“O, carry him along to Amariah’s.
There’s old Grandmam Stephens there,—Dorcas,
they call her,—she’s most an amazin’
nurse. She takes to nursing real natural, and
an’t never better suited than when she gets
a sick body to tend. We may reckon on turning
him over to her for a fortnight or so.”
A ride of about an hour more brought the party to
a neat farmhouse, where the weary travellers were
received to an abundant breakfast. Tom Loker
was soon carefully deposited in a much cleaner and
softer bed than he had, ever been in the habit of
occupying. His wound was carefully dressed and
bandaged, and he lay languidly opening and shutting
his eyes on the white window-curtains and gently-gliding
figures of his sick room, like a weary child.
And here, for the present, we shall take our leave
of one party.
Miss Ophelia’s Experiences and Opinions
Our friend Tom, in his own simple musings, often compared
his more fortunate lot, in the bondage into which
he was cast, with that of Joseph in Egypt; and, in
fact, as time went on, and he developed more and more
under the eye of his master, the strength of the parallel
increased.
St. Clare was indolent and careless of money.
Hitherto the providing and marketing had been principally
done by Adolph, who was, to the full, as careless
and extravagant as his master; and, between them both,
they had carried on the dispersing process with great
alacrity. Accustomed, for many years, to regard
his master’s property as his own care, Tom saw,
with an uneasiness he could scarcely repress, the wasteful
expenditure of the establishment; and, in the quiet,
indirect way which his class often acquire, would
sometimes make his own suggestions.
St. Clare at first employed him occasionally; but,
struck with his soundness of mind and good business
capacity, he confided in him more and more, till gradually
all the marketing and providing for the family were
intrusted to him.
“No, no, Adolph,” he said, one day, as
Adolph was deprecating the passing of power out of
his hands; “let Tom alone. You only understand
what you want; Tom understands cost and come to; and
there may be some end to money, bye and bye if we
don’t let somebody do that.”
Trusted to an unlimited extent by a careless master,
who handed him a bill without looking at it, and pocketed
the change without counting it, Tom had every facility
and temptation to dishonesty; and nothing but an impregnable
simplicity of nature, strengthened by Christian faith,
could have kept him from it. But, to that nature,
the very unbounded trust reposed in him was bond and
seal for the most scrupulous accuracy.
