Minnies Sacrifice | Page 2

"And why can't you have your way? I'm sure master humors you in
everything."
"I know that; Pa does everything I wish him to do; but I don't know

how I could manage about this. If his mother were living, I would beg
Pa to set them both free, and send them North; but his mother is gone;
and, Mammy, we couldn't spare you. And besides, it is so cold in the
North, you would freeze to death, and yet, I can't bear the thought of
his being a slave. I wonder," said she, musing to herself, "I wonder if I
couldn't save him from being a slave. Now I have it," she said, rising
hastily, her face aglow with pleasurable excitement. "I was reading
yesterday a beautiful story in the Bible about a wicked king, who
wanted to kill all the little boys of a people who were enslaved in his
land, and how his mother hid her child by the side of a river, and that
the king's daughter found him and saved his life. It was a fine story;
and I read it till I cried. Now I mean to do something like that good
princess. I am going to ask Pa, to let me take him to the house, and
have a nurse for him, and bring him up like a white child, and never let
him know that he is colored."
Miriam shook her head doubtfully; and Camilla, looking disappointed,
said, "Don't you like my plan?"
"Laws, honey, it would be fustrate, but your Pa wouldn't hear to it."
"Yes, he would, Mammy, because I'll tell him I've set my heart upon it,
and won't be satisfied if he don't consent. I know if I set my heart upon
it, he won't refuse me, because he always said he hates to see me fret.
Why, Mammy, he bought me two thousand dollars worth of jewelry
when we were in New York, just because I took a fancy to a diamond
set which I saw at Tiffany's. Anyhow, I am going to ask him." Eager
and anxious to carry out her plan, Camilla left the cabin to find her
father. He was seated in his library, reading Homer. He looked up, as
her light step fell upon the threshold, and said playfully, "What is your
wish, my princess? Tell me, if it is the half of my kingdom."
Encouraged by his manner, she drew near, perched upon his knee, and
said; "Now, you must keep your word, Pa. I have a request to make, but
you must first promise me that you will grant it."
"But I don't know what it is. I can't tell. You might want me to put my
head in the fire."

"Oh no, Pa, you know I don't!"
"Well, you might wish me to run for Congress."
"Oh no, Pa, I know that you hate politics."
"Well, darling, what is your request?"
"No; tell me first that you will grant it. Now, don't tease me, Pa; say yes,
and I will tell you."
"Well, yes; if it is anything in reason."
"Well, it is in reason, let me tell you, Pa. To-day, after I came home, I
asked Annette where was Agnes, and she told me she was dead. Oh I
was so sorry; and so before I got my dinner I hastened to Mammy's
cabin, and found poor Mammy almost heart-broken, and Agnes lying
dead, but looking just as natural as life."
"She was dead, but had left one of the dearest little babies I ever saw.
Why, Pa, he is just as white as we are; and I told Mammy so, but she
said it didn't matter; 'he is a poor slave, just like the rest of us.' Now, Pa,
I don't want Agnes' baby to be a slave. Can't you keep him from
growing up a slave?"
"How am I to do that, my little Abolitionist?"
"No, Pa, I am not an Abolitionist. I heard some of them talk when I was
in New York, and I think they are horrid creatures; but, Pa, this child is
so white, nobody would ever know that he had one drop of Negro
blood in his veins. Couldn't we take him out of that cabin, and make all
the servants promise that they would never breathe a word about his
being colored, and let me bring him up as a white child?"
"Well," said Mr. Le Croix, bursting into a hearty laugh, "that is a
capital joke; my little dewdrop talk of bringing up a child! Why,
darling, you would tire of him in a week."
"Oh no, Pa, I wouldn't! Just try me; if it is only for a week."

"Why, Sunbeam, it is impossible. Who ever heard of such a thing as