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Show I_s_s_ _________u_ N_cLE_ _r_ o_M_'s c_A_n_rN_ _: _ o_R~' ------------- CHAPTER XXXIII. «And behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, nnd they had 110 comfortca·; nnd on the side of their oppressors there was power, but. they lmd no comfurter.''-]~ccL. 4:1. IT took but n short time to fiuniliarizc 'l'om with all that was to be hoped or feared in his new way of lifo. lie wa.s an expert and efficient workman in whatever he undertook; and was, both from habit and principle, prompt and f..tithful. Quiet and peaceable in his disposition, he hoped, by unremitting diligence, to avert from himself at least a portion of the evils of his condition. He sn.w enough of abuse an.U misery to make him sick and weary; but he determined to toil on, with religious patience, committing himself to Ilim that judgcth righteously, not without hope that some way of escape might yet be opened to him. Legree took' silent note of Tom's availability. He rated him as a. first-class hand; and yet he felt a. secret dislike to him,-- the native antipathy of bad to good. lie 8"W, plainly, that when, ns was often the case, his violence and brutality fell on the helpless, ~rom took notice of it; for, so subtle is the atmosphere of opinion, tha,t it will make itself felt, without '"ords; and the opinion even of a slave may annoy a master. Tom in various ways manifested a tenderness of feeling, a. commiseration for his fellow-sufferers, strange ami new to them, which was watched with a jealous eye by J.1c· grec. Jle had purchased 'l'om with a. view of eventually making him a sort of overseer, with whom he might, at times, LIFE AMONG TIIE LOWLY. 189 intrust his affairs, in short absences; and, in his view, the first, second, and third rec1uisitc for that place, was ltardncss. Legree made up his mind, that, as Tom was not hard to his hand, he would harden him forthwith; and some few weeks after Tom had been on the place, he determined to commence the process. One morning, when the hands were mustered for the field, Tom noticed, with surprise, a. new comer among them, whose appearance excited his attention. It was n woman, tall and slenderly formed, with remarkably delicate hands and feet, and drcssod in neat and respectable garments. By the appcamnco of her face, she might have been between tbirty-fivo and forty; and it was a face that, once seen, could never be forgotten,- one of those that, at a glance, seem to convey to us an idcn of a wild, painful, and romantic history. Her forehead was high, and her eyebrows marked with beautiful clearness. Her straight, well-formed nose, her finely-cut mouth, and the graceful contour of her head and neck, showed that she must once have been beautiful; but her fi10c was deeply wrinkled with lines of pain, and of proud and bitter endurance. Ilcr complexion was sallow and unhealthy, her checks thin, her features sharp, and her whole form emaci~ a ted. But her eye was the most remarkable feature,-- so large, so heavily black, overshadowed by long hshcs of equal darkness, a.nd so wildly, mournfully despairing. There was a fierce pride and defia.nce in every line of lwr fitce, in every curYC of the flexible lip, in every motion of her body; but in her eye was a deep, settled night of a.nguish,- an expression so hopeless and unchanging as to contrast fearfully with the scorn and pride expressed. by her whole demeanor. Where she came from, or who she was, Tom did not know. The first ho did know, sho 'vas walking by his side, erect and |
