Student Question
What do Lyddie and Triphena overhear the two men discussing in the inn in Lyddie?
Quick answer:
Lyddie and Triphena overhear two men at Cutler's Tavern discussing the capture of a runaway slave and the rewards for returning fugitive slaves, which could be as high as $100. The men debate the morality of treating slaves as property, similar to retrieving a runaway horse. They also question why slaves risk traveling north in winter. This conversation foreshadows Lyddie's meeting with Ezekial, a runaway slave, and alludes to the Fugitive Slave Acts.
During a blizzard that prevents the men from doing their duty outside at Cutler's Tavern, the men spend time in the kitchen, and Lyddie is able to hear their discussions about life outside in the world at large. The men talk about a runaway slave who has been recently caught. They discuss the fact that those who return fugitive slaves can collect a reward, sometimes as high as $100. The men discuss whether it is right or wrong to do so. Enoch's point of view is that slaves are like any other property. If someone had bought a horse and it ran away, he would certainly try to retrieve it no matter how far it had gone. In the same way, Enoch feels that those who own slaves have a right to chase them down and retrieve them.
Otis notes that the rewards offered make a good incentive. He jokes...
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that the state government of Vermont has not offered people a cash incentive tonot turn slaves in.
The men then turn to discussing why fugitive slaves would risk coming north in the winter when the weather is so dangerous and when the snow makes it easier for them to be tracked. They believe it is because the slaves from the South don't have snow and cold weather where they live and are taken by surprise when they get to the North. These discussions foreshadow Lyddie's meeting with Ezekial in chapter 6.
This part of the novel alludes to the Fugitive Slave Acts that were part of the law in the U.S. since 1793. These laws made it a punishable offense to interfere with slave hunters who were trying to track and capture runaway slaves. Even though slavery was illegal in the North, the citizens still had to honor the laws of the South in this regard. In 1842, which would have been recent history at the time of this conversation Lyddie overhears, the Supreme Court ruled on a case that upheld these Fugitive Slave Laws. For a state to offer any incentive that would interfere with the rights of slave owners to retrieve slaves, such as Otis suggests, would have been illegal according to the 1842 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
References
The answer to your question can be found in chapter four of Lyddie. Lyddie is struggling with the workload being piled upon her at the inn, but her hard work and determination have earned her the respect of Triphena. Triphena tells Lyddie the story of a frog that fell into a pail of milk and kicked and kicked so much that it churned some of the milk into butter and climbed on top to avoid drowning. Lyddie is a "kicker" according to Triphena.
Toward the end of the chapter, Lyddie is continuing her hard work around the customers, and she overhears a pair of men talking about slavery and slaves. She hears them mention that there is money to make in the finding and returning of runaway slaves. The conversation foreshadows Lyddie's coming encounter with Ezekial Abernathy, a runaway slave.