My Brother's Keeper My America 1 by Mary Pope Osborne Page A

saw a number of Negro people hurrying down Baltimore Street. They all carried big bundles on their backs. The person leading the way was Becky Lee, the nice lady who helps Mrs. McCully with her wash.
    Mrs. McCully shouted to Becky Lee, asking where she was going.
    Becky Lee said the Rebs were coming! She said she was going to hide her children in the woods near Culp's Hill.
    Mrs. McCully told her to come stay with us.
    But Becky Lee said no house in Gettysburg was safe. She said the Rebs will search all the
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    houses for Negroes and drag them south to be slaves.
    Mrs. McCully opened her handbag and gave Becky Lee all her money. She told Becky Lee she would pray for her and her children.
    What a terrible thing for people to be slaves. God created all people equal. But slavery treats some people like animals. Why, Becky Lee has to hide her children just like Uncle Jack has to hide his horses!
    Mrs. McCully says if the Union wins the war, President Lincoln's wish will come true -- there will be no more slavery in any states.
    But she says the Union is not doing well. The Confederates have won many battles. If they win a big battle in Pennsylvania, she thinks they might win the whole war!
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    Later
    My friends Sally and Betsy are leaving town, too. Their families are taking the last train out of Gettysburg in the morning. They will stay in York until the Rebels have come and gone.
    Many people are leaving town. But Mrs. McCully said that we will not leave. She fears that if we leave, the Rebs might rob the house. The Rebs only rob empty houses, she says.

    Then what about
    our
    empty house? Mine and Jed's and Pa's? It is sitting all by itself across town, with no one at all to guard it.

    Uncle Jack's horses are important. But so is Pa's violin. And Mother's gold locket and pearl-handled hairbrush. What if the Rebs steal Jed's books? His plays by William Shakespeare, and
    The Death of King Arthur?

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    Mr. Hoke came to dinner again today. He said that right now the Rebs are spreading over the countryside just outside town!
    He said it is now dangerous for ordinary citizens to travel to and from Gettysburg.
    When I told Mr. Hoke about Pa and Jed, he said they should stay at Uncle Jack's until all the Confederates have left this area.
    "Oh, yes! Jed should stay right where he is," Jane Ellen said with a look of great concern.
    What I would like to know is: Why should Jane Ellen care so much about Jed's safety? Goodness, she hardly knows him.
    I imagine Pa must feel bad about leaving me here. He said the Rebs would never come near Gettysburg. He said he was leaving me in the safest place in the world -- a sleepy little farm town, not big enough to attract a fly.
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    How strange that I am the one in harm's way, while Pa and Jed are safe at Uncle Jack's farm. What do I truly feel? Maybe I truly feel just a tiny bit scared.
    Late afternoon
    I am sitting on Cemetery Hill, near my mother's grave.
    There is something I keep wondering. If my mother had lived, would she be on the side of the Rebels now?
    My mother was born in Virginia. She loved the state of Virginia. Why, right before she died, she told Pa to name me Virginia!
    After my mother died, Pa lost touch with her family. But he once told me she had two younger brothers. What if they come to Gettysburg to fight our Union soldiers?
    Jed says this war has torn apart many
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    families. He says President Lincoln is the only-one who can make us one nation again.
    June 25, 1863
    1 cannot stop thinking about my mother.
    Pa says my mother was a beautiful Southern belle.
    Pa always says this in a humble, shy way. It is as if he cannot figure why a beautiful Southern belle would leave Virginia and move to the North with him.
    But that's easy to figure. Pa has bright crinkly eyes and music in his heart. Whenever he plays his violin, everyone feels happy. Why, anyone would follow Pa when he plays his violin!
    I like to picture my mother in a flouncy pale dress, dancing barefoot to Pa's