A Time to Dance-My America 3 Read Free

live with her!
    Becky Lee's relatives were all slaves on a plantation in South Carolina. Becky Lee had been trying to locate them since the war ended. Finally she received word from someone who had seen one of her notices in a South Carolina newspaper.
    Becky Lee traveled to a little town near Charleston and found them living in a shack on their former owner's land. She said there were seven people sharing a room the size of our parlor in Gettysburg.
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    I cannot stop thinking about Becky Lee's relatives. In her letter, Becky Lee said there was a girl in the family about my age. The girl must have been a slave, too.
    I have tried over and over to imagine how it would feel to be
    owned
    by another person. But I cannot do it. I simply cannot imagine it. And I cannot imagine how anyone could ever believe it was all right to own slaves.
    August 15, 1865
    Pa has received no inquiries from his notice seeking students. I told him that no one can think of violin lessons in this weather. I said that as soon as the heat spell ends, people will think of music again.
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    Jed has found another play for us to see together. It is a play by William Shakespeare called
    King Lear.
    It will be performed at the Broadway Theatre on Broome Street. We will see it in two weeks.
    I must admit, I am rather excited. I thought I had lost my interest in the theatre. But perhaps not.
    August 19, 1865
    I told Jane Ellen today that I could not understand the poetry in Jed's Shakespeare book and was worried that I would not be able to enjoy
    King Lear.
    She says we can use
    King Lear
    for our first reading lesson.
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    I have been trying to read
    King Lear.
    Jane Ellen is helping me understand the story. It is all about a king who gives his kingdom to his daughters and then goes insane when they turn against him.
    August 25, 1865
    Jed invited a friend from the newspaper to join us for supper tonight. During the meal, there was a lot of talk about President Johnson.
    When he was Vice President, Mr. Johnson spoke very harshly about the South. But now he believes the South should be treated with leniency. He says the government should help the South recover from the war.
    Many Northern congressmen, though, are
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    still very angry. They think the South should be punished.
    I truly do not know what I think. When I think of Becky Lee and her family, and the wounded soldiers, and the assassination of President Lincoln, I, too, feel angry. But when I remember Captain Heath, the Confederate officer who saved me in Gettysburg, and his family in North Carolina, I do not want him to be punished. And when I remember that my mother's brothers may have been Confederate soldiers, I do not want them punished, either.
    How is it possible to feel such different things at the same time?
    August 30, 1865
    Good news! Pa has received his first inquiry for music lessons! A letter arrived from a
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    woman who said she very much wishes for her son to learn the violin. She says she is seeking a patient and talented instructor.
    Pa replied immediately. He said he was eager to assist her and was certain he could teach her son to play. He said he would charge three dollars a month, and that she should bring her son for a lesson every week.
    Pa seemed very happy that someone finally noticed his advertisement. I hope, I hope, I hope the woman accepts his terms.
    September 4, 1865
    I am still reading
    King Lear.
    The plot has gotten very complicated. Many people have been killed or banished.
    [Image: Two American flags.]
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    Jed wrote an article for his paper this week about President Johnson and his enemies in Congress. Some congressmen are now saying that Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, should be hanged, like the conspirators who helped John Wilkes Booth murder President Lincoln. They say the Confederacy tried to murder the nation.
    In his article, Jed said what most threatens to murder the nation now is the hatred that rages in some of its leaders. He reminded