Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series which runs each Thursday morning titled the Richland Chronicles Volume 5, by author Paul Lintern. It is set in the 1860s and tells the story of Richland County through the eyes of young people. This is the fifth in a series. Volume I was Amelia Changes Her Tune. Volume II was Isaac and Wolf Paw Find Their Home. Volume III was Autumn Keeps Her Secret. Volume IV was Mr. Gamble Starts a School.
“Hi Mama.”
“Hello punkins. Where have you been?”
“Just down on the square. We saw Mr. Day.”
“Oh how nice.”
“He told us to tell you that Ermina is coming home next week.”
“Good news. She went east to visit friends in Pennsylvania somewhere. It will be nice to see her. I’m sure she’ll have plenty to tell me.”
“Mama, how well do you know Mr. Day?”
“Matthias? Very well. Known him just about his whole life, why?”
“He, uh, said you knew something about, the underground trail route.”
Cassie elbowed Jacob, “No it’s the underground railroad.”
“Mr. Day told you that?” They nodded together.
“Why did that come up?” Jacob told her about Mr. Finney and the wagon, with Cassie inserting a phrase here and there.
I know what I’m talking about Cassie!
Mama seemed surprised, then said, apparently to herself, “They were going to find out eventually, Autumn.”
Then she sat them down on the bench in the kitchen and took a chair herself.
She hasn’t sat us down like this since she had to tell us ol’ Shep died.
Shep was the family dog.
“There are a lot of people around here who help runaways get to Canada,” she said. “You know why they have to go to Canada?”
“Ohio is free, but not safe,” Cassie said.
Mama looked surprised.
“Exactly,” she said. “And several of (she paused) us (she paused again) do what we can when we can.”
She just looked at the twins. Cassie’s eyes lit up, then Jacob’s did as well. “How long…”
“First started when I was, well, your age. It was by accident, and Ermina and her father were involved. It was a scary time and not smart on my part, but it needed to be done.”
“Oh tell us,” Cassie pleaded.
“We’ll save it for a better time…”
“This is the better time,” Cassie blurted out and Jacob voiced agreement.
Mama smiled.
“Yes, I guess it is,” and she recounted an adventure with a slave family that she helped take from Mansfield to her barn, then to Savannah, and about bounty hunters who almost caught her.
“That was the only time I did that as a little girl, by myself anyway. Your grandfather was so worried and so angry. And so proud. Maybe someday he will tell his version of it. I am sure he has been dying to tell you. Now I suppose he can.”
“Are you still doing it, Mama?” Cassie wanted to know.
“Not really. Your father and I decided that with living in town and having children it was a little too risky to be involved in that. It’s a dangerous venture because you don’t know who agrees with you and would help, and who disagrees with you and would turn you in.
“Entire congregations have split over that issue. The Presbyterians on the square broke apart over what to do with slavery. Half meet there and half meet a couple of blocks away, and they don’t talk to each other.
“They just talk about each other,” she sighed. “Hopefully this war will solve all of that.”
“Papa and I decided to be helpful in whatever ways we could, being eyes, deflecting attention, spreading rumors that send bounty hunters the wrong way.
“Things I tell you are wrong to do,” she said, waiting for a reaction.
“But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do?” Cassie asked.
Mama nodded.
My sister is smart, that’s for sure. I need her on my side.
“Did you know about Mr. Finney?”
“Until just now, not really. I am not surprised. It is easier for farmers to hide and transport runaways because they are out in the country and have many places for hiding. And they have reasons to be hauling things in their wagons.”
The wallet!
“Mama, Cassie found a wallet on the street, where Mr. Finney’s wagon was. We think it’s his.”
Cassie handed it to Mama.
“Probably so. Well, I suppose the Christian thing to do would be to hitch up Maggie and take this back to Mr. Finney. Let’s do that tomorrow after breakfast.
“You know where he lives?”
“Yes, out Leesville Road, and up Springmill South, just west of the Barr farm.”
“How do you know all this?” Jacob asked. “A lifetime of learning, son. A lifetime of learning.”
