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Show 168 UNCLE TOM'S CABIN : OR, CIIAPTER XXXI. THE Z.UJ)J)L}~ J'ASSA(a;, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, nud canst not look upon iniquity: wherefore lookcst thou upon them that dcnl t.t·cnchcrously, nnd boldest thy tongue when the wicked dcvourcth the man thn.t is more righteous thnn he ?"-llAn. 1: 13. ON tho lower part of a small, moan hoat, on the Rod river, Tom sat,- chains on his wrists, chains on his feet, and a weight heavier than chains lay on his heart. All had faded from his sky,-;- moon and star; n.ll had passed by him, as the trees and banks were now passing, to return no more. Kentucky home, with wife and children, and indulgent owners; St. Clare home, with nJl its refinements and splendors; tho golden head of Eva, with its saint-like eyes; tho proud, gay, hamlsomc, seemingly careless, yet ever-kind St. Claro; hours of case and indulgent leisure,- all gone! and in place thereof, what remains 1 It is one of tho bitterest apportionments of a lot of slavery, that tho negro, sympathetic and assimib.tive, after acquiring, in a refined family, tho tastes and feelings which form tho atmosphere of such a place, is not tho less liable to become tho bond-slave of tho coarsest and most brutal,-just as a chair or table, which once dccor::ttcd tho superb saloon, comes, at last, battered and defaced, to tho bar-room of some filthy tavern, or some low haunt of vulgar debauchery. rl1hc great difference is, that the table and chair cannot feel, and tho man can ; for oven a legal enactment that be shall be LIFE AMONG TITE LOWLY. 1G9 "taken, reputed, adjudged in law, to be a chattel personal," cannot blot out his soul, with its own private little world of memories, hopes, loves, fears, mul desires. ~Ir. Simon Legree, Tom's master, haJ purchased slaves at ona place and another, in New Orleans, to the number of eight, and driven them, handcuffed, in couples of two nnt.l two, clown to the good steamer Pira.tc, which lay at the lcrcc, ready for a trip up tho Hed river. Having got them £hir1y on board, and thw boat being off, he came round, with that air of efficiency which ever characterized him, to take a review of them. Stopping opposite to ~1om, who had boon attired for sale in his best broadcloth suit, with well-starched linen and shining boots, be briefly expressed himself as follows : "Stand up." Tom stood up. " ~fake off that stock ! " and, as Tom, encumbered by his fetters, proocodod to do it, he assisted him, by pulling it, with no gentle hand, from his neck, and putting it in his pocket. Legree now turned to Tom's trunk which previous to this he had been ransn.cking, and, takin~ from' it a pair of old pantaloons and a clilopidatcd coat, which Tom bad been wont to put on ahout his stable-work, be said, liberating Tom's hands from the handcuffs, and pointing to a recess in among the boxes, ''You go there, and put these on.'' Tom obeyed, and in a few moments returned. "Take off" your boots," said Thir. Legree. Tom did so. "There," said the former, throwing him a pair of coarso, stout shoes, such as were common among the slaves, "put these on.'' VOL. II. 15 |