aM a i

   
  
   
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
   
 
 
  
   
  
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
   
    
  
   
   
 

NEGRO LIFE IN AMERICA. ; 333

Legree was provoked beyond measure by Tom’s evident happi-
ness; and, riding up to him, pelaboured him over his head and
shoulders.

“There, you dog!” he said. “See if you feel so comfortable
after that !”

But the blows fell now only on the outer man, and not, as before,
on the heart. ‘Tom stood perfectly submissive ; and yet Legree
could not hide from himself that his power over his bond-thrall
was somehow gone. And as Tom disappeared in his cabin, and
he wheeled his horse suddenly round,’ there passed through his
mind one of those vivid flashes that often send the lightning of
conscience across the dark and wicked soul. He understood full
well that it was God who was standing between him and hig
victim, and he blasphemed him. That submissive and silent
man, whom taunts, nor threats, nor stripes, nor cruelties could
disturb, roused a voice within him, such as of old his Master
roused in the demoniac soul, saying, “ What have we to do with
thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ? Art thou come to torment us
before the time?” 3

Tom’s whole soul overflowed with compassion and sympathy for
the poor wretches by whom he was surrounded. To him it seemed
as if his life-sorrows were now over, and as if, out of that strange
treasury of peace and joy with which he had been endowed from
above, he longed to pour out something for the relief of their
woes. It is true, opportunities were scanty ; but on the way to the
fields and back again, and during the hours of labour, chances fell in
his way of extending a helping hand to the weary, the disheartened
and discouraged. The poor, worn-down, brutalised creatures at first
could scarcely comprehend this ; but when it was continued week
after week, and month after month, it began to awaken long silent
chords in their benumbed hearts. Gradually and imperceptibly
the strange, silent, patient man, who was ready to bear every one’s
burden, and sought help from none—who stood aside for all, and
came last, and took least, yet was foremost to share his little all
with any who needed—the man who, in cold nights, would give
up his tattered blanket to add to the comfort of some woman who
shivered with sickness, and who filled the baskets of the weaker
ones in the field, at the terrible risk of coming short in his own
measure—and who, though pursued with unrelenting cruelty by
their common tyrant, never joined in uttering a word of reviling or
cursing—this man at last began to have a strange power over
them ; and when the more pressing season was past, and they
were allowed again their Sundays for their own use, many would
gather together to hear from him of Jesus. They would gladly
have met to hear, and pray, and sing, in some place together; but
Legree would not permit it, and more than once broke up such
attempts with oaths and brutal execrations, so that the blessed
news had to circulate from individual to individual. Yet who can