LITMIR.BIZ

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Julia could feel her cheeks reddening. She knew her father liked Samuel. He always had. Would he understand her position? Would he support her decision?

       She stirred the soup once more, stalling, searching for words.

       Her father was drumming his fingers on the kitchen table. She knew he would not leave until she had given him an answer.

      I will have to make it known sooner or later. It might as well be now, she thought. “I have decided not to marry him.”

       The drumming stopped. “Does he know this?” her father asked.

       Julia kept her eyes on the soup. Little bits of carrots and chicken were floating in the broth. “Yes. He knows.”

       He grunted. Then there were several seconds of silence. “When did you decide this?” he asked.

       Julia put down her spoon. It was obvious that her business in the kitchen was not going to deter her father’s questioning. “Last night.”

       “Last night?”

       “I told him so when Edward—” Fresh grief over her brother’s enlistment choked her voice. She looked at her father, hoping her eyes could convey the rest. Surely you must feel the same.

       Her father drew in a deep breath. “I see. Is this about you and Sam or is it about Edward?”

       “It is both,” she admitted. “You have seen what has happened here. That day at the train station… Father, the soldiers fired upon us! Our fellow citizens were killed!”

       “I know, Julia. I treated the wounded.”

       “Yes, and Edward has decided to do something! He’s gone to Virginia to fight. But Samuel, he won’t go! He won’t defend what he says he cares about!”

       “Because he won’t go to Virginia?” Her father sighed. “Perhaps I set a poor example. Perhaps I remained neutral on this issue for too long. The issue of States’ Rights, slavery included, never affected us.”

       “They affect you now,” she said, “or they soon will. Northern soldiers have guns turned on this very neighborhood. If we don’t stand against them, how can we ever be safe again?”

       “And you think Samuel joining the Confederacy will change all of that?”

       She blinked, not knowing how to answer.

       Her father continued. “Sam has traveled. He has experienced life and drawn from others’ life experiences. As a result, he carries a wider perspective of the world. He has spoken to me a few times about a man named Frederick Douglass.”

       “Yes, I know. The man from Boston. He mentioned him once.”

       The subject of slavery may have been a contentious topic in the nation for years but not so in the Stanton household. Julia’s family did not own any slaves and none of their closest friends did either. Julia had never truly formed an opinion on the subject—and saw no need to now. The plight of a man living in Boston mattered very little to her compared to the safety of her family and friends right here in Maryland.

       “Did he tell you he is a former slave?” her father asked. “A former Maryland slave?”

       “No.”

       “Well, perhaps he wished to spare you the indelicate details. The things he spoke of have given me cause to think.” He paused. “Rights are all fine and good until they infringe on the rights of others.”

       Julia shook her head. She still didn’t see what that had to do with anything here in Mount Vernon. “But what about the soldiers?”

       “I don’t like their presence any more than you. Sam doesn’t either, for that matter. But, given the scope, the turmoil that this nation is now facing, I understand why they thought it necessary to occupy Baltimore.”

       Julia let out a disgusted sigh. Her father had always encouraged her and Edward to express their own opinions. She did so now. “How can you even say that? What if their occupation leads to more trouble on the streets? It won’t be safe for Mother or me to venture outside.”

       “Soldiers follow the orders of their commanding officers, of the president. The Bible tells us to pray for those in authority over us. If the military leaders remain honorable then we have nothing to fear.” Then he added, “As for your honor, should the worst come, I have no doubt that Samuel Ward would give his life to protect you.”

       She felt her chin begin to quiver. Samuel had promised her such but she didn’t believe him. He had professed loyalty to her family as well; yet he had abandoned her brother when he needed him most.

       “Edward and Sam are two very different men,” Dr. Stanton said. “They always have been. You know that better than anyone. Their friendship worked because they complemented each other’s strengths, each other’s weaknesses. They accepted one another’s differences.”

       Scenes of years past flashed through her mind. Edward and Samuel had been schoolmates and best friends for as long as she could remember. Tears filled her eyes when she thought about what their relationship had become.

       “And now?” she asked.

       “Disagreements come to every relationship, some large, some small. It is how those disagreements are navigated that determines the future course of the relationship.”

       Silence hung heavily. Like the steam from the stove pot, it permeated the kitchen. Finally, her father asked, “Is that soup ready?”

       Julia had nearly forgotten it. She removed it from the heat. “It’s ready.”

       “Then I will take a bowl up to your mother.”

       She filled a dish and placed it on a tray. Then she sliced up a loaf of bread, buttered it and laid it with the soup. She handed it to her father.

       “Thank you, child.” Then he turned for the door.

       Julia was left alone to think about what he had said.

      Chapter Two

      Sam kept walking until he ended up at the wharf. Sunset was approaching and the local fishermen were making their way back to port. Their vessels were loaded with rockfish and blue crabs, a bountiful harvest from the Chesapeake Bay. He had often come to watch the ships roll in. It was a satisfying sight, a long hard day of work ended, the harbor tranquil and deep.

       Tonight the local vessels had to steer and maneuver more than usual for the Baltimore harbor was also full of military ships. Their masts stood stall and black against the orange and purple sky. Sam tried to focus on the crabbing vessels. If he stared at them alone, life appeared to be peaceful.

      But life isn’t peaceful nor will it be for quite some time.

       Sighing, he turned toward Federal Hill. An American flag flapped in the evening breeze while men in blue stood as sentinels over the city. Sam sadly thought how appropriate the hill’s identity now was. Named nearly one hundred years before, it was on that very spot that Marylanders had celebrated the ratification of the Federal Constitution. No one then ever dreamed the site would be prime high ground for an occupying army with guns turned on its own citizens.

      When I stepped off that train I walked onto a battlefield, he thought.

       His fists clenched and his blood raced just thinking of that April day. Sam had returned home having completed his studies and graduation exercises in Philadelphia. As they had planned through their letters, Julia and Edward had met his train.

       The President Street station was filled with citizens and Massachusetts soldiers. Sam had assumed the regiment was on their way to Washington, but had paid little attention to them. Though the business in South Carolina and Virginia was tantamount to insurrection, it had not concerned him. His only thoughts were of Julia, their long-awaited reunion and the July wedding they had planned.

       She had been waiting

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