The Dawn of Freedom

1762

A P R I L 

C H  A  P  T  E  R   Six—

Temperance sat in the hot, wet, ill-smelling little room in the very bottom of the massive ship. She sat tied up in a corner, with blood leaking from her black eye and her bruised back. Long, red, strips of blood stained her back and arms. She had been beaten with an actual slave whip. She never thought a person could endure that much pain. She didn’t know if it was worth it or not. 

Her hands covered her head as she wept. She had been on board the ship to America for a whole month now. After she was punished for spitting on Mr. Reeds’ shoe, she continued disrespecting every leader on board, and was always whipped and beaten.

James accompanied her and wrapped a woolen blanket over her shoulders. “You mustn’t keep getting yourself in trouble. You’ll die down here.”

“I know James, but I’ve lost all hope. I can barely move my legs. I know they will heal, but it may take days. Help me up, will you?” 

James helped her to the watering tub, where she gratefully sipped a little dipper full of clean, warm water. 

James suddenly tripped over a sack of corn. He groaned in pain and held his leg. 

“James, what is it?” Temperance cried. “I can’t see you! I can only see a black figure.”

James groaned again, trying to hold in his tears. He was told to take care of his sister. He couldn’t cry now, when there were tougher times ahead.

“Millard Fillmore once said,  ‘An honorable defeat is better than a dishonorable victory’.” James said.

“What should that mean?” Came Temperance’s bitter voice.

James tried to shrug it off. “It means I won’t cry anymore. I’d rather cry out of happiness than pain.” James tried to sound confident, but really he was unsure and terrified. He tried to encourage his sister. But without Mother—how?

That night, Temperance, James, and Gideon stayed together and talked. Gideon told them about the short time he spent in England. He told them about how he learned to read and write, and how to address people like a gentleman. He also said that people in England often bow and curtsy.

“Here, like this,” he said, demonstrating how to do a curtsy. 

Temperance copied him but her’s was clumsy.

“Hold your dress like this,” Gideon showed her.

He showed James how to bow, and the three became close friends.

“Don’t let them make you feel small.” Gideon whispered in her ear.