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V "NWV, Cicero.”
i AIARTIN OHUZZLEWIT.
know-where-and-all. down to New York here, to meet
his wife, and children ; and tlicystarted off arrain"in a
steamboat this blessed afternoon, as happy to be along with
each other, as if they were oing to Heaven. I should
thinlkptheywas, pretty straigilit, if I may judge from the
poor inanslooks.” ‘ ‘ ' ' ‘ ‘
V. .",A'nd may I ask,” said Martin, glancing, but not with
anydispleasure, from Mark to the negro, “ who this gen-
tleman is?‘ .Another friend of yours?”
. ,“lYhy, sir," returned Mark, taking him aside, and
speaking confidentially in his ear, “ he s a man of colour,
Sunny‘. V l L V .
‘ ‘.‘, Do you take me for at blind man,” asked Martin, some-
‘ w.liat’impatiently,“‘ that you think it necessary to tell
me tltiat, when his face is’the' blackest that ever was
seen ” '
' “ No, no ;when I say aman of. colour,” returned Mark,
-‘flniean that he's been one of them as there‘s picters of
In the ‘shops. ‘ A man and a brother, you know, sir,” said
M‘; Tapicy, favouring his master with a significant indi-
cation-of. tliefiguro so often represented in tracts and
Cheap prints. ' ' ' ' ' - " '
,“A slave l’.’ cried Martin, in a whisper.
-r f‘ Ah l” said Mark, in the same tone. “ Nothing else.
Ayslave: lVhy, when that there man was young-don't
lookgat him, while'I’iii a.[.telling it-he was shot in the
1.9.‘; Lgaslied. in'the arm; scored in his live liriibs, like
C,T5!11pCd.fish ; beaten out of shape ; had his neck galled
Vjlth an iron collar, and wore iron rings upon his wrists
and ankles. The marks ‘moon him to this day. lVhei1
IW33 having inygdinner just now, he stripped olf his coat,
395 t0,0k‘ away my appetite.” '
. ,'-‘.15, tins true?" asked Martin ofvhis friend, who stood
beside them. ‘ ‘ , ' ‘ ‘
;i.‘ I have no reason‘ to doubt’ it,” he answered, shaking
hlihezid. I ‘flt very often is.” ‘ ‘
.. ,,Bless you," said Mark,.“I know it is, from hearing
h13,fvVh01c.story. ,Tliat‘ master died ; so did his second
Waste? from having his head cut open with a hatchet by
a.‘.‘.0lhcr slave’, who, when he'd done it, went and drowned
himself : then he got a better one : in years and years he
5”-‘,'9d hp a little inoney, and bought his freedom, which
h.e,8‘0l7pretty cheap at last, on account of his strength
being 118,’-lily gone, aiicllieibeingill. Then he come here.
And now he’s a saving up to treat himself, afore he (lies,
to one small purcliase-it's nothing to speak of : only his
, own daugliter ; .that’s all l” cried Mr. Tapley, becoming
excited. f‘ Liberty for ever I’ Hurrah l Hail Columbia l
“lIush‘l”'cried Martin. clapping his hand upon his
mouth : and don't be an idiot. What is he doing here '2”
“‘..Waiting to take our luggage off upon a truck," said
Mark-V “ Ilc'il have come for it by-and-by, but I engan-ed
him fora very reasonable charge-out of my own poc iet
710 sit along with me and make ‘rnejolly: and I am
J"l1,Y ; and if‘I was rich enough to contract with him to
‘Will “Don me once a day, to be looked at, I’d never be
imylhing else.” , , ' ,' ‘ '
The fact may cause a solemn impeachment of Mark’s
‘T‘?F3rC1ty,‘but it must be admitted nevertlieless, that there
“"?-5. that in his face‘ and manner at the moment, which
irfllliated strongly against this emphatic declaration of
.‘.1f‘state of mind. ' ' , ’ 7 ,,
', Lord love you,'sir," he ‘added, “ they're so fond of
Liberty in this part of the globe, that they buy her and
5911 her and carry her to market with ’em. They've such
3‘ Passion for Liberty, that they can’t help taking liberties
‘Vlfh her. Tliat’s what it‘s owing to.” .
".‘.V‘-‘T3’ Well,” ‘said ' Martin, wishing to change‘ the
ti.‘“,11,9- , “Having conic ‘to that conclusion, Mark. P91‘-
.“P.5 ;'9u’1l attend to me. The place to which the lug;
5"“-3? ‘,5 30 go, isprinted on this card. ‘ Mrs. Ptl‘.Vki“55
3rdingIIouse."'.’,‘ V ,‘ " " "'
v Mrs. Pawkins’s boarding-house,” repeated Mark.
. Is that his name?” asked Martin, ' .1 A ’
I . , “VS his name, sir,” rejoined Mark. And the negro
gm.‘.'”.,“5-T assent from under a leathern portmanteau, than
which his own face'wasVri1an'y shades deeper. 110513104
d0W“'5l-‘P575 With his portion of their worldly goods 2
M‘“'k.T=1Dleyhavingalready gone before with his share.
Martin and hisfriend followed them to the door below,
Md Were about to pursue their walk, when the latter
stopped, and asked, with some hesitation, whether that
young man was to‘ be trusted. ’ ' ‘ ‘ ' " V
“Mark I Oh certainly ! with anything.” ' ‘
.“ You don't understand me,-‘I think he ‘had better go
with us. He is an honest fellow,‘ and speaks his mind so
very plainly.” "
“ KVliy t e fact is,” said Martin, smiling, “that being
unaccustomedgto a free republic, he is-used to do so.” ,
“ I think he had better go with us,” returned the other.
“ He may get into some trouble otherwise. This is not
a slave State ; but I am ashamed to say that a spirit of
Tolerance is not so common anywhere in these latitudes
as the form. We are not remarkable for behaving very
temperately to each other when We differ : but ‘to
strangers I no. I really think he had better go with us.”
Martin called to him immediately to be of their party ‘;
so Cicero and the truck went one way, and they three
went another. ‘ V“
They walked about the city for two or three hours ;
seeing it from the best points of view, and pausing in
the principal streets, and before such public buildings as
Mr. Bevan pointed out. Night ‘then ‘coming on apace,
Martin proposed that they should adjourn to Mrs. Paw-p
kins’s establishment for coffee ; but in this he was over-
ruled by his new acquaintance, who seemed to have set
his heart on carrying him, though it were only for an
hour, to the house of a friend of his who lived hard by.
Feeling (however disinclined he was, being weary) that it
would be in bad taste, and not very‘ gracious, to object
that he was unintroduced, when this open-hearted gen‘-
tleman was so ready to be hissponsor, Martin-for once
in his life, at all events-sacrificed his own will and
pleasure to the wishes of another, and consented with a
fair grace.’ So, travelling had done him that much good,
already. ‘
' Mr. Bevan knocked at the door of a very neat house
of moderate size. from the parlour windows ofwliich,
lights were shining brightly into the new dark street.
It was quickly opened by a man with such a tliorouglily
Irish face, that it seemed as if he ought, as a. matter of
right and principle, to be in rags, and could have no sort
of business to be looking cheerfully at anybody out of a
whole suit of clothes. ‘
Commending Mark to the care of this phenomenon-
for such he may be said to have been in Martin’s eyes
-Mr. Bevan led the way into the room which had shed
its eheerfulness upon the street, to whose occupants he
introduced Mr. Cliuzzlewit as "a gentleman from England,
whose ‘acquaintance he had recently had the pleasure to
make. They gave him welcome in all courtesy and po-'
litencss; and in less than five minutes’ time ‘he found
himself sitting very much at his ease, by the fireside,
and becoming vastly well acquainted with the whole
family. , ‘ I "
There were two younrr ladies-pne eighteen ; the other
twenty-both very slender. but very pretty; their mother,"
wholooked, as Martin thought, much older and mor
faded than she ought to have looked ; and their grand.
mother, a little sharp‘-eyed, quick old woman,who seemed‘
to have got past that stage, and to‘ have come all right
again. Besides these, there were the young lad‘les"father,’
and the young ladies’ brother ; the first engaged in mer-‘
cantile affairs ; the second, a student at college.-both in
a certain cordiality of manner, likehis ownfriend, and
not unlike him in face, which was no great-wonder, for
it soonrnppeared that he was their near relation. Martin
could not help tracing the family pedigree from the ‘two
young ladies, because they were foreinost . in his
thoughts '; not only from being, as aforesaid, very pretty,
but by reason of their wearing miraculously small shoes,‘
and the thinnest possible silk stockings 2 the which their
rocking chairs developed to a distracting extent. [ ,
There is no doubt that it was a monstrous comfortable
circumstance to be sitting in a sun well-furnished room,
warmed by a cheerful fire, and fu l of various pleasaiit
decorations, including four small shoes, and V the ‘like
amount of silk stockingsfands-yes, why not ?‘-the feet
and legs”therein‘enshrined: ‘ 'And.tliere is no doubt tllitt
Martin’ was monstrous well-disposedvto regai1l‘liis posi-“‘
tion in that light, after his recent‘ ei:perience' of the
Screw, "and of Mrs. Pawkins’s ‘boarding-house. The
consequence was, that he made himself very agreeable‘