Chapter 6 Summary

Maude Newman begins pressuring her "poor widow child," Caldonia, to speed up her bereavement. Maude wore black for only a month after her husband Tilmon died. Normally strong Caldonia asks for a bit more patience, but Maude presses the point that her legacy cannot wait. She fears Caldonia may, like her late father, become mired in grief and not know right from wrong. Caldonia insists she has learned from Henry how to be a good slave shepherd-master and intends to carry on. Caldonia recalls meeting Henry when she was young and desperate to find a husband a year after Augustus broke Henry's shoulder over slaveholding. Henry had conceived of himself as a middleman between God and the slaves, feeding them well and beating them rarely. Henry had done his best to earn his slaves' recommendation to God on Judgment day. Caldonia recalls Fern's...