by Wendy Lawton
“Harriet? You listenin’?”
“Yes, Annie.”
“You ’members people trompin’ in and out of here when you was sickest?”
“I think so.”
“Know what they was doin’?”
Harriet was tired but she knew Annie wasn’t about to let up. “What were they doing, Annie?”
“Ol’ Brodas paraded white folks in here, one after the other, tryin’ to sell you South.” The stormy look on Annie’s face left no doubt of her feelings.
“South?” Harriet knew the fear tied up in that one word.
“Master Barrett insist Master Brodas punish you and send you far away before you make more trouble. But soon as those speculators poked around a bit, they heard tell ’bout your spells, and they hightailed it off the plantation.” Annie laughed. “Ever’ last one of them!”
“Will they come back?”
“Not likely.” Annie laughed again. “Your father heard Ol’ Brodas sayin’ that it looks like he’s stuck with you again.”
“Oh, Annie.”
“That’s why you need to git down on your knees—well, not jes’ yet—but you need to thank the good Lord for those spells.”
Harriet woke up to find her father sitting by her pallet. She knew it must be nighttime.
“I hear you’ve been frettin’ about your spells.” Ben always came right to the point.
“Uh-huh.”
“Minty-girl, you are blessed to be alive.”
“I know, Ben, but I was sure that God wanted me to come back for a special job.” Harriet didn’t have to explain what she meant by “come back.” She had spent long hours telling her father about her dreams. “Now I wonder how I can be like Moses. How can I ask Pharaoh to let my people go?”
“Is that what’s worryin’ you, child?”
“Yes. I think God wants me to do something—I’m not sure what—but how can I do it now?”
“Did you know that Moses said the very same thing when God asked him to lead the children to the Promised Land?”
“He did?” How come Harriet didn’t remember that part of the story?
“Even after God showed His miracles, Moses tried to wiggle out. He said his tongue got all tangled up when he tried to talk. He worried ’bout what ol’ Pharoah would say face-to-face with a slow-witted Moses.” Ben looked deep into Harriet’s eyes. “What do you think God said to Moses?”
“Did He get mad at Moses?”
“No. He asked Moses who made the tongue that got tangled. I think Moses remembered that God doesn’t call someone without givin’ him all he needs to do the job. God already planned to give Moses a helper—his brother Aaron.”
“I remember now.” Harriet also knew what her father was saying to her. Stop worrying about shortcomings.
Harriet knew that when the time was right, she’d be ready—with the help of God. Somewhere off in the distance she heard the start of a song. It started with one clear voice, but one by one others joined in.
Go down, Moses,
Way down in Egypt-land.
Tell ol’ Pharaoh
To let My people go.
After the song died out, Harriet thought about it for a long time. “Lord Jesus, help me be strong for You. Help me to stand when I need to take a stand, to run when You call me to freedom, and to return when You call me back.”
Epilogue
Harriet Tubman has become a legend. In the story, she prays, “Lord Jesus, help me be strong for You. Help me to stand when I need to take a stand, to run when You call me to freedom, and to return when You call me back.”
That is exactly what she did. Harriet bravely made her way to freedom, but found God calling her to rescue others. In the story, she often wondered about that mysterious Underground Railroad. Little did she know that she would become its most famous conductor. Eventually called the “Moses of her people,” Harriet made the dangerous trip back into the South nineteen times to lead more than 300 slaves to freedom. Despite her sleeping spells, she never “ran her train off the track, nor lost a single passenger.”
The events in this book are true, though we can only guess about the actual words that Harriet spoke. We do know that her faith in God was the most important part of her life.
In her own words (written in the style used in her biography by her friend Sarah Bradford):
“ ’Pears like, I prayed all de time,” she said, “about my work, eberywhere; I was always talking to de Lord. When I went to the horse-trough to wash my face, and took up de water in my hands, I said, ‘Oh, Lord, wash me, make me clean.’ When I took up de towel to wipe my face and hands, I cried, ‘Oh, Lord, for Jesus’ sake, wipe away all my sins!’ When I took up de broom and began to sweep, I groaned, ‘Oh, Lord, whatsoebber sin dere be in my heart, sweep it out, Lord, clar and clean…’ ”
And when someone congratulated her on her bravery, she would always answer, “Don’t, I tell you, Missus, ’twan’t me, ’twas de Lord! Jes’ so long as he wanted to use me, he would take keer of me, an’ when he didn’t want me no longer, I was ready to go; I always tole him, I’m gwine to hole stiddy on to you, an’ you’ve got to see me trou.”
During the Civil War Harriet Tubman worked as a nurse and later a scout for the Union. After the war, she bought a large home in Auburn, New York, with the proceeds from the sale of the Bradford biography and cared for the homeless and the hungry. In her last years she grew vegetables and sold them door-to-door in order to have the money to feed all who came to her door. Upon her death she left her home and her ministry to the church.
To learn more about the grown-up Harriet Tubman, read:
Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People by Sarah Bradford
Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Ann Petry
Glossary
Basers. People who set the handclapping rhythm and guided the melody and harmony of the spiritual singing.
Basket name. The name used by slaves in their childhood.
Card. A wire-toothed brush used to disentangle fibers such as wool before spinning.
Caterwauling. Loud yelling.
Coffle. A group of slaves chained together.
Colicky. Abdominal pains.
Hank. Coil.
Harnesses. The frames of a weaver’s loom that are moved to create a pattern in the cloth.
Heddles. Wires in a weaver’s loom that hold the threads used to make cloth.
Hogsheads. Large barrels. Keening. Mournful crying.
Linsey-woolsey. A coarse fabric made of linen or cotton and wool.
Pick. One pass of the weft through the shed in a weaver’s loom.
Pone. A cake made of cornmeal.
Reed. A comb that separates the warp during weaving.
Ring shout. A form of worship when a group forms a wide circle and begins a shuffling step around the circle accompanied by their shouting chant to the rhythmic beat of a stick.
Scullery. A room used for washing dishes.
Settee. A couch.
Shed. The opening between warp threads where the weft passes through.
Shift. A dress that was like a long shirt.
Shot. One pass of the weft through the shed in a weaver’s loom.
Sixpence. A coin worth six English pennies.
Sticker. A person who beat the rhythm with a broom handle on a wooden box for a ring shout.
Stone. Fourteen pounds.
Switch. A thin tree branch with whip-like flexibility.
Tow linen. Low-quality linen made of short flax fibers.
Treadles. Levers pressed by the foot to move the harnesses in a weaver’s loom.
Twill. A diagonal weave in cloth.
Warp. The threads on a loom or in fabric that run the length. To warp a loom means to string these threads into place so that weaving can begin.
Wattle and daub. Reeds or branches woven together and covered with mud to form a structure.
Weft. The threads that fill the warp to make cloth.
> Winding sheet. A shroud used for burial.
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