Excerpt from The Drinking Gourd
Dosey was fishing in the stream when she heard someone whistling in the distance. Instantly she dropped her line and ran back to the cabin.
“Jacob!” she said. “Someone’s coming. We’ve got to hide.”
She helped Jacob to his feet and handed him the crutch that Jeremiah had made for him. As Jacob hobbled out the back door, Dosey raced around the cabin, picking up their things and stuffing them into her haversack.
Then she bolted out the back door. She caught up to Jacob at the edge of the clearing, and helped him into the woods. As soon as they were out of sight, Dosey found a good spot for them to watch from.
After a moment she saw a man appear on the path. He was tall — about six feet or so — and very thin. He was dressed like a farmer, but his clothes were clean and looked fairly new. He wore a felt hat and fancy boots, and was carrying a shovel.
The stranger paused in the clearing and spent a long time looking around. Then he climbed the porch steps and went inside the cabin. After a few minutes the man appeared on the back porch and stood staring at the woods.
Dosey was petrified. She crossed her fingers and prayed silently, but when the stranger stepped off the porch, she reached for her haversack and pulled out an old pistol. She wasn’t sure how it worked, but she was sure she could figure it out if she had to.
Fifteen chapters
The Drinking Gourd is illustrated by Miranda Norris. Each chapter comes with its own drawing, and the story has its own distinctive logo.
Note: This story comes with an addition page that provides historical background for the time period.
Teacher's Guide
The Drinking Gourd is another story that originated in my research into Connecticut history. Set in the 1830s in the fictionalized Connecticut town of Cadyville,
The Drinking Gourd uses the Farmington Canal and the Underground Railroad as a backdrop for a coming of age story of courage, friendship, and self-discovery.
In the story, we meet fourteen-year-old Jeremiah Cady who lives with his aunt and uncle on a small farm in rural Connecticut. In addition to his responsibilities around the farm, Jeremiah serves as a lock-keeper, opening and closing the canal lock for the boats that travel up and down the canal between New Haven and Northampton, Massachusetts. While standing guard one night, he meets Dosey, a young Quaker girl from Maryland who is helping Jacob, a runaway slave, escape to freedom. Jeremiah must decide whether to help the strangers, or to play it safe and leave them to their fate.
The Drinking Gourd concisely presents the issues in a reader-friendly way, using the developing friendship of the characters to address the moral issue of slavery, while propelling the characters into a thrilling race to freedom.
