yd not to sleep when he is on watch. Any carelessness of this
kind might spoil every thing."
"I never'll go to sleep on de watch agin, so help me Possifus!"
exclaimed Cyd, now fully impressed by the magnitude of his criminal
neglect.
"I'll answer for him," said Lily; "I'll stay on deck and keep him awake
next time."
"O, no, you needn't, Lily."
"But why can't I keep watch in the daytime, and let both of you sleep?
If there was any danger I could call you."
"I don't mean to ask you to keep watch, or do any such work. It is not a
woman's place."
"I mean to take my turn next time," said she, resolutely. "Now, Dan, I
will get your supper. Cyd and I ate bread and butter, and drank cold
water; but if you are going to sail the boat all night, you will want
some tea."
"Thank you, Lily; you are very kind. I will get the tea myself."
"No, you shall not. I am not going to be idle all the time. I mean to do
my share of the labor. If it isn't a woman's work to keep watch, it is
to get tea; and if you please, I will do it myself."
My young readers will remember that Lily, though a slave girl, was a
gentle, delicate creature. She had never done any manual labor. She had
simply stood by her young mistress, fanned her when she was warm,
brushed away the flies, handed her a book, or other article, when she
wanted it, picked up her handkerchief when she dropped it, and assisted
at her toilet. If Miss Edith needed any greater exertion of bone and
muscle, another person was called to render the service. But she had
been about the kitchen and work rooms of the plantation, and having a
taste for the various housekeeping operations, she had incidentally
acquired some little skill in cooking, needle-work, and other branches
of female industry.
Her form was agile and graceful, her organization delicate; and no
person, even with a knowledge of her social condition, and rankly imbued
with southern prejudices, could have denied that she was beautiful in
form and feature. Her complexion was fairer than that of a majority of
Anglo-Saxon maidens. Her eye was soft, and sweetly expressive. Such was
Lily, the slave girl of Redlawn; and when she talked of performing the
drudgery of the Isabel, Dan, with that chivalrous consideration for the
gentler sex which characterizes the true gentleman, resented the idea.
He preferred to labor day and night, rather than permit her to soil her
white hands with the soot of the furnaces.
Lily, a
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