book_id
stringlengths 2
6
| title
stringclasses 1
value | author
stringclasses 1
value | conversations
listlengths 1
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|---|---|---|---|
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I am afraid--afraid, she murmured, when her burning curiosity urged her fingers to do their task."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Suppose he--my father was a man like--like those two--suppose he was Claw, himself! She shuddered at the thought."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, no! she whispered,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Wananebish said that he was good. My mother, then, who was she? Is some terrible stigma attached to her name? Better never to know who I am, than to know _that_! For a moment she held the packet above the little flames of her fire as though she would drop it in, but even as she held it she knew she would not destroy it, for she decided that even to know the worst would be better than the gnawing of life-long uncertainty."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He, too, has the right to know, she murmured,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And we will open it together."
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Anything doing?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, she answered,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not even a wolf, or a caribou has crossed the open."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Have you explored that?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No. I--waited. I wanted you--and--Oh, I was afraid!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nonsense, darling! laughed the man,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am not afraid! Give me the bag. Again I swear to you, I do not care who you are. You are mine--and nothing else matters!"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Murdo MacFarlane, cried Brent,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, that's the name in the book that told of Hearne's lost mines--the book that brought me over here!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And the name on the knife--see, I have it here! exclaimed the girl."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, go on! Who was MacFarlane, and what has he to do with me?"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, that is it! That is it! The memory!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What do you mean? What memory?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Always I have had it--the memory. Time and time again it comes back to me--but I can never seem to grasp it. A cabin, a beautiful woman who leaned over me, and talked to me, and a big man who took me up in his arms, a lake beside the cabin, and--that is all. Dim and elusive, always, I have tried for hours at a time to bring it sharply into mind, but it was no use--the memory would fade, and in its place would be the tepee, or my little room at the mission. But, go on! What became of Murdo MacFarlane, and Margot--of my father and my mother. And why have I always lived with Wananebish?"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In the morning I shall carry my wee Margot to the Indian woman. It is the only thing I can do. And then I shall strike North for gold. But first I must return to this cabin and bury my dead. God! Why did she have to die? She should be buried beside her mother in the little graveyard at Ste. Anne's. But it cannot be. Upon a high point that juts out onto the lake, I will dig her grave--upon a point where we used often to go and watch the sunset, she and I and the little one. And there she will lie, while far below her the booming and the thunder of the wind-lashed waters of the lake will rise about her like the sound of bells--her requiem--like the tolling of the bells of Ste. Anne's."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, where is he now--my father?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He is dead, he whispered,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He has been dead these many years, or he would have found you. He swept his arm toward the barrens,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Somewhere in this great white land your father met his death--and it was a man's death--the kind of death he would have welcomed--for he was a man! The whole North is his grave. And out of it, his spirit kept calling--calling. And the call was heard--by a drunkard in a little cabin on the Yukon. I am that drunkard, and into my keeping the spirit of Murdo MacFarlane has entrusted the life of his baby--his wee Margot. Brent paused, and his voice suddenly cut hard as steel,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And may God Almighty strike me dead if I ever violate that trust!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't talk like that, dear, it scares me. See, I am not afraid. And you are _not_ a drunkard."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I got drunk on the _Belva Lou_."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Didn't I say we couldn't expect to win all the battles?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And, I carry my bottle with me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And the cork has not been pulled, flashed the girl,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And you have carried it ever since you left the whaler."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, darling, answered the man softly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And I always shall keep it, and I never will pull the cork. I can give you that promise, now. I can promise you--on the word of a Brent that----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not yet, sweetheart--please! interrupted the girl,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let us hold back the promise, till we need it. That promise is our heavy artillery. This is only the beginning of the war. And no good general would show the enemy all he has got right in the beginning."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You wonder woman! laughed Brent, as he smothered the upraised eyes with kisses,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But see, we have not opened the packet. Carefully he unwound the parchment wrapping, and disclosed a closely packed pile of bank notes. So long had they remained undisturbed that their edges had stuck together so that it was with difficulty he succeeded in counting them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One hundred, he announced, at length,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "One hundred five-pound notes of the Bank of England."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, Wananebish never used any of the money!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not a penny has been touched. I doubt that she ever even opened the packet."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Poor old Wananebish, murmured the girl,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And she needed it so. But she saved it all for me."
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ask 'em where the white man went--him an' the girl,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Tell 'em I'll give a hull keg of rum, er a hundred dollars, cash money to the man that kills him! he shouted,"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They lied! he shrilled,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They wasn't in there. Ace-In-The-Hole wouldn't never stayed in there an' burnt up! The Injuns lied! An' he's layin' to git me. Mebbe he's got a bead on me right now!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They've pulled out! he cried,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Pulled out for his shack! Tell 'em to come on! We'll burn 'em out up there! I ain't a-goin' to let her git away from me now--an' to hell with Cap Jinkins! I'll take her to Dawson, an' make real money offen her. An' I'll git Ace-In-The-Hole too. I found that girl first! She's mine--an' by God, I'll have her! He started for the river. At the top of the bank, he paused:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What's ailin 'em? he roared,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why don't they come! Standin' there gogglin' like fools!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They say, explained Yondo, in jargon,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That they want to see the rum first."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tell 'em I left it up to his shack! roared the man,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Tell 'em anything, jest so they come. Git my dogs an' come on. We'll lead out, an' they'll foller if they think they's hooch in it."
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You slip up and see what you kin find out, he ordered Yondo,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "An' I'll stay here with the dogs an' handle the Injuns when they come along."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Choked him to death bare handed! he cried in horror,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And he'd of done me that way, too! But where be they? Look, they be'n here! The man pointed to the disordered supplies, that had been thrown about in the haste of departure."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They've pulled out! he cried."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Git out there an' find their trail!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That'll be him, an' her, an' the Injun, said Claw,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Reaching down, he picked up a sack of flour and carrying it out to the sled, ordered Yondo to help with the other supplies. Suddenly, he sprang erect and gazed toward the west."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wonder if he would? he cried aloud,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'll bet he'll take her clean to Dawson! He laughed harshly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "An' if he does, she's mine--mine, an' no trouble nor risk takin' her there! Onct back among the saloons, Ace-In-The-Hole will start in on the hooch--an' then I'll git her."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Quick, cried Claw,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Git that pack throw'd together. When they git here an' find out they ain't no more hooch, they'll butcher me an' you!"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hello, Claw! Thought you was over with the whalers!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Was, answered Claw,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Jest got back,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What's on yer mind?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They's aplenty on it. But mostly it's a girl."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What's the matter? One git away from you?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She ain't yet, but she's damn near it. She'll be here in a few days, an' she's the purtiest piece that ever hit the Yukon."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Must be right pert then, cause that's coverin' quite a bit of territory."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, an' you could cover twict as much an' still not find nothin' that would touch her fer looks."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where is she?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She's comin'. Ace-In-The-Hole's bringin' her in."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ace-In-The-Hole! Yer crazy as hell! First place, Ace-In-The-Hole ain't here no more. Folks says old R.E. Morse got him an' he drounded hisself in the river. Camillo Bill an' that bunch he used to trot with, has combed Dawson with a fine tooth comb fer him, an' they can't find him nowheres."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Drounded?--hell! exclaimed Claw,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ain't I be'n to his shack on the Coppermine? Didn't he come up to the _Belva Lou_ an' git drunk, an' then git lost, an' then find his way back to his shack an' choke the life out of Cap Jinkins? Yes sir, bare handed! I looked at Cap's throat where he lay dead on the floor an' it was damn near squose in two! An' he'd of squose mine, if he could caught me!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What about the gal? What's he got to do with her? He wouldn't stand fer no such doin's, an' you'd ort to know it. Didn't he knock you down fer whalin' one with a dog whip!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, an' I'll even up the score, growled Claw savagely,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "An' me an' you'll shove a heft of dust in the safe fer profits. It's like this. She's his girl, an' he's bringin' her here."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "His girl! Say Claw, what you handin' me? Time was when Ace-In-The-Hole could of had his pick of any of 'em. But that time's gone. They wouldn't no _klooch_ look at him twict, now. He's that fer gone with the hooch. He's a bum."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You know a hell of a lot about it! Didn't you jest git through tellin' me he was drounded? An' now he's a bum! Both of which they ain't neither one right--by a damn sight. He's be'n out there where they ain't no hooch, an' he's as good a man as he ever was--as long as he can't git the hooch. But here in Dawson he kin git it--see? An' me an' you has got to see that he does git it. An' we'll git the girl. I've figured it all out, comin' over. Was goin' to fetch her myself, but it would of be'n a hell of a job, an' then there's the Mounted. But this way we git her delivered, C.O.D. right to our door, you might say. Startin' about day after tomorrow, we'll put lookouts on the Klondike River, an' the Indian River. They're comin' in over the Bonnet Plume. When they git here the lookout will tell us where they go. Then we rig up some kind of excuse to git him away, an' when we've got him paralysed drunk, we'll send a message to the girl that he needs her, an' we'll bring her here--an'--well, the middle room above the little dance hall up stairs will hold her--it's helt 'em before."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Guess I didn't know what I was up to when I built that room, eh? They kin yell their head off an' you can't hear 'em outside the door. All right, Claw, you tend to the gittin' her here an' I'll pass the word around amongst the live ones that's got the dust. We ain't had no new ones in this winter, an' the boys'll 'preciate it."
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, isn't it grand! And wonderful! cried the girl as her eyes swept the vast panorama of glistening white mountains."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How small and insignificant I feel! And how stern, and rugged, and hard it all looks."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, darling, whispered Brent, as his arm stole about her waist,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is stern, and rugged, and hard. But it is clean, and honest, and grand. It is the world as God made it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have never been in the mountains before, said the girl,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have seen them from the Mackenzie, but they were so far away they never seemed real. We have always hunted upon the barrens. Tell me, is it all like this? And where is the Yukon?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Pretty much all like this, he answered."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Alaska is a land of mountains. Of course there are wide valleys, and mighty rivers, and along the rivers are the towns and the mining camps."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have never seen a town, breathed the girl,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What will we do when we get there?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We will go straight to the Reeves, he answered, with a glad smile."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Reeves is the man who staked me for the trip into the barrens, and his wife is an old, old friend of mine. We were born and grew up in the same town, and we will go straight to them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wonder whether she will like me? I have known no white women except Sister Mercedes."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Darling, she will love you! cried Brent,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Everyone will love you! And we will be married in their house."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, what will he think when you tell him you have not made a strike?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He will be the first to see that I have made a strike, dear--the richest strike in all the North."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And you didn't tell me! cried the girl,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tell me about it, now! Was it on the Coppermine?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, it was on the Coppermine. I made the great strike, one evening in the moonlight--when the dearest girl in the world told me she loved me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Isn't it wonderful to love as we love? she whispered,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To be all the world to each other? I do not care if we never make a strike. All I want is to be with you always. And if we do not make a strike we will live in our tepee and snare rabbits, and hunt, and be happy, always."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I guess we can manage something better than a tepee, he smiled."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I've got more than half of Reeves' dust left, and I've been thinking the matter over. The fact is, I don't think much of that Coppermine country for gold. I reckon we'll get a house and settle down in Dawson for a while, and I'll take the job Reeves offered me, and work till I get him paid off, and Camillo Bill, and enough ahead for a grub-stake, and then we'll see what's to be done. We'll have lots of good times, too. There's the Reeves' and--and----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What's the matter? Can't you think of any more?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, to tell the truth, I don't know any others who--that is, married folks, our kind, you know. The men I knew best are all single men. But, lots of people have come in with the dredge companies. The Reeves will know them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is that girl you called Kitty,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes-- answered Brent, a little awkwardly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's so. But, she's--a little different."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But I will like her, I am sure, because she nursed you when you were sick. I know what you mean! she exclaimed abruptly, and Brent saw that the dark eyes flashed,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You mean that people point at her the finger of scorn--as they would have pointed at me, had I been--as I thought I was. But it is all wrong, and I will not do that! And I will hate those who do! And I will tell them so!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My goodness! he exclaimed feigning alarm,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can see from here where I better get home to meals on time, and not forget to put the cat out."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, you are making fun of me, she pouted,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But it is wrong, and you know it is, and maybe the very ones who do the pointing are worse in their hearts than she is."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You said it! cried Brent,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The ones that look down upon the frailties of others, are the very ones who need watching themselves. And that is a good thing to remember in picking out friends. And, darling, you can go as far as you like with Kitty. I'm for you. She's got a big heart, and there's a lot more to her than there is to most of 'em. But, come, it's dark, and we must be getting back to camp. See the little fire down on the edge of the timber line. It looks a thousand miles away."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She's a great girl, he breathed, as he glanced at her profile, half hidden in the starlight,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She deserves the best that's in a man--and she'll get it!"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Damned if it ain't Ace-In-The-Hole! cried the man, in well simulated surprise."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They'll be rollin' 'em high in Dawson tonight!"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "At last you are in Dawson, he said, including with a sweep of the arm the mushroom city that had sprung up in the shadow of Moosehide Mountain,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Does it look like you expected it would? Are you going to like it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, dear, I shall love it, because it will be our home. It isn't quite as I expected it to look. The houses all placed side by side, with the streets running between are as I thought they would be, but the houses themselves are different. They are not of logs, or of the thin iron like the warehouse of the new trading company on the Mackenzie, and they are not made of bricks and stones and very tall like the pictures of cities in the books."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, Dawson is just half way between. Since the sawmills came the town has rapidly outgrown the log cabin stage, although there are still plenty of them here, but it has not yet risen to the dignity of brick and stone."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But the houses of brick and stone will come! cried the girl, enthusiastically,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And take the place of the houses of wood, and we shall be here to see the building of another great city."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know, he replied, doubtfully,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It all depends on the gravel. I wouldn't care to do much speculating in Dawson real estate right now. The time for that has passed. The next two or three years will tell the story. If I were to do any predicting, I'd say that instead of the birth of a great city, we are going to witness the lingering death of an overgrown town. He paused and pointed to a small cabin of logs that stood deserted, half buried in snow."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you see that shack over there? That's mine. It don't look like much, now. But, I gave five thousand in dust for it when I made my first strike."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And that will be our home!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not by a long shot, it won't! laughed Brent,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We'll do better than that. I never want to see the inside of the place again! Yes, I do--just once. I want to go there and get a book--the book that lured me to the Coppermine--the book in which is written the name of Murdo MacFarlane. We will always keep that book, darling. And some day we will get it bound in leather and gold."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Reeves' live here, he announced, and as he turned into the neatly shovelled path that led to the door, he reached down and pressed the girl's hand reassuringly:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mrs. Reeves is an old, old friend, he whispered,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She will be a sister to you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hardest work I ever did, he grinned,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hope the floor kept warm."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is Mr. Reeves home?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thank you. I think we will."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Carter Brent! she cried, and the next instant the man's hands were in both of hers, and she was pulling him into the room. Like a flash Brent remembered that other time she had called his name in a tone of intense surprise, and that there had been tears in her eyes then, even as there were tears in her eyes now, but this time they were tears of gladness. And then, from another room came Reeves, and a pair of firm hands were laid upon his shoulders and he was spun around to meet the gaze of the searching grey eyes that stared into his own. Brent laughed happily as he noted the start of surprise that accompanied Reeves' words:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good Lord! What a change!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And now I want you to meet--Miss Margot MacFarlane. Within a very few hours she is going to become Mrs. Carter Brent. You see, he added turning to Reba Reeves,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I brought her straight to you. The hotel isn't----"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Carter Brent! If you had dared to even think of taking her to the hotel, I'd never have spoken to you again! You just let me catch you talking about hotels--when your _folks_ are living right here! And now take off your things because supper is most ready. You'll find warm water in the reservoir of the stove, and I'll make an extra lot of good hot coffee, because I know you will be tired of tea."
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think it is the most romantic thing I ever heard of! cried Reba Reeves, when Snowdrift had finished telling of her life among the Indians, and at the mission,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's easy enough to see why Carter chose you, but for the life of me I can't see how you came to take an old scapegrace like him!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I took him because I love him, she answered,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Because he is good, and strong, and brave, and because he can be gentle and tender and--and he understands. And he is not a scapegrace any more, she added, gravely,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He has told me all about how he drank hooch until he became a--a bun----"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A what?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A bun--is it not that when a man drinks too much hooch?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A bum,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "So many new words! smiled the girl."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But I will learn them all. Anyway, we will fight the hooch together, and we will win."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You bet you'll win! cried Reeves, heartily,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And if I'm any judge, I'd say you've won already. How about it Brent?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She has won,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "On the word of a Brent?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, he answered,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "On the word of a Brent."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And, now--let's talk business. I have used about half the dust you loaned me. There is nothing worth while on the Coppermine--now. He smiled, as his eyes rested upon the girl,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So I have come back to take that job you offered me. Eleven hundred miles, we came, under the chaperonage of Joe Pete----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And a very capable chaperonage it was! laughed Reeves,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Funniest thing I ever saw in my life--there in your cabin the morning you started. It was then I learned to know Joe Pete. But, go on."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's about all there is to it. Except that I'd like to keep the rest of the dust, and pay you back in installments--that is, if the job is still open. I've got to borrow enough for a start, somewhere--and I reckon you're about the only friend I've got left."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How about that fellow, Camillo Bill? I thought he was a friend of yours."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I thought so too, but--when I was down and out, and wanted a grub-stake, he turned me down. He's all right though--square as a die."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "About that job, continued Reeves, gravely,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm a little afraid you wouldn't just fill the bill."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Maybe you're right, he said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I reckon I am a little rusty on hydraulics and----"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'd take a chance on the hydraulics, laughed Reeves,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But--before we go any further, what would you take for your title to those two claims that Camillo Bill has been operating?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Depends on who wanted to buy 'em,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What will you sell them to me for?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What will you give?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How would ten thousand for the two of them strike you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't you go speculating on any claims, he advised,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'd be tickled to death to get ten thousand dollars--or ten thousand cents out of those claims--but not from you. It would be highway robbery."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And if I did buy them from you at ten thousand, or a hundred thousand, you would be only a piker of a robber, as compared to me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you mean?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I mean that if anybody offers you a million for 'em--you laugh at 'em, exclaimed Reeves,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because they're worth a whole lot more than that."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Who has been stringing you? he asked,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The fact is, those claims are a liability, and not an asset. Camillo Bill took them over to try to get the million I owed him out of 'em--and he couldn't do it. And when Camillo Bill can't get the dust out, it isn't there."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How do you know he couldn't do it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because he told me so."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He lied."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I reckon you don't know Camillo Bill, he said gravely,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "As I told you, he wouldn't grub-stake me when I needed a grub-stake, and I don't understand that. But, I'd stake my life on it that he never lied about those claims--never tried to beat me out of 'em when I was down and out! Why, man, he won them in a game of stud--and he wouldn't take them!"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "About a week after you had gone, inquiries began to float around town as to your whereabouts. I didn't pay any attention to them at first, but the inquiries persisted. They searched Dawson, and all the country around for you. When I learned that the inquiries emanated from such men as Camillo Bill, and Old Bettles, and Moosehide Charlie, and a few more of the heaviest men in the camp, I took notice, and quietly sent for Camillo Bill and had a talk with him. It seems that after he had taken his million out of the claims, he went to you for the purpose of turning them back. He had not seen you for some time, and he was--well, it didn't take him but a minute to see what would happen if he turned back the claims and dumped a couple of million dollars worth of property into your hands at that time. So he told you they had petered out. Then he hunted up a bunch of the real sourdoughs who are your friends, and they planned to kidnap you and take you away for a year--keep you under guard in a cabin, a hundred miles from nowhere, and keep you off the liquor, and make you work like a nigger till you found yourself again. They laid their plot, and when they came to spring it, you had disappeared."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And you say he got out his million, and there is still something left in the gravel?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I would call it something! Camillo Bill says he only worked one of the claims--and only about half of that. Yes, I would say there was something left."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I reckon a man don't always know his friends, murmured Brent, after a long silence,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wonder where I can find Camillo Bill?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He's in town, somewhere. I saw him this afternoon."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You wait here, dear, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And I'll hunt up a parson, and a ring, and Camillo Bill. I need a--a best man!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, why don't you wait a week or so and give us time to get ready so we can have a real wedding?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I reckon this one will be real enough, he grinned,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And besides, we've waited quite a while, already."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hello! Is that you, Ace-In-The-Hole? Yer the man I'm huntin' fer. Friend of yourn's hurt an' wants to see you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Who is it, Zinn? And how did he know I was in town?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's Camillo Bill. I was tellin' I see'd you comin' in--an hour or so back, in Stoell's. Then Camillo, he goes down to the sawmill to see about some lumber, an' a log flies off the carriage an' hits him. He's busted up pretty bad. Guess he's goin' to cash in. They carried him to a shack over back of the mill an' he's hollerin' fer you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come on then--quick! cried Brent."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What the hell are you standin' there for? Have they got a doctor?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yup, answered Zinn, as he hurried toward the outskirts of the town,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He'll be there by now."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Stumpy"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where's Camillo Bill?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Tuk him to the hospital jest now,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hospital!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes--built one sence you was here. But, you don't need to be in no hurry, 'cause he's out of his head, now. The man produced a bottle and pulling the cork, offered it to Brent:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Might's well have a little drink, an' we'll be goin'."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To hell with your drinks! cried Brent,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where is this hospital?"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "When I ask anyone to drink with me, he most generally does it, he sneered,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Or I know the reason why."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There's the reason!"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ace-In-The-Hole, and"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and then Malone, whose voice carried above the others issued an order,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The shack behind the saw mill. Git him soused. Knock him out if you have to--but don't kill him. Once we git the girl here me an' Claw-- the rest of the sentence was lost as it blended with an added order of Claw's."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ace-In-The-Hole! thought Kitty,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What did it mean? And who is 'The girl?' Ace-In-The-Hole is dead. And, yet-- she glanced toward Claw whose beady eyes were glittering with excitement."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He just came back from somewhere--maybe he knows--something."
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where do you think you're goin'?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's none of your business! snapped the girl,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't have to ask you when I want to go anywhere--and I don't have to tell you where I'm goin', either! You haven't got any strings on me!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well--fergit it, 'cause you ain't goin' nowhere's--not right now."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Get out of my way! Damn you! cried the girl,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If I had a gun here, I'd blow your rotten heart out!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Listen here, I seen you easin' over and tryin' to hear what me an' Malone, an' Zinn was talkin' about. I don't know how much you heard, but you heard enough, so you kep' pretty clost cases on all of us. G'wan back in yer room, 'fore I put you there! What the hell do you care anyhow? All we want is the girl. Onct we git her up in the strong room, you kin have Ace-In-The-Hole. An' as long as she's around you ain't nowhere with him. Why don't you use yer head?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You fool!"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is they a lady here name of Snowdrift?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, yes! she answered quickly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am Snowdrift. What has happened? Why do you want me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's him--yer man--Ace-In-The-Hole,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, what is it? cried the girl, in a frenzy of impatience,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well--not jest hurt, you might say. He's loadin' up on hooch. Some of us friends of hisn tried to make him go easy--but it ain't no use. I seen you an' him comin' in on the river, an' I figgered mebbe you could handle him. We're afraid someone'll rob him when he gits good an' drunk."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Wait!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Take me to him--quickly! she said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Surely he will listen to me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That's what I figgered,"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Jest a minute, lady. Better put this here veil over yer face. He's up stairs, an' we got to go in through the bar. They's a lot of folks in there, an' they ain't no use of you bein' gopped at. With this on, they won't notice but what it's one of the women that lives here."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You kin take off the veil, now, he said, as he locked the door behind them,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They ain't no one up here."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But--where is he?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, he's on up, he assured her,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This way."
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "So, leered Claw,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You thought you could git away from me did you? Thought you was playin' hell when you an' Ace-In-The-Hole hit fer Dawson, did you? Well, you played hell, all right--but not like you figgered. Yer mine, now."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh where is he?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, he's all right, he mocked,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He's soused to the guards by this time, an' after I an' some friends of mine git him to sign a deed to a couple of claims he owns, we'll feed him to the fish."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You'll be all right here when you git used to it. The girls all have a lot of fun. I'm goin' below now. You stay here an' think it over. Tain't no use to holler--this room's built a purpose to tame the likes of you in. Some of 'em that's be'n in here has walked out, an' some of 'em has be'n carried out--but none of 'em has ever _got_ out. An' jest so you don't take no fool notion to burn the house down, I'll take this candle along. I got a horror of burnin'."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Damn him! He like to busted my jaw! Gawd, what a wallop he's got! But I fixed him, when I smashed that quart over his head!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Maybe he'll bleed to death,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Naw, he ain't cut bad. I seen the gash over his eye. He's bloody as hell, but he looks worse'n he is. Say, you sure you tied him tight? He's been out damn near an hour an' he'll be comin' to, 'fore long--an' believe me----"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hello! she called, softly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ace-In-The-Hole! You here?"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Listen, Ace-In-The-Hole--it's me--Kitty!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Kitty, murmured the man, uncertainly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Snowdrift!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes I lit in a snowdrift all right when I jumped out the window--but how did you know? Come--wake up! Is there a light here?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where am I?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In the shack back of the sawmill."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where's Camillo Bill?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Camillo Bill--he's up to Stoell's, I guess. But listen, give me a match."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Damn 'em! he roared,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was a plant! What's their game?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know what it is! cried Kitty,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Quick--tell me--have you got a girl--here in Dawson?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, yes--at Reeves--her name is Snowdrift, and she----"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Come then--we ain't got any time to lose! It's Cuter Malone and that damned Johnnie Claw----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Johnnie Claw! cried Brent."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Claw is a thousand miles from here--on the Coppermine!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He's right this minute in the Klondike Palace--and your girl will be there too, if you don't shake your legs! They framed this play to get her--and I heard 'em--partly. If I'd known where she was, I'd have gone there first--but I didn't know."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Tell me-- panted Kitty, at his side."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This girl--is--she straight?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm going to marry her tonight!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then hurry--for Christ's sake! sobbed Kitty,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, hurry! Hurry!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where's Snowdrift?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What has happened----?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where is she?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I--we don't know. I was in the kitchen, and--"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you say we start a regular old he-man's game of stud? he asked."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We ain't had no real game fer quite a while."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No--not fer me. I'll play a reasonable game--but do you know since Ace-In-The-Hole went plumb to hell the way he done over the game--I kind of took a dislikin' to it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was the hooch, more'n the stud,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mebbe it was--but, damn it! It was 'em both. There was one hombre I liked."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Wonder if he'll come back?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sure as hell!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Will he have sense enough to lay off the hooch?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know, but I got twenty thousan' dollars says he will."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Take it! cried Swiftwater Bill,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "An' I hope to hell I lose!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Camillo Bill! she screamed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Quick! All of you! Hey you sourdoughs! her voice rose to a shriek, and men crowded from the tables in the rear,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Come on! Ace-In-The-Hole needs us! He's back! An' he's brought a girl! They're goin' to be married. But--Claw and Cuter Malone, framed it to steal her! He's gone down there now! she panted."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come on! They hired a gang to get Ace-In-The-Hole, and they damn near did!"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They'll take her up stairs--way up-- gasped Kitty as she ran,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And--for God's sake--hurry!"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Kill him! shrilled one hysterically."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Kill him!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Kill him!"
}
] |
37815
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My Gawd! the man shrieked,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My back's broke! I'm burnin' up!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's Ace-In-The-Hole, all right! yelled the big man, as he grasped Brent's shoulders, and rocked him back and forth,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "An' by God! _He's as good a man as he ever was!_"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where's Kitty? asked Brent, when he could get his breath."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I saw her go down. She stopped Claw's bullet that was meant for me! And I saw you carry her out!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Kitty's all right, whispered Camillo Bill in his ear, and Brent glanced quickly into the man's shining eyes."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Jest nicked in the shoulder--an' say--I've always wanted her--but she wouldn't have me--but--now you're out of the way--I told her all over again how I stood--an' _damned if she didn't take me_!"
}
] |
999987
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Prudent, my dear prince."
}
] |
665931
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll take the devil out of you all right,"
}
] |
130191
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And he was lost with the _Laughing Lass_?"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "on some features of the Anglo-African race, growing out of what was once popularly known as the"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Forest Leaves,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Miscellaneous Poems,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Moses, a Story of the Nile,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Poems, and"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sketches of Southern Life"
}
] |
12352
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Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Superintendent of Colored Work"
}
] |
12352
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Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "IOLA LEROY, OR SHADOWS UPLIFTED."
}
] |
12352
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Unknown Title
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Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good mornin', Bob; how's butter dis mornin'?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Fresh; just as fresh, as fresh can be."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, glory!"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Did you see de fish in de market dis mornin'? Oh, but dey war splendid, jis' as fresh, as fresh kin be."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That's the ticket, said Robert, as a broad smile overspread his face."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll see you later."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Good mornin', boys, said another servant on his way to market."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How's eggs dis mornin'?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Fust rate, fust rate, said Tom Anderson."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bob's got it down fine."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I thought so; mighty long faces at de pos'-office dis mornin'; but I'd better move 'long,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Splendid news in the papers. Secesh routed. Yankees whipped 'em out of their boots. Papers full of it. I tell you the eggs and the butter's mighty fresh this morning."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, sho, chile, said Linda,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can't read de newspapers, but ole Missus' face is newspaper nuff for me. I looks at her ebery mornin' wen she comes inter dis kitchen. Ef her face is long an' she walks kine o' droopy den I thinks things is gwine wrong for dem. But ef she comes out yere looking mighty pleased, an' larffin all ober her face, an' steppin' so frisky, den I knows de Secesh is gittin' de bes' ob de Yankees. Robby, honey, does you really b'lieve for good and righty dat dem Yankees is got horns?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of course not."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, I yered so."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, you heard a mighty big whopper."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Anyhow, Bobby, things goes mighty contrary in dis house. Ole Miss is in de parlor prayin' for de Secesh to gain de day, and we's prayin' in de cabins and kitchens for de Yankees to get de bes' ob it. But wasn't Miss Nancy glad wen dem Yankees run'd away at Bull's Run. It was nuffin but Bull's Run an' run away Yankees. How she did larff and skip 'bout de house. An' den me thinks to myself you'd better not holler till you gits out ob de woods. I specs 'fore dem Yankees gits froo you'll be larffin tother side ob your mouf. While you was gone to market ole Miss com'd out yere, her face looking as long as my arm, tellin' us all 'bout de war and saying dem Yankees whipped our folks all to pieces. And she was 'fraid dey'd all be down yere soon. I thought they couldn't come too soon for we. But I didn't tell her so."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, I don't expect you did."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, I didn't; ef you buys me for a fool you loses your money shore. She said when dey com'd down yere she wanted all de men to hide, for dey'd kill all de men, but dey wouldn't tech de women."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's no such thing. She's put it all wrong. Why them Yankees are our best friends."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dat's jis' what I thinks. Ole Miss was jis' tryin to skeer a body. An' when she war done she jis' set down and sniffled an' cried, an' I war so glad I didn't know what to do. But I had to hole in. An' I made out I war orful sorry. An' Jinny said, 'O Miss Nancy, I hope dey won't come yere.' An' she said, 'I'se jis' 'fraid dey will come down yere and gobble up eberything dey can lay dere hands on.' An' she jis' looked as ef her heart war mos' broke, an' den she went inter de house. An' when she war gone, we jis' broke loose. Jake turned somersets, and said he warnt 'fraid ob dem Yankees; he know'd which side his brad was buttered on. Dat Jake is a cuter. When he goes down ter git de letters he cuts up all kines ob shines and capers. An' to look at him skylarking dere while de folks is waitin' for dere letters, an' talkin' bout de war, yer wouldn't think dat boy had a thimbleful of sense. But Jake's listenin' all de time wid his eyes and his mouf wide open, an' ketchin' eberything he kin, an' a heap ob news he gits dat way. As to Jinny, she jis' capered and danced all ober de flore. An' I jis' had to put my han' ober her mouf to keep ole Miss from yereing her. Oh, but we did hab a good time. Boy, yer oughter been yere."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And, Aunt Linda, what did you do?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, honey, I war jis' ready to crack my sides larffin, jis' to see what a long face Jinny puts on wen ole Miss is talkin', an' den to see dat face wen missus' back is turned, why it's good as a circus. It's nuff to make a horse larff."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, Aunt Linda, you never saw a circus?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hope so, said Robert."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think that we have a heap of friends up there."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, I'm jis' gwine to keep on prayin' an' b'lievin'."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bobby, she said, when he returned,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I thinks we ort ter hab a prayer-meetin' putty soon."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am in for that. Where will you have it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lem me see. Las' Sunday we had it in Gibson's woods; Sunday 'fore las', in de old cypress swamp; an' nex' Sunday we'el hab one in McCullough's woods. Las' Sunday we had a good time. I war jis' chock full an' runnin' ober. Aunt Milly's daughter's bin monin all summer, an' she's jis' come throo. We had a powerful time. Eberythin' on dat groun' was jis' alive. I tell yer, dere was a shout in de camp."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, you had better look out, and not shout too much, and pray and sing too loud, because, 'fore you know, the patrollers will be on your track and break up your meetin' in a mighty big hurry, before you can say 'Jack Robinson.'"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, we looks out for dat. We's got a nice big pot, dat got cracked las' winter, but it will hole a lot o' water, an' we puts it whar we can tell it eberything. We has our own good times. An' I want you to come Sunday night an' tell all 'bout the good eggs, fish, and butter. Mark my words, Bobby, we's all gwine to git free. I seed it all in a vision, as plain as de nose on yer face."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, I hope your vision will come out all right, and that the eggs will keep and the butter be fresh till we have our next meetin'."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, Bob, you sen' word to Uncle Dan'el, Tom Anderson, an' de rest ob dem, to come to McCullough's woods nex' Sunday night. I want to hab a sin-killin' an' debil-dribin' time. But, boy, you'd better git out er yere. Ole Miss'll be down on yer like a scratch cat."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Howdy,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thanks and praise; I'se all right. How is you, chile?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I'm all right,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What's de news?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hear, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is dat so? said a half dozen earnest voices."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How did you yere it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I read it in the papers. And Tom told me he heard them talking about it last night, at his house. How did you hear it, Tom? Come, tell us all about it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, boys, I'll tell you all 'bout it. But you's got to be mighty mum 'bout it. It won't do to let de cat outer de bag."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Dat's so! But tell us wat you yered. We ain't gwine to say nuffin to nobody."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Tom,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Contraband of war,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What does it mean? Is it somethin' good for us?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think, said Robert, a little vain of his superior knowledge,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is dat so? said Uncle Daniel, a dear old father, with a look of saintly patience on his face."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, chillen, what do you mean to do?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Go, jis' as soon as we kin git to de army,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What else did the generals say? And how did you come to hear them, Tom?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, yer see, Marster's too ole and feeble to go to de war, but his heart's in it. An' it makes him feel good all ober when dem big ginerals comes an' tells him all 'bout it. Well, I war laying out on de porch fas' asleep an' snorin' drefful hard. Oh, I war so soun' asleep dat wen Marster wanted some ice-water he had to shake me drefful hard to wake me up. An' all de time I war wide 'wake as he war."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What did they say?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One ob dem said, dem Yankees war talkin' of puttin' guns in our han's and settin' us all free. An' de oder said, 'Oh, sho! ef dey puts guns in dere hands dey'll soon be in our'n; and ef dey sets em free dey wouldn't know how to take keer ob demselves.'"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Only let 'em try it, chorused a half dozen voices,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, said Tom,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And I'm getting tired of the whole business,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, Bob, said Uncle Daniel,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It isn't so good, but it might be better. I ain't got nothing 'gainst my ole Miss, except she sold my mother from me. And a boy ain't nothin' without his mother. I forgive her, but I never forget her, and never expect to. But if she were the best woman on earth I would rather have my freedom than belong to her. Well, boys, here's a chance for us just as soon as the Union army gets in sight. What will you do?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'se a goin, said Tom Anderson,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "An' I'se a gwine wid you, Tom, said another."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I specs my ole Marster'll feel right smart lonesome when I'se gone, but I don't keer 'bout stayin' for company's sake."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My ole Marster's room's a heap better'n his company, said Tom Anderson,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you think, said Robert, turning to Uncle Daniel;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, chillen, I don't blame you for gwine; but I'se gwine to stay. Slavery's done got all de marrow out ob dese poor ole bones. Ef freedom comes it won't do me much good; we ole one's will die out, but it will set you youngsters all up."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, Uncle Daniel, you're not too old to want your freedom?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I knows dat. I lubs de bery name of freedom. I'se been praying and hoping for it dese many years. An' ef I warn't boun', I would go wid you ter-morrer. I won't put a straw in your way. You boys go, and my prayers will go wid you. I can't go, it's no use. I'se gwine to stay on de ole place till Marse Robert comes back, or is brought back."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, Uncle Daniel, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, Robbie, my whole heart is wid you. But when Marse Robert went to de war, he called me into his room and said to me, 'Uncle Dan'el, I'se gwine to de war, an' I want you to look arter my wife an' chillen, an' see dat eberything goes right on de place'. An' I promised him I'd do it, an' I mus' be as good as my word. 'Cept de overseer, dere isn't a white man on de plantation, an' I hear he has to report ter-morrer or be treated as a deserter. An' der's nobody here to look arter Miss Mary an' de chillen, but myself, an' to see dat eberything goes right. I promised Marse Robert I would do it, an' I mus' be as good as my word."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, what should you keer? said Tom Anderson."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Who looked arter you when you war sole from your farder and mudder, an' neber seed dem any more, and wouldn't know dem to-day ef you met dem in your dish?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, dats neither yere nor dere. Marse Robert couldn't help what his father did. He war an orful mean man. But he's dead now, and gone to see 'bout it. But his wife war the nicest, sweetest lady dat eber I did see. She war no more like him dan chalk's like cheese. She used to visit de cabins, an' listen to de pore women when de overseer used to cruelize dem so bad, an' drive dem to work late and early. An' she used to sen' dem nice things when they war sick, and hab der cabins whitewashed an' lookin' like new pins, an' look arter dere chillen. Sometimes she'd try to git ole Marse to take dere part when de oberseer got too mean. But she might as well a sung hymns to a dead horse. All her putty talk war like porin water on a goose's back. He'd jis' bluff her off, an' tell her she didn't run dat plantation, and not for her to bring him any nigger news. I never thought ole Marster war good to her. I often ketched her crying, an' she'd say she had de headache, but I thought it war de heartache. 'Fore ole Marster died, she got so thin an' peaked I war 'fraid she war gwine to die; but she seed him out. He war killed by a tree fallin' on him, an' ef eber de debil got his own he got him. I seed him in a vision arter he war gone. He war hangin' up in a pit, sayin' 'Oh! oh!' wid no close on. He war allers blusterin', cussin', and swearin' at somebody. Marse Robert ain't a bit like him. He takes right arter his mother. Bad as ole Marster war, I think she jis' lob'd de groun' he walked on. Well, women's mighty curious kind of folks anyhow. I sometimes thinks de wuss you treats dem de better dey likes you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, said Tom, a little impatiently,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, jes' you hole on till I gits a chance to tell yer why I'se gwine to stay."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Uncle Daniel, let's hear it,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was jes' gwine to tell yer when Tom put me out. Ole Marster died when Marse Robert war two years ole, and his pore mother when he war four. When he died, Miss Anna used to keep me 'bout her jes' like I war her shadder. I used to nuss Marse Robert jes' de same as ef I were his own fadder. I used to fix his milk, rock him to sleep, ride him on my back, an' nothin' pleased him better'n fer Uncle Dan'el to ride him piggy-back."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Uncle Daniel, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, jes' wait a bit, and don't frustrate my mine. I seed day arter day Miss Anna war gettin' weaker and thinner, an' she looked so sweet and talked so putty, I thinks to myself, 'you ain't long for dis worl'.' And she said to me one day, 'Uncle Dan'el, when I'se gone, I want you to be good to your Marster Robert.' An' she looked so pale and weak I war almost ready to cry. I couldn't help it. She hed allers bin mighty good to me. An' I beliebs in praisin' de bridge dat carries me ober. She said, 'Uncle Dan'el, I wish you war free. Ef I had my way you shouldn't serve any one when I'm gone; but Mr. Thurston had eberything in his power when he made his will. I war tied hand and foot, and I couldn't help it.' In a little while she war gone--jis' faded away like a flower. I belieb ef dere's a saint in glory, Miss Anna's dere."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, I don't take much stock in white folks' religion,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The way, said Tom Anderson,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "An' I, said Aunt Linda,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "O, I guess, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "May be dat's so, said Aunt Linda."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But I allers wanted to learn how to read. I once had a book, and tried to make out what war in it, but ebery time my mistus caught me wid a book in my hand, she used to whip my fingers. An' I couldn't see ef it war good for white folks, why it warn't good for cullud folks."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, said Tom Anderson,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I belieb in de good ole-time religion. But arter dese white folks is done fussin' and beatin' de cullud folks, I don't want 'em to come talking religion to me. We used to hab on our place a real Guinea man, an' once he made ole Marse mad, an' he had him whipped. Old Marse war trying to break him in, but dat fellow war spunk to de backbone, an' when he 'gin talkin' to him 'bout savin' his soul an' gittin' to hebbin, he tole him ef he went to hebbin an' foun' he war dare, he wouldn't go in. He wouldn't stay wid any such rascal as he war."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What became of him?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, he died. But he had some quare notions 'bout religion. He thought dat when he died he would go back to his ole country. He allers kep' his ole Guinea name."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What was it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Potobombra. Do you know what he wanted Marster to do 'fore he died?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He wanted him to gib him his free papers."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Did he do it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ob course he did. As de poor fellow war dying an' he couldn't sell him in de oder world, he jis' wrote him de papers to yumor him. He didn't want to go back to Africa a slave. He thought if he did, his people would look down on him, an' he wanted to go back a free man. He war orful weak when Marster brought him de free papers. He jis' ris up in de bed, clutched dem in his han's, smiled, an' gasped out, 'I'se free at las'; an' fell back on de pillar, an' he war gone. Oh, but he war spunky. De oberseers, arter dey foun' out who he war, gin'rally gabe him a wide birth. I specs his father war some ole Guinea king."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, chillen, said Uncle Daniel,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "An' when we meet again, Uncle Daniel can finish his story, an' be ready to go with us,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wish, said Tom Anderson,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Uncle Daniel, we want to hear your story, and see if you have made up your mind to go with us,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, chillen, I've no objection to finishin' my story, but I ain't made up my mind to leave the place till Marse Robert gits back."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You were telling us about Marse Robert's mother. How did you get along after she died?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Arter she war gone, ole Marster's folks come to look arter things. But eberything war lef' to Marse Robert, an' he wouldn't do widout me. Dat chile war allers at my heels. I couldn't stir widout him, an' when he missed me, he'd fret an' cry so I had ter stay wid him; an' wen he went to school, I had ter carry him in de mornin' and bring him home in de ebenin'. An' I learned him to hunt squirrels, an' rabbits, an' ketch fish, an' set traps for birds. I beliebs he lob'd me better dan any ob his kin'. An' he showed me how to read."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Tom,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Marse Robert tole me, ef he died fust he war gwine ter leave me free--dat I should neber sarve any one else."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, sho! said Tom,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, Tom; I can't go. When Marster Robert went to de front, he called me to him an' said: 'Uncle Daniel,' an' he was drefful pale when he said it, 'I are gwine to de war, an' I want yer to take keer of my wife an' chillen, jis' like yer used to take keer of me wen yer called me your little boy.' Well, dat jis' got to me, an' I couldn't help cryin', to save my life."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I specs, said Tom,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Marster Robert war nebber bad to me. An' I beliebs in stannin' by dem dat stans by you. Arter Miss Anna died, I had great 'sponsibilities on my shoulders; but I war orful lonesome, an' thought I'd like to git a wife. But dere warn't a gal on de plantation, an' nowhere's roun', dat filled de bill. So I jis' waited, an' 'tended to Marse Robert till he war ole 'nough to go to college. Wen he went, he allers 'membered me in de letters he used to write his grandma. Wen he war gone, I war lonesomer dan eber. But, one day, I jis' seed de gal dat took de rag off de bush. Gundover had jis' brought her from de up-country. She war putty as a picture! he exclaimed, looking fondly at his wife, who still bore traces of great beauty."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She had putty hair, putty eyes, putty mouth. She war putty all over; an' she know'd how to put on style."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "O, Daniel, said Aunt Katie, half chidingly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, it's true. I 'member when you war de puttiest gal in dese diggins; when nobody could top your cotton."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, I do. Now, let me go on wid my story. De fust time I seed her, I sez to myself, 'Dat's de gal for me, an' I means to hab her ef I kin git her.' So I scraped 'quaintance wid her, and axed her ef she would hab me ef our marsters would let us. I warn't 'fraid 'bout Marse Robert, but I warn't quite shore 'bout Gundover. So when Marse Robert com'd home, I axed him, an' he larf'd an' said, 'All right,' an' dat he would speak to ole Gundover 'bout it. He didn't relish it bery much, but he didn't like to 'fuse Marse Robert. He wouldn't sell her, for she tended his dairy, an' war mighty handy 'bout de house. He said, I mought marry her an' come to see her wheneber Marse Robert would gib me a pass. I wanted him to sell her, but he wouldn't hear to it, so I had to put up wid what I could git. Marse Robert war mighty good to me, but ole Gundover's wife war de meanest woman dat I eber did see. She used to go out on de plantation an' boss things like a man. Arter I war married, I had a baby. It war de dearest, cutest little thing you eber did see; but, pore thing, it got sick and died. It died 'bout three o'clock; and in de mornin', Katie, habbin her cows to milk, lef her dead baby in de cabin. When she com'd back from milkin' her thirty cows, an' went to look for her pore little baby, some one had been to her cabin an' took'd de pore chile away an' put it in de groun'. Pore Katie, she didn't eben hab a chance to kiss her baby 'fore it war buried. Ole Gundover's wife has been dead thirty years, an' she didn't die a day too soon. An' my little baby has gone to glory, an' is wingin' wid the angels an' a lookin' out for us. One ob de las' things ole Gundover's wife did 'fore she died war to order a woman whipped 'cause she com'd to de field a little late when her husband war sick, an' she had stopped to tend him. Dat mornin' she war taken sick wid de fever, an' in a few days she war gone out like de snuff ob a candle. She lef' several sons, an' I specs she would almos' turn ober in her grave ef she know'd she had ten culled granchillen somewhar down in de lower kentry."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Isn't it funny, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Marster war away when Miss 'Liza treated my Katie so mean, an' when I tole him 'bout it, he war tearin' mad, an' went ober an' saw ole Gundover, an' foun' out he war hard up for money, an' he bought Katie and brought her home to lib wid me, and we's been a libin in clover eber sence. Marster Robert has been mighty good to me. He stood by me in my troubles, an' now his trouble's come, I'm a gwine to stan' by him. I used to think Gundover's wife war jealous ob my Katie. She war so much puttier. Gundover's wife couldn't tech my Katie wid a ten foot pole."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Aunt Katie, you have had your trials, said Robert, now that Daniel had finished his story;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Lord says, we must forgive."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Thomas Anderson, turning to Uncle Daniel,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Boys, said Uncle Daniel, and there was grief in his voice,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'se mighty glad you hab a chance for your freedom; but, ez I tole yer, I promised Marse Robert I would stay, an' I mus' be as good as my word. Don't you youngsters stay for an ole stager like me. I'm ole an' mos' worn out. Freedom wouldn't do much for me, but I want you all to be as free as the birds; so, you chillen, take your freedom when you kin get it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Uncle Dan'el, you won't say nothin' 'bout our going, will you?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Look yere, boys, de boy dat axed dat question war a new comer on dis plantation, but some ob you's bin here all ob your lives; did you eber know ob Uncle Dan'el gittin' any ob you inter trouble?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, no, exclaimed a chorus of voices,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, boys, said Uncle Daniel, with an air of mournful dignity,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'se de same Uncle Dan'el I eber war. Ef any ob you wants to go, I habben't a word to say agin it. I specs dem Yankees be all right, but I knows Marse Robert, an' I don't know dem, an' I ain't a gwine ter throw away dirty water 'til I gits clean."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Uncle Ben, said Robert, addressing a stalwart man whose towering form and darkly flashing eye told that slavery had failed to put the crouch in his shoulders or general abjectness into his demeanor,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, spoke up Tom Anderson,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Boys, there's not one of you loves freedom more than I do, but--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But what? said Tom."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you think white folks is your bes' friends?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'll think so when I lose my senses."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, now, I don't belieb you're 'fraid, not de way I yeard you talkin' to de oberseer wen he war threatnin' to hit your mudder. He saw you meant business, an' he let her alone. But, what's to hinder you from gwine wid us?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My mother, he replied, in a low, firm voice."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That is the only thing that keeps me from going. If it had not been for her, I would have gone long ago. She's all I've got, an' I'm all she's got."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I used to love Mirandy as I love my life. I thought the sun rose and set in her. I never saw a handsomer woman than she was. But she fooled me all over the face and eyes, and took up with that hell-hound of a trader, Lukens; an' he gave her a chance to live easy, to wear fine clothes, an' be waited on like a lady. I thought at first I would go crazy, but my poor mammy did all she could to comfort me. She would tell me there were as good fish in the sea as were ever caught out of it. Many a time I've laid my poor head on her lap, when it seemed as if my brain was on fire and my heart was almost ready to burst. But in course of time I got over the worst of it; an' Mirandy is the first an' last woman that ever fooled me. But that dear old mammy of mine, I mean to stick by her as long as there is a piece of her. I can't go over to the army an' leave her behind, for if I did, an' anything should happen, I would never forgive myself."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But couldn't you take her with you, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It isn't that. The Union army is several miles from here, an' my poor mammy is so skeery that, if I were trying to get her away and any of them Secesh would overtake us, an' begin to question us, she would get skeered almost to death, an' break down an' begin to cry, an' then the fat would be in the fire. So, while I love freedom more than a child loves its mother's milk, I've made up my mind to stay on the plantation. I wish, from the bottom of my heart, I could go. But I can't take her along with me, an' I don't want to be free and leave her behind in slavery. I was only five years old when my master and, as I believe, father, sold us both here to this lower country, an' we've been here ever since. It's no use talking, I won't leave her to be run over by everybody."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Anything new, Tom?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is it? Come in."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, I'se done bin seen dem Yankees, an' dere ain't a bit of troof in dem stories I'se bin yerin 'bout 'em."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where did you see 'em?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Down in de woods whar Marster tole us to hide. Yesterday ole Marse sent for me to come in de settin'-room. An' what do you think? Instead ob makin' me stan' wid my hat in my han' while he went froo a whole rigamarole, he axed me to sit down, an' he tole me he 'spected de Yankees would want us to go inter de army, an' dey would put us in front whar we'd all git killed; an' I tole him I didn't want to go, I didn't want to git all momached up. An' den he said we'd better go down in de woods an' hide. Massa Tom and Frank said we'd better go as quick as eber we could. Dey said dem Yankees would put us in dere wagons and make us haul like we war mules. Marse Tom ain't libin' at de great house jis' now. He's keepin' bachellar's hall."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Didn't he go to the battle?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No; he foun' a pore white man who war hard up for money, an' he got him to go."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, Tom, you didn't believe these stories about the Yankees. Tom and Frank can lie as fast as horses can trot. They wanted to scare you, and keep you from going to the Union army."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I knows dat now, but I didn't 'spect so den."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, when did you see the soldiers? Where are they? And what did they say to you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Dey's right down in Gundover's woods. An' de Gineral's got his headquarters almos' next door to our house."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That near? Oh, you don't say so!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, I do. An', oh, golly, ain't I so glad! I jis' stole yere to told you all 'bout it. Yesterday mornin' I war splittin' some wood to git my breakfas', an' I met one ob dem Yankee sogers. Well, I war so skeered, my heart flew right up in my mouf, but I made my manners to him and said, 'Good mornin', Massa.' He said, 'Good mornin'; but don't call me massa."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What did he say?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He said he specs he'll grunt worser dan dat fore dey get froo wid him. Den he axed me ef I would hab some breakfas,' an' I said, 'No, t'ank you, sir.' 'An' I war jis' as hungry as a dorg, but I war 'feared to eat. I war 'feared he war gwine to pizen me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Poison you! don't you know the Yankees are our best friends?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, ef dat's so, I'se mighty glad, cause de woods is full ob dem."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, Tom, I thought you had cut your eye-teeth long enough not to let them Anderson boys fool you. Tom, you must not think because a white man says a thing, it must be so, and that a colored man's word is no account 'longside of his. Tom, if ever we get our freedom, we've got to learn to trust each other and stick together if we would be a people. Somebody else can read the papers as well as Marse Tom and Frank. My ole Miss knows I can read the papers, an' she never tries to scare me with big whoppers 'bout the Yankees. She knows she can't catch ole birds with chaff, so she is just as sweet as a peach to her Bobby. But as soon as I get a chance I will play her a trick the devil never did."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What's that?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll leave her. I ain't forgot how she sold my mother from me. Many a night I have cried myself to sleep, thinking about her, and when I get free I mean to hunt her up."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, I ain't tole you all. De gemman said he war 'cruiting for de army; dat Massa Linkum hab set us all free, an' dat he wanted some more sogers to put down dem Secesh; dat we should all hab our freedom, our wages, an' some kind ob money. I couldn't call it like he did."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bounty money,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, dat's jis' what he called it, bounty money. An' I said dat I war in for dat, teeth and toe-nails."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you rise I shall put you down with an iron hand,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, boys, said Robert to his trusted friends, as they gathered together at a meeting in Gundover's woods, almost under the shadow of the Union army,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "All ob us."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The soldiers, continued Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We'll be ready by daylight, said Tom."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It won't take me long to pack up, looking down at his seedy clothes, with a laugh."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I specs ole Marse'll be real lonesome when I'm gone. An' won't he be hoppin' mad when he finds I'm a goner? I specs he'll hate it like pizen."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "O, well, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'se gwine to take my wife an' chillen,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'se got nobody but myself, said Tom;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you think she would go with us?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think she's jis' dying to go. Dey say dey can't do nuffin wid her. Marse Tom's got his match dis time, and I'se glad ob it. I jis' glories in her spunk."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How did she come there?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, Marse bought her ob de trader to keep house for him. But ef you seed dem putty white han's ob hern you'd never tink she kept her own house, let 'lone anybody else's."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you think you can get her away?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know; 'cause Marse Tom keeps her mighty close. My! but she's putty. Beautiful long hair comes way down her back; putty blue eyes, an' jis' ez white ez anybody's in dis place. I'd jis' wish you could see her yoresef. I heerd Marse Tom talkin' 'bout her las' night to his brudder; tellin' him she war mighty airish, but he meant to break her in."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Graceless scamp, he ought to have his neck stretched."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Get her, if you possibly can, but you must be mighty mum about it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Trus' me for dat,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you think of Miss Iola?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I jis' think dat she's splendid. Las' week I had to take some of our pore boys to de hospital, an' she war dere, lookin' sweet an' putty ez an angel, a nussin' dem pore boys, an' ez good to one ez de oder. It looks to me ez ef dey ralely lob'd her shadder. She sits by 'em so patient, an' writes 'em sech nice letters to der frens, an' yit she looks so heart-broke an' pitiful, it jis' gits to me, an' makes me mos' ready to cry. I'm so glad dat Marse Tom had to gib her up. He war too mean to eat good victuals."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He ought, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I tell you, Bob, de debil will neber git his own till he gits him. When I seed how he war treating her I neber rested till I got her away. He buyed her, he said, for his housekeeper; as many gals as dere war on de plantation, why didn't he git one ob dem to keep house, an' not dat nice lookin' young lady? Her han's look ez ef she neber did a day's work in her life. One day when he com'd down to breakfas,' he chucked her under de chin, an' tried to put his arm roun' her waist. But she jis' frew it off like a chunk ob fire. She looked like a snake had bit her. Her eyes fairly spit fire. Her face got red ez blood, an' den she turned so pale I thought she war gwine to faint, but she didn't, an' I yered her say, 'I'll die fust.' I war mad 'nough to stan' on my head. I could hab tore'd him all to pieces wen he said he'd hab her whipped."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Did he do it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't know. But he's mean 'nough to do enythin'. Why, dey say she war sole seben times in six weeks, 'cause she's so putty, but dat she war game to de las'."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Tom, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think so, too. Not dat I specs enytin' ob it. I don't spose she would think ob an ugly chap like me; but it does me good to know dat Marse Tom ain't got her."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Johnson, said a young officer, Captain Sybil, of Maine, who had become attached to Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Captain, you may doubt my word, but to-day I would rather be a lieutenant in my company than a captain in yours."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't understand you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Captain, when a man's been colored all his life it comes a little hard for him to get white all at once. Were I to try it, I would feel like a cat in a strange garret. Captain, I think my place is where I am most needed. You do not need me in your ranks, and my company does. They are excellent fighters, but they need a leader. To silence a battery, to capture a flag, to take a fortification, they will rush into the jaws of death."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, I have often wondered at their bravery."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Captain, these battles put them on their mettle. They have been so long taught that they are nothing and nobody, that they seem glad to prove they are something and somebody."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, Johnson, you do not look like them, you do not talk like them. It is a burning shame to have held such a man as you in slavery."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't think it was any worse to have held me in slavery than the blackest man in the South."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are right, Johnson. The color of a man's skin has nothing to do with the possession of his rights."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, there is Tom Anderson, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How did you get the papers?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I used to have very good privileges for a slave. All of our owners were not alike. Some of them were quite clever, and others were worse than git out. I used to get the morning papers to sell to the boarders and others, and when I got them I would contrive to hide a paper, and let some of the fellow-servants know how things were going on. And our owners thought we cared nothing about what was going on."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How was that? I thought you were not allowed to hold meetings unless a white man were present."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That was so. But we contrived to hold secret meetings in spite of their caution. We knew whom we could trust. My ole Miss wasn't mean like some of them. She never wanted the patrollers around prowling in our cabins, and poking their noses into our business. Her husband was an awful drunkard. He ran through every cent he could lay his hands on, and she was forced to do something to keep the wolf from the door, so she set up a boarding-house. But she didn't take in Tom, Dick, and Harry. Nobody but the big bugs stopped with her. She taught me to read and write, and to cast up accounts. It was so handy for her to have some one who could figure up her accounts, and read or write a note, if she were from home and wanted the like done. She once told her cousin how I could write and figure up. And what do you think her cousin said?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not a bit of it. She said, if I belonged to her, she would cut off my thumbs; her husband said, 'Oh, then he couldn't pick cotton.' As to my poor thumbs, it did not seem to be taken into account what it would cost me to lose them. My ole Miss used to have a lot of books. She would let me read any one of them except a novel. She wanted to take care of my soul, but she wasn't taking care of her own."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Wasn't she religious?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She went for it. I suppose she was as good as most of them. She said her prayers and went to church, but I don't know that that made her any better. I never did take much stock in white folks' religion."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, Robert, I'm afraid you are something of an infidel."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, Captain, I believe in the real, genuine religion. I ain't got much myself, but I respect them that have. We had on our place a dear, old saint, named Aunt Kizzy. She was a happy soul. She had seen hard times, but was what I call a living epistle. I've heard her tell how her only child had been sold from her, when the man who bought herself did not want to buy her child. Poor little fellow! he was only two years old. I asked her one day how she felt when her child was taken away. 'I felt,' she said, 'as if I was going to my grave. But I knew if I couldn't get justice here, I could get it in another world.'"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That was faith, said Captain Sybil, as if speaking to himself,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Many a time, continued Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Poor ole Kizzy, she's done de bes' she kin. Go down, Gabriel, an' tote her in."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have been deeply impressed, said Captain Sybil,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't know. But I know what she was with it. And I believe if there are any saints in glory, Aunt Kizzy is one of them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She is dead, then?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, went all right, singing and rejoicing until the last, 'Troubles over, troubles over, and den my troubles will be over. We'll walk de golden streets all 'roun' in de New Jerusalem.' Now, Captain, that's the kind of religion that I want. Not that kind which could ride to church on Sundays, and talk so solemn with the minister about heaven and good things, then come home and light down on the servants like a thousand of bricks. I have no use for it. I don't believe in it. I never did and I never will. If any man wants to save my soul he ain't got to beat my body. That ain't the kind of religion I'm looking for. I ain't got a bit of use for it. Now, Captain, ain't I right?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, yes, Robert, I think you are more than half right. You ought to know my dear, old mother who lives in Maine. We have had colored company at our house, and I never saw her show the least difference between her colored and white guests. She is a Quaker preacher, and don't believe in war, but when the rest of the young men went to the front, I wanted to go also. So I thought it all over, and there seemed to be no way out of slavery except through the war. I had been taught to hate war and detest slavery. Now the time had come when I could not help the war, but I could strike a blow for freedom. So I told my mother I was going to the front, that I expected to be killed, but I went to free the slave. It went hard with her. But I thought that I ought to come, and I believe my mother's prayers are following me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Captain, said Robert, rising,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am glad that I have heard your story. I think that some of these Northern soldiers do two things--hate slavery and hate niggers."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am afraid that is so with some of them. They would rather be whipped by Rebels than conquer with negroes. Oh, I heard a soldier, said Captain Sybil,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where is Tom? asked Captain Sybil;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have not seen him for several hours."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He's gone down the sound with some of the soldiers, replied Robert."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They wanted Tom to row them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am afraid those boys will get into trouble, and the Rebs will pick them off,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "O, I hope not,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hope not, too; but those boys are too venturesome."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Tom knows the lay of the land better than any of us, said Robert."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He is the most wide-awake and gamiest man I know. I reckon when the war is over Tom will be a preacher. Did you ever hear him pray?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No; is he good at that?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "First-rate, continued Robert."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It would do you good to hear him. He don't allow any cursing and swearing when he's around. And what he says is law and gospel with the boys. But he's so good-natured; and they can't get mad at him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, Robert, there is not a man in our regiment I would sooner trust than Tom. Last night, when he brought in that wounded scout, he couldn't have been more tender if he had been a woman. How gratefully the poor fellow looked in Tom's face as he laid him down so carefully and staunched the blood which had been spurting out of him. Tom seemed to know it was an artery which had been cut, and he did just the right thing to stop the bleeding. He knew there wasn't a moment to be lost. He wasn't going to wait for the doctor. I have often heard that colored people are ungrateful, but I don't think Tom's worst enemy would say that about him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Captain, said Robert, with a tone of bitterness in his voice,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is that so? Why, I always heard that colored people were a musical race."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So we are; but that poor woman's daughter was sold, and her mistress took the money to buy a piano. Her mother could never bear to hear a sound from it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Poor woman! exclaimed Captain Sybil, sympathetically;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I suppose it seemed as if the wail of her daughter was blending with the tones of the instrument. I think, Robert, there is a great deal more in the colored people than we give them credit for. Did you know Captain Sellers?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The officer who escaped from prison and got back to our lines?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes. Well, he had quite an experience in trying to escape. He came to an aged couple, who hid him in their cabin and shared their humble food with him. They gave him some corn-bread, bacon, and coffee which he thought was made of scorched bran. But he said that he never ate a meal that he relished more than the one he took with them. Just before he went they knelt down and prayed with him. It seemed as if his very hair stood on his head, their prayer was so solemn. As he was going away the man took some shingles and nailed them on his shoes to throw the bloodhounds off his track. I don't think he will ever cease to feel kindly towards colored people. I do wonder what has become of the boys? What can keep them so long?"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "O, this is dreadful! How did it happen?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Captain, said one of the young soldiers, advancing and saluting his superior officer,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "O, Tom, I wish you hadn't gone. O, Tom! Tom!"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Captain Sybil,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Miss Iola, I ain't long fer dis! I'se 'most home!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, no, said Iola,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hope that you will soon get over this trouble, and live many long and happy days."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, Miss Iola, it's all ober wid me. I'se gwine to glory; gwine to glory; gwine to ring dem charmin' bells. Tell all de boys to meet me in heben; dat dey mus' 'list in de hebenly war."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "O, Mr. Tom, said Iola, tenderly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Dere's a frien' dat sticks closer dan a brudder. He will be wid yer in de sixt' trial, an' in de sebbent' he'll not fo'sake yer."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, answered Iola,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know that. He is all our dependence. But I can't help grieving when I see you suffering so. But, dear friend, be quiet, and try to go to sleep."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll do enythin' fer yer, Miss Iola."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is no hope, but do what you can to alleviate his sufferings."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is there anything I can do for you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Tom, with laboring breath;"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good-bye, Robert, said Tom,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Suddenly a look of recognition and rapture lit up his face, and he murmured,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Angels, bright angels, all's well, all's well!"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you think, Doctor, said Iola,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, said the doctor,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Colonel, said Dr. Gresham to Col. Robinson, the commander of the post,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am perfectly mystified by Miss Leroy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is the matter with her? asked Col. Robinson."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is she not faithful to her duties and obedient to your directions?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Faithful is not the word to express her tireless energy and devotion to her work, responded Dr. Gresham."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She must have been a born nurse to put such enthusiasm into her work."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, Doctor, what is the matter with you? You talk like a lover."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh! come now, Colonel, can't a man praise a woman without being in love with her?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course he can, said Col. Robinson;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I assure you, Colonel, I am not thinking of love or courtship. That is the business of the drawing-room, and not of the camp. But she did mystify me last night."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How so?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "When Tom was dying, responded the doctor,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I saw that beautiful and refined young lady bend over and kiss him. When she found that he was dead, she just cried as if her heart was breaking. Well, that was a new thing to me. I can eat with colored people, walk, talk, and fight with them, but kissing them is something I don't hanker after."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And yet you saw Miss Leroy do it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes; and that puzzles me. She is one of the most refined and lady-like women I ever saw. I hear she is a refugee, but she does not look like the other refugees who have come to our camp. Her accent is slightly Southern, but her manner is Northern. She is self-respecting without being supercilious; quiet, without being dull. Her voice is low and sweet, yet at times there are tones of such passionate tenderness in it that you would think some great sorrow has darkened and overshadowed her life. Without being the least gloomy, her face at times is pervaded by an air of inexpressible sadness. I sometimes watch her when she is not aware that I am looking at her, and it seems as if a whole volume was depicted on her countenance. When she smiles, there is a longing in her eyes which is never satisfied. I cannot understand how a Southern lady, whose education and manners stamp her as a woman of fine culture and good breeding, could consent to occupy the position she so faithfully holds. It is a mystery I cannot solve. Can you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think I can,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Will you tell me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, on one condition."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Everlasting silence."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I promise, said the doctor."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The secret between us shall be as deep as the sea."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She has not requested secrecy, but at present, for her sake, I do not wish the secret revealed. Miss Leroy was a slave."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, no, said Dr. Gresham, starting to his feet,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, it is so, continued the Colonel."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In these States the child follows the condition of its mother. This beautiful and accomplished girl was held by one of the worst Rebels in town. Tom told me of it and I issued orders for her release."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, well! Is that so? said Dr. Gresham, thoughtfully stroking his beard."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Wonders will never cease. Why, I was just beginning to think seriously of her."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What's to hinder your continuing to think?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What you tell me changes the whole complexion of affairs,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If that be so I am glad I told you before you got head over heels in love."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This hospital life is telling on you. Your strength is failing, and although you possess a wonderful amount of physical endurance, you must not forget that saints have bodies and dwell in tabernacles of clay, just the same as we common mortals."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Compliments aside, she said, smiling;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I mean, he replied,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Doctor, if that is your only remedy, replied Iola,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am afraid that I am destined to die at my post. I have no special friends in the North, and no home but this in the South. I am homeless and alone."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Miss Leroy, you need not be all alone. Let me claim the privilege of making your life bright and happy. Iola, I have loved you ever since I have seen your devotion to our poor, sick boys. How faithfully you, a young and gracious girl, have stood at your post and performed your duties. And now I ask, will you not permit me to clasp hands with you for life? I do not ask for a hasty reply. Give yourself time to think over what I have proposed."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Alfred, said Eugene,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am going to be married."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, that's the latest thing out! Who is the fortunate lady who has bound you with her silken fetters? Is it one of those beautiful Creole girls who were visiting Augustine's plantation last winter? I watched you during our visit there and thought that you could not be proof against their attractions. Which is your choice? It would puzzle me to judge between the two. They had splendid eyes, dark, luminous, and languishing; lovely complexions and magnificent hair. Both were delightful in their manners, refined and cultured, with an air of vivacity mingled with their repose of manner which was perfectly charming. As the law only allows us one, which is your choice? Miss Annette has more force than her sister, and if I could afford the luxury of a wife she would be my choice."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, Alf, said Eugene,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I see that you are a practical business man. In marrying you want a wife to assist you as an efficient plantation mistress. One who would tolerate no waste in the kitchen and no disorder in the parlor."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Exactly so, responded Lorraine;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am too poor to marry a mere parlor ornament. You can afford to do it; I cannot."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nonsense, if I were as poor as a church mouse I would marry the woman I love."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very fine sentiments, said Lorraine,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Neither,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then, is it that magnificent looking widow from New Orleans, whom we met before you had that terrible spell of sickness and to whom you appeared so devoted?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not at all. I have not heard from her since that summer. She was fascinating and handsome, but fearfully high strung."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Were you afraid of her?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No; but I valued my happiness too much to trust it in her hands."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sour grapes!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No! but I think that slavery and the lack of outside interests are beginning to tell on the lives of our women. They lean too much on their slaves, have too much irresponsible power in their hands, are narrowed and compressed by the routine of plantation life and the lack of intellectual stimulus."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, Eugene, when I see what other women are doing in the fields of literature and art, I cannot help thinking an amount of brain power has been held in check among us. Yet I cannot abide those Northern women, with their suffrage views and abolition cant. They just shock me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But your mother was a Northern woman,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes; but she got bravely over her Northern ideas. As I remember her, she was just as much a Southerner as if she had been to the manor born. She came here as a school-teacher, but soon after she came she married my father. He was easy and indulgent with his servants, and held them with a very loose rein. But my mother was firm and energetic. She made the niggers move around. No shirking nor dawdling with her. When my father died, she took matters in hand, but she only outlived him a few months. If she had lived I believe that she would have retrieved our fortune. I know that she had more executive ability than my father. He was very squeamish about selling his servants, but she would have put every one of them in her pocket before permitting them to eat her out of house and home. But whom _are_ you going to marry?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A young lady who graduates from a Northern seminary next week,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think you are very selfish, said Lorraine."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You might have invited a fellow to go with you to be your best man."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The wedding is to be strictly private. The lady whom I am to marry has negro blood in her veins."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The devil she has! exclaimed Lorraine, starting to his feet, and looking incredulously on the face of Leroy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are you in earnest? Surely you must be jesting."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am certainly in earnest, answered Eugene Leroy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I mean every word I say."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, it can't be possible! Are you mad?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Never was saner in my life."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What under heaven could have possessed you to do such a foolish thing? Where did she come from."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Right here, on this plantation. But I have educated and manumitted her, and I intend marrying her."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, Eugene, it is impossible that you can have an idea of marrying one of your slaves. Why, man, she is your property, to have and to hold to all intents and purposes. Are you not satisfied with the power and possession the law gives you?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No. Although the law makes her helpless in my hands, to me her defenselessness is her best defense."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Eugene, we have known each other all of our lives, and, although I have always regarded you as eccentric, I never saw you so completely off your balance before. The idea of you, with your proud family name, your vast wealth in land and negroes, intending to marry one of them, is a mystery I cannot solve. Do explain to me why you are going to take this extremely strange and foolish step."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You never saw Marie?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No; and I don't want to."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She is very beautiful. In the North no one would suspect that she has one drop of negro blood in her veins, but here, where I am known, to marry her is to lose caste. I could live with her, and not incur much if any social opprobrium. Society would wink at the transgression, even if after she had become the mother of my children I should cast her off and send her and them to the auction block."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Men, replied Lorraine,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But if I make her my lawful wife and recognize her children as my legitimate heirs, I subject myself to social ostracism and a senseless persecution. We Americans boast of freedom, and yet here is a woman whom I love as I never loved any other human being, but both law and public opinion debar me from following the inclination of my heart. She is beautiful, faithful, and pure, and yet all that society will tolerate is what I would scorn to do."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But has not society the right to guard the purity of its blood by the rigid exclusion of an alien race?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Excluding it! How?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By debarring it from social intercourse."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Perhaps it has, continued Eugene,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think you have done that already, said Lorraine."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't you know that if she is as fair as a lily, beautiful as a houri, and chaste as ice, that still she is a negro?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, come now; she isn't much of a negro."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It doesn't matter, however. One drop of negro blood in her veins curses all the rest."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know it, said Eugene, sadly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Eugene, your course is _so_ singular! I do wish that you would tell me why you take this unprecedented step?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Alfred, as we are kinsmen and life-long friends, I will not resent your asking my reason for doing that which seems to you the climax of absurdity, and if you will have the patience to listen I will tell you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Proceed, I am all attention."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My father died, said Eugene,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And I suppose love sprang from pity."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I not only pitied her, but I learned to respect her. I had met with beautiful women in the halls of wealth and fashion, both at home and abroad, but there was something in her different from all my experience of womanhood."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I should think so, said Lorraine, with a sneer;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was something such as I have seen in old cathedrals, lighting up the beauty of a saintly face. A light which the poet tells was never seen on land or sea. I thought of this beautiful and defenseless girl adrift in the power of a reckless man, who, with all the advantages of wealth and education, had trailed his manhood in the dust, and she, with simple, childlike faith in the Unseen, seemed to be so good and pure that she commanded my respect and won my heart. In her presence every base and unholy passion died, subdued by the supremacy of her virtue."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, Eugene, what has come over you? Talking of the virtue of these quadroon girls! You have lived so long in the North and abroad, that you seem to have lost the cue of our Southern life. Don't you know that these beautiful girls have been the curse of our homes? You have no idea of the hearts which are wrung by their presence."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Alfred, suppose it is so. Are they to blame for it? What can any woman do when she is placed in the hands of an irresponsible master; when she knows that resistance is vain? Yes, Alfred, I agree with you, these women are the bane of our Southern civilization; but they are the victims and we are the criminals."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think from the airs that some of them put on when they get a chance, that they are very willing victims."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So much the worse for our institution. If it is cruel to debase a hapless victim, it is an increase of cruelty to make her contented with her degradation. Let me tell you, Alf, you cannot wrong or degrade a woman without wronging or degrading yourself."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is the matter with you, Eugene? Are you thinking of taking priest's orders?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, Alf, said Eugene, rising and rapidly pacing the floor,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That may be true, said Lorraine, somewhat irritably,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why so?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because public opinion is too sensitive to tolerate any such discussions."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And is not that a proof that we are at fault with respect to our institutions?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know. I only know we are living in the midst of a magazine of powder, and it is not safe to enter it with a lighted candle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let me proceed with my story, continued Eugene."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "During the long months in which I was convalescing, I was left almost entirely to the companionship of Marie. In my library I found a Bible, which I began to read from curiosity, but my curiosity deepened into interest when I saw the rapt expression on Marie's face. I saw in it a loving response to sentiments to which I was a stranger. In the meantime my conscience was awakened, and I scorned to take advantage of her defenselessness. I felt that I owed my life to her faithful care, and I resolved to take her North, manumit, educate, and marry her. I sent her to a Northern academy, but as soon as some of the pupils found that she was colored, objections were raised, and the principal was compelled to dismiss her. During my search for a school I heard of one where three girls of mixed blood were pursuing their studies, every one of whom would have been ignominiously dismissed had their connection with the negro race been known. But I determined to run no risks. I found a school where her connection with the negro race would be no bar to her advancement. She graduates next week, and I intend to marry her before I return home. She was faithful when others were faithless, stood by me when others deserted me to die in loneliness and neglect, and now I am about to reward her care with all the love and devotion it is in my power to bestow. That is why I am about to marry my faithful and devoted nurse, who snatched me from the jaws of death. Now that I have told you my story, what say you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Madness and folly inconceivable!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What to you is madness and folly is perfect sanity with me. After all, Alf, is there not an amount of unreason in our prejudices?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That may be true; but I wasn't reasoned into it, and I do not expect to be reasoned out of it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Will you accompany me North?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No; except to put you in an insane asylum. You are the greatest crank out,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, thank you; I'm all right. I expect to start North to-morrow. You had better come and go."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I would rather follow you to your grave,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good morning, said Leroy, rising and advancing towards him;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She is well, and has been expecting you. I am glad you came in time for the commencement. She stands among the foremost in her class."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am glad to hear it. Will you send her this?"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good morning, Marie, he said, greeting her cordially, and gazing upon her with unfeigned admiration."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are looking very handsome this morning."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you think so? she asked, smiling and blushing."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am glad you are not disappointed; that you do not feel your money has been spent in vain."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, no, what I have spent on your education has been the best investment I ever made."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I hope, said Marie,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hush! said Leroy, laying his hand playfully on her lips;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why not?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because I have a nearer and dearer one by which I wish to be called."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This is the hand that plucked me from the grave, and I am going to retain it as mine; mine to guard with my care until death us do part."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Until death us do part."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "American Civilization, its Lights and Shadows."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, how glad I am, Marie would often say,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Marie, said Eugene,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What a wrong!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Who was wronged?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Every one in the whole transaction, answered Marie."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Your friend wronged himself by sinning against his own soul. He wronged his wife by arousing her hatred and jealousy through his unfaithfulness. He wronged those children by giving them the _status_ of slaves and outcasts. He wronged their mother by imposing upon her the burdens and cares of maternity without the rights and privileges of a wife. He made her crown of motherhood a circlet of shame. Under other circumstances she might have been an honored wife and happy mother. And I do think such men wrong their own legitimate children by transmitting to them a weakened moral fibre."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, Marie, you have such an uncomfortable way of putting things. You make me feel that we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and have left undone those things which we ought to have done."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If it annoys you, said Marie,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will stop talking."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, no, go on, said Leroy, carelessly; and then he continued more thoughtfully,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know a number of men who have sent such children North, and manumitted, educated, and left them valuable legacies. We are all liable to err, and, having done wrong, all we can do is to make reparation."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My dear husband, this is a wrong where reparation is impossible. Neither wealth nor education can repair the wrong of a dishonored birth. There are a number of slaves in this section who are servants to their own brothers and sisters; whose fathers have robbed them not simply of liberty but of the right of being well born. Do you think these things will last forever?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I suppose not. There are some prophets of evil who tell us that the Union is going to dissolve. But I know it would puzzle their brains to tell where the crack will begin. I reckon we'll continue to jog along as usual. 'Cotton fights, and cotton conquers for American slavery.'"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Marie, said Leroy, taking up the thread of the discourse,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Get out of it as quickly as possible."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That is easier said than done. I would willingly free every slave on my plantation if I could do so without expatriating them. Some of them have wives and children on other plantations, and to free them is to separate them from their kith and kin. To let them remain here as a free people is out of the question. My hands are tied by law and custom."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Who tied them?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A public opinion, whose meshes I cannot break. If the negro is the thrall of his master, we are just as much the thralls of public opinion."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why do you not battle against public opinion, if you think it is wrong?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because I have neither the courage of a martyr, nor the faith of a saint; and so I drift along, trying to make the condition of our slaves as comfortable as I possibly can. I believe there are slaves on this plantation whom the most flattering offers of freedom would not entice away."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I do not think, said Marie,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Marie, your Northern education has unfitted you for Southern life. You are free, yourself, and so are our children. Why not let well enough alone?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Because I love liberty, not only for myself but for every human being. Think how dear these children are to me; and then for the thought to be forever haunting me, that if you were dead they could be turned out of doors and divided among your relatives. I sometimes lie awake at night thinking of how there might be a screw loose somewhere, and, after all, the children and I might be reduced to slavery."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Marie, what in the world is the matter with you? Have you had a presentiment of my death, or, as Uncle Jack says, 'hab you seed it in a vision?'"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, but I have had such sad forebodings that they almost set me wild. One night I dreamt that you were dead; that the lawyers entered the house, seized our property, and remanded us to slavery. I never can be satisfied in the South with such a possibility hanging over my head."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Marie, dear, you are growing nervous. Your imagination is too active. You are left too much alone on this plantation. I hope that for your own and the children's sake I will be enabled to arrange our affairs so as to find a home for you where you will not be doomed to the social isolation and ostracism that surround you here."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't mind the isolation for myself, but the children. You have enjoined silence on me with respect to their connection with the negro race, but I do not think we can conceal it from them very long. It will not be long before Iola will notice the offishness of girls of her own age, and the scornful glances which, even now, I think, are leveled at her. Yesterday Harry came crying to me, and told me that one of the neighbor's boys had called him 'nigger.'"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, Marie, do not meet trouble half way. I have manumitted you, and the children will follow your condition. I have made you all legatees of my will. Except my cousin, Alfred Lorraine, I have only distant relatives, whom I scarcely know and who hardly know me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Your cousin Lorraine? Are you sure our interests would be safe in his hands?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think so; I don't think Alfred would do anything dishonorable."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He might not with his equals. But how many men would be bound by a sense of honor where the rights of a colored woman are in question? Your cousin was bitterly opposed to our marriage, and I would not trust any important interests in his hands. I do hope that in providing for our future you will make assurance doubly sure."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I certainly will, and all that human foresight can do shall be done for you and our children."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, said Marie, pressing to her heart a beautiful child of six summers,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think it would almost make me turn over in my grave to know that every grace and charm which this child possesses would only be so much added to her value as an article of merchandise."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I see no other way of finishing the education of these children than by sending them to some Northern school."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have come, said Leroy,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am so afraid that you will regret our marriage when you fully realize the complications it brings."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, no, said Leroy, tenderly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My dear husband, you may be perfectly right, but are you not preparing our children for a fearful awakening? Are you not acting on the plan, 'After me the deluge?'"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not at all, Marie. I want our children to grow up without having their self-respect crushed in the bud. You know that the North is not free from racial prejudice."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know it, said Marie, sadly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think so, too, said Leroy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The strongest men and women of a down-trodden race may bare their bosoms to an adverse fate and develop courage in the midst of opposition, but we have no right to subject our children to such crucial tests before their characters are formed. For years, when I lived abroad, I had an opportunity to see and hear of men of African descent who had distinguished themselves and obtained a recognition in European circles, which they never could have gained in this country. I now recall the name of Ira Aldridge, a colored man from New York City, who was covered with princely honors as a successful tragedian. Alexander Dumas was not forced to conceal his origin to succeed as a novelist. When I was in St. Petersburg I was shown the works of Alexander Sergevitch, a Russian poet, who was spoken of as the Byron of Russian literature, and reckoned one of the finest poets that Russia has produced in this century. He was also a prominent figure in fashionable society, and yet he was of African lineage. One of his paternal ancestors was a negro who had been ennobled by Peter the Great. I can't help contrasting the recognition which these men had received with the treatment which has been given to Frederick Douglass and other intelligent colored men in this country. With me the wonder is not that they have achieved so little, but that they have accomplished so much. No, Marie, we will have our children educated without being subjected to the depressing influences of caste feeling. Perhaps by the time their education is finished I will be ready to wind up my affairs and take them abroad, where merit and ability will give them entrance into the best circles of art, literature, and science."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I would like, said Marie, one day,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "and her voice became tremulous,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A faint sigh arose to the lips of Leroy, as she added:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Man is a social being; I've known it to my sorrow."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, Marie, let them stay North. We seem to be entering on a period fraught with great danger. I cannot help thinking and fearing that we are on the eve of a civil war."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A civil war! exclaimed Marie, with an air of astonishment."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A civil war about what?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, Marie, the thing looks to me so wild and foolish I hardly know how to explain. But some of our leading men have come to the conclusion that North and South had better separate, and instead of having one to have two independent governments. The spirit of secession is rampant in the land. I do not know what the result will be, and I fear it will bode no good to the country. Between the fire-eating Southerners and the meddling Abolitionists we are about to be plunged into a great deal of trouble. I fear there are breakers ahead. The South is dissatisfied with the state of public opinion in the North. We are realizing that we are two peoples in the midst of one nation. William H. Seward has proclaimed that the conflict between freedom and slavery is irrepressible, and that the country cannot remain half free and half slave."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How will _you_ go?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My heart is with the Union. I don't believe in secession. There has been no cause sufficient to justify a rupture. The North has met us time and again in the spirit of concession and compromise. When we wanted the continuance of the African slave trade the North conceded that we should have twenty years of slave-trading for the benefit of our plantations. When we wanted more territory she conceded to our desires and gave us land enough to carve out four States, and there yet remains enough for four more. When we wanted power to recapture our slaves when they fled North for refuge, Daniel Webster told Northerners to conquer their prejudices, and they gave us the whole Northern States as a hunting ground for our slaves. The Presidential chair has been filled the greater number of years by Southerners, and the majority of offices has been shared by our men. We wanted representation in Congress on a basis which would include our slaves, and the North, whose suffrage represents only men, gave us a three-fifths representation for our slaves, whom we count as property. I think the step will be suicidal. There are extremists in both sections, but I hope, between them both, wise counsels and measures will prevail."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is something about your cousin that fills me with nameless dread. I always feel when he enters the room as if some one were walking over my grave. I do wish he would stay at home."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wish so, too, since he disturbs you. But, Marie, you are growing nervous. How cold your hands are. Don't you feel well?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, yes; I am only a little faint. I wish he would never come. But, as he does, I must make the best of it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, Marie, treat him well for my sake. He is the only relative I have who ever darkens our doors."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have no faith in his friendship for either myself or my children. I feel that while he makes himself agreeable to you he hates me from the bottom of his heart, and would do anything to get me out of the way. Oh, I am _so_ glad I am your lawful wife, and that you married me before you brought me back to this State! I believe that if you were gone he wouldn't have the least scruple against trying to prove our marriage invalid and remanding us to slavery."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Marie, I do not think so. Your life is too lonely here. Write your orders to New Orleans, get what you need for the journey, and let us spend the summer somewhere in the North."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tom, continued Leroy,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What is the matter?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nothing much; only a tempest in a teapot. The presence of a colored girl in Mr. Galen's school has caused a breeze of excitement. You know Mr. Galen is quite an Abolitionist, and, being true to his principles, he could not consistently refuse when a colored woman applied for her daughter's admission. Of course, when he took her he was compelled to treat her as any other pupil. In so doing he has given mortal offense to the mother of two Southern boys. She has threatened to take them away if the colored girl remains."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What will he do about it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, it is a bitter pill, but I think he will have to swallow it. He is between two fires. He cannot dismiss her from the school and be true to his Abolition principles; yet if he retains her he will lose his Southern customers, and I know he cannot afford to do that."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What does Iola say?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He has found another boarding place for her, but she is to remain in the school. He had to throw that sop to the whale."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Does she take sides against the girl?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, I don't think she does. She says she feels sorry for her, and that she would hate to be colored. 'It is so hard to be looked down on for what one can't help.'"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Poor child! I wish we could leave the country. I never would consent to her marrying any one without first revealing to him her connection with the negro race. This is a subject on which I am not willing to run any risks."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My dear Marie, when you shall have read Iola's letter you will see it is more than a figment of my imagination that has made me so loth to have our children know the paralyzing power of caste."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let us return home,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is useless, answered Leroy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is nearly two days since we left home. The fever is spreading south of us with fearful rapidity. To return home is to walk into the jaws of death. It was my intention to have stopped at Vicksburg, but now I will go on as soon as I can make the connections."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have left you well provided for. Kiss the children for me and bid them good-bye."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wonder, she said, excitedly,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Whar's Marse Eugene?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Dead, said Marie, falling into Mammy Liza's arms, sobbing out,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where is he?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He is buried in H----. I could not bring him home,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My pore baby, said Mam Liza, with broken sobs."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'se drefful sorry. My heart's most broke into two."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come, honey, lie down an' lem'me git yer a cup ob tea."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, no; I don't want anything,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, honey, said Mam Liza,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have come to take possession of these premises."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By what authority?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By what authority?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By the authority of the law, answered Lorraine,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, exclaimed Marie,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have our marriage certificate. I was Leroy's lawful wife."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Your marriage certificate is not worth the paper it is written on."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, you must be jesting, cruelly jesting. It can't be so."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes; it is so. Judge Starkins has decided that your manumission is unlawful; your marriage a bad precedent, and inimical to the welfare of society; and that you and your children are remanded to slavery."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Slavery can't be wrong, she would say,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Iola, responded one of her school friends,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, the cases are not parallel. Our slaves do not want their freedom. They would not take it if we gave it to them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That is not the case with them all. My father has seen men who have encountered almost incredible hardships to get their freedom. Iola, did you ever attend an anti-slavery meeting?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No; I don't think these Abolitionists have any right to meddle in our affairs. I believe they are prejudiced against us, and want to get our property. I read about them in the papers when I was at home. I don't want to hear my part of the country run down. My father says the slaves would be very well contented if no one put wrong notions in their heads."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't know, was the response of her friend,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, I don't think, answered Iola,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Have you seen her yet?"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes; just caught a glimpse of her this morning as she was going down the street,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She is a most beautiful creature, said Louis Bastine."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She has the proud poise of Leroy, the most splendid eyes I ever saw in a woman's head, lovely complexion, and a glorious wealth of hair. She would bring $2000 any day in a New Orleans market."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I always feel sorry, said Camille,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What became of them?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They both died, poor girls. I believe they were as much killed by the blow as if they had been shot. To tell you the truth, Bastine, I feel sorry for this girl. I don't believe she has the least idea of her negro blood."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, Leroy has been careful to conceal it from her,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is that so? queried Camille."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then he has made a great mistake."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I can't help that, said Bastine;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How can you get her away? asked Camille."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You will have to be very cautious, because if these pesky Abolitionists get an inkling of what you're doing they will balk your game double quick. And when you come to look at it, isn't it a shame to attempt to reduce that girl to slavery? She is just as white as we are, as good as any girl in the land, and better educated than thousands of white girls. A girl with her apparent refinement and magnificent beauty, were it not for the cross in her blood, I would be proud to introduce to our set. She would be the sensation of the season. I believe to-day it would be easier for me to go to the slums and take a young girl from there, and have her introduced as my wife, than to have society condone the offense if I married that lovely girl. There is not a social circle in the South that would not take it as a gross insult to have her introduced into it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Bastine,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How will you do it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I shall tell her her father is dangerously ill, and desires her to come as quickly as possible."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And what then?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Have her inventoried with the rest of the property."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't she know that her father is dead?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think not, said Bastine."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She is not in mourning, but appeared very light-hearted this morning, laughing and talking with two other girls. I was struck with her great beauty, and asked a gentleman who she was. He said, 'Miss Leroy, of Mississippi.' I think Lorraine has managed the affair so as to keep her in perfect ignorance of her father's death. I don't like the job, but I never let sentiment interfere with my work."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How do you think she will take to her situation?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "O, I guess, said Bastine,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All this business must be conducted with the utmost secrecy and speed. Her mother could not have written to her, for she has been suffering with brain fever and nervous prostration since Leroy's death. Lorraine knows her market value too well, and is too shrewd to let so much property pass out of his hands without making an effort to retain it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Has she any brothers or sisters?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, a brother, replied Bastine;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Louis, this is a pitiful piece of business. I should hate to be engaged in it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't like the job, but I have undertaken it, and must go through with it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I see no '_must_' about it. Were I in your place I would wash my hands of the whole business."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can't afford it,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I hope that he will be alive and growing better!"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How dare you do such a thing! Don't you know if my father were here he would crush you to the earth?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not so fast, my lovely tigress, said Bastine,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My father made a great mistake, if he thought he had put me in charge of a gentleman."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am your guardian for the present, replied Bastine."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am to see you safe home, and then my commission ends."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wish it were ended now, she exclaimed, trembling with anger and mortification. Her voice was choked by emotion, and broken by smothered sobs. Louis Bastine thought to himself,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, papa's dead!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, my pore baby! said mammy,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, Iola, she exclaimed, as her daughter entered,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Much as I love you, she continued, between her sobs,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, mother, replied Iola, astonished,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I received your telegram last Wednesday, and I took the earliest train I could get."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My dear child, I never sent you a telegram. It was a trick to bring you down South and reduce you to slavery."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Iola, I must tell you what your father always enjoined me to be silent about. I did not think it was the wisest thing, but I yielded to his desires. I have negro blood in my veins. I was your father's slave before I married him. His relatives have set aside his will. The courts have declared our marriage null and void and my manumission illegal, and we are all to be remanded to slavery."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, mother, it can't be so! you must be dreaming!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, my child; it is a terrible reality."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I used to say that slavery is right. I didn't know what I was talking about. Then growing calmer, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mother, who is at the bottom of this downright robbery?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Alfred Lorraine; I have always dreaded that man, and what I feared has come to pass. Your father had faith in him; I never had."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, mother, could we not contest his claim. You have your marriage certificate and papa's will."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, my dear child, but Judge Starkins has decided that we have no standing in the court, and no testimony according to law."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, mother, what can I do?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nothing, my child, unless you can escape to the North."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And leave you?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mother, I will never desert you in your hour of trial. But can nothing be done? Had father no friends who would assist us?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "None that I know of. I do not think he had an acquaintance who approved of our marriage. The neighboring planters have stood so aloof from me that I do not know where to turn for either help or sympathy. I believe it was Lorraine who sent the telegram. I wrote to you as soon as I could after your father's death, but fainted just as I finished directing the letter. I do not think he knows where your brother is, and, if possible, he must not know. If you can by any means, _do_ send a letter to Harry and warn him not to attempt to come home. I don't know how you will succeed, for Lorraine has us all under surveillance. But it is according to law."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What law, mother?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The law of the strong against the weak."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, mother, it seems like a dreadful dream, a fearful nightmare! But I cannot shake it off. Where is Gracie?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The dear child has been running down ever since her papa's death. She clung to me night and day while I had the brain fever, and could not be persuaded to leave me. She hardly ate anything for more than a week. She has been dangerously ill for several days, and the doctor says she cannot live. The fever has exhausted all her rallying power, and yet, dear as she is to me, I would rather consign her to the deepest grave than see her forced to be a slave."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So would I. I wish I could die myself."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, Iola, do not talk so. Strive to be a Christian, to have faith in the darkest hour. Were it not for my hope of heaven I couldn't stand all this trouble."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mother, are these people Christians who made these laws which are robbing us of our inheritance and reducing us to slavery? If this is Christianity I hate and despise it. Would the most cruel heathen do worse?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My dear child, I have not learned my Christianity from them. I have learned it at the foot of the cross, and from this book, she said, placing a New Testament in Iola's hands."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Some of the most beautiful lessons of faith and trust I have ever learned were from among our lowly people in their humble cabins."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mamma!"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I thought, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, darling; do you want to see her?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, yes,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am so glad you have come. Dear Iola, stand by mother. You and Harry are all she has. It is not hard to die. You and mother and Harry must meet me in heaven."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is beautiful, so beautiful!"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, Doctor; that can never be. I am very grateful to you for your kindness. I value your friendship, but neither gratitude nor friendship is love, and I have nothing more than those to give."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not at present, said Dr. Gresham;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Doctor, I could not promise. I do not think that I should. There are barriers between us that I cannot pass. Were you to know them I think you would say the same."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, she said to herself,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I do like him; but I can never marry him. To the man I marry my heart must be as open as the flowers to the sun. I could not accept his hand and hide from him the secret of my birth; and I could not consent to choose the happiest lot on earth without first finding my poor heart-stricken and desolate mother. Perhaps some day I may have the courage to tell him my sad story, and then make my heart the sepulchre in which to bury all the love which might have gladdened and brightened my whole life."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Iola, he said, and there was a depth of passionate tenderness in his voice, a volume of unexpressed affection in his face,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Doctor, you are right."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Iola, my heart is longing to lift those burdens from your life. Love, like faith, laughs at impossibilities. I can conceive of no barrier too high for my love to surmount. Consent to be mine, as nothing else on earth is mine."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Doctor, you know not what you ask, replied Iola."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Instead of coming into this hospital a self-sacrificing woman, laying her every gift and advantage upon the altar of her country, I came as a rescued slave, glad to find a refuge from a fate more cruel than death; a fate from which I was rescued by the intervention of my dear dead friend, Thomas Anderson. I was born on a lonely plantation on the Mississippi River, where the white population was very sparse. We had no neighbors who ever visited us; no young white girls with whom I ever played in my childhood; but, never having enjoyed such companionship, I was unconscious of any sense of privation. Our parents spared no pains to make the lives of their children (we were three) as bright and pleasant as they could. Our home was so happy. We had a large number of servants, who were devoted to us. I never had the faintest suspicion that there was any wrongfulness in slavery, and I never dreamed of the dreadful fate which broke in a storm of fearful anguish over our devoted heads. Papa used to take us to New Orleans to see the Mardi Gras, and while there we visited the theatres and other places of amusement and interest. At home we had books, papers, and magazines to beguile our time. Perfectly ignorant of my racial connection, I was sent to a Northern academy, and soon made many friends among my fellow-students. Companionship with girls of my own age was a new experience, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I spent several years in New England, and was busily preparing for my commencement exercises when my father was snatched away--died of yellow fever on his way North to witness my graduation. Through a stratagem, I was brought hurriedly from the North, and found that my father was dead; that his nearest kinsman had taken possession of our property; that my mother's marriage had been declared illegal, because of an imperceptible infusion of negro blood in her veins; and that she and her children had been remanded to slavery. I was torn from my mother, sold as a slave, and subjected to cruel indignities, from which I was rescued and a place given to me in this hospital. Doctor, I did not choose my lot in life, but I have no other alternative than to accept it. The intense horror and agony I felt when I was first told the story are over. Thoughts and purposes have come to me in the shadow I should never have learned in the sunshine. I am constantly rousing myself up to suffer and be strong. I intend, when this conflict is over, to cast my lot with the freed people as a helper, teacher, and friend. I have passed through a fiery ordeal, but this ministry of suffering will not be in vain. I feel that my mind has matured beyond my years. I am a wonder to myself. It seems as if years had been compressed into a few short months. In telling you this, do you not, can you not, see that there is an insurmountable barrier between us?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, I do not, replied Dr. Gresham."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I love you for your own sake. And with this the disadvantages of birth have nothing to do."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You say so now, and I believe that you are perfectly sincere. Today your friendship springs from compassion, but, when that subsides, might you not look on me as an inferior?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Iola, you do not understand me. You think too meanly of me. You must not judge me by the worst of my race. Surely our country has produced a higher type of manhood than the men by whom you were tried and tempted."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Tried, but not tempted, said Iola, as a deep flush overspread her face;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was never tempted. I was sold from State to State as an article of merchandise. I had outrages heaped on me which might well crimson the cheek of honest womanhood with shame, but I never fell into the clutches of an owner for whom I did not feel the utmost loathing and intensest horror. I have heard men talk glibly of the degradation of the negro, but there is a vast difference between abasement of condition and degradation of character. I was abased, but the men who trampled on me were the degraded ones."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Iola, you must not blame all for what a few have done."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A few have done? Did not the whole nation consent to our abasement?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, Miss Iola, we did not all consent to it. Slavery drew a line of cleavage in this country. Although we were under one government we were farther apart in our sentiments than if we had been divided by lofty mountains and separated by wide seas. And had not Northern sentiment been brought to bear against the institution, slavery would have been intact until to-day."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, Doctor, the negro is under a social ban both North and South. Our enemies have the ear of the world, and they can depict us just as they please."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That is true; but the negro has no other alternative than to make friends of his calamities. Other men have plead his cause, but out of the race must come its own defenders. With them the pen must be mightier than the sword. It is the weapon of civilization, and they must use it in their own defense. We cannot tell what is in them until they express themselves."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, and I think there is a large amount of latent and undeveloped ability in the race, which they will learn to use for their own benefit. This my hospital experience has taught me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, said Dr. Gresham,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And yet, said Iola, earnestly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I believe the time will come when the civilization of the negro will assume a better phase than you Anglo-Saxons possess. You will prove unworthy of your high vantage ground if you only use your superior ability to victimize feebler races and minister to a selfish greed of gold and a love of domination."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, Iola, said Dr. Gresham, a little impatiently,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Dr. Gresham, said Iola, sadly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Iola, dear, you have nothing to fear in that direction."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Doctor, she said, and a faint flush rose to her cheek,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah, I see, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And is this your final answer?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is. I have pledged my life to that resolve, and I believe time and patience will reward me."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Iola, stand by mamma!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, no, she said to herself;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was right to refuse Dr. Gresham. How dare I dream of happiness when my poor mamma's heart may be slowly breaking? I should be ashamed to live and ashamed to die were I to choose a happy lot for myself and leave poor mamma to struggle alone. I will never be satisfied till I get tidings of her. And when I have found her I will do all I can to cheer and brighten the remnant of her life."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Bascom, here is a case that baffles my skill. I saw that boy pass by my window not more than half an hour ago, full of animation, and now he lies hovering between life and death. I have great apprehension for his reason. Can you throw any light on the subject?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am not asking you as a matter of idle curiosity, but as a physician. I must have all the light I can get in making my diagnosis of the case."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can it be possible! I never suspected such a thing. It must be a cruel, senseless hoax."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This, said the doctor,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Doctor, said he one day, as the physician sat at his bedside,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I seem to have had a dreadful dream, and to have dreamt that my father was dead, and my mother and sister were in terrible trouble, but I could not help them. Doctor, was it a dream, or was it a reality? It could not have been a dream, for when I fell asleep the grass was green and the birds were singing, but now the winds are howling and the frost is on the ground. Doctor, tell me how it is? How long have I been here?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My dear boy, you have been very ill, and everything depends on your keeping quiet, very quiet."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Mr. Bascom, Harry said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do not understand this. It says my mother and father were legally married. How could her marriage be set aside and her children robbed of their inheritance? This is not a heathen country. I hardly think barbarians would have done any worse; yet this is called a Christian country."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Christian in name, answered the principal."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "When your father left you in my care, knowing that I was an Abolitionist, he confided his secret to me. He said that life was full of vicissitudes, and he wished you to have a good education. He wanted you and your sister to be prepared for any emergency. He did not wish you to know that you had negro blood in your veins. He knew that the spirit of caste pervaded the nation, North and South, and he was very anxious to have his children freed from its depressing influences. He did not intend to stay South after you had finished your education."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, said Harry,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I cannot understand. If my mother was lawfully married, how could they deprive her of her marital rights?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "When Lorraine, continued Mr. Bascom,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I see things in a new light. Now I remember that none of the planters' wives ever visited my mother; and we never went to church except when my father took us to the Cathedral in New Orleans. My father was a Catholic, but I don't think mamma is."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, Harry, said the principal,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Never! never! cried Harry."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I would rather die than do it! I should despise myself forever if I did."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Numbers of our young men, said Mr. Bascom,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I certainly would; not so much for the sake of fighting for the Government, as with the hope of finding my mother and sister, and avenging their wrongs. I should like to meet Lorraine on the battle-field."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What kind of a regiment would you prefer, white or colored?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I do not think that you should be assigned to a colored regiment because of the blood in your veins, but you will have, in such a regiment, better facilities for finding your mother and sister."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are right, Mr. Bascom. To find my mother and sister I call no task too heavy, no sacrifice too great."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why do you wish that,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Because I am a colored man."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do not understand you, said the officer."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Surely you are a white man, and, as such, I will enlist you in a white regiment."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said Harry, firmly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am a colored man, and unless I can be assigned to a colored regiment I am not willing to enter the army."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said the officer,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good morning, gentlemen,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good morning, responded Colonel Robinson,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am glad you have come. I was just about to send for you. How is your company getting on?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "First rate, sir,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In good health?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Excellent. They are all in good health and spirits. Our boys are used to hardship and exposure, and the hope of getting their freedom puts new snap into them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am glad of it, said Colonel Robinson."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They make good fighters and very useful allies. Last night we received very valuable intelligence from some fugitives who had escaped through the Rebel lines. I do not think many of the Northern people realize the service they have been to us in bringing information and helping our boys when escaping from Rebel prisons. I never knew a full-blooded negro to betray us. A month ago, when we were encamped near the Rebel lines, a colored woman managed admirably to keep us posted as to the intended movements of the enemy. She was engaged in laundry work, and by means of hanging her sheets in different ways gave us the right signals."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I hope, said Captain Sybil,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Our great mistake, said Colonel Robinson,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think so, too, said Captain Sybil."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But in making his proclamation of freedom, perhaps Mr. Lincoln went as far as he thought public opinion would let him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is remarkable, said Colonel Robinson,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think, said Captain Sybil"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And I think, said Colonel Robinson,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think, said Captain Sybil,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They are fighting against fearful odds, said Colonel Robinson,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "As soon, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Had we freed the slaves at the outset, said Captain Sybil,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Political and racial questions have sadly complicated this matter, said Colonel Robinson."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The North is not wholly made up of anti-slavery people. At the beginning of this war we were not permeated with justice, and so were not ripe for victory. The battle of Bull Run inaugurated the war by a failure. Instead of glory we gathered shame, and defeat in place of victory."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We have been slow, said Captain Sybil,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And did you really think that they would accept the terms of freedom and lay down their arms?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hardly thought they would, continued Captain Sybil."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I did not think that their leaders would permit it. I believe the rank and file of their army are largely composed of a mass of ignorance, led, manipulated, and moulded by educated and ambitious wickedness. In attempting to overthrow the Union, a despotism and reign of terror were created which encompassed them as fetters of iron, and they will not accept the conditions until they have reached the last extremity. I hardly think they are yet willing to confess that such extremity has been reached."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Captain, said Robert, as they left Colonel Robinson's tent,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have lived all my life where I have had a chance to hear the 'Secesh' talk, and when they left their papers around I used to read everything I could lay my hands on. It seemed to me that the big white men not only ruled over the poor whites and made laws for them, but over the whole nation."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That was so, replied Captain Sybil."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The North was strong but forbearing. It was busy in trade and commerce, and permitted them to make the Northern States hunting-grounds for their slaves. When we sent back Simms and Burns from beneath the shadow of Bunker Hill Monument and Faneuil Hall, they mistook us; looked upon us as a lot of money-grabbers, who would be willing to purchase peace at any price. I do not believe when they fired on the 'Star of the West' that they had the least apprehension of the fearful results which were to follow their madness and folly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Captain, asked Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are mistaken, Robert, if you think the Indians were never enslaved. I have read that the Spaniards who visited the coasts of America kidnapped thousands of Indians, whom they sent to Europe and the West Indies as slaves. Columbus himself, we are informed, captured five hundred natives, and sent them to Spain. The Indian had the lesser power of endurance, and Las Cassas suggested the enslavement of the negro, because he seemed to possess greater breadth of physical organization and stronger power of endurance. Slavery was an old world's crime which, I have heard, the Indians never practiced among themselves. Perhaps it would have been harder to reduce them to slavery and hold them in bondage when they had a vast continent before them, where they could hide in the vastnesses of its mountains or the seclusion of its forests, than it was for white men to visit the coasts of Africa and, with their superior knowledge, obtain cargoes of slaves, bring them across the ocean, hem them in on the plantations, and surround them with a pall of dense ignorance."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I remember, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Captain Sybil,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's exactly so, Captain! When I was a boy I used to hear the old folks tell what would happen to bad people in another world; about the devil pouring hot lead down people's throats and stirring them up with a pitch-fork; and I used to get so scared that I would be afraid to go to bed at night. I don't suppose the Indians ever heard of such things, or, if they had, I never heard of them being willing to give away all their lands on earth, and quietly wait for a home in heaven."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, surely, Robert, you do not think religion has degraded the negro?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I wouldn't say that. But a man is in a tight fix when he takes his part, like Nat Turner or Denmark Veasy, and is made to fear that he will be hanged in this world and be burned in the next. And, since I come to think of it, we colored folks used to get mightily mixed up about our religion. Mr. Gundover had on his plantation a real smart man. He was religious, but he would steal."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, Robert, queried Sybil,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He didn't think, retorted Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What did Mr. Parker say?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know, though I reckon he didn't think it was a bad steal after all, but I don't suppose he told Jack so. When he came to the next point, about Jack's lying, I suppose he thought he had a clear case; but Jack was equal to the occasion."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How did he clear up that charge?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Finely. I think if he had been educated he would have made a first-rate lawyer. He said, 'Marse Parker, dere's old Joe. His wife don't lib on dis plantation. Old Joe go ober ter see her, but he stayed too long, an' didn't git back in time fer his work. Massa's oberseer kotched him an' cut him all up. When de oberseer went inter de house, pore old Joe war all tired an' beat up, an' so he lay down by de fence corner and go ter sleep. Bimeby Massa oberseer com'd an' axed, all bin a workin' libely?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, Massa."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Blessed am de Peacemaker."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What did Gundover say?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He turned pale, and said, 'For God's sake don't speak of the Day of Judgment in connection with slavery.'"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Here are orders for an engagement at Five Forks to-morrow. Oh, this wasting of life and scattering of treasure might have been saved had we only been wiser. But the time is passing. Look after your company, and see that everything is in readiness as soon as possible."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And lives of men and souls of States Were thrown like chaff beyond the gates."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Drooping souls no longer grieve, Heaven is propitious; If on Christ you do believe, You will find Him precious."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That, said he, looking earnestly into Iola's face,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In my home, in Mississippi, from my own dear mother,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you know where she learned it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "When she was a little girl she heard her mother sing it. Years after, a Methodist preacher came to our house, sang this hymn, and left the book behind him. My father was a Catholic, but my mother never went to any church. I did not understand it then, but I do now. We used to sing together, and read the Bible when we were alone."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you remember where she came from, and who was her mother?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My dear friend, you must be quiet. The fever has left you, but I will not answer for the consequences if you get excited."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Have you any friends to whom you would like to send a letter?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I haven't, to my knowledge, a single relation in the world. When I was about ten years old my mother and sister were sold from me. It is more than twenty years since I have heard from them. But that hymn which you were singing reminded me so much of my mother! She used to sing it when I was a child. Please sing it again."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I _do_ wonder if he can be my mother's brother, from whom she has been separated so many years!"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Miss Iola, you remind me so much of my mother and sister that I cannot help wondering if you are the daughter of my long-lost sister."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you think, asked Iola,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am afraid not. But there is one thing I can remember about her: she used to have a mole on her cheek, which mother used to tell her was her beauty spot."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Look at this,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have only a faint remembrance of my sister's features; but I never could recognize in that beautiful woman the dear little sister with whom I used to play. Oh, the cruelty of slavery! How it wrenched and tore us apart! Where is _your_ mother now?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, I cannot tell, answered Iola."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I left her in Mississippi. My father was a wealthy Creole planter, who fell in love with my mother. She was his slave, but he educated her in the North, freed, and married her. My father was very careful to have the fact of our negro blood concealed from us. I had not the slightest suspicion of it. When he was dead the secret was revealed. His white relations set aside my father's will, had his marriage declared invalid, and my mother and her children were remanded to slavery. Iola shuddered as she pronounced the horrid word, and grew deadly pale; but, regaining her self-possession, continued:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, that freedom has come, I intend to search for my mother until I find her."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do not wonder, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Iola,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What are your plans for the future, or have you any?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I intend offering myself as a teacher in one of the schools which are being opened in different parts of the country, replied Iola."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "As soon as I am able I will begin my search for my dear mother. I will advertise for her in the papers, hunt for her in the churches, and use all the means in my power to get some tidings of her and my brother Harry. What a cruel thing it was to separate us!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Good morning, said Dr. Gresham, approaching Robert and Iola."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How are you both? You have mended rapidly, turning to Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where have you been, Doctor? I have a faint recollection of having seen you on the morning I was brought in from the field, but not since."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have been on a furlough. I was running down through exhaustion and overwork, and I was compelled to go home for a few weeks' rest. But now, as they are about to close the hospital, I shall be permanently relieved. I am glad that this cruel strife is over. It seemed as if I had lived through ages during these last few years. In the early part of the war I lost my arm by a stray shot, and my armless sleeve is one of the mementos of battle I shall carry with me through life. Miss Leroy, he continued, turning respectfully to Iola,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My purpose, replied Iola,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What did he mean?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That he did not see it, replied the doctor."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course, this does not apply to all of them. Some of them are wide-awake and sharp as steel traps. I think some of that class may be used in helping others."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I should be very glad to have an opportunity to teach, said Iola."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I used to be a great favorite among the colored children on my father's plantation."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They've got money,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But how did they get it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They took it from us,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, do not be discouraged, For Jesus is your friend."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am not despondent of the future of my people; there is too much elasticity in their spirits, too much hope in their hearts, to be crushed out by unreasoning malice."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am so glad to meet you, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am on my way to C---- in search of my mother. I want to see the person who sold her last, and, if possible, get some clew to the direction in which she went."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And I, said Iola,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can give you that assurance,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am satisfied, exclaimed Iola, fixing her eyes, beaming with hope and confidence, on Robert."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I am so glad that I can, without the least hesitation, accept your services to join with me in the further search. What are your plans?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To stop for awhile in C----, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I _do_ hope that you will succeed. I expect to stop over there a few days, and I shall be so glad if, before I leave, I hear your search has been crowned with success, or, a least, that you have been put on the right track. Although I was born and raised in the midst of slavery, I had not the least idea of its barbarous selfishness till I was forced to pass through it. But we lived so much alone I had no opportunity to study it, except on our own plantation. My father and mother were very kind to their slaves. But it was slavery, all the same, and I hate it, root and branch."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We stop here, said Robert."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am going to see Mrs. Johnson, and hunt up some of my old acquaintances. Where do you stop?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't know, replied Iola."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I expect that friends will be here to meet us. Bishop B----, permit me to introduce you to Mr. Robert Johnson, whom I have every reason to believe is my mother's brother. Like myself, he is engaged in hunting up his lost relatives."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And I, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bishop, said Iola,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mr. Johnson wishes to know where I am to stop. He is going on an exploring expedition, and wishes to let me know the result."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We stop at Mrs. Allston's, 313 New Street, said the bishop."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If I can be of any use to you, I am at your service."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thank you,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She had never in her life addressed a colored person as"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. or Mrs. To do so now was to violate the social customs of the place. It would be like learning a new language in her old age. Robert immediately set her at ease by addressing her under the old familiar name of"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Miss Nancy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Robby, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I once thought that you would have been the last one to leave me. You know I never ill-treated you, and I gave you everything you needed. People said that I was spoiling you. I thought you were as happy as the days were long. When I heard of other people's servants leaving them I used to say to myself, 'I can trust my Bobby; he will stick to me to the last.' But I fooled myself that time. Soon as the Yankee soldiers got in sight you left me without saying a word. That morning I came down into the kitchen and asked Linda, 'Where's Robert? Why hasn't he set the table?' She said 'she hadn't seen you since the night before.' I thought maybe you were sick, and I went to see, but you were not in your room. I couldn't believe at first that you were gone. Wasn't I always good to you?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, Miss Nancy, replied Robert;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, she said, musingly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I suppose I would have done the same. But, Robby, it did go hard with me at first. However, I soon found out that my neighbors had been going through the same thing. But its all over now. Let by-gones be by-gones. What are you doing now, and where are you living?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am living in the city of P----. I have opened a hardware store there. But just now I am in search of my mother and sister."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hope that you may find them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How long, asked Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let me see; it must have been nearly thirty years. You got my letter?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, ma'am; thank you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There have been great changes since you left here, Mrs. Johnson said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Gundover died, and a number of colored men have banded together, bought his plantation, and divided it among themselves. And I hear they have a very nice settlement out there. I hope, since the Government has set them free, that they will succeed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How is yer, ole boy?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Everything is lobly,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Shore as I'se born, dat's Robert! Look yere, honey, whar did yer come from? I'll gib my head fer a choppin' block ef dat ain't Miss Nancy's Bob. Ain't yer our Bobby? Shore yer is."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of course I am, responded Robert."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It isn't anybody else. How did you know me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How did I know yer? By dem mischeebous eyes, ob course. I'd a knowed yer if I had seed yer in Europe."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In Europe, Aunt Linda? Where's that?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't know. I specs its some big city, somewhar. But yer looks jis' splendid. Yer looks good 'nuff ter kiss."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, Aunt Linda, don't say that. You make me blush."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh you go 'long wid yer. I specs yer's got a nice little wife up dar whar yer comes from, dat kisses yer ebery day, an' Sunday, too."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is that the way your old man does you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, no, not a bit. He isn't one ob de kissin' kine. But sit down, she said, handing Robert a chair."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Won't yer hab a glass ob milk? Boy, I'se a libin' in clover. Neber 'spected ter see sich good times in all my born days."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Aunt Linda, said Robert, seating himself near her, and drinking the glass of milk which she had handed him,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, fust rate, fust rate! Wen freedom com'd I jist lit out ob Miss Johnson's kitchen soon as I could. I wanted ter re'lize I war free, an' I couldn't, tell I got out er de sight and soun' ob ole Miss. When de war war ober an' de sogers war still stopping' yere, I made pies an' cakes, sole em to de sogers, an' jist made money han' ober fist. An' I kep' on a workin' an' a savin' till my ole man got back from de war wid his wages and his bounty money. I felt right set up an' mighty big wen we counted all dat money. We had neber seen so much money in our lives befo', let alone hab it fer ourselbs. An' I sez, 'John, you take dis money an' git a nice place wid it.' An' he sez, 'Dere's no use tryin', kase dey don't want ter sell us any lan'.' Ole Gundover said, 'fore he died, dat he would let de lan' grow up in trees 'fore he'd sell it to us. An' dere war Mr. Brayton; he buyed some lan' and sole it to some cullud folks, an' his ole frien's got so mad wid him dat dey wouldn't speak ter him, an' he war borned down yere. I tole ole Miss Anderson's daughter dat we wanted ter git some homes ob our ownselbs. She sez, 'Den you won't want ter work for us?' Jis' de same as ef we could eat an' drink our houses. I tell yer, Robby, dese white folks don't know eberything."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That's a fact, Aunt Linda."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Den I sez ter John, 'wen one door shuts anoder opens.' An' shore 'nough, ole Gundover died, an' his place war all in debt, an' had to be sole. Some Jews bought it, but dey didn't want to farm it, so dey gib us a chance to buy it. Dem Jews hez been right helpful to cullud people wen dey hab lan' to sell. I reckon dey don't keer who buys it so long as dey gits de money. Well, John didn't gib in at fust; didn't want to let on his wife knowed more dan he did, an' dat he war ruled ober by a woman. Yer know he is an' ole Firginian, an' some ob dem ole Firginians do so lub to rule a woman. But I kep' naggin at him, till I specs he got tired of my tongue, an' he went and buyed dis piece ob lan'. Dis house war on it, an' war all gwine to wrack. It used to belong to John's ole marster. His wife died right in dis house, an' arter dat her husband went right to de dorgs; an' now he's in de pore-house. My! but ain't dem tables turned. When we knowed it war our own, warn't my ole man proud! I seed it in him, but he wouldn't let on. Ain't you men powerful 'ceitful?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, Aunt Linda, don't put me in with the rest!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know 'bout dat. Put you all in de bag for 'ceitfulness, an' I don't know which would git out fust."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Aunt Linda, I suppose by this time you know how to read and write?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, chile, sence freedom's com'd I'se bin scratchin' too hard to get a libin' to put my head down to de book."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Aunt Linda, it would be such company when your husband is away, to take a book. Do you never get lonesome?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Chile, I ain't got no time ter get lonesome. Ef you had eber so many chickens to feed, an' pigs squealin' fer somethin' ter eat, an' yore ducks an' geese squakin' 'roun' yer, yer wouldn't hab time ter git lonesome."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Aunt Linda, you might be sick for months, and think what a comfort it would be if you could read your Bible."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I could hab prayin' and singin'. Dese people is mighty good 'bout prayin' by de sick. Why, Robby, I think it would gib me de hysterics ef I war to try to git book larnin' froo my pore ole head. How long is yer gwine to stay? An' whar is yer stoppin?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I got here to-day, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, I wants yer to meet my ole man, an' talk 'bout ole times. Couldn't yer come an' stop wid me, or isn't my house sniptious 'nuff?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, thank you; but there is a young lady in town whom I think is my niece, my sister's daughter, and I want to be with her all I can."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Your niece! Whar did you git any niece from?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't you remember, asked Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Laws a marcy! exclaimed Aunt Linda,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I met her first, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, did I eber! You jis' fotch dat chile to see me, ef she ain't too fine. I'se pore, but I'se clean, an' I ain't forgot how ter git up good dinners. Now, I wants ter hab a good talk 'bout our feller-sarvants."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, and I, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, I'se got lots an' gobs ter tell yer. I'se kep' track ob dem all. Aunt Katie died an' went ter hebben in a blaze ob glory. Uncle Dan'el stayed on de place till Marse Robert com'd back. When de war war ober he war smashed all ter pieces. I did pity him from de bottom ob my heart. When he went ter de war he looked so brave an' han'some; an' wen he com'd back he looked orful. 'Fore he went he gib Uncle Dan'el a bag full ob money ter take kere ob. 'An wen he com'd back Uncle Dan'el gibed him ebery cent ob it. It warn't ebery white pusson he could hab trusted wid it. 'Cause yer know, Bobby, money's a mighty temptin' thing. Dey tells me dat Marster Robert los' a heap ob property by de war; but Marse Robert war always mighty good ter Uncle Dan'el and Aunt Katie. He war wid her wen she war dyin' an' she got holt his han' an' made him promise dat he would meet her in glory. I neber seed anybody so happy in my life. She singed an' prayed ter de last. I tell you dis ole time religion is good 'nuff fer me. Mr. Robert didn't stay yere long arter her, but I beliebs he went all right. But 'fore he went he looked out fer Uncle Dan'el. Did you see dat nice little cabin down dere wid de green shutters an' nice little garden in front? Well, 'fore Marse Robert died he gib Uncle Dan'el dat place, an' Miss Mary and de chillen looks arter him yet; an' he libs jis' as snug as a bug in a rug. I'se gwine ter axe him ter take supper wid you. He'll be powerful glad ter see you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you ever go to see old Miss?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, yes; I goes ebery now and den. But she's jis' fell froo. Ole Johnson jis' drunk hisself to death. He war de biggest guzzler I eber seed in my life. Why, dat man he drunk up ebery thing he could lay his han's on. Sometimes he would go 'roun' tryin' to borrer money from pore cullud folks. 'Twas rale drefful de way dat pore feller did frow hisself away. But drink did it all. I tell you, Bobby, dat drink's a drefful thing wen it gits de upper han' ob you. You'd better steer clar ob it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That's so,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know'd Miss Nancy's fadder and mudder. Dey war mighty rich. Some ob de real big bugs. Marse Jim used to know dem, an' come ober ter de plantation, an' eat an' drink wen he got ready, an' stay as long as he choose. Ole Cousins used to have wine at dere table ebery day, an' Marse Jim war mighty fon' ob dat wine, an' sometimes he would drink till he got quite boozy. Ole Cousins liked him bery well, till he foun' out he wanted his darter, an' den he didn't want him fer rags nor patches. But Miss Nancy war mighty headstrong, an' allers liked to hab her own way; an' dis time she got it. But didn't she step her foot inter it? Ole Johnson war mighty han'some, but when dat war said all war said. She run'd off an' got married, but wen she got down she war too spunkey to axe her pa for anything. Wen you war wid her, yer know she only took big bugs. But wen de war com'd 'roun' it tore her all ter pieces, an' now she's as pore as Job's turkey. I feel's right sorry fer her. Well, Robby, things is turned 'roun' mighty quare. Ole Mistus war up den, an' I war down; now, she's down, an' I'se up. But I pities her, 'cause she warn't so bad arter all. De wuss thing she eber did war ta sell your mudder, an' she wouldn't hab done dat but she snatched de whip out ob her han' an gib her a lickin'. Now I belieb in my heart she war 'fraid ob your mudder arter dat. But we women had ter keep 'em from whippin' us, er dey'd all de time been libin' on our bones. She had no man ter whip us 'cept dat ole drunken husband ob hern, an' he war allers too drunk ter whip hisself. He jis' wandered off, an' I reckon he died in somebody's pore-house. He warn't no 'count nohow you fix it. Weneber I goes to town I carries her some garden sass, er a little milk an' butter. An' she's mighty glad ter git it. I ain't got nothin' agin her. She neber struck me a lick in her life, an' I belieb in praising de bridge dat carries me ober. Dem Yankees set me free, an' I thinks a powerful heap ob dem. But it does rile me ter see dese mean white men comin' down yere an' settin' up dere grog-shops, tryin' to fedder dere nests sellin' licker to pore culled people. Deys de bery kine ob men dat used ter keep dorgs to ketch de runaways. I'd be chokin' fer a drink 'fore I'd eber spen' a cent wid dem, a spreadin' dere traps to git de black folks' money. You jis' go down town 'fore sun up to-morrer mornin' an' you see ef dey don't hab dem bars open to sell dere drams to dem hard workin' culled people 'fore dey goes ter work. I thinks some niggers is mighty big fools."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, Aunt Linda, don't run down your race. Leave that for the white people."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I ain't runnin' down my people. But a fool's a fool, wether he's white or black. An' I think de nigger who will spen' his hard-earned money in dese yere new grog-shops is de biggest kine ob a fool, an' I sticks ter dat. You know we didn't hab all dese low places in slave times. An' what is dey fer, but to get the people's money. An' its a shame how dey do sling de licker 'bout 'lection times."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But don't the temperance people want the colored people to vote the temperance ticket?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, but some ob de culled people gits mighty skittish ef dey tries to git em to vote dare ticket 'lection time, an' keeps dem at a proper distance wen de 'lection's ober. Some ob dem say dere's a trick behine it, an' don't want to tech it. Dese white folks could do a heap wid de culled folks ef dey'd only treat em right."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "When our people say there is a trick behind it, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I only wish they could see the trick before it--the trick of worse than wasting their money, and of keeping themselves and families poorer and more ignorant than there is any need for them to be."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Bobby, I beliebs we might be a people ef it warn't for dat mizzable drink. An' Robby, I jis' tells yer what I wants; I wants some libe man to come down yere an' splain things ter dese people. I don't mean a politic man, but a man who'll larn dese people how to bring up dere chillen, to keep our gals straight, an' our boys from runnin' in de saloons an' gamblin' dens."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't your preachers do that?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, some ob dem does, an' some ob dem doesn't. An' wen dey preaches, I want dem to practice wat dey preach. Some ob dem says dey's called, but I jis' thinks laziness called some ob dem. An' I thinks since freedom come deres some mighty pore sticks set up for preachers. Now dere's John Anderson, Tom's brudder; you 'member Tom."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes; as brave a fellow and as honest as ever stepped in shoe leather."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, his brudder war mighty diffrent. He war down in de lower kentry wen de war war ober. He war mighty smart, an' had a good head-piece, an' a orful glib tongue. He set up store an' sole whisky, an' made a lot ob money. Den he wanted ter go to de legislatur. Now what should he do but make out he'd got 'ligion, an' war called to preach. He had no more 'ligion dan my ole dorg. But he had money an' built a meetin' house, whar he could hole meeting, an' hab funerals; an' you know cullud folks is mighty great on funerals. Well dat jis' tuck wid de people, an' he got 'lected to de legislatur. Den he got a fine house, an' his ole wife warn't good 'nuff for him. Den dere war a young school-teacher, an' he begun cuttin' his eyes at her. But she war as deep in de mud as he war in de mire, an' he jis' gib up his ole wife and married her, a fusty thing. He war a mean ole hypocrit, an' I wouldn't sen' fer him to bury my cat. Robby, I'se down on dese kine ob preachers like a thousand bricks."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Aunt Linda, all the preachers are not like him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No; I knows dat; not by a jug full. We's got some mighty good men down yere, an' we's glad when dey comes, an' orful sorry when dey goes 'way. De las preacher we had war a mighty good man. He didn't like too much hollerin'."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Perhaps, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I specs so. His wife war de nicest and sweetest lady dat eber I did see. None ob yer airish, stuck up folks, like a tarrapin carryin' eberything on its back. She used ter hab meetins fer de mudders, an' larn us how to raise our chillen, an' talk so putty to de chillen. I sartinly did lub dat woman."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Where is she now?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "De Conference moved dem 'bout thirty miles from yere. Deys gwine to hab a big meetin' ober dere next Sunday. Don't you 'member dem meetins we used to hab in de woods? We don't hab to hide like we did den. But it don't seem as ef de people had de same good 'ligion we had den. 'Pears like folks is took up wid makin' money an' politics."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Aunt Linda, don't you wish those good old days would come back?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, chile; neber! neber! Wat fer you take me? I'd ruther lib in a corn-crib. Freedom needn't keep me outer heben; an' ef I'se sich a fool as ter lose my 'ligion cause I'se free, I oughtn' ter git dere."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, Aunt Linda, if old Miss were able to take care of you, wouldn't you just as leave be back again?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't yer want yer freedom? Well I wants ter pat my free foot. Halleluyah! But, Robby, I wants yer ter go ter dat big meetin' de wuss kine."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How will I get there?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, dat's all right. My ole man's got two ob de nicest mules you eber set yer eyes on. It'll jis' do yer good ter look at dem. I 'spect you'll see some ob yer ole frens dere. Dere's a nice settlemen' of cullud folks ober dere, an' I wants yer to come an' bring dat young lady. I wants dem folks to see wat nice folks I kin bring to de meetin'. I hope's yer didn't lose all your 'ligion in de army."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, I hope not,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, chile, yer mus' be shore 'bout dat. I don't want yer to ride hope's hoss down to torment. Now be shore an' come to-morrer an' bring dat young lady, an' take supper wid me. I'se all on nettles to see dat chile."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ole Mistus can't set sich a table as dat. She ought'er be yere to see it. Specs 'twould make her mouf water. Well, I mus' let by-gones be by-gones. But dis yere freedom's mighty good."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you know dis gemmen?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, I can't say's I do. My eyes is gittin dim, an I disremembers him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now jis' you look right good at him. Don't yer 'member him?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He do look like somebody I used ter know, but I can't make him out ter save my life. I don't know whar to place him. Who is de gemmen, ennyhow?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, Uncle Dan'el, replied Aunt Linda,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, shore's I'se born, ef dis ain't our ole Bobby! exclaimed Uncle Daniel, delightedly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, chile, whar did yer come from? Thought you war dead an' buried long 'go."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, Uncle Daniel, did you send anybody to kill me?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, no'n 'deed, chile! but I yeard dat you war killed in de battle, an' I never 'spected ter see you agin."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, here I am, replied Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "As he spoke he turned to Iola."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you remember my mother?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, yes,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, I firmly believe, continued Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, I'se rale glad ter see her. She puts me mighty much in mine ob dem days wen we war all young togedder; wen Miss Nancy sed, 'Harriet war too high fer her.' It jis' seems like yisterday wen I yeard Miss Nancy say, 'No house could flourish whar dere war two mistresses.' Well, Mr. Robert--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, no, no, Uncle Daniel, interrupted Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Bobby, I'se glad klar from de bottom of my heart ter see yer."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Even if you wouldn't go with us when we left?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, Bobby, dem war mighty tryin' times. You boys didn't know it, but Marster Robert hab giben me a bag ob money ter take keer ob, an' I promised him I'd do it an' I had ter be ez good ez my word."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, Uncle Daniel, why didn't you tell us boys all about it? We could have helped you take care of it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, wouldn't dat hab bin smart ter let on ter you chaps, an' hab you huntin' fer it from Dan ter Barsheba? I specs some ob you would bin a rootin' fer it yit!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Uncle Daniel, we were young then; I can't tell what we would have done if we had found it. But we are older now."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, yer older, but I wouldn't put it pas' yer eben now, ef yer foun' out whar it war."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Iola, laughing,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Money's a mighty tempting thing,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, Robby, dere's nothin' like a klar conscience; a klar conscience, Robby!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Salters, let me interdoos you ter my fren', Mr. Robert Johnson, an' his niece, Miss Leroy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, is it possible, exclaimed Robert, rising, and shaking hands,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dat's what de parson sed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I thought, pursued Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All de use I'se got fer dat name is ter git my money wid it; an' wen dat's done, all's done. Got 'nuff ob my ole Marster in slave times, widout wearin' his name in freedom. Wen I got done wid him, I got done wid his name. Wen I 'listed, I war John Andrews; and wen I gits my pension, I'se John Andrews; but now Salters is my name, an' I likes it better."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But how came you to be Aunt Linda's husband? Did you get married since the war?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lindy an' me war married long 'fore de war. But my ole Marster sole me away from her an' our little gal, an' den sole her chile ter somebody else. Arter freedom, I hunted up our little gal, an' foun' her. She war a big woman den. Den I com'd right back ter dis place an' foun' Lindy. She hedn't married agin, nuther hed I; so we jis' let de parson marry us out er de book; an' we war mighty glad ter git togedder agin, an' feel hitched togedder fer life."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Uncle Daniel, said Robert, turning the conversation toward him,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, indeed, said Aunt Linda,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ben got inter a stream of luck. Arter freedom com'd, de people had a heap of fath in Ben; an' wen dey wanted some one to go ter Congress dey jist voted for Ben ter go. An' he went, too. An' wen Salters went to Washin'ton to git his pension, who should he see dere wid dem big men but our Ben, lookin' jist as big as any ob dem."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "An' it did my ole eyes good jist ter see it, broke in Salters;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I reckon Mirandy war mighty sorry she didn't stay wid him. I know I should be,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Uncle Daniel, asked Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, chile, I'se still firing off de Gospel gun."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hear some of the Northern folks are down here teaching theology, that is, teaching young men how to preach. Why don't you study theology?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Look a yere, boy, I'se been a preachin' dese thirty years, an' you come yere a tellin' me 'bout studying yore ologies. I larn'd my 'ology at de foot ob de cross. You bin dar?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dear Uncle Daniel, said Iola,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Does yer 'member Miss Nancy's Harriet, asked Aunt Linda,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, I hopes she may fine her, replied Salters."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I war sole 'way from my mammy wen I war eighteen mont's ole, an' I wouldn't know her now from a bunch ob turnips."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I, said Iola,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Come, said Aunt Linda,"
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Robby, seein' yer an' hearin' yer talk, almos' puts new springs inter me. I feel 'mos' like I war gittin' younger."
}
] |
12352
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, replied Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is dat de way you foun' her?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, Andrews,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, Salters, continued Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't nuther, said Salters."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't see dat dey drinks any more dan anybody else, nor dat dere is any meanness or debilment dat a black man kin do dat a white man can't keep step wid him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, assented Robert,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "All that may be true, said Iola,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I beliebs eberybody, Norf and Souf, is lookin' at us; an' some ob dem ain't got no good blood fer us, nohow you fix it,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I specs cullud folks mus' hab done somethin',"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "O, nonsense, said Robert."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't think they are any worse than the white people. I don't believe, if we had the power, we would do any more lynching, burning, and murdering than they do."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dat's so, said Aunt Linda,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We war cowed down from the beginnin', said Uncle Daniel,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said Salters,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is not to be expected, said Robert,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I tried, said Salters,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Aunt Linda,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He's got to larn to work fust, said Salters,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Iola,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hope he will turn out an excellent young man, for the greatest need of the race is noble, earnest men, and true women."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Job, said Salters, turning to his grandson,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, John Salters, exclaimed Aunt Linda,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ef I war single, said Salters,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I could git a putty young gal, but it wouldn't be so easy wid you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why not?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Robby, honey, said Aunt Linda,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, his head's level, answered Robert;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dat's jis' de way; you see dat, Miss Iola? One man takin' up for de oder. But I'll be eben wid you bof. I must go now an' git ready."
}
] |
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