Ⅰ
Mr. Leckler was a man of high principle. He had often said this to Mrs. Leckler. She was often called in to listen to him. Mr. Leckler was one of those people with an endless hunger for advice, though he never acted on it3. Mrs. Leckler knew this, but like a good little wife, she always offered him her little gifts of advice. Today, her husband's mind was troubled—as usual, troubled about a question of principle.
“Mrs. Leckler,” he said, “I am troubled in my mind. I'm troubled by a question of principle.”
“Yes, Mr. Leckler?”his wife asked.
“If I were a cheating northern Yankee4, I would be rich now. But I am too honest and generous. I always let my principles get between me and my duty5.” Mr. Leckler was sure of his own goodness. “Now, here is the question that troubles my principles. My slave, Josh, has been working for Mr. Eckley in Lexington. I think that city cheat has been dishonest. He lied about how many hours Josh worked, and cut down his pay for it. Now, of course, I don't care, the question of a dollar or two is nothing to me. But it's a different question for poor Josh.” Mr. Leckler's voice became sadder. “You know, Josh wants to buy his freedom from me. And I generously give him part of what he earns. Every dollar Mr. Eckley cheats him, cuts down his pay and puts farther away his hopes of freedom.”
Mrs. Leckler knew that Mr. Leckler let Josh keep only one-tenth of what he earned for extra work. So Mr. Eckley's dishonesty hurt her husband more than it hurt Josh. But she didn't say anything about that. She only asked, “But what troubles you about duty and principle here, Mr. Leckler?”
Mr. Leckler answered, “Well, if Josh knew how to read and write and do numbers...”
“Mr. Leckler, are you crazy!”she cried.
“Listen to me, my dear, and give me your advice. This is an important question. If Josh knew these things, he wouldn't be cheated when he worked away from me.”
“But teaching a slave...”
“Yes, Mrs. Leckler, that's what troubles me. I know my duty—I know what the law and other people say about teaching a slave. But it is against my principles that poor black man is being cheated. Really, Mrs. Leckler, I think I may teach him secretly, so he can defend himself.”
“Well, of course,” said Mrs. Leckler, “do what you think is best.”
“I knew you would agree with me,” he answered. “I'm glad to have your advice, my dear.” And so this master of principle walked out to see his valuable slave. He was very pleased with his generosity. “I'll get Eckley next time!” he said to himself.
Josh, the subject of Mr. Leckler's principles, worked as a plasterer6 on Mr. Leckler's plantation, working on the walls and ceilings of the plantation's many buildings. Josh was very good at his work, and other men wanted him to work for them, too. So Mr. Leckler made money by letting Josh work on their plantations in his free time. Josh was a man of high intelligence. When he asked Mr. Leckler if he could buy his freedom with the money he made on other plantations, Mr. Leckler quickly agreed. He knew he could let his valuable slave keep only a little of the money he earned. Most of what Josh earned would belong to his master. Of course, Mr. Leckler knew that when the black man learned his numbers things would change. But it would be years before Josh could earn $2,000, the price Mr. Leckler asked for Josh's freedom. And, Mr. Leckler thought, by the time Josh came close to earning the money, the cost of a slave's freedom might suddenly go higher.
When Josh heard his master's plan, his eyes shone with pleasure, and he worked even harder than before. Even Mr. Leckler, who knew his plasterer's intelligence, was surprised how quickly Josh was learning to read, write, and figure. Mr. Leckler didn't know that on one of Josh's work trips a freed slave had given Josh some lessons. Josh already knew the beginnings of how to read before he began his lessons with Mr. Leckler. But he certainly wasn't going to tell Mr. Leckler that.
So a year passed away, and Mr. Leckler thought Josh had learned enough.
“You know, Josh,” he said, “I have already gone against my principles and disobeyed the law for you. A man can't go against his principles too far, even for someone who is being cheated. I think you can take care of yourself now.”
“Oh, yes, sir, I guess I can,”said Josh.
“And you shouldn't be seen with any books, now!”
“Oh, no, sir, certainly not,” Josh said obediently7. He certainly didn't plan to be seen with any books.
Just now, Mr. Leckler saw the good in what he had done. His heart was full of a great joy. Mr. Eckley was building on to his house, and asked Josh to do the plastering. When the job was done, Josh figured that Eckley had cheated him again. Eckley was very surprised when the black man looked at the numbers and showed him his dishonesty, but he passed him the two dollars. “Leckler did this,” Mr. Eckley thought to himself. “Teaching a black his numbers! Leckler just wanted more money for himself! I should call the law!”
Mr. Leckler was very pleased when he heard that Josh had caught Eckley cheating. He said to himself, “Ha! I caught him, the old thief!” But to Mrs. Leckler he said,“ You see, my dear, my craziness in teaching Josh was right. See how much money he saved for himself.”
“What did he save?” asked the little wife without thinking.
Her husband turned red, and then answered, “Well, of course it was only 20 cents saved for him, but to a slave buying his freedom, every cent counts. It is not the money, Mrs. Leckler, it's the principle of the thing.”
“Yes,” said the lady obediently.
Ⅱ
It is easy enough for the master to order the body of a slave, “This far you may go, and no further.” The master has laws and chains to hold the slave back. But what master can say to the mind of a slave, “I order you to stop learning?” Josh had begun to eat the forbidden fruit of learning, and he was hungry for more. Night after night he sat by his lonely fire and read one of his few books. Other slaves laughed at him. They told him to get a wife. But Josh had no time for love or marriage. He had hopes other than to have his children be slaves to Mr. Leckler8. To him, slavery was the dark night in which he dreamed of freedom. His dream was to own himself—to be the master of his own body. When he thought of this, something would catch at his heart, and his breath came hard9. But he was quiet and obedient before his master, and Mr. Leckler was pleased. Usually intelligence in a slave meant trouble. But who seemed more untroubled than Josh? Mr. Leckler said to his wife, “You see, my dear, it's important to do the right thing, even to a black.”
All this time, the white hills of the Yankee North seemed to call to Josh. The north wind told him that in the North he would be a slave no longer. Josh knew it would be hard to win his freedom. Worst of all was the law. It stood like a stone wall between slavery and Josh's hopes. Then one day, when he was working away from home, a voice called to him from the woods, “Be brave!” And later that night the voice called to him like the north wind, “Follow.”
“It seems to me that Josh should have come home tonight,” said Mr. Leckler. “But maybe he got through too late to catch a train.” In the morning he said, “Well, he's not here yet. He must have to do some extra work. If he doesn't get home tonight, I'll go up there.”
That night he did take the train to where Josh had been working. He learned that Josh had left the night before. But where could he have gone? For the first time, Mr. Leckler realized that Josh had run away. Mr. Leckler was very angry. He knew that the most valuable slave on his plantation was going north to freedom. He walked the floor all night, but he couldn't go after Josh until morning.
Early the next day, he put the dogs on Josh's trail10. The dogs followed it into the woods, but in a few minutes they came back, crying and lost. Josh had played an old slave trick—he had put hot pepper in his footprints11. Finally the dogs found Josh's trail further in the woods. Leckler followed the trail until he came to a train station about six miles away. Mr. Leckler asked the stationmaster if he had seen a black get on the train.
“Yes,” the man said, “two nights ago.”
“But why did you let him go without a pass?” cried Mr. Leckler.
“I didn't,” said the stationmaster. “He had a written pass signed ‘James Leckler.’”
“Lies, lies!” cried Mr. Leckler. “He wrote it himself!”
“Well, how could I know?” answered the stationmaster. “Our blacks around here don't know how to write.”
Mr. Leckler suddenly decided to keep quiet. Josh was probably in the arms of some Yankee abolitionist12 by now. There was nothing to do but put up advertisements for Josh's return. He went home and spoke angrily to his wife.
“You see, Mrs. Leckler, this is what comes of my generous heart. I taught a black to read and write. Now look how he uses this knowledge. Oh, the ingrate, the ingrate! He turns against me the weapon I gave him to defend himself! Here's the most valuable slave on my plantation gone—gone, I tell you—and all because of my kindness. It isn't his value I'm thinking about. It's the principle of the thing—the ingratitude13 he has shown me. Oh, if I ever catch him—!”
Just at this time, Josh was six miles north of the Ohio River. A kind Quaker14 was saying softly to Josh, “Lie quiet. You will be safe here. Here comes a slave-catcher, but I know him. I'll talk to him and send him away. You must not fear. None of your brothers or sisters who came to us has ever been taken back to slavery.”
Then the kind man spoke to the slave-catcher. “Oh, good evening, my friend!” Josh could hear the two men talking as he hid in a bag among other bags of corn and potatoes.
It was after ten o'clock that night when Josh's bag was thrown into a wagon and driven away to the next helping hands. And in this way, hiding by day and traveling by night, Josh went north. He was helped all along the way by a few of his own people who had been freed, and always by the good Quakers. And so he made his way to Canada. And on one never-to-be-forgotten morning he stood up straight, and knew himself free!
Ⅲ
To Joshua Leckler, as now he was called, this life in Canada was all new and strange. It was new thing for him to feel that he was a man like any other man he met among the whites. It was new, too, to be paid what his work was worth. He worked more happily than he had ever done. He was even pleased at how tired his work made him feel15.
Sometimes there came to his ears stories of his brothers and sisters in the South. Often he met escaped slaves like himself. Their sad stories made him burn to do something to help people he had left behind him16. But these escaped slaves, and the newspapers he read, told him other things, too. They said that the idea of freedom was rising in the United States. Already, people were speaking out about abolishing slavery and freeing the slaves. Already people were helping those abolitionist leaders like Sumner, Phillips, Douglass, Garrison. Joshua heard the names Lucretia Mott and Harriet Beecher Stowe. And Joshua was hopeful, for after the long night of slavery he saw the first light of morning.
So the years passed. Then from those dark clouds of slavery the storm of war broke: the thunder of guns and the rain of bullets17. From his home in the North Joshua watched the storm. Sometimes the war went well for the North, sometimes for the South. Then suddenly out from the storm came a cry like the voice of God, “You and your brothers and sisters are free!” Free, free, with freedom for all—not just for a few. Freedom for all who had been enslaved. Not free by escaping in the night—free to live in the light of morning18.
When the northern army first called for black soldiers, Joshua went to Boston to sign up. Since he could read and write, and because of his general intelligence, he was soon made an officer. One day Mr. Leckler saw a list of names of these black soldiers. His eyes stopped at the name “Joshua Leckler.” He showed the list to Mrs. Leckler.
“Mrs. Leckler,” he said, “look what happened because I taught a black to read and write. I disobeyed the law of my state. I lost my slave. And I gave the Yankees a smart officer to help them fight the war. I was wrong—I was wrong. But I am right, too, Mrs. Leckler. This all happened because of my generous heart, and your bad advice. But oh, that ingrate, that ingrate!”
1. ingrate [ n. 忘恩负义的人
2. Paul Laurence Dunbar 保罗·劳伦斯·邓巴（1872-1906），美国作家。
3. Mr. Leckler was...never acted on it. 莱柯勒先生属于这样一种人：总是没完没了地渴望得到别人的忠告，却从不付诸实施。
4. Yankee n. （美国南北战争中）美国北部各州的人，北方佬
5. I always let...and my duty. 我做什么事都要首先考虑是不是违背原则。
6. plasterer n. 泥水匠
7. obediently adv. 服从地，顺从地
8. He had hopes...be slaves to Mr. Leckler. 他可不想让自己的孩子接着给莱柯勒先生当奴隶。
9. When he thought of...and his breath came hard. 一想到这些，他就觉得有什么东西攫住了他的心，使他呼吸困难。
10. trail n. 痕迹，足迹
11. Josh had played...in his footprints. 乔希耍了奴隶逃亡时用的老把戏——在脚印里洒了辣椒粉。
12. abolitionist n. 废奴主义者
13. ingratitude n. 忘恩负义
14. Quaker n. （基督教的一个教派）贵格会教徒
15. He was even... made him feel. 哪怕是累得筋疲力尽，他也心情舒畅。
16. Their sad stories... left behind him. 这些人悲伤的经历激起了他的欲望，使他渴望做些什么以帮助身后那些仍在受苦受难的人们。
17. Then from those... and the rain of
bullets. 在奴隶制的阴云笼罩下，终于刮起了战争的风暴：一时间枪林弹雨，炮声隆隆。
18. Freedom for all... in the light of
morning. 所有被奴役的人全都自由了。人们无需靠暗夜逃亡去获得自由，而是在晨光中尽情地享受自由。