Patrick Henry and the Frigate’s Keel: And Other Stories of a Young Nation Read Online Free PDF Page A

in debt, his children could be bound into service by his creditors.
    As near as I could make out, that was the case with this bondwoman. Back East, her folks had died, and she had been bound in for the debt. Mr. Green had got her from some river traders for a thousand pounds of parched corn, and I didn’t think much of the bargain. But there wasn’t but one woman in the house then, and Mrs. Green needed a hand to help with the cooking and the baking and the washing and the putting by. Since then, Mr. Green’s son had married, and that’s why Parson Jackson considered that maybe he could pick up this bondwoman for Pa at a bargain price.
    The bondwoman sat in a corner, on a stool by the hearth, while Pa and the parson and Mr. Green argued about the price. The bondwoman wasn’t much to look at; just a little thing with a white face and dark hair. She watched them, and sometimes she glanced at me.
    â€œI ought to be making a profit, not selling at a loss,” Mr. Green said. He was a down-East Yankee, and I could see that neither Pa nor the parson thought a lot of him.
    â€œWhen there ain’t none to buy, the seller can’t be choosy,” the parson said.
    â€œThere’s one to buy, all right.”
    â€œShe’s a bondwoman, and Brother Harvey here, he’s buying her out of bondage. It’s a Christian thing to do.”
    â€œI paid out in good corn for her.”
    Pa sighed and said, “Look a here. Suppose I pay that two dollars out this fall.”
    â€œWon’t be no profit,” Mr. Green protested.
    The bondwoman looked down; then she put her face in her hands.
    â€œI’ll make it three dollars,” Pa said.
    â€œMy wife stitched her three calico dresses.”
    â€œIt ain’t like she’s a good woman,” Pa said. “I’m taking her to wife because a man can’t keep a place out in the forest alone without he goes woodsy or mad entire. I got thirty acres clear and a hundred more to take the wood off. The boy needs a rod taken to him, and mine ain’t the hand can do it.”
    â€œDamn it, I don’t!” I yelled.
    Pa fetched me one and said, “Four dollars.”
    The bondwoman looked up and murmured, “Please—”
    Mr. Green glanced at her, then said, “I’ll take it.”
    â€œDone,” the parson said.
    â€œHow old is she?” Pa wanted to know.
    â€œFour and twenty, and good health.”
    I ran outside; I heard Pa calling for me, but I didn’t come back. I wondered how he could forget so soon, after all the years with my mother.
    It took us two full days to get back to our cabin from the stockade. That was because the horse couldn’t carry all three of us; so Pa and I rode and the bondwoman walked behind. Her name was Rachel.
    Pa insisted on having the marriage ceremony performed that night. He said that the stock wanted feeding; anyway, he had spent all his money and might as well get back as soon as he could. I was brokenhearted about the money; I thought maybe he would buy me some sugar hards at the store.
    So I stood there and saw him married to the bondwoman. I suppose, if she wanted to, she could have protested that being a bondwoman didn’t mean she had to marry her new owner, but the parson had spoken to her about bettering her place in life, I guess. She didn’t have a lot of spirit; she just stood there with her head down and became a wedded woman.
    And the next morning, Pa woke me before sunrise. The horse was saddled up, and the bondwoman was there, looking pale and tired, her two calico dresses in a bundle under her arm. The bondwoman came toward me, as if to say something, but I shied away; I didn’t want any truck with her.
    I said, “Pa, let’s be getting back.” And Pa nodded and climbed onto his horse. He reached down an arm and swung me up behind him.
    â€œCome along,” he told the bondwoman.
    I was glad it was that way; it made me