Roots_ The Saga of an American Family - Alex Haley [326]
Slowly, thoughtfully, Tom said, “I ’gree we ought to be better off here. But ’pend a lot on how we handles it. Like you said, Massa Murray don’t ’pear no mean, lowdown white man. I feel like Virgil say, he jes’ ain’t had much ’sperience to put no trus’ in us. Even mo’n dat, I b’leeve he worried we git to figgerin’ he’s easy, dat’s how come he make hisself act an’ soun’ harder’n he na’chly is, an’ dat’s how come de oberseer talk.” Tom paused. “Way I sees it, mammy handle de missis. Res’ us needs to teach de massa he do fine jes’ leave us ’lone.”
After murmurs of approval, Matilda’s tone was vibrant with her joy at clearly a potentially promising family future, “Well, now, linin’ it up, long wid what y’all says, we’s got to ’suade Massa Murray to buy Lilly Sue an’ dat l’il Uriah, too. ’Bout y’all’s pappy, ain’t nothin’ we can do but jes’ wait. He walk in here one dese days—”
Giggling, Mary interrupted, “Wid dat green scarf trailin’, an’ black derby settin’ upon his head!”
“Sho’ right ’bout dat, daughter,” Matilda smiled with the others. She went on. “An’ ’cose I ain’t even got to say ’bout gittin’ Gran’mammy, Sarah, an’ Malizy. I already got Missis Murray promised to he’p wid dat. ’Scribed to ’er stronges’ I could how it jes’ ’bout tore us all up to have to leave ’em. Lawd! Missis got to cryin’ hard as I was! She say weren’t no use nobody includin’ her axin’ Massa Murray to buy no three real ol’ womens, but she promsie faithful she ax massa to git Tom hire-out jobs, an’ de res’ y’all boys, too. So le’s all keep in mind we ain’t jes’ here workin’ for ’nother massa, we’s workin’ to git our fam’ly back togedder.”
With that resolve, the family settled into the planting season of 1856, with Matilda commanding the increasing trust and appreciation of both Missis and Massa Murray through her clear loyalty and sincerity, her excellent cooking, and her spotless housekeeping. The massa saw how Virgil steadily urged and pressed his brothers and sisters toward a bumper tobacco crop. He saw Tom visibly putting the plantation into an enviable state of repair, his talented hands wielding his mostly homemade tools, transforming foraged old rusted, discarded, scrap iron into eventually scores of sturdy new farming tools and implements, along with both functional and decorative household items.
Nearly every Sunday afternoon, unless the Murrays had gone off somewhere themselves, various of the local plantation families would pay them welcoming visits, along with their old friends from Burlington, Graham, Haw River, Mebane, and other towns around. In showing their guests about the big house and yards, the Murrays always proudly pointed out different examples of Tom’s craftsmanship. Few of their farm or township guests left without urging that the massa permit Tom to make or repair something for them, and Massa Murray would agree. Gradually more of Tom’s custom-made articles appeared about Alamance County, as word of mouth further advertised him, and Missis Murray’s original request that the massa seek hire-out jobs for Tom became entirely unnecessary. Soon, every day saw slave men, young and old, come riding on mules, or sometimes afoot, bringing broken tools or other items for Tom to fix. Some massas or missis sketched decorative items they wanted made for their homes. Or sometimes customers’ requests required that Massa Murray write out a traveling pass for Tom to ride a mule to other plantations, or into local towns, to make on-site repairs or installations. By 1857, Tom was working from dawn to dark every day excepting Sundays, his over-all volume of work at least equaling that of Mr. Isaiah, who had taught him. The customers would pay Massa Murray, either at the big house or when they saw him at church, such rates as fourteen cents a hoof for the shoeing of horses, mules, or oxen, thirty-seven cents for a new wagon tire, eighteen cents to mend a pitchfork, or six cents