Prattsburgh Central High School - Franklinite Yearbook (Prattsburgh, NY)

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FRANKLIN ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL 11 Lord a-massyll' exclaimed Sambo, Ah shore thought that was lil' Missy Aileen, bless 'er heart. Pray tell me, who was Miss Aileen, Uncle? Sambo, frightened at this unexpected remark, turned around to face the very person who had reminded him of Aileen. She was slim, tall, and as graceful as the slender sapling in the woods: her large, dark eyes, the delicate features of her face, her smile, and the pretty little turn of her head as she spoke, all reminded him more forcefully of Aileen. Laws, Missy, if yo' was a lil' older I'd say that she was you. Missy Aileen was the lil' darter of mah old master, Colonel Hardin', of old Virginnyf' Why, then she was my mother, she cried out. My name is Alice Finley. Perhaps you remember my father, too? Yes, indeed, missy, 1 remember yore father when he was a courtin' lil' Miss Aileen. Ah! How well I remember those bright days on the old plantation! and here Sambo, forgetting his company, allowed his mind to wander back to the courtship of lil' Missy Aileen. He saw Aileen, a slender slip of a girl, even as her daughter was, growing up in her father's house, a sweet, lovable girl, almost worshipped by all the slaves and also by Robert Carter, the son of General Carter, a very good friend and neighbor of Colonel Harding. Carter was a typical southern youth, hot-headed and very strong in his hates and loves. He had loved Aileen beyond measure, ever since she was a mere girl and they had played games together with the little pickaninnies. Nothing had as yet happened to break in upon his dreams, he had no rival as far as he could lind out, for Aileen seemed to care more for him than for any one else among their acquaintances, and he was confident that when she was a little older, should he ask her to marry him, she would do so. Upon Aileen's seventeenth birthday a dance was given in her honor to which, of course, all the aristocrats of the county were invited. It so happened that at this particular time, Harold Finley, a young lawyer, whose home was in Boston, was visiting at the Carter home. Although his visit was primarily a business one, in accordance with true Southern courtesy, which rarely drew the line between pure business and pure social relations, he was invited to the dance. Contrary to the present custom of coming fashionably late to an affair of this kind, everyone came fashionably early. Sambo could see in memory how all the pickaninnies stood around to watch the guests arrive and could again hear the long drawn-out expression of admiration as Miss Aileen came down the broad stairway to greet her guests. Sambo with Miranda, who. dressed in a bright yellow dress trimmed with green, had seemed to him to be second only to Aileen in beauty, stood near the large

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10 ' FRANKLIN ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL LIT - A , it fr A A x Sambo T was an afternoon in the latter part of J-ulyg the sun was beating its hot rays down upon the little village of Hopetown Center, Connecticut, making the streets, which were unprotected by any shade trees, resemble an oven in temperature. The little village seemed entirely deserted except for the one solitary person sitting on a bench in front of the village hotel. This lone being was anold colored man a.bout 70 years old, his pure white hair seemed to form a halo around his pitch-black face and to set off the redness of his lips, the bigness and blackness of his ears, the shininess of his nose, and the roll of his big, white eyes. Like all the other members of his race, he was dressed in an old, rusty black, shiny suit, very much the worse for wear and tear, his feet resembled canal boats in size and shape, his hands, quivering and shaking, looked as though they had seen hard work during the greater part of his life, for they were large, rough, and hard. Sambo, for such was his name, had indeed spent most of his life in hard work, before the war he had been a slave, after it, he had done whatever he could do to earn a living for his family. Now, in the sunset days of his life, Sambo, the last leat upon the tree, earned his living hy running errands for the hotel, and between errands dreamed and mused over the days of his youth. On this particular afternoon as Sambo was sitting in his usual place, on the shady side of the hotel, peacefully smoking his corncob pipe and thinking of how the cotton fields on the old plantation in Virginia would look on a day like this, he received a shock that sent his memories whirling back into the days of the war, when he was a slave on the plantation of Colonel Harding. Down the street came a young lady, who resembled the daughter of his old master so closely that the picture of an incident which happened during the Civil War came vividly to his mind.

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12 FRANKLIN ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL parlor in which the guests Were assembled. He saw the quick glance of admiration given her by the stranger from Boston, he also saw that young Carter noticed the glance, and that for a second a very unpleasant expression came over his face. Massa Carter doan' like Missy Aileen to have no more beaus but him, Ah reckon, Sanibo had said to Miranda and Miranda had answered with a squeeze of his hand, being entirely too much engrossed with admiring the costumes of the ladies to put her answer into words. Oh! if Miranda were only here to talk to him now! How well Aileen and the young Northerner had looked as they danced together ! And how often they did dance ! The darkies talked about the dance for months afterward and they always seemed to dwell most, in their conversation, upon Aileen and the Northerner. It was not a very long time after the dance before Mr. Finley came to visit the home of Aileen's parents. Although this first visit was short, the succeeding ones grew longer and the intervening time shorter. He soon became a general favorite with the entire household and with everyone else except young Carter, whose intense jealousy and hatred of Finley knew no bounds. At last came the day when the engagement of Aileen to Mr. Finley was announced. Sambo had taken the announcement to the home of General Carter, and having been in the service of Colonel Harding for so many years, was accorded the privilege of remaining in the room while the message was read. They shall never be married while Iam alive, Carter cried out in his anger. She was mine until he came and took her away from me. Oh, Robert, renionstrated Mrs. Carter, If Aileen had really loved you, she would never have cared for Mr. Finley. It was simply true friendship that she felt toward you, and it is wrong for you to say that. Aileen would have loved me if he hadn't come. They shall never be married while I am alive, he answered doggedly. Sambo heard the threat with fear and trembling and tried to dissuade him, but to no avail. Robert would not be persuaded, but before he could carry out his threat, war was declared between the North and South and both men were called away to fight---the one for the North and the other for the South. During the first year of the war, the plantation of Colonel Harding was not molested by soldiers from either side, but during the second year skirmishes took place frequently in the near neighborhood, terrifying all the negroes and whites who could not be assured of their safety in any way. Aileen's father and the majority ofthe negroes on his plantation were, of course, in the army fighting for their cause, and so the management of the home fell upon Aileen