Lyddie: Chapter 04 - Frog in the Butter Churn

Churning Butter: One of Lyddie’s chores at the tavern, as it had been at her home, was churning cream into butter with a tool like this museum reenactor is using.

Image courtesy Old Sturbridge Village
Making Butter-Hands-on Activity.

Lyddie is determined to gain the respect of the staff and is able to do so when she becomes friends with Triphena, the cook at Cutler’s Tavern. Since Triphena has no children of her own, she develops a soft spot for Lyddie. One early winter morning, Charlie pays a surprise visit to the tavern. Though Lyddie is glad to see him, she is surprised to feel like he is now a stranger. They have grown apart in the months they’ve been separated and his visit leaves her feeling lonelier than before. She still longs to go back to the farm.

In January, The winter weather forces the men who usually work outside into the warmth of the kitchen. Though Triphena is irritated by their presence, Lyddie is glad to hear them talk about the wider world outside the tavern. One topic of conversation is slave-catching. Lyddie is surprised to learn that people can collect one-hundred dollars for helping to catch a runaway slave. Lyddie wonders if she would turn in a fugitive if it meant she could pay off the debts on the farm. However, once the snowstorm passes, Lyddie doesn’t have time to dwell on the subject. Maple sugaring season requires all hands on deck. Through a long and tedious process, the tavern’s employees create sugar products for the Cutlers to sell.

Fact Check: Vermont and slavery

The men in the tavern talk about turning in a fugitive slave for the reward, and Lyddie wonders what she would do if she ever had the opportunity. How safe was Vermont for those escaping slavery in the South?

What do we know?

Vermont was the first state in the country to outlaw adult slavery, and was generally a safe place for freedom seekers from the South. Some formerly enslaved people stayed in Vermont, while others continued farther North to Canada.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, a national law, declared that enslavers or their “agents” (“slave catchers”) had the right to search for escapees anywhere in the country, including within the borders of free states like Vermont. The men in Cutler’s Tavern were likely such agents. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 also stated that anyone helping someone escape or purposefully preventing their return to their owner would be fined $500. Enforcement of this act was left to individual states. Vermont chose not to enforce the law. Because the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was not enforced, some of those heading north felt safe enough to settle in Vermont rather than continue on to Canada. This changed with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made the federal government responsible for finding and returning those who had escaped, even if they were in a free state. With the passage of the 1850 act, many of those who had escaped enslavement and were living in Vermont no longer felt safe and decided to move to Canada.

What is the evidence?

Primary Source:

The Constitution of Vermont outlawed adult slavery in 1793.
State of Vermont, https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/constitution-of-the-state-of-vermont/

Primary Source:

“An informal report was made by the executive committee from which it appeared that nearly $1000 had been collected in the county for the purposes of the society within the past year…and that one fugitive slave per month on an average had passed on his way to a land of safety.”

From the Collection of the Vermont Historical Society
Annual Report. Meeting of the Chittenden County Anti-Slavery Society
Burlington (VT) March 1840

Primary Source:

“…There are in this region at all times, no small number of runaway slaves, but they are generally caught unless they precede further north. I saw yesterday a…man who ran away from Maryland…(He) knows how to do almost all kinds of farm work….I could not help thinking he would be a good man for you to hire…He has intended to go to Canada in the spring, but says he would prefer to stay in the US, if he could be safe…”

From the Collection of the Rokeby Museum, Ferrisburgh, Vermont. Letter from Oliver Johnson of Pennsylvania to Rowland T. Johnson in Vermont, 1837

Secondary Source:

The State of Vermont

Vermont Department of State Buildings And Vermont Division for Historic Preservation

Fugitive slaves escaped from bondage during the Colonial and antebellum [before the Civil War] periods, and employed a variety of strategies, including use of both spontaneous and premeditated [planned in advance] aid to gain safety and security.

Between 1830 and the 1860s, an undetermined but small number of Vermonters—Quakers, clergy, and free blacks prominent among them—provided food, shelter, clothing, work, transportation and contacts for fugitives attempting to find safety and to establish free lives in the Northeastern United States and Canada. In Vermont, beginning in the 1840s, these activities, whether premeditated and planned or ‘random acts of kindness,’ were popularized as the Underground Railroad.

Zirblis, Raymond Paul, Friends of Freedom: The Vermont Underground Railroad Survey Report. n.p., 1996

Fact Check: Maple sugar

Was maple sugaring such an important and labor intensive task that it required the involvement of all? Where did this process originate?

What do we know?

When Europeans arrived in what is today New England, native people were already collecting and using the sap from maple trees and turning it into sugar. Colonists learned this process from native people and began to make maple sugar themselves. New England-made maple sugar was less expensive than sugar imported from Caribbean islands, and many farmers sugared their own trees. Making sugar was also a way for anyone with access to a maple grove and sufficient labor to make extra money by selling the product in nearby cities. In the spring, when the days are warm and nights are cold, sap begins to flow through the trees. By cutting a hole in a tree, sap can be collected. Sap is then boiled down to make syrup or sugar.

What is the evidence?

Secondary Source:

The Massachusetts Maple Producers Association shares the history of maple sugar in New England.

… maple sap was boiled down and made into maple sugar instead of the more common maple syrup that we see today. There was no easy way to store syrup as a liquid, but hardened, dry maple sugar was easily stored for use later in the year. The Native Americans of New England used their maple sugar as gifts, for trading, to mix with grains and berries and bear fat. During the heat of summer a special treat was a drink made of maple sugar dissolved in water.”

Massachusetts Maple Producers Association, Maple History.https://www.massmaple.org/about-maple-syrup/maple-history/

Secondary Source:

“The gathering of syrup from maple trees in the woodlands of Canada and the northeastern United States is an ancient practice that had helped sustain Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Yet during the colonial era, some lost their connection to the tree and its ceremonies. Only recently have many started to reclaim it. Among these are members of the six Indigenous nations in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, including the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk), whose territory stretches from the upper half of New York state into Quebec. …Many Indigenous nations in Canada and the United States now have maple syrup businesses, and Indigenous youth are once again learning how to make maple syrup and its associated ceremonies.”

Evans, Tony Tekaroniake. “The Indigenous Origins of Maple Syrup.” American Indian 23, no. 4 (2022): 10–11.

Photos & Multimedia

During February and March, as the days get warmer, the sap begins to run in the maple trees. Everyone helps during sugaring season to collect the sap and turn it into syrup and sugar. Process of the Manufacture of Maple Sugar in Vermont, Gleason’s Pictoral, 1852, courtesy of Historic New England

Gathering and processing maple syrup, ca. 1900 Gathering and processing maple syrup, ca. 1900 Library of Congress,
https://lccn.loc.gov/2012647942

Video:

Home Textile Production 1830s. Life on a New England Farm with an interpreter from Old Sturbridge Village.

See it yourself

Learn about life in a New England town at Old Sturbridge Village
www.osv.org

Learn about the Underground Railroad in Vermont at the Rokeby Museum
Rokeby.org

Writing Prompts

Opinion

Enoch and Otis agreed that the enslaved man who ran away had not given much thought to when he left, especially because of the presence of cold weather and snow. Triphena responds to Lyddie, “They don’t know what it’s like to be trapped.” What did she mean? Use evidence from the story to support your claim.

Informative/explanatory

Explain how Lyddie felt after Charlie came to visit. Include concrete details.

Narrative

What would your reaction be to seeing a family member or close friend after being separated for six months with your only method of communication being a few handwritten letters? Use concrete words and sensory details to convey your thoughts precisely.