be kindled in the dusty chimneys of southern chambers It was then that our master
brought home his bride The remembrance is fresh to me as that of yesterday. The holidays were passed, and we had been promised another in honor
of the occasion. But we were not animated with the idea of that half so much as because something had occurred to break the
dull monotony of our existence; something that would give life, and zest, and interest, to one day at least; and something
that would afford a theme for conversation and speculation. Then our preparations were quite wonderful, and the oldhousekeeper
nearly overdid herself in fidgetting and fretting and worrying while dragging her unwieldly weight of flesh up and down the
staircases, along the galleries and passages, and through the rooms where floors were undergoing the process of being rubbed
bright, carpets were being spread, curtains shaken out, beds puffed and covered and furniture dusted and polished, and all things prepared as beseemed the dignity of the family and the fastidious taste of
its expected mistress. It was a grand time for me as now I had an opportunity of seeing the house, and ascertaining what a
fine old place it was. Heretofore all except certain apartments had been interdicted to us, but now that the chambers were
opened to be aired and renovated no one could prevent us making good use of our eyes. And we saw on all sides the appearance
of wealth and splendor, and the appliances to every luxury. What a variety of beautiful rooms, all splendid yet so different,
and seemingly inhabited by marble images of art, or human forms pictured on the walls. What an array of costly furniture adorned
the rich saloons and gorgeous halls. We thought our master must be a very great man to have so much wealth at his command,
but it never occurred to us to inquire whose sweat and blood and unpaid labor had contributed to produce it.
The evening previous to the expected arrival of the bridal party Mrs Bry the housekeeper, announced the preparations to be
complete and all things in readiness. Then she remembered that the windows of one apartment had been left open for a freer
admission of air. It must be closed They must be closed and barred and the good old dame imposed that duty on me. “I am so excessively weary or I would attend
to it myself ” she said giving me my directions “but I think that I
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