“On your own?” he asked. “What about your other relations? Your aunts and uncles?”
She sighed before saying, “I fear, my father and mother died when I was a mere child of five, and I had no aunts or uncles to fall back upon. After my parents were gone, any money and goods they had saved went toward paying their debts and I was forced to make my own way in life by living upon the streets of London.”
“What are these streets? And, what is London?” he asked.
“Have you never been to a white man’s town?”
“I have not. The white men come to our towns.”
“Oh. Well, streets are like roads between houses. You know what a road is, do you not?”
“I do.”
“And, London is a town, a very big town. And, in this town, the houses are very close together, almost touching, and there are roads between some of the houses. Those roads we call streets.”
He nodded.
“It was a hard life I lived there, and I was often ill-clothed, hungry and cold. When a chance was given to me to indenture myself to someone in the colonies, the king paying my way across the sea, I was happy to agree to the contract.”
“Indenture yourself? A contract?”
“Aye, sir. To indenture yourself means to place yourself at the service of another, working for the person who owns your contract.”
“What is a contract?”
“It is a written agreement between two or more people, stating what a person is to do and for what sort of compensation.”
“Compensation?” he asked. “Do you mean the white man’s coin?”
“Well, yes,” she replied. “In a way. In my contract, it stated that I was to work for whomever would buy my contract, and I was to work for them for five years. It also stated that, while I am in service, the person holding my contract is to ensure I have clothing to wear, food to eat and a place to stay. In exchange for this, this written agreement also says I am to labor for the person who bought my contract for the period of five years.”
“Well, do not be discouraged. You are young, and you will soon find a man who will claim you as his wife. He will then take care of you.”
“I am not free to marry, sir. Not until my contract is finished.”
“Not free to marry? How can this be? While you are young, you should marry.”
She sighed, but, deciding he needed a reply, she said, “Mr. Skenan, in England there are differences between men and women—“
“I am glad for those differences,” Skenan interjected.
“Yes, well, let me explain further. In England, which is the land where I was born, there are those people who are rich enough to be beholden to no man. They are free men and free women because they have the necessities of life and don’t owe another their work to simply live and survive.”
“Nyoh,yes,”Skenan said. “All men should be free.”
“But, where I am from, not all men and women are free to do as they please. There are those who are rich enough to live, and those who are not rich enough to obtain such needs as food and shelter. These men and women serve those who are free of the fear of not having food and shelter. I am among those who serve others.”
Skenan slowly nodded before he responded, “And, who gave these men—those who are free—the right to rule another’s life to the extent of restricting a woman from marrying?”
Abagail frowned. “I…I don’t know. It has always been this way, I believe. It has to do with the gold or silver coin, I suppose. Or perhaps the King of England grants his favor only to those who are free.”
“Ah, the English father,” Skenan said. “I have heard much about the bad manners of this English father. So I ask you, who gave the English father the right to rule over another’s life and take away a person’s right to decide on matters for himself or herself?”
“Sir, I protest. You ask me questions I have never pondered. But, if I were to answer you, I think it might be the priests who gives the king his power…God?”
“Forgive me, Miss Abagail, but the Reverend Samuel Kirkland, a man who serves and who speaks to the Oneida people for the Creator, has told us that no one but God has any power over man. We, of the Oneida Nation, believe him, perhaps because our own beliefs are similar.
“Yes sir,” she answered. “I, too, believe as you do. However, this is not true in my case. Because I did not have the ability to clothe and to feed myself, there in the city of London, I put my mark upon a paper that puts me into the service of another for five years. During this time I am not allowed to marry anyone. I must work for the man or the woman who owns my papers. I have agreed to do this.”
