Part One, Chapter Eleven: Tolling Bells Summary

In Chapter Eleven, March considers how closely the words "courage" and "cowardice" are tied. For many, true courage comes from doing nothing, regardless of the backlash. He considers this in particular to his relationship with the Underground Railroad. As a direct result of John Brown's arrest and imminent execution, "packages" arriving for the March family through the Underground Railroad slowed, but March recalls the last runaway he aided before the Civil War broke out: she was a pregnant girl, only fifteen-years-old, named Flora. She was terribly underweight, skin literally peeling off bones with frostbite, and nearly mute with fear. Because of the girl's condition and despite the danger, the family decided to keep her for two weeks, long enough for her frostbitten feet to begin to mend. The family maintained their daily life so as not to...