Clockwork Souls Read Online Free PDF Page B

this courtroom, that if anyone knows a fugitive—slave or
automaton—who needs shelter, send him to me that I might befriend him!”
    Taney glowered at Thomas, but Thomas did not flinch. Words
poured from his mouth as if he were not their originator, but only the voice of
the spirit that moved through him. He sensed the close attention with which his
arguments were received.
    “My friends, are we not called to regard all mankind as our brethren?
Was the soul placed in the automaton once a man? And must he then be our
brother, for whom we ought to have the most tender care?”
    His voice swelled as he exhorted the audience to, “Quench
not the spirit, but live in love and unity one with another! The same
expression of God’s love dwells in all of us, male and female, black and white,
slave and free— and sheathed in metal !
It is as vile a practice, and as contrary to the laws of God, to keep a metal
person in bondage as it is to enslave another man, for both are living souls!”
    At moments, there was such a profound silence, he might have
been in Meeting. Now and again, a member of the audience hung his head or
someone else hissed their displeasure.
    “Consider, friends, that a black man may escape to a free
state and thereby become free. Consider that he may purchase his freedom and
that of his family. But what of the automaton? We have heard testimony in this
court that the boundaries of the states and their laws regarding slavery are of
no account in this case. This automaton was pursued and then seized in
Pennsylvania, in what ought to have been a place of sanctuary. Then he was
executed without trial. His light was forever extinguished. And for what
reason?”
    Thomas paused. For the last few minutes, he had been so
caught up in his ministry as to become unaware of his listeners. Now he saw
them, the reddened faces and those nodding in agreement. Toward the back, a
small, mousy woman, whom he had noticed previously, sat as if rapt, a journal
book open on her lap. Her cheeks were wet with tears.
    “For the reason of following the leadings of the spirit, for
answering the demands of conscience! Even without having been instructed, this
automaton understood the great teaching from the Gospel of Luke— As ye would that men should do to you, do ye
also to them likewise. Friends, we are commanded that if a stranger
sojourns with us, we must not vex him, but shall love him as ourselves. How can
it be love to enslave a soul and then destroy it for speaking God’s truth?”
    A fever seized him as he saw Adam no longer as a slave or a
tortured soul but as a martyr, even as many of his own faith had met the same
fate. He found the insight so moving that, for a moment, he could not find the
words. But then, as if a floodgate had opened within him, phrases thundered
from his mouth. He scarcely knew what he said, so overcome was he with awe and
fire. His limbs trembled, but his voice did not. When he paused to draw breath,
the room still echoed with his words.
    “A martyr? A holy saint?” sneered Durham Turner. “That piece
of worthless machinery? What’s next—setting free our cotton gins? I’ve heard
enough of this balderdash!” He strode from the courtroom.
    Thomas sagged, the passion that had fueled his words spent.
His ministry had lasted for over an hour. He gathered himself and returned to
the defendant’s table, where John Wales waited. They were joined a moment later
by one of the jurors.
    “Old man, I came here with my mind set against you. Having
heard you, I now believe every word you have said. I have done you an
injustice.”
    “Not me, friend,” Thomas replied. “Look rather at thy
dealings with the unfortunate and oppressed, and then address thy concern to
thy own conscience. Never advocate for the vile custom of slavery, whether of a
black man or an automaton.”
    An elderly man, by his plain dress and hat a fellow Quaker
although one Thomas did not know, stopped for a moment, said, “Thee was