Kate Langley Bosher

“ The snow muffled the sound of their coming, and while Sallie Tom knocked softly at the door, Dorothy leaned heavily against it. In a moment it was opened, and the men sprang forward to catch her, as she almost fell inside. “I’m all right,” she cried. “Shut the door quick. You have not a moment to lose. Are the horses ready?”
[114]
Bobbie took her up in his arms, as if she were a little child, and put her in front of the fire. “Where is Dr. Miles?” he asked, hoarsely. “Didn’t you bring him? I have the license here in my pocket. We must be married before I leave you. ”

“ Tayloe could scarce repress a smile when he saw the eager excitement on his little son’s face as he neared the stretch that would decide the race. Peter Black was losing his head, but Bobbie leaned still lower and touched Dare Devil on the forehead, as he was accustomed to do in the stables, and then he saw the crowd at the gate and his father’s white face among them. “Dare Devil, we must!” he cried, almost frantically. “Don’t you see father? We must;” and he bent his feet against his flanks, and Dare Devil gave a great leap—and Peter Black was behind! ”

“ Anne surveyed them for a moment, then ran up-stairs to report the progress made to Dorothy. “Sallie Tom is snorting like an old porpoise,” she declared, sitting down for a moment, and fingering almost reverently the beautiful old lace veil lying on the bed, and stroking softly the quaint, old-fashioned wedding gown. “She seems on the eve of spontaneous combustion, [78] but the dining room is a sight to behold! Where in the name of reason she has raked up all those good things to eat will ever be one of the mysteries of life to me. ”

“ It was just after the clock struck the birth of another Christmas-Day that Bobbie led his bride into the beautiful parlors, and while they plighted their troth with only those around who knew and loved them most, Uncle Lias outside the door played softly on his old violin the sweet old Christmas carol of “Peace on Earth—Good [128] Will to Men,” and after it was over the Blue and the Grey shook hands together, to the intense and unqualified disgust of loyal old Sallie Tom. ”

“ If the Yankee soldiers had never tried it before, they made up for lost opportunities, and though the reverend parson walked restlessly up and down the room, holding his only partly touched glass in his hand, he dared not utter the protest that his conscience told him under other circumstances he should, and Dorothy and Anne, with a silent prayer for forgiveness, filled again and again the glasses of the men with the foamy seductive stuff, and good cheer was being widely disseminated when Sallie Tom entered again. ”

“ Year in and year out they grew up, seeing each other so constantly that no thought of either was ever kept from the other; and while over everybody else in the house and neighborhood Bobbie reigned supreme, to Dorothy alone did he succumb, and mercilessly she tyrannized over him with all the inconsistency of the woman nature that was in her. ”

“ All sense of servant and master was forgotten in Peter Black’s and Bobbie’s minds; it was a race to win, and all else save winning was driven out. Nearer and nearer they came, and up through the stillness of the early morning could be heard the ringing of the horses’ hoofs upon the hard-packed track ”

“ Dear Dorothy—We are drawn up in line of battle, facing the enemy, and waiting the signal to charge. I am using my cap to write on. I don’t know how it is going to be. I only know we are going to fight like our women expect us; and now, before it begins, I am trying to send you a word to tell you that the thought of you makes me dare all things. I am going to put this in my pocket. Peter Black knows what I want done in case I don’t send it myself. Tell mother she shall [61] not be ashamed of her son. My love to her, and for you, little sweetheart, God bless you, and make me worthy of you! ”

“ Every negro on the place believed in her cunjuring power, and they would no sooner have thought of passing than of trying to ride the moon. Things were beginning to look desperate. Even the loyal and good servants showed signs of dissatisfaction under the influence of the agitators, until finally only Dorothy’s old mammy Rachel, Jessie, the dining-room servant, Uncle Lias, the carriage driver, and Sallie Tom remained deaf to the promises of good fortune and prosperity advanced by the younger element. ”

“ Every dollar on earth possessed by both her father and Mr. Tayloe had been invested in Confederate bonds, and she knew that very soon their purchasing value would be of little account.
That they should ever suffer she did not allow herself to think; but it was necessary to husband every resource, and every energy must be bent toward keeping from Bobbie’s mother as long as possible the seriousness of the situation. Life was by no means now a thing of ease or pleasure [66] to Dorothy. ”

“ It was not a difficult matter to persuade the men to stay to supper. Old Uncle Lias kept piling up the fire, and the scene was so homelike—and then it was Christmas night!
“You thought you were going to frighten us with your armed force,” said Dorothy to the Sergeant, who managed to keep near her, “but I know you have only four men outside, and it’s a shame to keep them on their horses on such a bitter night.” She walked over to the window and looked out. “It is snowing furiously! Why don’t you let them come in and have some supper? ”

“ It looks so much like old times,” she went on, still handling the soft, pretty things composing the bridal outfit, “that it makes me positively sick to think of the awful change. You know we’ve been on half rations for months, and how we’re going to hold out is beyond my ken. Sallie Tom always was an uncanny old animal, anyhow, and I believe she’s cunjured those things from the man in the moon; but the very smell has made me disgracefully hungry, and I wish Bobbie would make haste and come, so we can begin on the supper.” Dorothy laughed a little, and looked up at the clock. ”

“ Women are nearly always good actors, and even the prim Misses Rutherfoord and the proper Miss Trent nervously tried to appear in sympathy with the reckless gayety of Dorothy and Anne, who, when the other four young men came in, received them as they would have done the acquaintances of old friends, and the dining-room became a scene of genuine Christmas cheer. ”

“ When the big master came Sallie Tom got to work. The Rev. Dr. Miles couldn’t stay all night, but not until Christmas-Day would they [125] be married. When the clock struck twelve the ceremony would take place, and poor Uncle Lias couldn’t make the fires quick enough in the big parlors, and Peter Black was called here and there, just as he had been a year ago.
“Bobbie must wear his uniform,” Dorothy said. She could marry him in nothing whose decorations would make her half so proud as would the torn and battered, the faded and worn old suit which told of honorable service. ”

“ The men set up a shout, and Dare Devil, [20] almost maddened, kept up his wonderful speed, and in a moment it was over—the goal was reached, and Bobbie had loosened his hold and was shouting wildly to his father, when Dare Devil gave another spurt—and Bobbie lay on the ground, flung against the fence. Every man rushed quickly to the spot; but already his father had him in his arms, and Dr. Trevillian was bending over him. Peter Black was there, too, and they said afterward that he was as white as Bobbie. ”

“ Our pastor is taking his Christmas tea with us, also a few other friends, and that is why I cannot go with you over the house—unless they will excuse me. Let’s go anyhow, Anne,” she added, [94] turning quickly to her friend. “I’ve told you it would be useless, however,” she went on. “Mr. Tayloe left here five hours ago; but of course you must go through the house, and we might show you some nooks and corners Sallie Tom would possibly leave out.” The two men glanced at each other, then accepted Dorothy’s offer with thanks. It would certainly do no harm to have two pretty girls go along. ”

“ A negro agitator and so-called preacher had appeared in the village near by, and so great was the effect of his haranguing that the entire neighborhood was demoralized, and nightly meetings were held down at the cross-roads. Sallie Tom was constable-in-chief of the “White Point” contingent, [63] and every night she stationed herself in the road usually taken by the servants and hands on their way to the meetings, a gun in one hand and a pistol in the other, ready to shoot the first one who passed. ”

“ It was in the summer of sixty (’60) that Bobbie got his degree at college and the promise of Dorothy to be his wife, and while much gayety and pleasure filled up the measure of many days, [51] other and more weighty subjects began to fill the air, and caused many long and serious discussions among the men of the neighborhood, old and young alike, and by the fall the one absorbing topic among all classes was the terrible possibility of war. ”

“ Mars’ Robert told you to-day dat you b’long to de little marsa, now, and so you does. Yo’ foots is to run for him, yo’ han’s is to [14] work for him, yo’ tongue is to talk up for him, yo’ eyes is to look out for him; but you b’long to me, too, Peter Black, and when yo’ foots don’t run, and yo’ hands don’t work, and yo’ eyes don’t see, and you gets to any foolin’, den me and dis heah frien’ of yourn will hav’ suppin to say to you, Peter Black, and now go long wid you,” and Sallie Tom turned and threw her arms around him and hugged him passionately, and then sent him out to play. ”

“ The two men looked at her as a fresh kind of curiosity and laughed. “Oh, I guess there isn’t much use in hurrying,” one answered; “it’s right uncomfortable to be hidden somewhere, and you all might as well make up your minds to give up the young gentleman; he can’t possibly escape, you know. We’ve got men all outside the house. It would be dangerous for him to try; he might get shot.”
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Sallie Tom clutched her hands angrily together under her apron. She had an intense desire to wring their necks, the little whippersnappers, she muttered under her breath. Give up Mars’ Bobbie? ”

“ Peter was her one and only offspring, and though she loved him very much in her own peculiar way, it was something very different from the absolute idolatry she had for her master and mistress, and now for the little stranger that for [12] ten long years she had hoped and prayed would come to fill the sore need of a child up in the big house.
There was a strain of Indian blood somewhere in Sallie Tom, it was thought, and the rest of the negroes were far more afraid than fond of her. They declared she “cungered” them, and some would have nothing to do with her ”

“ Tayloe and Dorothy came down as usual, and found Sallie Tom and the three other servants drawn up in line outside the dining-room door. Sallie Tom was almost wild [64] with excitement and anger. “They’re gone!” she cried, waving her hand violently in the direction of the quarters, her voice trembling and her whole body quivering. “They’re gone, every one of them—gone like thieves in the night. They have took all their things, and six of the horses, mos’ all the corn, and Gord A’mighty knows what else. ”

“ They had read a great deal about Southern hospitality, but it quite upset them to be offered it under such circumstances. Sallie Tom had drawn Dorothy aside, and was saying something in an undertone; but the latter had heard Mrs. Tayloe’s question, and she answered it for them.
“Of course they will,” she broke in. “I’m sure they are hungry and thirsty too, and I know they will have some supper after we get through the search; but we must do that first. ”

“ At the end of that time Dorothy was taken back, the promise that she should come again being the only way of stopping her sobs at parting. Bobbie was standing in the doorway with his hands clutched closely together, trying hard to keep back the tears; but when the carriage was lost sight of by a turn in the road, he ran to his mother and buried his head in her lap. “He can take her from me now, ’cause I’m little and can’t help it,” he blurted out, gulpingly, “but when we get bigger I won’t let any man, not even her father, take her from me ”

“ Like a cyclone she rushed through the line of darkies, all drawn up by the big gate waiting to see the young master off, and in a minute she had him in her arms and almost off his feet. “Gord A’mighty tek care of my chile!” she sobbed, rocking him backwards and forwards in a way highly uncomfortable to poor Bobbie, who yet had not the heart to rebuff her. “Gord A’mighty tek care of my po’ chile, gwine out alone, all by hissef, and bring him back to his old mammy!” ”

“ To think I uver should er lived to see my missus done treated so by niggers! Oh, Lord A’mighty, what we gwine to do anyhow?” And Sallie Tom for the moment lost her courage in the face of the dread possibilities of the future.
Mrs. Tayloe turned white to the lips, and Dorothy caught her hands and held them in her own strong, tender ones.
“I suppose it had to come,” she said presently, nervously pressing Dorothy’s hands in her own. “I am thankful it is no worse. We must do the best we can, and not let the gentlemen know. [65] Ah, no, we must not let the gentlemen know!” ”