IV. THE MOTHER.

1. There was one listener to the conversation of Mr. and Mrs. Shelby whom they little suspected. Eliza, full of fear, had hidden herself in a large closet which opened both into her mistress's room and also into the passage.

When the voices died into silence, Eliza rose from her hiding-place and crept stealthily away. Pale, shivering, with rigid features and compressed lips, she looked an entirely altered being from the soft and timid creature she had been hitherto. She moved cautiously along the entry, paused one moment at her mistress's door and raised her hands in mute appeal to Heaven, and then turned and glided into her own room.

apartment, on the same There was the pleasant

2. It was a quiet, neat floor with her mistress's. sunny window where she had often sat singing at her sewing; there was a little case of books, and various little fancy articles ranged by them, the gifts on Christmas holidays; there was her simple wardrobe in the closet and in the drawers. Here was, in short, her home; and, on the whole, a happy one it had been to her. But there, on the bed, lay her slumbering boy, his long curls falling negligently around his unconscious face, his rosy mouth half open, his little fat hands thrown out over the bedclothes, and a smile spread like a sunbeam over his whole face.

"Poor boy! poor fellow!" said Eliza, " they have sold you; but your mother will save you yet."

3. No tear dropped over that pillow. In such straits as these the heart has no tears to give; it drops only blood, bleeding itself away in silence. She took a piece of paper and a pencil, and wrote hastily,

"O missis! dear missis! don't think me ungrateful-don't think hard of me, any way. I heard all you and master said to-night. I am going to try to save my boy-you will not blame me. God bless and reward you for all your kindness!"

4. Hastily folding and directing this, she went to a drawer and made up a little package of clothing for her boy, which she tied with a handkerchief firmly round her waist; and so fond is a mother's remembrance, that even in the terrors of that hour she did not forget to put in the little package one or two of his favourite toys, reserving a gaily-painted parrot to amuse him when she should be called on to awaken him. It was some trouble to arouse the little sleeper; but after some effort he sat up, and was playing with his bird while his mother was putting on her bonnet and shawl. "Where are you going, mother?" said he, as she drew near the bed with his little coat and cap.

5. His mother drew near, and looked so earnestly into his eyes that he at once divined that something unusual was the matter. "Hush, Harry," she said, "mustn't speak loud, or they will hear us. A wicked man was coming to take little Harry away from his mother, and carry him off in the dark. But mother won't let him; she's going to put on her little boy's cap and coat and run off

with him, so the ugly man can't catch him.” Saying these words, she had tied and buttoned on the child's simple outfit, and taking him in her arms, she whispered to him to be very still; and, opening a door in her room which led into the outer veranda, she glided noiselessly out.

6. It was a sparkling, frosty, starlight night; and the mother wrapped the shawl close round her child, as, perfectly quiet with vague terror, he clung round her neck. A few minutes brought them to the window of Uncle Tom's cottage, and Eliza, stopping, tapped lightly on the window-pane. Instantly the door was opened, and Uncle Tom and his wife, Aunt Chloe, came out in surprise.

7. "I'm running away, Uncle Tom and Aunt Chloe," said Eliza, " carrying off my child. Master sold him!"

"Sold him!" echoed both, lifting up their hands in dismay.

"Yes, sold!" said Eliza firmly. "I crept into the closet by mistress's door to-night, and I heard master tell missis that he had sold my Harry and you, Uncle Tom, both to a trader; and that he was going off this morning on his horse, and that the man was to take possession to-day."

8. Tom had stood during this speech with his hands raised and his eyes dilated, like a man in a dream. Slowly and gradually, as its meaning came over him, he collapsed rather than seated himself on his old chair, and sunk his head down upon his knees.

"The good Lord have pity on us!" said Aunt

Chloe. Oh, it don't seem as if it was true! What has he done that master should sell him?"

9. "He hasn't done anything-it isn't for that. Master don't want to sell; and missis-she's always good-I heard her plead and beg for us. But he told her 'twas no use--that he was in this man's debt, and that this man had got the power over him; and that if he didn't pay him off clear, it would end in his having to sell the place and all the people, and move off. Yes, I heard him say there was no choice between selling these two and selling all the man was driving them so hard.

10. "And now," said Eliza as she stood in the door, "when I saw my husband this afternoon, I little knew then what was to come. They have pushed him to the very last standing-place, and he told me to-day that he was going to run away. Do try, if you can, to get word to him. Tell him how I went, and why I went. And tell him I'm going to try and find Canada. You must give my love to him; and tell him if I never see him again—” She turned away and stood with her back to them for a moment, and then added in a husky voice, "Tell him to be as good as he can, and try and meet me in the kingdom of heaven." A few last words and tears, a few simple adieus and blessings, and clasping her wondering and affrighted child in her arms, she glided noiselessly away.

Questions:-1. How did Eliza learn that her boy and Uncle Tom had been sold? What effect had the news on Eliza? 2. How had her mistress's kindness shown itself? Where was Harry? 3. What did Eliza do? What did she write? 4. What preparations did she make? 5. What did she tell her boy? 6. Where did she first go? 7. What did she tell her friends? 8. What effect had the news on Uncle Tom? What did Aunt Chloe say? 9. What explanation did Eliza give? 10. What message did she leave for her husband?

1 Sus-pect-ed, thought of. Rig-id, stiff; hard.

Notes and Meanings.

Com-pressed', firmly closed.

Mute ap-peal', silent prayer for help.

2 Ward-robe, stock of clothes. Neg-li-gent-ly, loosely.

Ve-ran-da, covered walk along the side of the house.

6 Vague ter-ror, fear that something might happen.

8 Di-lat-ed, widely opened.

Col-lapsed', sunk down.

Un-con-scious, not aware of what 10 Can-a-da, a part of British America

was passing.

3 Straits, difficulties.

Un-grate-ful, unthankful.

4 Re-serv-ing, putting aside.

5 Di-vined', guessed.

bordering the United States. The
moment a slave put foot on Brit-
ish soil he was free.

A-dieus', good-byes; farewells. [fear.
Af-fright-ed, frightened; full of

Summary:-When her master and mistress retired for the night, Eliza hid herself in a closet that opened into their room, where she heard that Mr. Shelby had really sold her boy and Uncle Tom. At once she packed up a few things for herself and her boy, and leaving a note for her mistress, she left the house. Calling at Uncle Tom's cottage, she told him and Aunt Chloe what she had heard; said that she was running away to save her boy, and would try to reach Canada; and asked them to try to see her husband, and tell him the story of her flight.

Exercises: 1. Parse and analyze: Eliza hid herself in a closet.

2. Change into Nouns-frosty, wrapped, beg, plead, driving.

3. Make Sentences containing-deference, difference; dependent, dependant. 4. Write a letter to a school-fellow on the last School-treat.

V. ELIZA'S ESCAPE.

1. It is impossible to conceive of a human creature more wholly desolate and forlorn than Eliza, when she turned her footsteps from Uncle Tom's cabin. But stronger than all other feelings combined was her maternal love, aroused by the near approach of a fearful danger. Her boy was old enough to have walked by her side, and in an indifferent case she would only have led him by the hand; but now the