American Dreams Read Free Page A

long enough to make eye contact with Temple. Then, without so much as a nod of his head or a lift of a hand, he rode his horse into a stand of trees, the young black man trailing behind him. The carriage continued on, without any slackening of pace.
    "Where is Mr. Stuart going?" Eliza inquired when he disappeared from view.
    "The home of his father lies beyond that ridge. It will shorten his journey to ride across it."
    "I see." Eliza faced the front again and inspected the rutted lane ahead of them. "I hope we meet no more Georgians."
    "Few venture onto this trail," Temple assured her.
    "Let us pray that is the case today as well." Eliza clutched at the side of the carriage for balance as a front wheel dipped crazily into a deep hole hidden by a puddle of standing water. An instant later, the wheel rolled free with a bouncing jerk.
    Ike pulled the team out of a trot into a walk. Directly ahead, a low-water crossing was flooded with runoff from the recent rains and dammed by a fallen limb of an ancient cottonwood tree and the detritus snared by it.
    Two Negroes worked to clear the debris and let the water resume its normal flow. One stood in water up to his knees and tugged at the tangle of branches and brush, a single suspender holding his pants up, his dark skin glistening with sweat. The other wielded an ax and chopped at the thick cottonwood limb. The ringing thwack of the ax blade biting into the wood sounded above the rattle and rumble of the carriage.
    A man on horseback had stationed himself on the opposite bank, where the towering arms of the cottonwood shaded him from the sun's burning rays. Eliza gathered from his watchful attitude that he was there to oversee the work. Slavery, she knew, was a common practice in the Southern states, but one she simply could not endorse.
    "That is a shameful sight," Eliza stated, unable to hold her tongue any longer.
    Temple gave an absent nod of agreement, her expression showing a similar displeasure. "Little progress has been made since first I passed here. Our field Negroes grow lazy in my father's absence. He will not be pleased."
    "Your field Negroes?" Eliza repeated in surprise. "Those are your slaves?"
    "Yes," Temple confirmed. "Did you think they belonged to someone else?"
    "No. That is ... I simply did not expect a Cherokee to countenance the owning of slaves."
    "How else would we plant and harvest our crops?"
    "Hire them as you would any worker and pay them a fair wage for their labor. This practice of slavery is an abomination. It should be abolished. Colored people are human beings; they are not livestock to be bought and sold."
    Temple summarily dismissed the notion. "You are from the North. You know nothing of our blacks or you would not show such ignorance."
    Eliza was about to argue her position when the full import of Temple's earlier remark registered. She sat up. "You said those were your field Negroes. That means we have reached the land you farm."
    "We have, yes."
    Eliza craned her neck, trying to catch an advance glimpse of her final destination. Several structures built of roughly hewn logs were visible through the heavily leafed trees just ahead. Two of them appeared to be little more than sheds.
    A loud, raucous cry rent the air just as the carriage veered away from the buildings and started up a gently sloping knoll shaded by towering chestnut trees. Atop the knoll sat a three-story brick mansion fronted by a white-columned veranda and roofed balcony. Peacocks strolled the front lawn, which was landscaped with flowering shrubs and brick paths that radiated like spokes on a wheel from the imposing structure.
    "What is this place?" The building had all the grandeur of some official's residence.
    "Our home," Temple replied with unconscious pride. "Welcome to Gordon Glen, Miss Hall."
    Eliza stared in amazement.
    When she accompanied Temple inside a few minutes later, she discovered the interior was as grand in appearance as the exterior. A great hall, dominated