ffred's
nearly-forgotten treasuresShe would have buried him without a murmur, but it broke her heart to have him sold into bondage more helpless than that in which he was born.
———
"Massa, you take your liberty and let me have mine, then we see who take care of himself best."
I decided to take a break from my transcription of The Second Son, in light of a new discovery: I stumbled across a short novel that tosses Oliphant and Aldrich into a cocked hat. While the former work is a genteel, understated bit of a poke at Victorian attitudes, Jamie Parker, the Fugitive is a rough, fiery, unabashed piece of abolitionist muck-raking, written by a woman born sixty years before Upton Sinclair. Needless to say, I fell in love with it instantly.
Published in 1851, before the first appearance of Uncle Tom's Cabin, this work by Emily Clemens Pearson (as Emily Catharine Pierson) was not as widely read in its time, and is nearly forgotten today. Although it lacks the degree of wit and literary polish of the more famous novel, nonetheless this one deserves attention.
My transcription of the 1851 edition primarily came from this scan, which was mostly quite clear and the OCR mostly clean. I also used this scan as a backup.
So here it is: the master HTML version, the home-brew Kindle version, and the actual Amazon publication.
As the landlord says, "Nothing like rum, it settles more disputes than all the lawyers in the land!"
March 9, 2021