FREE JOE AND OTHER GEORGIAN SKETCHES

CONTENTS


PAGE

FREE JOE 3

LITTLE COMPTON 30

AUNT FOUNTAIN'S PRISONER 98

TROUBLE ON LOST MOUNTAIN 133

AZALIA 183




FREE JOE AND THE REST OF THE WORLD

THE name of Free Joe strikes humorously upon the ear of memory. It is
impossible to say why, for he was the humblest, the simplest, and the
most serious of all God's living creatures, sadly lacking in all those
elements that suggest the humorous. It is certain, moreover, that in
1850 the sober-minded citizens of the little Georgian village of
Hillsborough were not inclined to take a humorous view of Free Joe, and
neither his name nor his presence provoked a smile. He was a black atom,
drifting hither and thither without an owner, blown about by all the
winds of circumstance, and given over to shiftlessness.

The problems of one generation are the paradoxes of a succeeding one,
particularly if war, or some such incident, intervenes to clarify the
atmosphere and strengthen the understanding. Thus, in 1850, Free Joe
represented not only a problem of large concern, but, in the watchful
eyes of Hillsborough, he was the embodiment of that vague and mysterious
danger that seemed to be forever lurking on the outskirts of slavery,
ready to sound a shrill and ghostly signal in the impenetrable swamps,
and steal forth under the midnight stars to murder, rapine, and
pillage--a danger always threatening, and yet never assuming shape;
intangible, and yet real; impossible, and yet not improbable. Across the
serene and smiling front of safety, the pale outlines of the awful
shadow of insurrection sometimes fell. With this invisible panorama as a
background, it was natural that the figure of Free Joe, simple and
humble as it was, should assume undue proportions. Go where he would, do
what he might, he could not escape the finger of observation and the
kindling eye of suspicion. His lightest words were noted, his slightest
actions marked.