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."I'm not sure all those factories are as great aboon as everyone claims," she remarked to Louis."Look at the dirt they spew into the sky."The boy was more interested in their departed companion:"Is Mr.Douglass really famous, ma?""Louis, I've reminded you before-it's time you beganPage 204ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlsaying mother."The dark-eyed boy scowled."What's the difference?""One sounds more genteel than the other.And to answeryour question-yes, Mr.Douglass is just about the mostfamous runaway slave in America.People pack hislectures.""Then why wouldn't anyone else sit with him in thedining room?""Because he's a black man.""But he's very nice." His scowl deepening, Louissurveyed the passengers along the rail."People should bewhipped for treating him that way."Amanda said nothing.The remark about whipping disturbedher.Louis was beginning to display some less thanadmirable traits.She recalled the dreadful rowwith Jephtha's son over a toad during their visitin the Shenndoah Valley.She tried to recall when she'd first become awareof the boy's aggressive attitude.InCalifornia, she decided.Soon after she toldhim of the shooting in Hopeful.She'd taken painsto explain that the man had threatened her, but it was thefact that she'd killed him that seemed to make thegreatest impression on Louis.Quite a few timessince, she'd noticed him watching her with aspeculative expression.Now, while his attention was diverted, it was her turnto study him.He was handsomer than Cordoba.Yethe seemed to lack the Mexican officer's softeninghumanity.On the long voyage from San Francisco, she'dfinally told Louis about his father.The experience hadbeen harder on her than it seemed to be on him.He'd asked a few questions about Cordoba'sappearance and character, and accepted Amanda's statement thatthe officer was an honorable man whom she'd loved.She deliberately refrained from cautioningthe boy about mentioning his illegitimacy to others; hehad no friends with whom to discuss it, and she was afraidthat undue emphasis would lend it an unhealthyimportance it shouldn't have.Louis hadn't brought up the subject since that oneand only discussion.In many ways, the boy was anextremely private person.Not surprising,since she'd been occupied with so many other things thesepast few years.And would be in the weeks and monthsto come.She wondered whether their new life in the eastwould be good for him-A bit too late to think of that, she reflected.Still, his words about whipping put her on guard.Ifshe were required to perform any unpleasant actions inconnection with Hamilton Stovall, the boy must neverbecome aware of them.The pilot maneuveredYankee Arrowthrough the crowded harbor.Amanda felt just a bitintimidated by the great city rising before her.She wasangered by the reaction.Here she was, about to stepashore to begin a new life just the way her grandfatherhad done eighty years ago, and her gloved hands werePage 205ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmltrembling!Despite her anxiety, she wasfascinated by the sprawl of the city, the gush of smokefrom the manufacturies, the crowded confusion of thedocks becoming visible off the bow.Boston, like theother cities she'd glimpsed on the trip, seemedto symbolize the wealth, the power, the human energy andinventiveness of the industrialized east.In all herwears, she'd never seen anything that even resembled thispart of America.There were nearly twenty-five million people in the nationnow.Population, according to Mr.Douglass, had grownat an unprecedented rate of thirty-six percentin ten years.And there appeared to be no limit to themechanical genius of the country's citizens.For two decades, McCormick's reaper hadbeen improving the productivity of the farms.Threerival inventors -Howe, Wilson and Singer-werevying to produce a device for mechanized sewing [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]