The people whom you will meet in this little book did not live in fancy.
They were humble2 instruments through whom God sent a message clear, and strong, that will go on, and on, through the coming years.
Realizing the rapidity with which the good old colored types were passing away, I went one September afternoon, 1901, to see Aunt Kitty Carr, for the purpose of obtaining some interesting facts concerning herself, and her remarkable3 family.
Her husband, Uncle Horace Carr, had been dead twenty-four years, and she was then living with her son Horace, at his farm on Red River, a mile or two from Port Royal, Tennessee.
I found her on the back porch peeling peaches to dry, and when I made known to her the intent of my visit, she was amused, and said, “Lor Miss[9] Harriet, what am I say, that will be worth reading in a book?”
Aunt Kitty Carr.
On assuring her of the esteem4 in which she and her family were held, and the importance of such lives being left on tangible5 record, she seemed willing to tell me, in her quaint6 way, what I wished to know.
“Of course you have heard that I was free born?”
“Yes,” I replied, “you were the first free born person of your race, that I ever saw.”
“I was born near Spotsylvania, Virginia, in 1815. That’s been a long time ago. I’ll soon be eighty-six years old. My children, and grand-children are kind to me, and don’t want me to work, but I am not satisfied to sit idle.
“My father was a Frenchman of some importance, by the name of Truell; my only recollection of him was his long curly hair that came down to his shoulders. My mother was free born, and gave me away.
“One bright spring day she was sweeping9 her front yard, and I, a little girl of six years, was taking up the trash, that she swept together, when a pretty white girl sixteen, or seventeen,[10] rode past the gate, and called for a drink of water. As she handed the drinking gourd10 back, she said, ‘That’s a handy little girl you have there, I wish you’d give her to me.’ ‘All right,’ mother replied, and the lady passed on, and nothing more was thought of it, till nearly a year afterward11, a nice covered wagon12 drove up to our gate, and the same lady called for me.
“A few days before, she had married a Mr. Edmond Winston, and they were going to housekeeping.
“My mother gathered together my little budget of clothes, and handed little Kitty, and the clothes over to the colored driver, saying, ‘Here take her.’
“And they took me; I have never thought mother acted right.
“The new married couple lived in Virginia about a year after that, when they decided13 to come to Tennessee, and brought me with them. We came a long journey, in that same covered wagon, and settled in District No. 1, Montgomery county, near where Fortson’s Spring now is.
“They were as kind to me, as they could be, and I was content to stay with them.
“After coming to Tennessee, Mr. Winston did not live very long, and his widow, after a respectable time, married a Mr. Coleman, grandfather[11] of the first Mrs. Polk Prince, and great grandfather of Mrs. Lewis Downer, of Guthrie, Ky.
“But I was always called Kitty Winston. The Colemans and Johnsons were related, and through their visiting from Fortson Spring neighborhood to Spring Creek14, farther down toward Clarksville, I met my lifetime companion.
“He was the property of Mr. Aquilla Johnson, of Spring Creek, and was first known as Horace Johnson.
“We were married when we were both quite young. Soon after our marriage, it was necessary to make a division of the property, and Mr. Johnson sold my husband to Mr. James Carr, of Port Royal, grandfather of Mr. Ed, and Ross Bourne.
“We had not been long settled down to quiet, peaceable living in our little cabin home, when it began to be whispered around among a cruel class of white people called overseers, that I could be deprived of my free birth right, and made a slave. Of course it made me very unhappy, and I prayed earnestly over the matter.
“I went to sertain good white friends who had known me longest, and laid the case before them, and they advised me to go to Esq. Dick Blount, of Fortson’s Spring, and he would fix up some[12] papers that would establish my freedom for all time to come.
“I put out for the Blount home in haste, my husband going with me. When we reached there, a member of the Esquire’s family told me he was drunk, but if I could wait an hour or two, he might be sober enough to talk to me. Of course I waited. We were seated in the back yard, and a quiet couple we were, for it was a solemn time in our lives.
“By, and by, we saw the Esquire came out on the back porch, and washed his face. I whispered and asked Horace, if he reckoned he was washing the drunk off.
“We walked up to the door, and told our mission; Esq. Blount advised us to go on to Clarksville, and said he would follow on shortly.
“We waited, and waited, on the Court House steps, and I had about decided he was not coming, when we looked up the street, and saw him.
“He took an iron square, and measured my height, wrote a description of my features, and asked me if there were any scars on my body. I knew of none, except a small one the size of a silver dime15, on the back of my neck, caused from the deep burning of a fly blister16. I showed him that.
“He kindly17 fixed18 up the papers, and handed[13] them to me. I kept them closely guarded, till my oldest daughter, Mary Waters, was going to move to the State of Ohio to live, and not knowing what might happen to her there, she asked me for them, and I willingly gave them to her. I always regretted that I did not keep a copy, for it would be a curiosity to the present generation.”
As she quietly sat, and told me all this, her grand daughter, Eleanora Carr Johnson, was an attentive19 listener, never having before heard such details of antebellum history. The afternoon seemed too short; so pleasant was the interview that I regretted not having gone oftener, to see her. She referred incidentally to a little prayer book, “Morning and Night Watches,” by Rev20. J. R. McDuff, D. D., from which I had often read to her, in days gone by, and expressed a desire to hear a certain chapter once more.
Feeling that she would enjoy hearing it, I had carried the little book along with me, and read to her as follows: “May it be mine to cheerfully follow the footsteps of the guiding Shepherd through the darkest, loneliest road, and amidst thickest sorrows may I have grace to say, ‘Though He slay21 me, yet will I trust in Him.’”
“Lord, increase my faith, let it rise above all trials, and difficulties. And if they arise, may[14] they only drive me closer to Him who has promised to make me more than conqueror22. I am a pilgrim, pitching my tent day, by day, nearer heaven, imbibing23 every day more of the pilgrim character, and longing24 more for the pilgrim’s rest.
“May I be enabled to say, with the chastened spirit of a passing world, ‘Here I have no continuing city.’
“May this assurance reconcile me to all things.
“Lord, hasten Thy coming, and Thy kingdom.
“Stand by Thy Missionary26 servants. Enable us all, to be living more from day to day, on Thy grace, to rely on Thy guiding arm with more childlike confidence, looking with a more simple faith to Thy finished work.
“Be the God of all near, and dear to me.
“May all my ties of blood, scattered27 far and wide over the earth, be able to claim a spiritual relationship with Thee, so that those earthly bonds of attachment28, which sooner or later, must snap asunder29 here, be renewed, and perpetuated30 before the great white throne.”
As I read, she clasped her hands and looked reverently31 upward, as if her soul were drinking in the spirit of the great writer.
She followed me to the front gate, and thanked me for my visit.
It was the last time I ever saw her.
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收听单词发音
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1
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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8
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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9
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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10
gourd
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| n.葫芦 | |
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11
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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13
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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14
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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15
dime
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| n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角 | |
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16
blister
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| n.水疱；(油漆等的)气泡；v.(使)起泡 | |
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17
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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18
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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19
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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20
rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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21
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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22
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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23
imbibing
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| v.吸收( imbibe的现在分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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24
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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27
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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28
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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29
asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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30
perpetuated
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| vt.使永存（perpetuate的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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31
reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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