African Americans -- Education -- Juvenile fiction; Sunday school literature
So she rose and stood beside her chair, with one hand resting on its
carved back, and recited with an earnestness caught in part from the
way which Tom had given her the words--
“He prayeth best who loveth best,
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.”
There was a low laugh of admiration went all around the room when she
finished, and Tom with a pleased smile said,
“That was very nicely done.”
Then, with the usual prayer for help and guidance, he dismissed them,
and then offered to take Miss Lillie’s chair up to the house for her.
“No,” she replied, carelessly, “let it stand; I will send Jack for it.”
So he did as she requested, and took his way toward the quarters. Miss
Lillie, however, kept up with him, talking and asking questions about
the Sunday-school. Tom, however, seemed absent-minded, and finally
stopped short in the path.
“Miss Lillie, I wish you would let me go back after that chair,” he
said.
“Why, Tom, I don’t care if you want to,” she replied, in a surprised
tone, “but Jack can come just as well.”
Tom would not listen, but ran to the school-room, took the chair, and
came back to where Lillie was standing, bearing it on his shoulder.
So they walked up through the quarters beside all the cabin doors, at
which the people were gathered and watching; on up to the house, on the
piazza of which Tom put down his burden, and touching his cap bade Miss
Lillie “good-afternoon,” and walked away.
He knew exactly what he had done, and why he had done it. When he
had found that Miss Lillie intended coming up with him through the
quarters, he knew that among the people, even those that loved Tom
best, there would arise a jealousy that Miss Lillie should notice
one more than another. The beginning of this he had seen before, and
for fear his influence with them might be lessened in the slightest
degree, he did the very thing which set it all at rest immediately. And
so, as they stood at their doors and watched the two go by, it seemed
just as it should be to them. Tom, as Lillie’s servant, bore her chair.
It satisfied them entirely, and Tom gained rather than lost in their
opinion.
Now, do my young readers understand what I am talking about. Tom felt
not one whit above his fellow-servants, but for fear they should think
he did, and so the religion he was trying to spread should be hindered,
he wished to carry Miss Lillie’s chair. And let me tell you it was an
honor to him, for it was what St. Paul meant when he said: “Let not
your good be evil spoken of.”
CHAPTER VII.
“Abide with me from morn till eve,
For without Thee I cannot live:
Abide with me when death is nigh,
For without Thee I dare not die.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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