Honor (44 page)

Samuel and I will visit whenever he has a delivery to make north of Dayton. He is learning how to drive the wagon and is speaking commands to the horses. He still speaks very little with his voice otherwise, but I see this as a good sign. So we are doing well, and I hope to see thee in the spring.

As always, thy loving cousin,

Honor Cathwell

She folded and sealed the letter with hot wax, marveling at how God had brought her, Royale, and even Darah through the past year. Honor had not been able to free her people, but she was helping others to freedom. And the letters they had written in Deborah’s parlor perhaps had some influence. The law penalizing anyone who kidnapped a free person of color in Ohio and tried to sell them back into slavery had come up for a vote in the state assembly and had passed. This had excited the members of the Female Anti-Slavery Society and proved that women could do something to oppose slavery. It was a start, at least.

Samuel entered, shutting the door against the cold behind him. He took off his hat and mittens and warmed himself by the fire before he bent over the cradle. He couldn’t look at his little daughter enough.

His wife moved to stand beside him.

He put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. “She is beautiful. You are beautiful.”

The baby began to fuss. Honor lifted their tiny daughter from her cradle and set her to nurse. He loved watching her hold the little one that belonged to both of them, linking them forever.

They had come through so much. And now they had little Blessing. He had chosen this name for their daughter, hoping that Honor would realize it was a tribute to their love and how he felt about their marriage.

He tickled the baby’s chin, and the child sent him an angry look for interrupting her nursing. He watched a smile crinkle Honor’s face as she laughed at him. Then he leaned closer and savored a kiss. He had more than he ever thought possible: a home, a thriving business, and a loving wife and family.

Eli and Caleb burst inside, rosy from the cold, playfully punching each other.

Honor turned to scold them, but Samuel couldn’t help himself. He let the laughter rumble up from deep inside him. Life was good. God was near.

HISTORICAL NOTE

T
O THOSE WHO
have read my previous historical series, it will come as no surprise that when considering a new series, I looked for an area where great social and political upheaval and conflict had taken place. In my earlier Texas: Star of Destiny series, I chose Texas, which changed from Spanish colony to Mexican territory to the Republic of Texas and finally to the state of Texas, all between the years of 1820 and 1847. The period also included the Texas Revolution (“Remember the Alamo!”) and the Mexican-American War.

That done, I next turned my attention, of course, to Ohio. Ohio?

Yes, during the same years, Ohio simmered and at times boiled as a hotbed of conflict and activism over the issue of abolition.

While in Texas, the winds of change and social upheaval were acted out in open conflicts, in Ohio, the revolution took place behind doors and within secret rooms, only rarely breaking forth into race riots. The
Underground Railroad started spontaneously, many say, with John Rankin, a Presbyterian minister who moved to Ripley, Ohio, in 1822. When Harriet Beecher Stowe was asked after the Civil War, “Who abolished slavery?” she answered, “Reverend John Rankin and his sons did.”

But actually, the Underground Railroad was not any one man or woman’s idea. It was a spontaneous, uncoordinated response to the plight of runaway slaves. It began with free blacks in Ohio, such as Judah and Royale. There were several black settlements in Ohio; some groups of them were made up of slaves freed and resettled by their former owners. These settlements consciously saw themselves as havens for runaways. John Parker, Henry Bibb, Charles Langston (the inspiration for Brother Ezekiel and Judah’s surname), and many more free blacks in Ohio sheltered and then moved escaped slaves toward Canada.

However, because of the Black Laws of Ohio (1807), people of color had no legal status and could not testify in court or vote. White abolitionists came forward to stand up for and assist their black cohorts in these situations, often providing funds. Keith Griffler states in his landmark study,
Front Line of Freedom: African Americans and the Forging of the Underground Railroad in the Ohio Valley
(Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2004, 60):

The movement that came to be called the Underground Railroad would never have gotten off the ground without the dedicated group of whites who hailed from the South, providing the African Americans engaged in
the life-and-death struggle with American slavery indispensable allies in their frontline struggle. If the South had bequeathed to the Ohio Valley much of its proslavery animus, it also ironically supplied it with some of its most ardent and militant antislavery white activists—willing to risk their reputations, their fortunes, their freedom, and even their lives. It might not be too much to say that the Underground Railroad in the region would have taken much longer to initiate without the zeal they brought to the cause they espoused. Their fervor was equal to that . . . which the love of slavery inspired in leaders of the South. Having witnessed—and learned to hate—slavery at close quarters, they brought not only a passion but also the willingness and desire to work closely with the African American communities whose existence on the northern bank of the Ohio defied both Northern and Southern public opinion.

Honor is not a heroine who truly lived in history, but many with her passion took an active part in the antislavery movement. The poem I let Honor take credit for—“What Is a Slave, Mother?”—really belongs to Elizabeth Margaret Chandler, who wrote many antislavery poems and who started a Female Anti-Slavery Society in Michigan about a decade after the fictional one in Deborah Coxswain’s
parlor. The full poem can easily be found online. Chandler participated in national discussions and debates through her articles and poems about abolitionism. She also edited Benjamin Lundy’s abolitionist journal,
The Genius of Universal Emancipation
(which actually began in 1821).

Also, the inequity of property laws pertaining to widows at this time might have been a surprise to some readers. This was, of course, demonstrated by the fact that Alec could leave his whole estate—even the part that Darah brought into the marriage—to whomever he wished.

Usually a third of the estate was saved for the widow’s portion or dower (even in the United States). However, this had to be specified either in the prenuptial marriage agreement or in the husband’s will. I think Alec’s decision not to provide for Darah in his will, along with her lack of a male relative to protect her interests in a prenuptial marriage settlement, fits both Alec’s character (or lack thereof) and the story.

The next story in this series will be about Blessing Cathwell, Honor and Samuel’s daughter. You’ll see how the conflict over abolition and the advent of the women’s rights movement will affect her life. What challenges will she face? And what man will find her too fascinating to ignore?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What if doing what is right cost you everything—fortune, friends, and family? This is the concept that is central to the novel
   Honor
   . At the beginning of the story, Honor tries to do what is right, but she has no way of foreseeing the repercussions to come. Have you ever experienced or seen a decision like this in your own life or in the life of someone close to you? What was the outcome?
   
2. Some characters in the novel misunderstand, avoid, or scorn Samuel because of his deafness. How is today’s society different from Samuel’s in its treatment of people with disabilities? In what ways is it the same?
   
3. Soon after marrying Honor, Samuel becomes irrationally jealous whenever she interacts with other men. Why does he feel this way? How does his character develop throughout the story, and what causes this development? If you could give Samuel one piece of advice, what would it be?
   
4. Were you surprised at how few choices women could make to support themselves in 1819? Why do you think this was true?
   
5. Why does Honor chose to marry Samuel? Did she make the right decision? What would you have done in her place?
   
6. Throughout the novel, Honor struggles to control her angry impulses. What does she do to contain her anger? Read James 1:19-21. What steps can we take to strive for the righteousness of God without giving in to angry actions?
   
7. Looking back, it is easy to think that if we had lived in Honor’s time period, we would have helped runaway slaves and worked for abolition. Abolition became popular in the decade before the Civil War broke out, but in the 1820s, abolitionists were considered odd and subversive to society. Would you break a federal law to seek justice for others? What would be the hardest part of doing so?
   
8. Though many Quakers opposed slavery, most meetings insisted that members of color sit in a separate section of the meetinghouse. Why did they do this? Can you think of a parallel in today’s church?
   
9. The Quakers are a distinctive sect of Christians. What did you learn about them from this novel? What is most appealing to you about the Quaker lifestyle? What would be most difficult?
   
10. Honor works passionately to bring light into the lives of people marginalized and mistreated by her society. What can you do personally to add light to this world rather than darkness?
    

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

L
YN
C
OTE,
known for her “Strong Women, Brave Stories,” is the award-winning, critically acclaimed author of more than thirty-five novels. Her books have been RITA Award finalists and Holt Medallion and Carol Award winners. Lyn received her bachelor’s degree in education and her master’s degree in American history from Western Illinois University. She and her husband have two grown children and live on a small but beautiful lake in northern Wisconsin. Visit her online at
www.LynCote.com
.