Glimmers of Change Read Online Free PDF

you.”
    Sowell snorted, his face twisting into an angry grimace. “ Free! I don’t care if a piece of paper from a government that destroyed my home makes them free. They’re nothing but niggers, and I plan on treating them the same way I always did.”
    “Then I predict you will have some problems,” Thomas said blandly.
    “Only because you have put crazy ideas in their heads,” Sowell seethed. “You’re paying your niggers more than we can pay and you’re giving them profits. I always thought you were a sound businessman, Cromwell. Now I’m questioning your sanity.”
    “Question it all you want,” Thomas replied, willing his voice to remain even and reasonable. “While you’re questioning it, you may want to ask which plantation in the area had the biggest tobacco crop this past year. You might ask which plantation had the highest profit margin.” His voice grew firmer as he stepped up to the edge of the porch. “The blacks are all free now, gentlemen. You can’t do things the same way they used to be done. If you treat your workers fairly and make it worth their while to work hard, you’ll find you can make as much money as you did in the past.” He paused, remembering Abby’s words that beliefs would be difficult to change. “I know all the change is incredibly difficult, but I honestly believe we can rebuild a South that is even stronger and more viable than before.”
    A short silence met his words as the six men stared at him. He thought he saw a flicker of wary understanding in Sowell’s eyes, but Cannon extinguished it with his next words. “What is going to be incredibly difficult, Cromwell , is life for you if you don’t change your ways. We’re here to tell you to take back that land from the niggers and to pay the same wages the rest of us are paying.”
    “And if I don’t?” Thomas asked, his voice calm, his eyes hard as stones.
    “Then you and your family will pay the price,” Cannon said, rage glittering in his eyes.
    Whatever Thomas had seen flicker in Sowell’s eyes disappeared when he added onto Cannon’s announcement. “And don’t think this is just about the plantation. We know what you and your Yankee wife are doing in the factory in Richmond. There are lots of people angry that you are paying the blacks higher wages than other places. You won’t get away with it.”
    Thomas had heard all he was going to listen to. “That’s enough,” he said shortly. “What I do with my plantation and my business is no one’s concern but mine and the people who choose to work for me. I won’t come down the road to tell you how to live your life, and I won’t have you coming here to tell me how to run mine.” He stepped back from the edge of the porch. “Your time here is over. You know the way to the entrance.”
    “I told you he wouldn’t listen,” Cannon snarled, his hand snaking toward the rifle strapped to his saddle. “I guess we haven’t stated our message as clearly as we meant to.”
    At the same moment Thomas pulled his pistol from his pocket, the door to the house opened. Robert, Moses, Jeremy, and Matthew stepped out onto the porch, rifles pointed at the group of men.
    “There are five of us and six of you,” Robert stated quietly, anger flaring in his eyes. “One of you will have a chance to ride away if Daniel Cannon or any of you touches the rifle on your saddle.” He stepped closer to Cannon, holding his rifle steady, his years as a Confederate officer showing in his stance. “I believe Mr. Cromwell has asked you to leave. I suggest you do.”
    Cannon moved his hand away from his rifle, but the rage in his eyes intensified. “We’ll leave,” he growled, “but don’t think this is over.” His glittering eyes settled on Moses standing tall on the porch, his rifle held steady. “I can’t believe I’m living to see the day a nigger would stand on the porch of Cromwell Plantation holding a rifle.” For a moment, intense grief mixed with his