{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71432/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71432","id":"gutenberg_71432","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71432","summary":null,"tags":["African Americans -- South Carolina -- Folklore","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Sea Islands Creole dialect -- Texts","Tales -- South Carolina"],"text":"THE\n    BLACK BORDER\n\n    GULLAH STORIES OF\n    THE CAROLINA COAST\n\n    (With a Glossary)\n\n    BY\n\n    AMBROSE E. GONZALES\n\n    COLUMBIA, S. C.\n    THE STATE COMPANY\n    1922\n\n\n\n\n    COPYRIGHT 1922\n    THE STATE COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nTO\n\nROBERT ELLIOTT GONZALES\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                    Page\n\n    Foreword                                                           7\n\n    GULLAH STORIES\n\n    Noblesse Oblige                                                   19\n\n    My Maussuh                                                        24\n\n    An Antemortem Demise                                              29\n\n    The Lion of Lewisburg                                             35\n\n    The Lion Killer                                                   45\n\n    Old Barney                                                        53\n\n    Billybedam                                                        58\n\n    A Short Cut to Justice                                            64\n\n    Sam Dickerson                                                     72\n\n    Simon the \u201cSquerril\u201d Hunter                                       82\n\n    The \u201cCunjuh\u201d That Came Back                                       87\n\n    The Raccoon Hunter                                                96\n\n    The Turkey Hunter                                                107\n\n    The \u2019Gator Hunter                                                116\n\n    The \u201cWiles That in the Women Are\u201d                                128\n\n    A Ricefield Idyll                                                134\n\n    The Dower House                                                  142\n\n    At the Cross Roads Store                                         150\n\n    Mingo the Drill Master                                           158\n\n    Old Harrison                                                     166\n\n    A Marriage of Convenience                                        174\n\n    The Plat-Eye                                                     183\n\n    Old Pickett                                                      190\n\n    The Lost Buck                                                    202\n\n    Jim Moultrie\u2019s Divorce                                           212\n\n    Buh Alligettuh en\u2019 Buh Deer                                      216\n\n    Buh Hawss en\u2019 Buh Mule (a Fable)                                 219\n\n    Liss \u201cBin Eensult\u201d                                               221\n\n    The Retort Courteous                                             223\n\n    The Cat Was Crazy                                                225\n\n    A Congaree Water-Color                                           230\n\n    Waiting Till the Bridegrooms Come                                233\n\n    A Gullah\u2019s Tale of Woe                                           238\n\n    The Doctor Didn\u2019t \u201cExceed\u201d                                       242\n\n    The Lady Couldn\u2019t \u201cSpecify\u201d                                      246\n\n    A Question of Privilege                                          249\n\n    Conductor Smith\u2019s Dilemma                                        252\n\n    One Was Taken--the Other Left                                    256\n\n    Egg-zactly                                                       259\n\n    An Interrupted Offertory                                         262\n\n    A Flaw in the \u201cEenditement\u201d                                      267\n\n    Old Wine--New Bottles                                            271\n\n\n    A Glossary of the Gullah                                         277\n\n    The Tar-Baby Story, as Told by Col. C. C.\n    Jones and Joel Chandler Harris                                   343\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nJust under the left shoulder of Africa, which juts out boldly into\nthe Atlantic, as though to meet half way the right shoulder of South\nAmerica, lie, between Sierra Leone and the Bight of Benin, the Slave\nCoast, the Ivory Coast, and the Gold Coast. It was the lure of gold\nand ivory that brought to these shores the enterprising traders who\nfirst offered the African slave-holders a stable foreign market for the\ncaptives of bow and spear and knobkerrie.\n\nOut of this fetid armpit of the Dark Continent came the first black\nbondsmen to curse the Western world. Thence, across the narrowing\nocean, but a night\u2019s flight for Walt Whitman\u2019s \u201cMan-of-War-Bird\u201d--\n\n\u201cAt dusk that look\u2019st on Senegal, at morn America\u201d--Portuguese and\nSpanish traders, but a few years after Columbus had set foot on San\nSalvador, transported their first human cargoes to the plantations of\nBrazil and the rich islands of the Caribbean. Here the labor of the\nblacks proved so profitable that the envious English soon engaged in\nthe traffic, and during the reign of the virginal Elizabeth certain\nof her noble subjects sought concessions for the monopoly of the West\nIndian slave trade.\n\nA generation or two later, the first slaves filtered through to the\nmainland colonies of North America from the Barbados, Antigua, and\nother West Indian Islands. After the institution had become firmly\nestablished, the New England eye, not lacking \u201cspeculation,\u201d saw the\npromise of the East, and New England, pocketing her prayer book while\npouching her musket balls, freighted her bluff-bowed ships with red\nflannel and glass beads with which to accentuate, if not to clothe,\nthe heathen nakedness, and set sail for the rising sun. Thenceforth\nthe New England slavers sailed in cycles, and their course was charted\nby rum, slaves, and molasses. The \u201cblack-birders\u201d bartered their human\ncargoes for West Indian molasses, which, by a spirituous, if not a\nspiritual, process, became New England rum. \u201cOld Medford\u201d filled their\nholds, westerly winds filled their bellying sails, and the rum was soon\nconverted into more slaves, to be in turn converted again into molasses\nin completing the gainful cycle.\n\nFor a hundred and fifty years Rhode Island and Massachusetts competed\nsuccessfully with England for the North American trade, and these\ncolonies (with \u201cGod\u2019s grace\u201d) throve exceedingly. In the early years of\nthe last century, however, the importation of slaves was interdicted\nand the last Yankee slaver converted the last rum-bought slave into\ncash, then, converting himself, he became an Abolitionist, and the\nwell-known \u201cNew England conscience\u201d was developed.\n\nBut the Puritan slaver, whatever \u201cwoes unnumbered\u201d he brought upon his\nown race, was, in transferring these bought or stolen blacks to the\nhumane Cavalier planters of the South, an unconscious benefactor to\nthousands of Negro captives and to millions of their descendants, whose\nmasters gave them Christianity and such a measure of civilization,\nthat, in the short space of two hundred years from the cannibal\nsavagery of the stew-pot and the spit, they were fitted, in the New\nEngland mind, at least, for manhood suffrage, which came to enlightened\nEngland only after more than a thousand years of development!\n\nNone of the encyclopedias mentions the Gullah Negroes, nor does the\nname appear in the dictionaries. Mr. John Bennett, the well-known\nwriter of Charleston, who has, for twenty years, been gathering data\nconcerning this interesting people, places the Gullahs among the\nLiberian group of tribes; \u201cformerly powerful and numerous, they have\nbeen crowded and overrun; their remnant remains about thirty miles\ninward from Monrovia;\u201d but in 1822, in a publication by the Charleston\nCity Council at the time of the attempted Negro insurrection, reference\nis made to \u201cGullah Jack\u201d and his company of \u201cGullah or Angola\u201d Negroes,\nthereby making the suggestion that \u201cGullah\u201d is a corruption of Angola.\nAs Angola and Liberia are at least fifteen hundred miles apart, the\nformer being nearly one thousand miles south of the Equator, these two\nopinions seem to be in hopeless conflict.\n\nMr. Bennett says further: \u201cAmong the many African tribes brought to\nthis country, the presence of very many Gullah Negroes is apparent from\nthe earliest times. On some plantations, before the days of experienced\nprecaution, it is highly probable they formed a majority of the hands.\nAs early as 1730 a plan had been hatched against Charleston by these\nNegroes....\n\n\u201cThe dialect of the West Coast, from which came these Gullah Negroes,\nwas early commented upon as peculiarly harsh, quacking, flat in\nintonation, quick, clipped and peculiar even in Africa. Bosman, the\nDutch sailor, described its peculiar tonality, and calls its speakers\nthe \u2018Qua-quas,\u2019 because they gabbled like ducks.\n\n\u201cThe clinging together of these Gullah tribesmen, as indicated above,\nand their apparent resolute and persistent character, evidently\nassisted in impressing their dialectical peculiarities on weaker and\nmore plastic natures brought in contact with them, and fixed the\ntonality of the Negro dialect of the Carolina low-country....\n\n\u201cFor the above reason, of prevalence and domination as a peculiar\ndialect with singular and marked tonality, the characteristic patois of\nthe districts where these Negroes most abounded, came to be universally\nreferred to as the Gullah dialect.\u201d\n\nWhatever the origin of these Gullahs, Mr. Bennett is probably correct\nin his estimate of their influence upon low-country Negro speech.\n\nSlovenly and careless of speech, these Gullahs seized upon the peasant\nEnglish used by some of the early settlers and by the white servants of\nthe wealthier Colonists, wrapped their clumsy tongues about it as well\nas they could, and, enriched with certain expressive African words, it\nissued through their flat noses and thick lips as so workable a form of\nspeech that it was gradually adopted by the other slaves and became in\ntime the accepted Negro speech of the lower districts of South Carolina\nand Georgia. With characteristic laziness, these Gullah Negroes\ntook short cuts to the ears of their auditors, using as few words\nas possible, sometimes making one gender serve for three, one tense\nfor several, and totally disregarding singular and plural numbers.\nYet, notwithstanding this economy of words, the Gullah sometimes\nincorporates into his speech grotesquely difficult and unnecessary\nEnglish words; again, he takes unusual pains to transpose numbers and\ngenders.\n\nOn some of the sea-islands and on portions of the mainland, sparsely\ninhabited by whites, the Gullah speech still persists in its original\n\u201cpurity.\u201d The explanation for this is that the Negroes, before\nand after the war, were in so tremendous a majority on the great\nplantations of the low-country that only the house servants came\nin frequent contact with their masters\u2019 families, and these house\nservants, certainly those who had been \u201cin the house\u201d for generations,\nspoke with scarcely a taint of Negro speech. The field hands, seldom\ncoming in contact with whites, had neither opportunity nor temptation\nto amend their speech. There was none to \u201cimpeach\u201d their language, and\nso virile was this Gullah that, in some sections higher up the state,\nas in Barnwell and Sumter counties, where, in the settlement of estates\ncertain families or colonies of coast-bred Negroes were sold before\nthe war, the Gullah tongue, although with difficulty understood by the\nother Negroes of the community, still persists like lingual oases in\nthe desert of up-country Negro speech.\n\nThis Gullah dialect is interesting, not merely for its richness, which\nfalls upon the ear as opulently as the Irish brogue, but also for the\nquaint and homely similes in which it abounds and for the native wit\nand philosophy of its users. Isolated from the whites as were these\ncoast Negroes, and having no contact with the more advanced slaves\nof the up-country, who, belonging as a rule to small slave-holders,\nwere in close touch with their masters\u2019 families, the coast Negroes\nretained more of the habits and traditions of their African ancestry\nand presented, therefore, a more interesting study of the Negro as he\nwas, and to a certain extent \u201cever shall be.\u201d Living close to nature,\nthey were learned in woodcraft and the ways of animals and birds and\nfish, and used this knowledge to illustrate their dealings with their\nown kind.\n\nThe peasantry, the lower classes generally, are the conservators of\nspeech. Writers who have exploited the white mountaineers of the\nAppalachian ranges of North Carolina and Tennessee have heard from\ntheir lips Biblical and Shakesperean English now almost forgotten\namong educated people. So these coast Negroes still use fragments of\nShakesperean English long obsolete among their former masters.\n\nTo Mr. Bennett and other philological investigators must be committed\nthe task of working out the sources of many words of this interesting\ntongue. The purpose here is simply to record the oddities of the\ndialect as the Coast Country Negroes use it. After all, grotesque and\ninteresting as is this speech to those familiar with it, it is only a\nvehicle for carrying to the reader the thought and life of an isolated\ngroup among the varied peoples that make up the complex population of\nthis Republic.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere have been many writers of Negro dialect. Some stories that\nhave come out of the North, feminine effusions chiefly, have been\nfearfully and wonderfully made; the thoughts of white people, and\nvery common-place thoughts at that, issuing from Negro mouths in such\nphonetic antics as to make the aural angels weep!\n\nIn fact, no Northern writer has ever succeeded even indifferently\nwell in putting Negro thought into Negro dialect. Even Poe, in \u201cthe\nGoldbug,\u201d put into the mouth of a Charleston Negro such vocables as\nmight have been used by a black sailor on an English ship a hundred\nyears ago, or on the minstrel stage, but were never current on the\nSouth Carolina coast. To recent Southern writers, therefore, one must\nturn for intelligent understanding of the Negro character and the\nrecording of his speech, which varies in the different sections of the\nSouth.\n\nThomas Nelson Page, recognized as the outstanding exponent of the\nVirginia Negro in literature, has yet touched his field lightly,\nconsidering chiefly the old family man servant and his relations with\nhis master\u2019s household. Very beautifully and tenderly, because very\ntruthfully, Mr. Page has portrayed the ante-bellum Negro man servant;\nbut as to the younger Negro, Negro life before and since the war, and\nthe relations of Negroes to one another, it is to be regretted that he\nhas contributed little or nothing.\n\nThe genius of Joel Chandler Harris, who, with Judge Longstreet and his\n\u201cGeorgia Scenes,\u201d fixed Georgia firmly upon the literary map of the\nworld, embalmed the Negro myths and folk-tales of the South so subtly\nin the amber of his understanding that \u201cUncle Remus\u201d is known and loved\nby the children of half the civilized world. There was little creative\nwork in \u201cUncle Remus.\u201d Mr. Harris claimed to record the stories only\n\u201clike hit wer\u2019 gun ter me.\u201d These myths were known and told by Negro\nnurses to the white children over all the Southern states, and in the\nWest Indian Islands as well, but the artistry of Harris lay in the\nsympathetic understanding of children prompted by his kindly heart, and\nthe human appeal of the tender relations of \u201cthe little boy\u201d and the\nold Negro family servant was irresistible, not only to the children,\nbut to those happy grown-ups who loved them.\n\nIt is interesting to know that in the low-country of South Carolina,\ninstead of \u201cBrer Rabbit and Brer Fox,\u201d it is invariably \u201cBuh Rabbit en\u2019\nBuh Wolf.\u201d Strange, too, because wolves must have been found in upper\nGeorgia and Carolina for more than a hundred years after they were\nexterminated along the coast, within whose forests still abound the\ngrey foxes whose natural prey is the rabbit.\n\nEncouraged by the success of the \u201cUncle Remus\u201d stories, which greatly\nsurprised this singularly modest man, Mr. Harris wrote novels and other\nstories of Georgia life among whites and blacks. While these were\npublished successfully, it is upon the animal tales of \u201cUncle Remus\u201d\nthat his fame has been permanently established.\n\nIn the introduction to one of his volumes Mr. Harris has made a rather\nexhaustive study and analysis of the origin of these Negro myths. That\nthey are of African origin none can doubt, but as on the West Coast\nof Africa, whence the slaves came to the American continent and the\nWest Indian Islands, there are neither wolves, foxes, nor rabbits, it\nwould be interesting to know what African animals were their legendary\nprototypes. In Jamaica many of the \u201cUncle Remus\u201d tales are current\nand have been told to English children by their black nurses for\ngenerations, but there the Anancy Spider, a black, hairy tarantula-like\ncreature, is substituted for the rabbit in the mythical triumph of\nmind over matter--cunning over physical strength--while the tiger\ndoes duty for the outwitted fox. Whence comes the Jamaican tiger?\nOne can only surmise that tales of the strength and ferocity of the\nJaguar (\u201cel tigre\u201d to the Spaniards) the great spotted cat of South\nand Central America, were brought from the mainland to the West Indies\nby the Indians of the Caribbean Coast or the earlier Negro slaves; but\nin Jamaica even the saddle-horse story is told complete in all its\ndetails, the spider, clapping spurs to the tiger\u2019s flanks and riding\nhim up to the house of the \u201cnyung ladies\u201d (Mis\u2019 Meadows an de gals)\nhitching him to a post and walking boldly in to love\u2019s conquest. For\nthe \u201cTar Baby\u201d story, instead of the violated spring, the drinking\npreserve of fox or wolf, a \u201ctar pole\u201d is set up in a banana grove, and\nto this sticky lure the pilfering spider is found stuck fast by the\nlord of the plantation when he makes his morning rounds.\n\nHarry Stillwell Edwards, of Macon, is another Georgian whose charming\nstories in the up-country or cotton plantation dialect have given\npleasure to thousands. With an unusual knowledge of the Negro\ncharacter--the first consideration, if one would present truthful\npictures of Negro life--he combines a charming literary style, and his\nwritings deservedly rank high among Negro stories.\n\nHarris touched the Gullah dialect very lightly and not with authority.\nIn \u201cNights with Uncle Remus,\u201d a later collection of Negro myths, he\nputs into the mouth of \u201cDaddy Jack\u201d certain variants of the Uncle Remus\nstories told in the dialect of the coast, and in his introduction\nto this volume he acknowledges his obligation to correspondents in\nCharleston and elsewhere on the Carolina and Georgia Coasts for the\nGullah stories. It is almost certain that he lacked first-hand contact\nwith the story-tellers, and thus missed some of the subtleties of\ntheir speech as well as the peculiar construction of their sentences,\ndiffering entirely, as they do, from those of the up-country Negroes.\nMr. Harris also includes in his introduction a brief glossary of Gullah\nwords, and expresses the opinion that this peculiar dialect is more\neasily read than the Georgia dialect of \u201cUncle Remus,\u201d an opinion in\nwhich, unfortunately for the popularity of \u201cGullah,\u201d few will concur.\n\nIn \u201cMyths of the Georgia Coast,\u201d Col. Charles Colcock Jones, of Georgia\n(and South Carolina, also, by the way) has given, in generally correct\nGullah dialect, the stories current along the coast, many of them\nvariants of those told in \u201cUncle Remus.\u201d A careful lawyer, Col. Jones\nhas set down, with most meticulous exactness, and without imagination\nor embellishment, the stories as they were told him on the plantation.\n\nOne familiar with Negro speech recognizes that these tales are recorded\nas they fell from Negro lips, and as such they must be regarded, as\nfar as they go, as the most authentic record of Negro myths on the\ncontinent--probably the originals of many of the \u201cUncle Remus\u201d stories,\nfor the slaves first came from Africa to the coast, bringing with them\ntheir myths and legends which gradually infiltrated into the hinterland.\n\nA comparison of Jones\u2019s story of the rabbit and the tar baby with Uncle\nRemus\u2019s version of the same tale will be interesting as showing, not\nonly the richer and quainter dialect of the Gullah, but also his more\ndirect and homely mode of thought.\n\nThe \u201cCoteney\u201d sermons of the Reverend John G. Williams, of Barnwell\nCounty, which appeared in the Charleston News & Courier about\ntwenty-five years ago and were subsequently published in pamphlet form,\npurporting to be pulpit deliverances and consequently showing chiefly\nthe Negro\u2019s conception of his relation to religion, are full of homely\nwit, and, written in the language of the coast, constitute a noteworthy\ncontribution to dialectal literature.\n\nMrs. A. M. H. Christensen, of Beaufort, although of Northern birth,\nenjoyed soon after the war unusual opportunities for acquiring\nfolk-lore stories of the sea-islands and littoral, and she has set\nforth in a small volume certain of the tales that were told her, which\nare in the main variants of versions of those already related by Harris\nand Jones.\n\nAnother booklet, by the late J. Jenkins Hucks, of Georgetown, S. C.,\nrecording some of the cases that came before him as Magistrate, is,\nperhaps, the most humorous example extant of Gullah undefiled.\n\nFollowing the Stories, will be found a fairly complete Glossary of the\nGullah speech as used by the Negroes of the Carolina-Georgia Coast and\nsea-islands, perhaps the only extensive vocabulary of Gullah that has\nyet been compiled.\n\nThe words are, of course, not African, for the African brought over or\nretained only a few words of his jungle-tongue, and even these few are\nby no means authenticated as part of the original scant baggage of the\nNegro slaves.\n\nWhat became of this jungle-speech? Why so few words should have\nsurvived is a mystery, for, even after freedom, a few native Africans\nof the later importations were still living on the Carolina Coast,\nand the old family servants often spoke, during and after the war, of\nnative Africans they had known; but, while they repeated many tales\nthat came by word of mouth from the Dark Continent--the story-tellers\nwere almost invariably of royal blood, and did not hesitate to own\nit--they seem to have picked from the mouths of their African brothers\nnot a single jungle-word for the enrichment of their own speech.\n\nAs the small vocabulary of the jungle atrophied through disuse and\nwas soon forgotten, the contribution to language made by the Gullah\nNegro is insignificant, except through the transformation wrought\nupon a large body of borrowed English words. Adopting, as needed and\nimmediately when needed, whatever they could assimilate, they have\nreshaped perhaps 1,700 words of our language by virtue of an unwritten\nbut a very definite and vigorous law of their own tongue.\n\nIn connection with the Glossary, certain characteristic features of\nthis strange tongue are noted. Their consideration will facilitate the\nreader\u2019s exploration of \u201cThe Black Border.\u201d\n\nOf the stories included in this volume, the last fourteen were written\nand published in The State in the Spring of 1892. The remaining\ntwenty-eight were written and published during the year 1918.\n\n    AMBROSE E. GONZALES.\n\n    Columbia, August, 1922.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BLACK BORDER\n\n\n\n\nNOBLESSE OBLIGE\n\n\nJoe Fields was the most onery looking darkey on Pon Pon. Squat,\nknock-kneed, lopsided, slew-footed, black as a crow, pop-eyed, with\na few truculent looking yellow teeth set \u201cslantindicularly\u201d in a\nprognathous jaw, he was the embodiment of ramshackle inefficiency.\nAlthough he worked only now and then, thanks to the industry of a\nhard-working wife, he usually owned, encumbered by a chattel mortgage,\na wretched half-starved horse upon which he rode to his occasional\nemployments.\n\nJoe, runt as he was, had two sources of pride--the aristocratic\nlineage of his \u201cowners,\u201d for he had belonged to the Heywards, and\nthe achievement, on his own behalf, of the paternity of twins. Poor,\npatient Philippa, being only the mother, and a person of no family to\nspeak of, having been the slave of a Charleston baker--whose fortunes\nrose during the war, though his Confederate yeast didn\u2019t--Philippa,\nof the bourgeoisie, was not taken into account. \u201cDem two twin duh\nmy\u2019own,\u201d and \u201cMe nyuse to blonx to Mass Clinch,\u201d were the Andante and\nAllegro of Joe\u2019s prideful song. When some lusty young wench, during\nthe customary \u201cchaffing\u201d of the plantation dinner hour, would ridicule\nhis small size, Joe would swell with importance, grin like a \u2019possum,\nand overwhelm her with the retort: \u201cLittle axe cut down big tree! You\nsee dem two twin, enty? Dem duh _my\u2019own_.\u201d But the \u201ctwo twins,\u201d poor\nlittle dusky wights, were in evidence in the neighborhood and could be\nestimated at their true value and Joe\u2019s paternal prowess appraised\naccordingly, but \u201cMass Clinch\u201d lived away off \u201ceen Walterburruh\u201d and,\nlater, as governor, in Columbia, and his name, mouthed unctuously\nby his former slave, carried with it a weird, mystical importance,\na portentous something that held his auditors with staring eyes and\ndropping jaws till Joe reached his climax, when the tension relaxed and\nthey returned to earth.\n\nOnce started, Joe\u2019s imagination fed upon his words as a dog upon his\nown fleas. One day when Philippa reprobated his want of industry, Joe,\nother negroes being present, began to brag: \u201cWunnuh haffuh wu\u2019k \u2019cause\nwunnuh blan blonx to po\u2019 buckruh. Yo\u2019 maussuh _\u2019self_ haffuh wu\u2019k! Enty\nI shum een town one time duh stan\u2019 een \u2019e bake sto\u2019 duh mek bread, en\u2019\n\u2019e kibbuh wid flour \u2019tell \u2019e baid stan\u2019 sukkuh deseyuh cedar hedge duh\nwintuhtime w\u2019en w\u2019ite fros\u2019 dey \u2019puntop\u2019um?\u201d\n\n\u201cEnty yo\u2019 maussuh wu\u2019k, Joe?\u201d\n\n\u201c_Who?_ _My Maussuh?_ _Mass Clinch?_ \u2019Ooman, you mus\u2019 be fool! Enty\nwunnuh know him duh quality? You ebbuh yeddy \u2019bout _quality_ wu\u2019k?\nWuffuh him haffuh wu\u2019k? No, suh! Him hab him ob\u2019shay, Mistuh Jokok, fuh\nwu\u2019k. _My_ maussuh tek \u2019e pledjuh. \u2019E ride hawss, \u2019e eat ricebu\u2019d en\u2019\nsummuh duck en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019. Him hab t\u2019irteen plantesshun \u2019puntop Cumbee\nRibbuh. Him plant seb\u2019n t\u2019ous\u2019n\u2019 acre\u2019 rice.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Seb\u2019n t\u2019ous\u2019n\u2019 acre\u2019!_\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, enty uh tell wunnuh \u2019e plant nine t\u2019ous\u2019n\u2019 acre\u2019 rice? Wunnuh\nt\u2019ink me duh lie, enty? Uh swaytogawd, w\u2019en uh bin Cumbee one time\nuh count fo\u2019 t\u2019ous\u2019n\u2019 head uh nigguh\u2019 duh hoe rice een de baa\u2019nyaa\u2019d\nfiel\u2019. Nigguh\u2019 stan\u2019 een Mass Clinch\u2019 fiel\u2019 sukkuh crow\u2019 duh mustuh!\nEn\u2019 him hab seb\u2019n hund\u2019ud mule\u2019!\u201d\n\n\u201cDe mule\u2019 wu\u2019k \u2019pun Cumbee?\u201d asked an iconoclast.\n\n\u201cCo\u2019se de mule\u2019 wu\u2019k, en\u2019 de nigguh\u2019 wu\u2019k, en\u2019 Mistuh Jokok wu\u2019k.\nEb\u2019rybody wu\u2019k \u2019scusin\u2019 my maussuh. Dem mule\u2019 hab long tail\u2019 dull\nsummuhtime fuh switch fly, but w\u2019en wintuhtime come en\u2019 dem \u2019leb\u2019n\nhund\u2019ud mule\u2019 tail\u2019 roach, de pyo\u2019 hair wuh shabe off\u2019um mek one pile\nstan\u2019 big mo\u2019nuh rice rick!\u201d\n\n\u201cHukkuh yo\u2019 maussuh plant all dat rice en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019 ef \u2019e yent wu\u2019k?\u201d\n\n\u201cEnty I tell wunnuh him lib een Walterburruh? Duh summuhtime \u2019e does\ndribe duh plantesshun now en\u2019 den fuh see how him crap stan\u2019. Him dribe\ntwo hawss\u2019, en\u2019 de buckle on \u2019e haa\u2019ness shine lukkuh gol\u2019. One nigguh\nduh seddown behine \u2019e buggy wid alltwo \u2019e han\u2019 fol\u2019 befor\u2019um lukkuh hog\ntie. Mass Clinch hab on one kid glub \u2019pun \u2019e han\u2019 wuh come to \u2019e elbow.\nW\u2019en \u2019e git Cumbee, \u2019e light out \u2019e buggy. T\u2019ree nigguh\u2019 run up fuh\nhol\u2019 \u2019e hawss\u2019 head. Mistuh Jokok mek\u2019um uh low bow. Mass Clinch iz uh\nberry mannussubble juntlemun, alldo\u2019 him _iz_ quality, en\u2019 him \u2019spon\u2019\nto de bow. Den \u2019e biggin fuh walk. Him hab shishuh rich walk! Den \u2019e\ncock \u2019e hat one side \u2019e head. You nebbuh see nobody kin cock \u2019e hat\nstylish lukkuh Mass Clinch. Den \u2019e onbutt\u2019n \u2019e weskit. \u2019E pit \u2019e lef\u2019\nhan\u2019 een \u2019e britchiz pocket, en\u2019 swing \u2019e walkin\u2019 stick een \u2019e right\nhan\u2019, en\u2019 biggin fuh quizzit him ob\u2019shay. By dis time \u2019e git \u2019puntop de\nbaa\u2019nyaa\u2019d hill en\u2019 look obuh \u2019e fiel\u2019.\n\n\u201c\u2018Jokok\u2019,\u201d \u2019e say, \u201c\u2018dat de stretch flow you got on my rice, enty?\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018No, suh, dat de haa\u2019bis\u2019 flow.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018De debble\u2019!\u201d \u2019e say. \u201c\u2018\u2019E mus\u2019 be mos\u2019 time fuh ricebu\u2019d!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Yaas, suh. We gwine hab some fuh dinnuh\u2019.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Wuh else you got fuh eat?\u2019\u201d Maussuh quizzit\u2019um.\n\n\u201c\u2018We got one cootuh soup mek out\u2019uh tarrypin\u2019 wuh bin een one pen duh\nfatten \u2019pun gritch en\u2019 t\u2019ing,\u2019 en\u2019 one trout fish, en\u2019 summuh duck\u2019.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018You hab enny mint?\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Yaas, suh, we hab \u2019nuf.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Berry well, mek we a few julip\u2019,\u201d \u2019e say. \u201c\u2018You got enny mo\u2019 \u2019pawtun\u2019\nbidness dat \u2019quire my \u2019tenshun?\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Yaas, suh; snake hole en\u2019 crawfish en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019 spile one uh we bank,\nen\u2019 de trunk blow out, en\u2019 uh hab uh berry bad break, en\u2019 Cumbee ribbuh\ncomin\u2019 een de fiel\u2019. You wantuh shum, suh?\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018No, I t\u2019engk you\u2019,\u201d \u2019e say. \u201c\u2018Leh de ribbuh tek \u2019e co\u2019se. Leh we\neat\u2019.\u201d\n\n\u201cW\u2019en \u2019e gitt\u2019ru \u2019e bittle, \u2019e hab \u2019e fo\u2019 hawss\u2019 hitch up, en\u2019 Mistuh\nJokok pit two-t\u2019ree bag uh cootuh en\u2019 ricebu\u2019d en\u2019 summuh duck een him\ncyaaridge, en\u2019 \u2019e gone _spang_ Walterburruh, same lukkuh bu\u2019d fly! Da\u2019\nduh _my_ maussuh!\u201d\n\nBy the time Joe concluded his story the noon hour was over, and the\nawed negroes rose silently to resume their work. One old mauma, turning\nto Joe as she knocked the ashes out of her clay pipe and carefully\nstuck it in the knotty wool behind her ear, said, \u201cJoe, dat duh Gawd\nyou binnuh talk \u2019bout, enty?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, enty I tell wunnuh duh Mass Clinch Heywu\u2019d! Him duh my maussuh, me\nduh him nigguh. Me ain\u2019 haffuh wu\u2019k, him ain\u2019 haffuh wu\u2019k. W\u2019en wunnuh\nlook \u2019puntop\u2019uh she, wunnuh look \u2019puntop\u2019uh me. Me en\u2019 him alltwo stan\u2019\nsame fashi\u2019n.\u201d\n\n\u201cI t\u2019aw\u2019t,\u201d said the old woman, scornfully, \u201cI t\u2019aw\u2019t \u2019e mus\u2019 be de\nblessed Gawd you bin gib shishuh high praise, but I always yeddy\nsuh Him duh de ainjul\u2019 maussuh, en\u2019 I yeddy suh de ainjul\u2019 w\u2019ite en\u2019\nshiny lukkuh staar een de sky, but _you_, nigguh! _YOU black_ ez uh\n_buzzut_!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\u201cMY MAUSSUH\u201d\n\n\nHow beneficent must have been the institution of slavery under kindly\nmasters which could cause Joe Fields, black, yellow-eyed, knock-kneed,\nslew-footed, longtime husband of Philippa, sometime father of twins,\nto boast, 53 years after the war, of the prowess and attainments of\nhis former master, Duncan Clinch Heyward, sometime governor of South\nCarolina, now collector of internal revenue and sitting at the receipt\nof customs in the tall Palmetto building at Columbia, with dominion\nover war tax, surtax and every other impost internally levied by\na benevolent government upon its loyal people. Although, perhaps,\nan infant in arms when Joe first looked freedom in the face, this\n\u201cmaster\u201d was exalted in the mind of his former slave to almost Godlike\nproportions. \u201cJoe\u2019 maussuh duh him Jedus,\u201d conservatively remarked\nPhilippa.\n\nThe negroes about Pon Pon had been considerably exercised over the\nlengthening of the daylight hours by pushing forward the hands of\nthe clock. Always suspicious of a Caucasian in the woodpile, it was\ngenerally regarded as a device for increasing the hours of negro labor.\nAt a recent gathering of the idle black at Adams Run station, the\nopinion was expressed that the President, although a \u201cDimmycrack,\u201d must\nbe \u201ca smaa\u2019t man\u201d to have lengthened the days on the darkeys and taken\nover the railroads.\n\nNew York, in the minds of the coast negroes, is the _ultima Thule_--at\nonce the farthest North, and the very core and center of Yankeedom,\nwhere, in awful majesty, the President of the United States is\nsupposed to sit like Zeus upon Mt. Olympus, or \u201cmy maussuh\u201d in\nColumbia.\n\n\u201cYaas, man,\u201d said Joe, \u201cde Prezzydent smaa\u2019t man, fuh true, but \u2019e yent\nsmaa\u2019t lukkuh maussuh, \u2019cause my maussuh haffuh gone New Yawk fuh tell\nde Prezzydent wuh fuh do. Same lukkuh maussuh tell Mistuh Jokok, him\nob\u2019shay \u2019puntop Cumbee, hummuch rice en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019 fuh plant, same fashi\u2019n\nhim tell de Prezzydent wuh fuh do, en\u2019 de Prezzydent smaa\u2019t \u2019nuf fuh\ndo\u2019um.\n\n\u201cTodduh day uh hab uh hebby disapp\u2019int. Uh yeddy suh uh big buckruh\nwedd\u2019n\u2019 bin fuh hab een Adam\u2019 Run billage, en\u2019 uh yeddy suh my maussuh\nfuh come spang f\u2019um Cuhlumbia to de wedd\u2019n\u2019. Uh gone en\u2019 pit on me\nshoe\u2019 en\u2019 da\u2019 new britchiz wuh uh buy yeah \u2019fo\u2019 las\u2019, en\u2019 uh pit\non uh old weskit wuh uh bin hab, so \u2019e kin mek me fuh look lukkuh\nmaussuh, en\u2019 uh tek me two foot en\u2019 walk, \u2019cause da\u2019 las\u2019 oxin wuh\nuh buy done dead onduhneet\u2019 de mawgidge da\u2019 buckruh mek me fuh pit\n\u2019puntop\u2019um, en\u2019 uh yent hab nutt\u2019n\u2019 fuh ride, en\u2019 uh gone slam Adam\u2019\nRun billage to de wedd\u2019n\u2019, so uh kin see maussuh, en\u2019 uh stan\u2019 outside\nde \u2019Piskubble chu\u2019ch en uh fast\u2019n\u2019 alltwo me yeye \u2019pun de do\u2019 fuh see\nw\u2019en de buckruh\u2019 gone een en\u2019 w\u2019en dem come out, en\u2019 \u2019nuf buggy en\u2019\ncyaaridge en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019 dribe up to de do\u2019, en\u2019 some dem torruh t\u2019ing wuh\nbuckruh hab now--uh cyan\u2019 call \u2019e name, but \u2019e hab fo\u2019 w\u2019eel en\u2019 \u2019e run\nlukkuh bu\u2019d fly, en\u2019 \u2019e smell lukkuh kyarrysene--en\u2019 uh see de buckruh\ngit out en\u2019 gone een de chu\u2019ch en\u2019 de preechuh pit on \u2019e new shroud,\n\u2019cause \u2019e done buy anodduh one attuh Estelle t\u2019ief de fus\u2019 one \u2019e hab.\nBimeby, eb\u2019rybody come out de do\u2019, en\u2019 uh look \u2019tell uh pop-eye,\u2019 but\nuh nebbuh see no maussuh; en\u2019 den uh fin\u2019 out suh maussuh ent hab uh\nchance fuh come to de wedd\u2019n\u2019 cause him haffuh gone New Yawk fuh tell\nde Prezzydent wuh fuh do! Yaas, suh, da\u2019 duh my maussuh! Same way \u2019e\nmek Mistuh Jokok en\u2019 dem nigguh\u2019 en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019 fuh stan\u2019 \u2019roun\u2019 \u2019puntop\u2019uh\nCumbee ribbuh, uh yeddy suh same fashi\u2019n him fuh do een Cuhlumbia en\u2019\nNew Yawk. Uh yeddy suh my maussuh fuh lib een Cuhlumbia een one high\nhouse. \u2019E high mo\u2019nuh loblolly pine tree. De house hab seb\u2019n hund\u2019ud\nroom\u2019, but dem buckruh\u2019 wuh bin Cuhlumbia tell me de house ent hab no\nstep fuh climb. W\u2019en maussuh ready fuh go to de top uh \u2019e house, \u2019e\ngone een one leetle room, en\u2019 \u2019e shet de do\u2019 en \u2019e shet \u2019e yeye. Fus\u2019\nt\u2019ing you know, \u2019e gone _spang_ to de top uh \u2019e house. Wen \u2019e op\u2019n\n\u2019e yeye de do\u2019 op\u2019n, en\u2019 \u2019e walk een \u2019e office en\u2019 \u2019e hab \u2019nuf man\nen\u2019 nyung lady een \u2019e office. \u2019E seddown befo\u2019 \u2019e table. \u2019E table big\nlukkuh winnuh-house flatfawm. \u2019E pit uh seegyaa\u2019 een \u2019e mout\u2019. \u2019E cross\n\u2019e foot. \u2019E call one dem nyung lady. \u2018You got any match?\u2019 maussuh ax\u2019um.\n\n\u201c\u2018Yaas, suh,\u2019 \u2019e say.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Please gimme uh matches,\u2019 maussuh say, berry puhlite, \u2018en\u2019 light\u2019um\nfuh me.\u2019 De nyung lady g\u2019em de match, but him say suh maussuh hab mo\u2019\n\u2019speriunce fuh light match\u2019 den w\u2019at him hab. Maussuh say, \u2018berry\nwell,\u2019 en\u2019 him \u2019cratch\u2019 de match \u2019pun \u2019e britchiz. \u2019E ketch fire. \u2019E\nlight \u2019e seegyaa\u2019. \u2019E blow smoke! \u2019E study! Bimeby \u2019e reach obuh \u2019e\ntable. \u2019E tetch one leetle sump\u2019n\u2019nurruh lukkuh rattlesnake\u2019 butt\u2019n.\nDe t\u2019ing hab lightnin\u2019 een\u2019um, but \u2019e nebbuh t\u2019unduh. W\u2019en maussuh\ntetch\u2019um, de felluh go \u2018_ping_,\u2019 same lukkuh oonuh t\u2019row stick \u2019puntop\ntallygraf wire. Bimeby, fo\u2019 man\u2019 run een de room. \u2018Hummuch money oonuh\ntek f\u2019um de buckruh teday?\u2019 maussuh ax\u2019um. \u2018You tek all dem got?\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Yaas, suh,\u2019 dem say. \u2018Eb\u2019n so we tek dem fowl off de roos\u2019!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Berry well,\u2019 maussuh say. \u2018Ef you tek all dem got, uh haffuh study\n\u2019pun uh plan fuh git mo\u2019, en\u2019 \u2019e tell de fo\u2019 man\u2019 fuh gone. W\u2019en dem\ngone, maussuh study. \u2019E pit \u2019e head one side sukkuh bluejay. \u2019E blow\nsmoke, en\u2019 \u2019e study. Maussuh _too_ schemy! Bimeby, \u2019e say to \u2019eself:\n\u2018Wuh me en\u2019 de Prezzydent gwine do? Us done ketch all de money wuh de\nbuckruh got, en\u2019 us yent lef\u2019um nutt\u2019n\u2019 \u2019cep\u2019 de railroad. Nigguh\u2019\nent got nutt\u2019n\u2019 but dem han\u2019 en\u2019 dem foot\u2019. Nigguh\u2019 ent fuh hab no\nmoney. Nigguh\u2019 fuh w\u2019uk. Leh we see,\u2019 \u2019e say. \u2018Fus\u2019 t\u2019ing, me en\u2019 de\nPrezzydent haffuh wu\u2019k! Alltwo uh we duh juntlemun, en\u2019 juntlemun ent\nfuh wu\u2019k.\u2019 Maussuh pit on \u2019e hat. \u2019E gone deepo\u2019 een Cuhlumbia. \u2019E\nride de westyblue strain, en\u2019 \u2019e nebbuh git off \u2019tell \u2019e git spang New\nYawk! \u2019E gone to de Prezzydent\u2019 house. De Prezzydent mek\u2019um uh bow. \u2019E\nax\u2019um, \u2018How you lef\u2019 yo\u2019 fambly en\u2019 yo\u2019 crap?\u2019 Maussuh treat\u2019um berry\nmannussubble. \u2019E tell\u2019um \u2019e fambly well, but \u2019e crap ent stan\u2019 so berry\ngood, \u2019cause nigguh\u2019 seem lukkuh dem ent lub fuh wu\u2019k \u2019fo\u2019 day clean\neen de mawnin\u2019, en\u2019 dem dat good-fuhnutt\u2019n\u2019 dem wan\u2019 knock-off soon ez\ndaa\u2019k come. \u2018Dem eegnunt tuh dat,\u2019 de Prezzydent tell\u2019um. \u2018Ent you hab\nmoonlight night\u2019 \u2019puntop Cumbee ribbuh?\u2019 Maussuh tell\u2019um yaas, him hab\nmoonlight, fuh true, but seem lukkuh moonlight night\u2019 duh summuhtime\nnigguh\u2019 fuhrebbuh duh shout en\u2019 beat stick. Maussuh tell\u2019um ef him kin\nmek uh law fuh pit anodduh hour een eb\u2019ry day, him kin git mo\u2019 wu\u2019k out\nde nigguh\u2019. \u2018Berry well,\u2019 de Prezzydent tell\u2019um. En\u2019 \u2019e mek law fuh\nsattify maussuh, same lukkuh maussuh tell\u2019um.\n\n\u201cDen maussuh cross \u2019e foot, en\u2019 \u2019e study some mo\u2019. \u2019E git schemy \u2019gen!\nMaussuh tell\u2019um t\u2019engky fuh de law wuh \u2019e mek, but \u2019e tell\u2019um one t\u2019ing\nwuh bodduhr\u2019um duh de railroad wuh run f\u2019um W\u2019ite Hall fuh gone town.\n\u2019E tell\u2019um eb\u2019ry Sattyday W\u2019ite Hall deepo\u2019 black wid nigguh\u2019 fuh\ngone town fuh t\u2019row\u2019way dem money. Maussuh tell\u2019um de ticket en\u2019 de\n\u2019scusshun too cheap, en\u2019 ef de Prezzydent gi\u2019 _him_ de railroad, him\nwill chaa\u2019ge mo\u2019 money fuh de ticket, en\u2019 den de nigguh\u2019 cyan\u2019 trabble\nso fas\u2019. De Prezzydent tell\u2019um, yaas, \u2019e plan berry good, but him hab\nuh sonny-law wuh hab uh berry good ecknowledge fuh git money out\u2019uh\nbuckruh\u2019, en\u2019 ef him kin git\u2019um out\u2019uh buckruh\u2019, him kin git\u2019um out\u2019uh\nnigguh\u2019 alltwo, so \u2019e say \u2019e gwine tek de railroad f\u2019um de buckruh\u2019 en\u2019\ng\u2019em to \u2019e sonny-law, en\u2019 maussuh tell\u2019um berry well, him \u2019low\u2019um fuh\ndo dat, en\u2019 den maussuh come home en\u2019 write uh ansuh to Mistuh Jokok\nfuh tell\u2019um nigguh\u2019 fuh wu\u2019k one mo\u2019 hour eb\u2019ry day Gawd sen\u2019, en\u2019\nMistuh Jokok pass de wu\u2019d; en\u2019, please Gawd, de Prezzydent\u2019 sonny-law\nmek nigguh\u2019 fuh pay mo\u2019 fuh ride de railroad, en eb\u2019rybody say suh de\nPrezzydent shishuh smaa\u2019t man fuh mek dem law, but, oonuh yeddy me! duh\n_my maussuh_ mek de Prezzydent fuh mek law! Him schemy fuh t\u2019ink all\ndem t\u2019ing so him en\u2019 de Prezzydent ent haffuh wu\u2019k! _My_ maussuh ent\nfull wu\u2019k. No, _suh_!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nAN ANTEMORTEM DEMISE\n\n\nUnder whatever star Philippa had been born, she had known only ill\nluck since her acquisition of a husband in Joe Fields, the slew-footed\nformer slave of former Governor Heyward. Joe\u2019s pride in his former\nmaster was too great to permit him to walk, and the mortgaged horse\nor mule which he usually owned seldom lived very long on the light\nrations and scant attention it received. Its demise would soon be\nfollowed by another animal purchase, another mortgage, and another\ndeath. Joe occasionally worked when it suited him, but Philippa toiled\nunceasingly, and, although she seldom lived at home, she was very\nproud of the little establishment which her labor maintained. Always\ndistrustful of Joe, she yet gave him the custody of, and dominion over,\nthe few material things she possessed, representing in her character\nthe contradictions not infrequently met with among those of her sex in\nhigher circles.\n\nOnce upon a time, Philippa aspired to animal husbandry. Tired of\nbuying bacon for Joe at the Cross Roads store, she applied the savings\nof several months of hard labor to the purchase of a young sow, and,\nperhaps in compliment to Joe, she bought a Berkshire, the blackest pig\nshe could find. During the months of anticipation, while she worked for\nthe money with which to make the purchase, her mind was full of the\nlittle black pigs that some time would be running about her yard around\nthe cabin in the woodland, furnishing meat in prospect, and immediate\ncompanionship for Joe and their taciturn black daughter, Christopher\nColumbus, who kept the home fires burning with whatever lightwood knots\nshe could pick up in the pineland, while the wife and mother worked for\n\u201cde buckruh\u201d several miles away.\n\n\u201cJoe en\u2019 Cuhlumbus sho\u2019 gwine hab uh good cump\u2019ny w\u2019en uh buy da\u2019 hog\nen\u2019 sen\u2019 um home,\u201d she thought. \u201cEf uh kin raise ten pig\u2019 dis\u2019yeah,\nmaybe nex\u2019 yeah uh kin raise two-t\u2019ree hund\u2019ud, en\u2019 dem kin git \u2019nuf\nfuh eat een de swamp en\u2019 de pinelan\u2019 bidout buy\u2019um no bittle.\u201d\n\nSo her fancy pictured her humble premises teeming with little pigs,\nfirst squirming in their beds among the straw, then grunting and\nrunning about the place, while Joe and Columbus, squatting on the door\nstep of the cabin, communed with them in spirit and watched them grow.\nLater, the husky shoats would forage the pinelands and swamps for\nmast and acorns, and root about in the muddy branches for slugs and\ncrayfish, then, grown to fat porkers, they would be slaughtered, salted\nand smoked, and hams, shoulders, and flitches would hang in festoons\nfrom the cabin rafters. So they successively passed through the seven\nages of swine. At last the sow that was to transmute Philippa\u2019s dreams\ninto realities was bought and paid for, and a message dispatched to Joe\nto come and take her home. In due time he arrived with ox and cart and,\nadmonished by Philippa to meet the responsibility placed upon him, he\ndrove away, the guardian of her hopes.\n\nBut Joe was not a forward-looking man. His eyes, lacking speculation,\nwere filled with the insistent materialism of the moment. A present\npig was worth a hundred in prospect. His eyeballs popped and his lips\nleaked as he viewed Opportunity that grunted so tantalizingly at his\ndoor, and the gnawings of \u201cGuamba\u201d (the meat hunger of the savage\nAfrican tribes) played Lady Macbeth to his halting thoughts of murder\nand turned them into resolution.\n\n\u201cYaas, ma\u2019am, uh glad fuh git uh chance fuh wu\u2019k out \u2019gen, \u2019cause Joe\u2019\nshishuh po\u2019 puhwiduh. \u2019E nebbuh hab no bittle een de house fuh eat. \u2019E\nlub fuh eat, but \u2019e say suh \u2019cause him maussuh duh quality, suh him\nent fuh nyam no dry bittle. Cawn hom\u2019ny ent wut\u2019 fuh Joe \u2019scusin\u2019 \u2019e\ngot hog meat \u2019long\u2019um fuh greese \u2019e mout\u2019, en\u2019 da\u2019 time we\u2019n uh binnuh\nwu\u2019k Pon Pon uh lavuh\u2019 haa\u2019d fuh two munt\u2019 fuh buy uh sow so uh kin\nraise hog meat fuh keep f\u2019um fuhrebbuh duh run duh sto\u2019 fuh bodduh\nwid dem Jew\u2019 en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019, en\u2019 w\u2019en uh done pay fuh de sow, uh sen\u2019 one\nmetsidge fuh tell Joe fuh come fuh fetch\u2019um home. Yuh come Joe een \u2019e\noxin cyaa\u2019t! \u2019E _dat_ swonguh, \u2019e mos\u2019 mek somebody wuh ent know\u2019um\nt\u2019ink suh _himself_ wu\u2019k fuh buy de hog. Joe tie all fo\u2019 de sow\u2019 foot,\n\u2019e pit\u2019um een \u2019e cyaa\u2019t, en\u2019 \u2019e gone! Attuh uh week done gone, uh\nsen\u2019 wu\u2019d fuh tell Joe fuh come fuh see me fuh tell me how de hog git\n\u2019long. Bimeby Joe come, \u2019e tell me de hog hab uh berry good he\u2019lt\u2019.\nUh t\u2019engkful fuh yeddy dat, \u2019cause uh study \u2019puntop da\u2019 hog tummuch.\nAnodduh week done gone, uh sen\u2019 fuh Joe \u2019gen. \u2019E come. Uh ax\u2019um how de\nhog\u2019 he\u2019lt\u2019. \u2019E say \u2019e he\u2019lt\u2019 ent so berry good, \u2019e say seem lukkuh de\nhog kind\u2019uh po\u2019ly. Uh baig\u2019um fuh ent tek \u2019e yeye off de hog, en\u2019 \u2019e\nmek me uh prommus suh \u2019e gwine watch\u2019um same lukkuh de sow duh \u2019e own\nchile. Anodduh week gone. Joe come \u2019gen. \u2019E fetch uh berry sad news\nf\u2019um de hog, \u2019cause \u2019e say suh de hog duh leddown, en\u2019 him berry \u2019f\u2019aid\nsuh \u2019e dey at de p\u2019int uh de\u2019t\u2019. Wen him tell me dat, uh seddown\nen\u2019 uh cry, but w\u2019en uh look \u2019puntop\u2019um uh see suh Joe hab uh berry\nsattify\u2019 face, en\u2019 \u2019e jaw look hebby \u2019tell \u2019e stan\u2019 lukkuh mufflejaw\nfowl, but stillyet uh nebbuh \u2019spishun nutt\u2019n\u2019, en\u2019 uh ax Joe wuffuh mek\n\u2019e jaw fat. \u2019E tell me \u2019e hab uh teet\u2019ache, en\u2019 dat w\u2019ymekso \u2019e jaw\nswell. Joe gone. Nex\u2019 week \u2019e come \u2019gen. \u2019E jowl hebby ez uh buckruh\u2019\nbarruh Chris\u2019mus time, en\u2019 \u2019e face look berry sattify. Uh ax\u2019um how\nde hog? \u2019E say de hog dead \u2019tell buzzut done eat\u2019um. Wen uh yeddy dat\nwu\u2019d, me h\u2019aa\u2019t hebby \u2019tell \u2019e ready fuh drap out me t\u2019roat \u2019pun de\ndu\u2019t. Uh look \u2019pun Joe \u2019gen. Uh study \u2019pun how \u2019e jaw fat. Uh biggin\nfuh \u2019spishun. Uh ax\u2019um ef \u2019e still hab uh teet\u2019ache een \u2019e jaw. \u2019E\ntell me yaas, \u2019e teet\u2019ache hot\u2019um \u2019tell \u2019e cyan\u2019 nyam \u2019e cawn hom\u2019ny.\nUh ax\u2019um ef \u2019e teet\u2019 hot\u2019um to dat, hukkuh him mout\u2019 kin grin lukkuh\npossum mout\u2019 duh wintuhtime w\u2019en \u2019e dey een possimmun tree? \u2019E say suh\n\u2019e teet\u2019ache hot\u2019um \u2019tell \u2019e mek\u2019um fuh grin. W\u2019en \u2019e tell me dat, uh\nknow him duh lie, en\u2019 uh know berry well weh de hog gone, \u2019cause him\nhab shishuh selfish face uh know suh nutt\u2019n\u2019 gwine mek\u2019um grin \u2019cep\u2019n\u2019\n\u2019e belly tight. Dat, en\u2019 brag \u2019bout \u2019e maussuh, duh de only two t\u2019ing\nfuh sweet\u2019n \u2019e face fuh mek laugh come een \u2019e mout\u2019! Uh tell\u2019um, berry\nwell, uh fret \u2019bout de hog \u2019tell uh haffuh gone home en\u2019 look \u2019puntop\nde po\u2019 creetuh\u2019 bone. \u2019E tell me suh buzzut done scattuh \u2019e bone. Uh\ntell\u2019um, nemmine, uh gwine fin\u2019um ef uh haffuh hunt spang tuh Caw Caw\nSwamp! Joe stick out \u2019e mout\u2019 \u2019tell \u2019e oagly ez uh catfish, but uh\nyent mine\u2019um, en\u2019 uh climb\u2019 een de oxin cyaa\u2019t en\u2019 mek\u2019um fuh dribe\ntuh de house. Uh know berry well suh uh kin mek Cuhlumbus fuh tell me\nde straight \u2019bout de hog, \u2019cause uh train\u2019um fuh watch \u2019e Pa same ez\nbeebu\u2019d watch beehibe. W\u2019en uh git home uh holluh fuh Cuhlumbus, but\n\u2019e yent mek no ansuh en\u2019 uh know \u2019e mus\u2019be gone deepo. Uh look full de\nkey een de knot hole een one de house\u2019 log weh \u2019e does lef\u2019um w\u2019en \u2019e\ngone out, but befo\u2019 uh gone een de house uh tell Joe fuh show me weh de\nhog done dead, so uh kin look \u2019pun \u2019e bone. Joe look shameface\u2019 ez uh\nsuck-aig dog w\u2019en oonuh ketch\u2019um een uh hen nes,\u2019 but \u2019e nebbuh crack\n\u2019e teet\u2019, en\u2019 \u2019e gone tuh de aige uh de swamp en\u2019 \u2019e tell me suh dey\nde hog dead, en\u2019 de buzzut mus\u2019be flew \u2019way \u2019long \u2019e bone, \u2019cause none\nain\u2019 lef\u2019. Uh tell\u2019um \u2019e buzzut strong fuh true, but de nigguh lie so\neasy, uh haffuh suck me teet\u2019 at\u2019um. Uh gone dull house, uh onlock de\ndo\u2019 en\u2019 uh gone een. De fiah done out een de chimbly, but een de cawnuh\nuh de chimbly uh see de big spiduh duh set, kibbuh\u2019 up wid ashish en\u2019\ndead coal\u2019. Uh ax Joe wuh \u2019e got fuh eat. \u2019E say \u2019e dunno wuh Cuhlumbus\ncook\u2019 befo\u2019 \u2019e gone out. \u2019E say \u2019e \u2019spec\u2019 Cuhlumbus him roas\u2019 tettuh,\needuhso bile\u2019 hom\u2019ny een de spiduh. Uh tek off de kibbuh. Please me\nJedus, uh see de hog\u2019 head dey een de spiduh _done cook_, en\u2019 uh know\n\u2019e duh my\u2019own, \u2019cause \u2019e hab de w\u2019ite people\u2019 maa\u2019k wuh uh buy\u2019um f\u2019um\neen alltwo \u2019e yez! W\u2019en uh look \u2019puntop de sow head, en\u2019 \u2019membuh all\nde t\u2019ing uh bin agguhnize \u2019bout fuh git da\u2019 hog, uh hab uh berry hebby\nsperrit en\u2019 water full\u2019 alltwo me yeye. Uh ax Joe weh da\u2019 hog meat come\nf\u2019um? \u2019E say him ent know nutt\u2019n\u2019 \u2019t\u2019all \u2019bout\u2019um, \u2019e say suh somebody\nmus\u2019be gi\u2019 Cuhlumbus de meat. \u2019E say suh him binnuh nyam de pyo\u2019 cawn\nhom\u2019ny \u2019tell him hab uh dry drought een \u2019e t\u2019roat. Uh tell\u2019um, \u2018Joe,\nyou sho\u2019 iz uh fait\u2019ful liah fuh tell lie. Yo\u2019 jaw swell wid de pyo\u2019\nfat you git f\u2019um eat my hog, en\u2019 da\u2019 berry sow gwine ride you duh night\ntime. \u2019E fuh haant you long ez you lib.\u2019 Cuhlumbus come. Uh ax\u2019um\nhukkuh de sow git \u2019e de\u2019t\u2019. \u2019E say suh ebbuh sence de hog come home,\n\u2019e Pa binnuh hankuh at\u2019um fuh eat. \u2019E say suh eb\u2019ry day \u2019e Pa seddown\non de do\u2019 step duh watch de hog duh root \u2019bout de yaa\u2019d, en\u2019 eb\u2019ry\ntime de hog grunt, \u2019e Pa dat hongry fuh eat\u2019um, \u2019e gnash \u2019e teet\u2019 en\u2019\nwater run out \u2019e mout\u2019. One time de hog git ketch een de fench en\u2019\nsqueal. W\u2019en Joe yeddy \u2019e woice \u2019e run out, en\u2019 \u2019stead\u2019uh \u2019e loose\u2019um\nout de fench, \u2019e tek axe, knock\u2019um een e\u2019 head, en\u2019 \u2019e tell Cuhlumbus\n\u2019e kill\u2019um fuh pit\u2019um out \u2019e mis\u2019ry. Den \u2019e staa\u2019t fuh eat\u2019um to \u2019e\ntail en\u2019 eat spang t\u2019ru de hog \u2019tell \u2019e git to \u2019e head wuh uh fin\u2019 een\nde pot! De berry day da\u2019 nigguh tell me suh de sow eenjy uh berry po\u2019\nhe\u2019lt\u2019, \u2019e done eat de hog\u2019 two hanch! Uh _done_ wid feed Joe! Ef \u2019e\nmaussuh lub\u2019um tuh dat, _him_ kin feed\u2019um! Meself, _uh done_!\u201d\n\nThough the abandoned Joe made bones of Philippa\u2019s hopes, he made none\nabout acknowledging the butchery, and boasting of it, away from home.\n\n\u201cJoe, you sho\u2019 iz fat.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, man, uh fat fuh true. Uh binnuh eat hog meat. Philpuh him buy uh\nhog en\u2019 sen\u2019 um home, en\u2019 de hog meet uh acksident een de fench, en\u2019 uh\n\u2019f\u2019aid \u2019e gwine dead lukkuh da\u2019 todduh hog \u2019e hab fuh dead on me han\u2019\none time, en\u2019 buzzut git\u2019um \u2019fo\u2019 uh hab uh chance fuh eat\u2019um. Buzzut\ngit uhhead\u2019uh me one time, but \u2019e nebbuh do\u2019um two time! My maussuh\u2019\nnigguh haffuh smaa\u2019t mo\u2019nuh buzzut! Stepney[1] ain\u2019 fuh come een _my_\nhouse! Me fuh \u2019low my maussuh\u2019 nigguh fuh perish fuh hog meat? _Me_ jaw\nfull dry \u2019long cawn hom\u2019ny, en\u2019 buzzut mout\u2019 fuh greesy \u2019long de \u2019ooman\nhog meat, enty? No suh! Uh gwine nyam\u2019um fus\u2019! _Uh kill\u2019um \u2019fo\u2019 \u2019e\ndead!_\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE LION OF LEWISBURG\n\n\nSeveral years ago there lived on the \u201cLewisburg\u201d rice plantation of\nformer Governor Duncan Clinch Heyward, one Monday White, a yellow negro\nand a persistent and imaginative practical joker. The little \u201cDevil\u2019s\nFiddles\u201d which boys construct of empty tin cans and rosined string emit\nunchristian squeaks and groans when played upon with smooth hardwood\nsticks, and Monday believed that a similar device on a larger scale\ncould be so manipulated as to frighten into hysterics half the negro\npopulation along Combahee River. Begging from the store a large empty\npowder keg, he surreptitiously rigged it up with stout twine which,\nwell rubbed with rosin and scraped with a dry hickory stick for a bow,\nproduced a hoarse and horrible sound which might have passed among the\nuninitiated for the roar of a lion--or for anything else.\n\nMonday knew that the superstitious negroes feared most the unknown. The\nnegro who would have taken a chance with alligator or bull, or the even\nmore dangerous hind legs of a mule, could be scared stiff by a weird,\nunfamiliar sound in the woods at night. So Monday decided that the\near-jarring sound emitted by his double-bass \u201cDevil\u2019s Fiddle\u201d should\ndo service for the roar of a lion, as these creatures were unknown on\nCombahee, and the few negroes who had once seen lions when the circus\nvisited Walterboro, brought back marvelous tales of their ferocity and\ntheir terrible voices.\n\nMonday baited his victims skilfully. One Saturday night when the store\nwas crowded with trading negroes, he led the conversation lionwards. He\nneeded tales of terror, and the two or three negroes who had once seen\nlions were willing to oblige. One of them had even seen them fed. \u201cW\u2019en\nuh bin Walterburruh, uh look \u2019puntop one dem annimel fuh call lion, en\u2019\nuh shum w\u2019en dem duh g\u2019em \u2019e bittle fuh eat.\u201d\n\n\u201cNigguh g\u2019em \u2019e bittle?\n\n\u201cNo man, buckruh feed\u2019um. Nigguh ent fuh feed\u2019um. Da\u2019 t\u2019ing dainjus\ntummuch! Nigguh duh him bittle. Lion en\u2019 nigguh alltwo come f\u2019um\nAff\u2019iky, en\u2019 w\u2019en dem Aff\u2019ikin king en\u2019 t\u2019ing hab lion een dem cage,\n\u2019e g\u2019em uh nigguh fuh eat eb\u2019ry day Gawd sen\u2019, en\u2019 \u2019e crack nigguh\u2019\nhambone een \u2019e jaw sukkuh dem Beefu\u2019t nigguh crack crab claw\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e\ndone bile. Him _done_ fuh lub nigguh! W\u2019en dem sukkus man fuh feed\u2019um\neen Walterburruh, dem fetch half uh bull yellin\u2019 fuh \u2019e bittle, en\u2019\nw\u2019en da\u2019 t\u2019ing look \u2019puntop de meat, \u2019e tail t\u2019rash\u2019 \u2019pun de flo\u2019\nsukkuh nigguh duh t\u2019rash rice \u2019long flail, en\u2019 \u2019e gyap \u2019e mout\u2019 same\nlukkuh Mistuh Jokok op\u2019n \u2019e trunk mout\u2019 fuh t\u2019row uh flow \u2019puntop Mass\nClinch\u2019 rice! \u2019E woice roll lukkuh t\u2019unduh roll, en\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e holluh,\neb\u2019ry Chryce\u2019 nigguh t\u2019row \u2019e han\u2019 obuh e\u2019 two\u2019 yez en\u2019 run out de\ntent, en\u2019 gone!\u201d\n\n\u201cTengk Gawd dem annimel nebbuh come \u2019puntop Cumbee!\u201d a woman fervently\nexclaimed.\n\n\u201cYaas, tittie,\u201d said another, \u201cef da\u2019 t\u2019ing ebbuh come yuh, me fuh run\nSabannuh. Uh nebbuh stop run \u2019tell uh done pass de Yamassee!\u201d\n\nOthers joined in the trembling chorus and Monday, when they had become\nsufficiently worked up, shrewdly spilled the first spoonful of powder\nleading to his mine. \u201cOonuh nigguh, one buckruh binnuh talk \u2019puntop\nde flatfawm to W\u2019ite Hall deepo dis mawnin\u2019, en\u2019 uh yeddy\u2019um tell dem\ntorruh buckruh suh one sukkus hab uh acksident to Orangebu\u2019g, en\u2019 one\nlion git out \u2019e cage en\u2019 run een de swamp en\u2019 gone, en\u2019 de buckruh try\nfuh ketch\u2019um but dem \u2019f\u2019aid fuh gone een de swamp, en\u2019 dem sen\u2019 dem dog\nattuhr\u2019um, en\u2019 de lion kill t\u2019irteen beagle one time!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh Jedus!\u201d cried an excited woman, \u201cUh berry \u2019f\u2019aid da\u2019 t\u2019ing gwine\ncome Cumbee! Hummuch mile Orangebu\u2019g stan\u2019 f\u2019um yuh?\u201d\n\n\u201cUh dunno hummuch mile,\u201d Monday replied, \u201cbut uh know lion kin mek\u2019um\n\u2019tween middlenight en\u2019 dayclean, en\u2019 ef uh ebbuh yeddy \u2019e woice roll\neen dish\u2019yuh swamp, meself gwine git een me trus\u2019me\u2019gawd coonoo en\u2019 uh\nfuh gone down Cumbee ribbuh, en\u2019 uh nebbuh stop paddle \u2019tell uh git\nBeefu\u2019t!\u201d\n\nA week passed. Like the waves from a stone thrown into still waters,\nthe lion stories spread among the outlying plantations in all\ndirections. Saturday night found Monday early at the store. Another\nconvenient buckra at White Hall station had told that morning of the\nlion\u2019s escape from the Edisto and his crossing over the intervening\npinelands into the Salkehatchie Swamp and, as most people know, the\nSalkehatchie River, below the line of the Charleston and Savannah\nrailway, becomes the Combahee. The lion was loose, therefore, in their\nown proper swamp, and might even now be riding a floating log down the\ncurrent of their beloved river!\n\nMonday stealthily slipped out. An hour later, when the negroes in and\nabout the store had worked themselves up to a delectable pitch of\nexcitement, an unearthly groaning roar came from the woods nearby. The\nnight was hot, but the negroes almost froze with fear, and the clerk,\nin whom Monday had confided, raised no objection when the negroes\nwithin the store called in their companions from the outside and asked\npermission to bar the door.\n\n\u201cOonuh yeddy\u2019um, enty! Wuh uh tell you \u2019bout da\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019 woice?\u201d said\nthe negro who had seen lions in Walterboro.\n\nMonday\u2019s \u201cDevil\u2019s Fiddle\u201d groaned again, and as its dying notes\ntrembled on the summer night, a rush was made to close and bolt the\nwindows. The kerosene lamps smoked and flared in the fetid air. The men\nlistened and shuddered as the recurrent roars, now muffled, reached\ntheir expectant ears. The women wailed. \u201cO Gawd! uh lef\u2019 me t\u2019ree\nchillun shet up een me house,\u201d cried one. \u201cUh \u2019spec\u2019 da\u2019 t\u2019ing done\nnyam\u2019um all by dis time!\u201d\n\n\u201cShet yo\u2019 mout\u2019, \u2019ooman,\u201d said a masculine comforter. \u201cHukkuh him kin\neat en\u2019 holluh alltwo one time? Yo\u2019 chillun ent fuh eat.\u201d\n\n\u201cMe lef\u2019 my juntlemun een de house,\u201d said another woman, with\nresignation, \u201cUh \u2019spec\u2019 him done eat.\u201d\n\n\u201cWuh you duh bodduh \u2019bout loss uh man?\u201d said the mother. \u201cMan easy fuh\ngit tummuch. Me yent duh bodduh \u2019bout man. Uh kin git anodduh juntlemun\nef da\u2019 t\u2019ing nyam my\u2019own, but weh uh fuh git mo\u2019 chillun?\u201d\n\n\u201cGo\u2019way, gal, ef you kin fuh git anodduh juntlemun, same fashi\u2019n Gawd\nhelp you fuh git anodduh chillun.\u201d\n\nAfter a while the roaring ceased and the clerk, being perilously near\nsuffocation, calmed the fears of the negroes and opened the windows.\nThe trembling darkeys cocked their ears and listened apprehensively,\nbut the shrilling of the Cicada among the pines and the bellowing of\nthe bullfrogs in the distant canals were the only sounds that broke\nthe silence of the night so recently full of terrors. After awhile\nthe door also was unbarred and opened, and a bold man borrowed an\naxe from the storekeeper and adventured far enough to cut some slabs\nof lightwood from a familiar stump. The hero added to his popularity\nby splitting these up and distributing them among the members of the\ngentler sex, whose escorts lighted torches and convoyed them in a body\nback to the quarters, where the children and husbands whom they left at\nhome were found intact.\n\nAt church on Sunday, the Lewisburg negroes spread among their brethren\nfrom the other plantations the news of the coming of the lion, and the\n\u201clocus pastuh\u201d fervently touched upon the king of beasts. \u201cPuhtec\u2019 we,\nMaussuh Jedus, f\u2019um da\u2019 t\u2019ing oonuh call lion. Lead\u2019um, Lawd, to weh\nde buckruh\u2019 cow en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019 duh bite grass so him kin full \u2019e belly\nbedout haffuh nyam nigguh, en\u2019 ef \u2019e _yiz_ haffuh tek nigguh fuh \u2019e\nbittle, do, Lawd, mek\u2019um fuh tek dem sinful nigguh wuh ent wut, en\u2019\nlef\u2019 de Lawd\u2019 renointed. Mek\u2019um fuh do wid de good sistuh en\u2019 bredduh\n\u2019puntop dis plantesshun same lukkuh oonuh mek\u2019um fuh do long Dannil--\u201d\n\u201cYaas, Lawd,\u201d shouted Monday, the hypocrite, \u201cef \u2019e _yiz_ fuh eat\nnigguh, mek\u2019um fuh eat dem nigguh \u2019puntop\u2019uh Bonny Hall \u2019cross de\nribbuh, en\u2019 tek \u2019e woice out\u2019uh we pinelan\u2019.\u201d \u201cYaas, Lawd!\u201d \u201cPlease\nsuh fuh do\u2019um, Lawd!\u201d shouted the fervent brethren and sisters. And\nstealthily, about two hours after dark that night, while the emotional\nnegroes were alternately laughing, shouting and praying, Monday put\nhis Devil\u2019s Fiddle into a sack, slipped into his canoe, and, crossing\nto the opposite shore of the river, roared frightfully along the Bonny\nHall water line, terrifying the negroes on that plantation and filling\nthe Lewisburg darkeys with thankfulness that their prayers had been\nanswered.\n\nAnother week passed. Monday, playing with them as a cat plays with a\nmouse, kept quiet, until by Saturday night, no news having come of any\ndamage at Bonny Hall, the Lewisburg negroes hoped that the lion had\nbeen captured by \u201cde sukkus buckruh,\u201d or had left the neighborhood, and\nsoon after nightfall, half the plantation gathered at the store.\n\nAbout nine o\u2019clock, when the store was jammed with briskly trading\nnegroes, from afar in the woods came the ominous roar of the hand-made\nlion. It was distant, and the negroes, while badly frightened, stood\ntheir ground to await developments, but a few minutes later the awful\nsound came again from a nearer point, and by the time the roaring\nhad come within a quarter of a mile of the place, the negroes were\npanic-stricken, and most of them hurried from the store and ran to\nthe quarters, where they bolted themselves in, to pass a night in\nfear and trembling, for at intervals until past midnight, their\nears carried terror to their souls. On Sunday, Monday, wearing the\nsanctimonious expression of a cat that has just swallowed the canary,\nmoved among them, listening with sympathetic ears to the tales of\nperilous adventures that some of them had experienced. \u201cBredduh W\u2019ite,\u201d\nsaid a church sister, \u201clemme tell you. Las\u2019 night uh gone to Sistuh\nBulow\u2019 house attuh daa\u2019k. Uh did\u2019n\u2019 bin to de sto\u2019, \u2019cause las\u2019 week\nde buckruh credik me, en\u2019 uh \u2019f\u2019aid \u2019e gwine ax\u2019me fuh pay\u2019um wuh\nuh owe\u2019um, en\u2019 uh gi\u2019 Sistuh Bulow de money fuh buy me rashi\u2019n\u2019 en\u2019\nt\u2019ing\u2019, en\u2019 uh seddown een \u2019e yaa\u2019d fuh wait \u2019tell \u2019e come back. Him\nhouse ent dey een nigguhhouse yaa\u2019d, \u2019e stan\u2019 to \u2019eself \u2019pun de aige\nuh de pinelan\u2019. Bumby uh yeddy da\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019 woice. W\u2019en uh yeddy\u2019um fus\u2019,\n\u2019e bin fudduh, en\u2019 uh t\u2019awt \u2019e bin Jackass duh holluh, but w\u2019en \u2019e\ngit close, uh ruckuhnize \u2019e woice, en\u2019 uh know \u2019e duh lion. Uh _dat_\n\u2019f\u2019aid, uh cyan\u2019 talk. Uh trimble sukkuh mule\u2019 shoulduh duh shake off\ncowfly. W\u2019en da\u2019 t\u2019ing come t\u2019ru de bush en\u2019 look \u2019puntop me, me two\neye\u2019 pop\u2019 out me head! \u2019E stan\u2019 high mo\u2019nuh Mass Clinch\u2019 mule. \u2019E\nyeye shine lukkuh dem fiah buckruh does mek \u2019puntop\u2019uh Jackstan\u2019 duh\npinelan\u2019 duh summuhtime fuh keep off muskittuh! W\u2019en \u2019e op\u2019n \u2019e jaw,\n\u2019e t\u2019roat red lukkuh beef haslett! \u2019E mout\u2019 full\u2019up wid teet\u2019 sukkuh\nharruh, en\u2019 blood duh drip out \u2019e jaw sukkuh water drap outuh nigguh\nmout\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e look \u2019puntop\u2019uh watuhmilyun! W\u2019en uh shum stan\u2019 so, uh\ndrap\u2019 \u2019puntop me two knee\u2019 en\u2019 uh baig\u2019 me Jedus fuh sabe me! Uh dat\n\u2019f\u2019aid, uh shet me yeye\u2019, en\u2019 w\u2019en uh done pray en\u2019 op\u2019n\u2019um\u2019 \u2019gen, de\nt\u2019ing gone!\u201d And so on, each tale of dreadful experience told by one\nnegro, being over-matched by the next, who, if one gave \u201cfree rein\u201d\nto her imagination, would be sure to strip the bridle off her\u2019s and\nthrow it away. \u201cMeself shum,\u201d related a 20th Century Munchausen in\npetticoats. \u201cUh bin down de road uh piece \u2019bout two hour\u2019 attuh daa\u2019k\nfuh try fuh ketch da\u2019 gal, \u2019cause uh kinduh \u2019spishun my juntlemun, en\u2019\nuh binnuh folluh \u2019e track fuh ketch\u2019um, but uh nebbuh ketch\u2019um yet,\nbut uh gwine fuh ketch\u2019um, \u2019cause uh got me yeye \u2019puntop da\u2019 gal f\u2019um\nW\u2019ite Hall wuh tote dem bottle en\u2019 t\u2019ing onduhneet\u2019 \u2019e frock fuh sell\nrum to all dese man eb\u2019ry Satt\u2019d\u2019y night, en\u2019 mek\u2019um fuh t\u2019row \u2019way dem\nmoney \u2019stead\u2019uh g\u2019em to dem wife en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019, en\u2019 uh bin swif\u2019 \u2019pun da\u2019\ngal track, \u2019cause yistidd\u2019y w\u2019en my juntlemun git pay\u2019off fuh \u2019e wu\u2019k,\n\u2019e come en\u2019 pit half \u2019e money een me han\u2019 befo\u2019 uh kin ax\u2019um fuhr\u2019um,\nen\u2019 da\u2019 t\u2019ing mek me fuh know him duh fool me. Uh look \u2019puntop\u2019um en\u2019\nuh shum duh grin. Sattifaction duh run roun\u2019 da\u2019 nigguh mout\u2019 same\nlukkuh puppy run roun\u2019 de yaa\u2019d attuh \u2019e own tail! Uh know man tummuch,\nen\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e stan\u2019 so, \u2019e yent fuh trus\u2019! Eb\u2019ry time man gi\u2019 money to\n\u2019e lawfully lady, \u2019e h\u2019aa\u2019t duh cry, en\u2019 w\u2019en him look lukkuh \u2019e glad\nfuh g\u2019em, \u2019e face duh lie, \u2019e try fuh kibbuh up \u2019e h\u2019aa\u2019t, en\u2019 \u2019e done\nmek\u2019up \u2019e min\u2019 fuh fool\u2019um, but me! uh got uh ecknowledge fuh look\nt\u2019ru \u2019e face, en\u2019 w\u2019en uh look \u2019puntop \u2019e h\u2019aa\u2019t, \u2019e stan\u2019 crookety ez\nuh cowpaat\u2019! Da\u2019 gal kin fool some dem todduh \u2019ooman, but \u2019e yent fuh\nfool me! Him hab two petticoat\u2019, one mek out\u2019uh homespun clawt\u2019, lukkuh\nwe\u2019own, en\u2019 todduh one hab skollup\u2019, lukkuh buckruh lady\u2019 own. W\u2019en him\nhab on de clawt\u2019 petticoat, none de man nebbuh bodduhr\u2019um, but w\u2019en\n\u2019e walk t\u2019ru Lewisbu\u2019g nigguhhouse yaa\u2019d wid da\u2019 skollup\u2019 petticoat\nstaa\u2019ch\u2019 _stiff_, en\u2019 \u2019e frock hice up high fuh show\u2019um, en\u2019 dem man\nlook \u2019puntop de skollup en\u2019 yeddy de staa\u2019ch duh talk \u2018_she, she, she_\u2019\nw\u2019en \u2019e walk, dem _know_ suh \u2019e got rum fuh sell--dat duh \u2019e sign--dem\nt\u2019roat\u2019 biggin fuh dry, en\u2019 dem eb\u2019ry Gawd\u2019 one pick uh chance fuh\nfolluhr\u2019um, but dem todduh \u2019ooman, dem t\u2019ink suh man lub da\u2019 skollup\u2019\nt\u2019ing \u2019cause \u2019e stylish, en\u2019 dem study \u2019bout git skollup\u2019 petticoat\ndemself fuh mek man fuh folluhr\u2019um, but duh nutt\u2019n\u2019 but de pyo\u2019 rum dem\nman dey attuh. Dem fuh folluh da\u2019 gal ef \u2019e petticoat mek out\u2019uh grano\nsack!\n\n\u201cW\u2019en uh did\u2019n\u2019 ketch de gal, uh staa\u2019t\u2019 fuh gone home, en\u2019 uh look\n\u2019way off t\u2019ru de pinelan\u2019 en\u2019 uh see two t\u2019ing duh shine sukkuh injine\nheadlight! Uh look \u2019gen, \u2019e come close, en\u2019 uh see \u2019e duh annimel eye!\nBumby \u2019e op\u2019n\u2019 \u2019e mout\u2019 fuh holluh. Spaa\u2019k\u2019 duh come outuhr\u2019um en\u2019 \u2019e\nwoice roll \u2019tell de groun\u2019 shake. Uh nebbuh hab no time fuh pray. W\u2019en\nuh see da\u2019 fiah come out \u2019e mout\u2019, uh tell\u2019um, \u2018so long, bubbuh, _uh\ngone_!\u2019 en\u2019 uh hice me \u2019coat en\u2019 uh tek me two foot een me han\u2019 en\u2019 uh\nnebbuh study \u2019bout no road. Uh gone slam t\u2019ru de bush! Brian \u2019cratch\u2019\nme, uh dunkyuh. Jackwine\u2019 ketch\u2019 me foot en\u2019 obuht\u2019row me, uh jump up,\nuh gone \u2019gen! One harricane tree bin \u2019cross de paat\u2019, uh bus\u2019 t\u2019ru\u2019um\nsukkuh fiah gone t\u2019ru broom grass fiel\u2019. Nutt\u2019n\u2019 nebbuh stop me,\n\u2019cause, bubbuh, _uh run_! W\u2019en uh git een de big road, uh hog binnuh\nleddown fuh tek \u2019e res\u2019. Wen \u2019e yeddy me foot duh beat groun\u2019, \u2019e jump\nup fuh run, but uh obuhtek\u2019um dat swif\u2019, me foot kick\u2019um ez uh gwine,\nen\u2019 uh yeddy\u2019um holluh behin\u2019 me sukkuh tarrier duh graff\u2019um by \u2019e yez!\nBriah tayre off me frock \u2019tell, time uh git nigguhhouse yaa\u2019d, uh yent\nhab nutt\u2019n\u2019 lef\u2019 but me shimmy, en\u2019 w\u2019en dem nigguh look \u2019puntop me dem\nt\u2019ink uh sperrit come out de \u2019ood. Uh run een me house, uh shet me do\u2019,\nen\u2019 uh nebbuh come out \u2019gen \u2019tell sunhigh!\u201d\n\nMonday inclined his ear and listened to the negroes, but he showed\nthem no mercy, and before the end of the third week his lion became\nso bold that a roar came even in broad daylight from among the reeds\nalong the river bank, frightening the laborers out of the fields and\neven prompting a neighboring planter to order his foreman to lock up\nthe mules for safety when he saw the hands flying in terror from the\nricefields! At last, to avoid industrial paralysis, the owner of the\nplantation, discovering Monday\u2019s plot, suppressed the powder keg lion.\nAnd the master saved his people, the Halcyon nested again on the waves\nof the Combahee, bringing peaceful days and peaceful ways to the\nLewisburg plantation, with nothing more exciting than the quest of \u201cda\u2019\nskollup\u2019 petticoat,\u201d but--\u201cthat\u2019s another story.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE LION KILLER\n\n\nThe lion of Lewisburg was dead. By order of former Governor Duncan\nClinch Heyward, the Devil\u2019s Fiddle with which Monday White,\nyellow-skinned plantation practical joker, had terrorized the negroes\nof the neighborhood for three weeks, had been hidden away, and the\ngroaning roar of the powder keg lion was no longer heard in the land.\nMonday, the clerk at the store and the master of the plantation,\nguarded the secret carefully and the negroes, who no longer heard\nthe terrible voice echoing through the woods at night, or along the\nreeds by the river, believed that the lion, exorcised by the spirit of\nprayer, had departed from among them and gone to some less regenerate\ncommunity. Those who had told marvelous tales of the fierce creature\nwhose flaming eyes had burned into their souls, whose bloody jaws had\nfrozen them with fright, told and retold with elaboration and close\nattention to detail,--and finally themselves believed, the first told\nstories of their encounters with the monster. Some of those who had\nhad no personal experience with the lion of Lewisburg believed only\npart of the oft told tales. Others were frankly skeptical, for, while\npractically all of them believed in the lion, few were willing to yield\nto the story-tellers the prestige of having come unscathed through such\nperilous adventures. These stories are always liberally discounted\namong the negroes, however. At a \u201cbaptizing\u201d on the Combahee, the big\nblack pastor had doused in the canal one after another of the \u201cseeking\u201d\nsisters. They emerged from the turbid waters gurgling and choking, but\nall were too full of water, or the spirit, for utterance. At last one\nlusty wench with better breath control than the others came up smiling,\nand with wind enough for speech. \u201cOh Jedus!\u201d she yelled, determined to\ncreate a sensation, \u201cuh see Gawd onduhneet\u2019 de water! Uh fin\u2019 me Gawd.\n_\u2019E look \u2019puntop me!_\u201d\n\n\u201cYou lie!\u201d said the envious sister who had just preceded her, \u201c_\u2019tis\ncootuh!_ Enty I shum?\u201d\n\nGradually the negroes recovered their confidence, and resumed their\nnocturnal rambles, visiting from one plantation to another, but they\nusually went in small companies and seldom adventured alone, save\nwhen some bibulous man, glimpsing the \u201cskollup\u2019 petticoat\u201d of the\nperipatetic bootlegger from White Hall as she swished her starched\nsymbol through the Lewisburg quarters on Saturday nights, followed with\nparched tongue and arid throat to some convenient spot where coin could\nbe exchanged for contraband.\n\nIn some way it was generally understood that, supplementing the\nplantation prayers, \u201cMass Clinch,\u201d through personal magnetism or\nthe exercise of some former-gubernatorial authority, had had a\ngreat deal to do with speeding the going leonine guest. This rumor\ntraveled by grapevine thirty-odd miles from Combahee to Adams Run,\nthe abiding place of Joe Fields, the former governor\u2019s former slave,\nwhose confidence in \u201cMaussuh\u2019s\u201d powers of accomplishment, equalled\nthe Mohammedan belief in the esteemed Prophet\u2019s ability to stock the\nHereafter with Houris. It was true that \u201cMaussuh\u201d had commanded the\nroaring to cease--and it did, but Joe\u2019s imagination insisted upon\nsupplying all the \u201ccorroborative detail.\u201d\n\nJoe foregathered with some of his friends at the railway station,\nfor things were not going pleasantly at home. His wife Philippa was\none of those hard-working, aggravating creatures who, by her very\nindustry and self-abnegation, forced upon the lordly loafer by whom\nshe was husbanded a sense of his own inferiority. Philippa worked out\namong the white people, cooking and washing and scrubbing, while Joe\nrode about on a mortgaged horse or ox and boasted as a Sir Oracle at\nthe Cross Roads or the station. Philippa was always willing to feed\nJoe, but she was none the less ready to season his food with the sauce\nof her tongue, and whenever she came home, her sense of duty urged\nher to remind Joe of his shortcomings. Once a fighter, hard work and\nscanty food had worn her body and somewhat broken her spirit, and\nshe no longer thrashed her grown daughter Christopher Columbus as\nshe once did, \u201cjes\u2019 \u2019cause \u2019e look lukkuh \u2019e pa,\u201d but Joe, having to\ntake the sauce with the meat, seldom wasted time in replying that he\ncould utilize in eating, and thus the more speedily put himself out of\nearshot. Once away among his cronies, however, he expressed himself\nboldly and truculently. \u201cDa\u2019 \u2019ooman keep on fuh onrabble \u2019e mout\u2019 \u2019tell\nuh w\u2019ary fuh yeddy\u2019um. \u2019E stan\u2019 sukkuh briah patch w\u2019en blackberry\nripe. \u2019E gi\u2019 you bittle fuh eat, but \u2019e \u2019cratch you w\u2019ile you duh\neat\u2019um! Him iz uh fait\u2019ful \u2019ooman fuh true, en\u2019 \u2019e lub fuh wu\u2019k, but\nw\u2019en him dey home, uh yent fuh hab no peace. Seem lukkuh nutt\u2019n\u2019 wuh uh\ndo nebbuh suit\u2019um. Ef uh seddown een me rockin\u2019 cheer duh fiah fuh tek\nme res\u2019 w\u2019ile uh duh nyam me bittle, \u2019e fau\u2019t me fuh dat. Same fashi\u2019n\nef uh git \u2019puntop me oxin fuh ride to de Cross Road, oonuh kin yeddy\u2019um\ntalk \u2019bout uh lazy man ent wut!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019E ebbuh fau\u2019t you w\u2019en you got axe, eeduhso hoe een yo\u2019 han\u2019?\u201d\n\n\u201cWho, me? _Me_ fuh hab hoe een me han\u2019? No, suh! Maussuh\u2019 nigguh ent\nfuh hol\u2019 hoe! Wuffuh me haffuh hol\u2019 hoe w\u2019en uh hab po\u2019buckruh nigguh\nfuh wife? _Him_ fuh hol\u2019 hoe! Philpuh\u2019 maussuh duh po\u2019 buckruh f\u2019um\ntown. Him binnuh bake bread ebbuh sence slabery time. Wuh him ebbuh do?\n_Him_ ebbuh kill lion?\u201d\n\n\u201c_Kill lion!_ Wuh you duh talk \u2019bout nigguh? Whoebbuh you ebbuh yeddy\nkin kill lion?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy maussuh fuh kill\u2019um!\u201d\n\n\u201cGo\u2019way, Joe! You duh dream. Een de fus\u2019 place, no lion ent fuh dey een\ndis country, een de two place, you ent got no maussuh, en\u2019 een de t\u2019ree\nplace, ef you iz bin hab maussuh, him ent able fuh kill no lion.\u201d\n\n\u201cMe yent hab no maussuh! Enty you know suh uh nyuse to blonx to Mass\nClinch Heywu\u2019d to Lewisbu\u2019g plantesshun \u2019puntop Cumbee? Oonuh eegnunt\nnigguh\u2019, oonuh yent know suh him hab t\u2019ree t\u2019ous\u2019n\u2019 acre\u2019 rice en\u2019\nmo\u2019nuh t\u2019ree t\u2019ous\u2019n\u2019 nigguh\u2019 en\u2019 mule en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019? Oonuh nebbuh yeddy\n\u2019bout da\u2019 lion wuh git\u2019way f\u2019um de sukkus to Orangebu\u2019g todduh day\nen\u2019 gone down Sawlketchuh swamp \u2019tell \u2019e git Cumbee, en\u2019 \u2019e run all\nMaussuh\u2019 nigguh\u2019 out \u2019e fiel\u2019 en\u2019 \u2019e mek Maussuh\u2019 ob\u2019shay, Mistuh\nJokok, fuh climb tree?\u201d\n\n\u201cNobody nebbuh yeddy \u2019bout\u2019um, Joe, en\u2019 _you_ nebbuh yeddy \u2019bout\u2019um.\nHukkuh you fuh yeddy \u2019bout\u2019um? You bin Cumbee?\u201d\n\n\u201cUh yent bin no Cumbee, but uh got uh tittie lib on Maussuh\u2019 place\nCumbee, dat how uh yeddy \u2019bout\u2019um.\u201d\n\n\u201cWuh yo\u2019 tittie tell you, Joe?\u201d\n\n\u201cW\u2019en de lion git\u2019way out de sukkus \u2019e gone spang f\u2019um Orangebu\u2019g to\nSawlketchuh swamp en\u2019 \u2019e nebbuh stop \u2019tell \u2019e git Lewisbu\u2019g!\u201d\n\n\u201cWuffuh him haffuh stop Lewisbu\u2019g, Joe?\u201d\n\n\u201cEnty you know suh Maussuh\u2019 nigguh\u2019 fat? Maussuh\u2019 nigguh\u2019 fat fuh sowl!\nLion hab sense \u2019nuf fuh know fat nigguh w\u2019en \u2019e shum, en\u2019 him kin smell\n_fat_ nigguh mo\u2019 fudduh den him kin smell _po\u2019_ nigguh, en\u2019 Maussuh mek\nshishuh hebby crap uh rice en\u2019 \u2019tettuh en\u2019 t\u2019ing dat him nigguh\u2019 fat\nmo\u2019nuh all dem todduh nigguh\u2019 \u2019puntop Cumbee ribbuh!\n\n\u201cSoon ez de lion git Lewisbu\u2019g, \u2019e stop. \u2019E know suh him bittle dey\ndey, en\u2019 \u2019e mout\u2019 biggin fuh run water. Bumbye duh night-time, \u2019e woice\nroll een Maussuh\u2019 pinelan\u2019 en\u2019 all dem nigguh\u2019 tarrify\u2019 sukkuh chickin\ntarrify\u2019 w\u2019en fu\u2019lhawk\u2019 wing t\u2019row shadduh obuhr\u2019um! Dem nigguh\u2019 \u2019f\u2019aid\n\u2019tell dem fool! Dem lock demself een dem house duh night, en\u2019, alldo\u2019\n\u2019e duh summuhtime, dem mek fiah fuh bu\u2019n so de lion cyan\u2019 come down\nde chimbly. W\u2019en de lion cyan\u2019 git no nigguh\u2019 fuh eat \u2019cause dem all\nlock\u2019up, \u2019e gone duh \u2019ood en\u2019 meet uh cow en\u2019 \u2019e kill _him_ fuh \u2019e\nbittle. W\u2019en \u2019e done nyam de t\u2019ree cow--\u201d\n\n\u201c_T\u2019ree cow!_ Joe, hukkuh him kin eat t\u2019ree cow\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e only kill one?\u201d\n\n\u201cHim nyam t\u2019ree cow\u2019, enty? Him kin nyam\u2019um uh dunkyuh ef \u2019e yent dead.\nYou ebbuh see lion? Wuh Pon Pon nigguh know \u2019bout lion? Seem lukkuh\nw\u2019en \u2019e done nyam dem t\u2019ree cow\u2019, \u2019e jis\u2019 mek\u2019um fuh hongry good, en\u2019\n\u2019e gone back nigguhhouse yaa\u2019d fuh see ef him kin git uh chance fuh\nnyam nigguh\u2019. \u2019E walk up en\u2019 down, \u2019e t\u2019rash\u2019 \u2019e tail, \u2019e gnash\u2019 \u2019e\nteet\u2019 en\u2019 \u2019e holluh sukkuh jackass en\u2019 alligettuh en\u2019 bull all t\u2019ree\none time! You kin yeddy dem nigguh\u2019 een dem house duh pray. Dem eb\u2019ry\nGawd\u2019 one prommus dem Jedus fuh folluh Him wu\u2019d, ef \u2019e only spayre dem\nlife. One tell\u2019um suh ef Him tek de lion\u2019 jaw off\u2019um, him nebbuh t\u2019ief\nMaussuh\u2019 rice no mo\u2019, en\u2019 eb\u2019ry one tell de Lawd \u2019bout some uh dem\nlight sin wuh dem willin\u2019 fuh t\u2019row\u2019way ef dem life sabe.\u201d\n\n\u201cLight sin! Mekso dem ent prommus fuh t\u2019row\u2019way dem hebby sin?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, man, dem ent fuh t\u2019row\u2019way dem hebby sin, uh dunkyuh ef lion crack\ndem bone\u2019. Een slabery time nigguh baig \u2019e maussuh\u2019 paa\u2019d\u2019n fuh t\u2019ief\n\u2019e fowl w\u2019en \u2019e git ketch, but w\u2019en \u2019e kill _cow_, \u2019e nebbuh crack \u2019e\nteet\u2019, en\u2019 eb\u2019n so ef \u2019e maussuh ketch\u2019um duh skin de cow, him fuh tell\n\u2019e maussuh \u2019e fin\u2019um dead een de \u2019ood, en\u2019 \u2019e duh skin\u2019um fuh tek de\nhide to \u2019e maussuh fuh sabe\u2019um f\u2019um buzzut! No, man; oonuh fuh hol\u2019\noonuh hebby sin sukkuh sheep buhr hol\u2019 mule\u2019 tail, \u2019tell Gabrull blow\n\u2019e hawn en\u2019 de Lawd tek\u2019um off!\u201d\n\n\u201cBumbye w\u2019en dayclean en\u2019 de lion nebbuh git no nigguh, \u2019e gone en\u2019\nkill fo\u2019 mo\u2019 cow\u2019, en\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e done nyam\u2019um \u2019e gone duh \u2019ood en\u2019\nleddown fuh tek \u2019e res\u2019, en\u2019 nobody nebbuh yeddy\u2019um \u2019gen \u2019tell Sat\u2019d\u2019y\nnight come. All t\u2019ru de week de nigguh\u2019 swonguh en\u2019 sattify een dem\nmin\u2019 \u2019cause dem t\u2019ink suh dem pray\u2019 mek de lion fuh gone\u2019way en\u2019\nle\u2019m\u2019lone, but \u2019e yent duh no pray\u2019 mek\u2019um fuh gone, duh dem fo\u2019 cow\u2019\nwuh \u2019e nyam, mek\u2019 \u2019e belly full \u2019tell \u2019e yent hab no room fuh nigguh!\u201d\n\n\u201cW\u2019en Sat\u2019d\u2019y night come, de lion holluh \u2019gen en\u2019 all de nigguh\u2019 run\nout de sto\u2019 en\u2019 gone een dem house fuh hide. Monday come, en\u2019 de\nnigguh\u2019 \u2019f\u2019aid fuh gone een Maussuh\u2019 fiel\u2019 fuh wu\u2019k. Mistuh Jokok dunno\nwuh fuh do. Him sen\u2019 uh ansuh to Cuhlumbia fuh tell Maussuh \u2019cep\u2019n\u2019 him\ncome Lewisbu\u2019g, all him nigguh\u2019 fuh eat. Maussuh ride de train. \u2019E\ncome. \u2019E git off W\u2019ite Hall deepo, \u2019e git \u2019pun \u2019e hawss, \u2019e tu\u2019n to \u2019e\nob\u2019shay, \u2019Jokok,\u2019 \u2019e say, \u2018Weh da\u2019 annimel fuh hide? Lemme shum!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cMistuh Jokok tell\u2019um de las\u2019 time dem yeddy \u2019e woice, \u2019e bin een de\nt\u2019icket en\u2019 reed en\u2019 t\u2019ing by de ribbuh bank. Maussuh nebbuh wait fuh\nyeddy no\u2019 mo\u2019. \u2019E snatch \u2019e rifle out\u2019uh Mistuh Jokok\u2019 han\u2019, \u2019e jam\n\u2019e two spuhr een e\u2019 hawss\u2019 belly, \u2019e hawss jump\u2019 nine foot off de\ngroun\u2019 een de ellyment, en\u2019 \u2019e gone! Maussuh run \u2019e hawss \u2019tell \u2019e git\n\u2019cross de causeway \u2019pun de ribbuh bank, den \u2019e biggin fuh ride slow\nen\u2019 t\u2019row \u2019e yeye befor\u2019um fuh see weh da\u2019 t\u2019ing fuh hide. W\u2019en \u2019e git\nclose de briah en\u2019 t\u2019ing, \u2019e hawss cock\u2019 \u2019e yez befor\u2019um, \u2019e snawt\u2019\nen\u2019 \u2019e \u2019tan\u2019up \u2019trait \u2019pun \u2019e hine foot. W\u2019en \u2019e do dat, Maussuh know\nsuh de lion dey een dem bush! De hawss come down \u2019pun \u2019e fo\u2019 foot. \u2019E\nduh shake sukkuh rice t\u2019rasher shake. Maussuh yeddy sump\u2019nurruh duh\ngroan een de t\u2019icket. Bumbye de lion come out. W\u2019en \u2019e op\u2019n\u2019 \u2019e mout\u2019\n\u2019e teet\u2019 long sukkuh cawncob! Maussuh t\u2019row \u2019e rifle to \u2019e yeye. \u2019E\nonly hab one ball een\u2019um en\u2019 \u2019e know suh ef him ent kill da\u2019 t\u2019ing\n_dead_, da\u2019 lion fuh nyam him en\u2019 \u2019e hawss alltwo. Maussuh tek aim at\n\u2019e t\u2019roat. \u2019E cut loose, \u2018_bam!_\u2019 W\u2019en de gun crack, \u2019e look! De lion\u2019\nhead roll down de bank \u2019tell \u2019e fall een de ditch! Maussuh cantuh up to\nLewisbu\u2019g. \u2019E tell Mistuh Jokok fuh sen\u2019 uh waagin en\u2019 fo\u2019 mule\u2019 fuh\nfetch\u2019um to de yaa\u2019d. Dem medjuhr\u2019um en\u2019 \u2019e stan\u2019 t\u2019irteen foot long!\nW\u2019en de nigguh\u2019 yeddy suh \u2019e dead, dem stop wu\u2019k en\u2019 dem fuh mek fiah\nen\u2019 shout roun\u2019 da\u2019 lion de Gawd\u2019 night! Bumbye buckruh\u2019 come fuh look\n\u2019puntop\u2019um en\u2019 w\u2019en dem yeddy suh \u2019e seb\u2019nteen foot long, dem \u2019stonish!\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, uh \u2019spec\u2019 nigguh\u2019 en\u2019 buckruh\u2019 alltwo fuh \u2019stonish ef dem kin\nyeddy you fuh tell\u2019um, Joe. Da\u2019 lion duh git mo\u2019 longuh! W\u2019ile ago you\nbin fuh mek\u2019um t\u2019irteen foot long.\u201d\n\n\u201cFus\u2019 time dem medjuhr\u2019um \u2019e yent bin hab no head. Enty \u2019e fuh medjuh\nmo\u2019 attuh dem tie \u2019e head back \u2019pun \u2019e neck weh Maussuh\u2019 ball cut\u2019um\noff? Oonuh mus\u2019be fool!\u201d\n\n\u201cJoe,\u201d said another doubting crony, \u201chukkuh da\u2019 leely ball kin fuh cut\noff da\u2019 lion\u2019 head? \u2019E tek soad, eeduhso axe, fuh do da\u2019 t\u2019ing?\u201d\n\n\u201cWho\u2019 Maussuh kill da lion! Duh yo\u2019 Maussuh, enty? Enty uh tell oonuh\neegnunt nigguh\u2019 suh de hawss skayre \u2019tell \u2019e shake, en\u2019, same time\nMaussuh pull\u2019 \u2019e trigguh, de hawss trimble\u2019 \u2019tell \u2019e mek da\u2019 ball fuh\nwabble \u2018cross de lion\u2019 neck \u2019tell _\u2019e cut \u2019e t\u2019roat f\u2019um yez to yez_!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\u201cOLD BARNEY\u201d\n\n\nOld Friday Giles was the English purist of Penny Creek. A former\n\u201cdriver\u201d and slave of Mr. Edward Barnwell, his manners were pompous,\nthough ingratiating. His speech was unusually good save for his\nludicrous use of \u201cshe\u201d and \u201cher\u201d for all things singular, animate or\ninanimate.\n\nFor many years \u201cOld Barney,\u201d an Ayrshire bull acquired from the\nBarnwell family, was the terror of all the negroes roundabout. True to\nhis Scottish breeding, Barney was both stubborn and acquisitive and\nlived up to\n\n    \u201cThe good old rule * * * the simple plan\n    That they should take who have the power\n    And they should keep who can.\u201d\n\nBarney had the power. Therefore he took. He loved green peavines as\nthe Scot loves his haggis, and whenever he fancied them he had but\nto lean against the miserable fences enclosing the negroes\u2019 patches,\nwalk through, and help himself. The negroes would shoot him up with\nfirearms and ammunition of all sorts and his hide was constantly full\nof lead of every size from mustard seed to swan shot, but fear kept\nthe marksmen from getting near enough to hurt him seriously, so Barney\nphilosophically took the lead without, and the peavines within, and\nafter eating his fill would lie down in the field and chew his cud\ncomplacently, walking out later through the owner\u2019s front yard, pausing\nto paw the dirt contemptuously and pull a few mouthfuls from the\nSeewee bean vines that climbed about the garden palings.\n\nOne day Friday\u2019s field was invaded, and, hat in hand, he came to the\ndoorstep to complain. \u201cMissis,\u201d he said, \u201cdat bull Baa\u2019ney, she is\nridickilus! Missis, I mek my fench ten rail high. I stake her and I\nrider her, but ole Baa\u2019ney she put her breas\u2019 agains\u2019 my fench, she\nlean on her, she break her down. She enter my fiel\u2019, she eat my peas. I\nshoot her, but she is indifferent to my shot. When she conclude eatin\u2019\nmy peas, she lie down, and, Missis, she was so full that she could not\nrise!\u201d But Friday was a gentlemanly old darkey and treated his sturdy,\nquick-talking wife, Minda, with great gallantry, _practical_ gallantry,\ntoo, as she bore him (and raised) 17 sons and daughters, thereby\nearning the well-done of her kindly though thrifty old master. \u201cMaussuh\nlub me \u2019cause uh hab chillun so fas\u2019,\u201d she boasted. \u201cI fetch\u2019um uh fine\nnigguh eb\u2019ry year Gawd sen\u2019!\u201d--meaning that the old gentleman had a\npre-Rooseveltian objection to race suicide on the plantation.\n\nAlthough old Bo\u2019sun Smashum, the herdsman, who had raised Barney from\na calf, would twist his tail in the barnyard and chevy him about with\nimpunity, the bull was truculent toward outsiders and on more than\none occasion disputed the highway with planters of the neighborhood,\nwho were forced to turn back and drive a mile or so out of the way\nin the interest of safety; while negroes riding or driving oxen, on\nsighting Barney in the road half a mile away, would take to the woods\nor the fields and make a wide and respectful detour. The danger would\nbe enhanced should the animal between the shafts of the primitive cart\nbe one of the \u201cbull yellin\u2019s\u201d so much affected by the freedmen for\ncombination purposes. The silly song, \u201cEverybody works but father,\u201d had\nnot then been evolved from the near-brain of the writer of music hall\nlyrics, and the labors of a beast of burden were held not incompatible\nwith the paternity of a bovine family. So these little creatures\nmultiplied and continued to lead their double lives. Barney held in\nutter contempt even the authenticated bulls of the community, but he so\nterrorized the little harnessed scrubs that their owners could hardly\navert a stampede when the great bull bellowed in the vicinity.\n\nOne hot Sunday afternoon three or four hundred negroes were holding\nservices at the old log church near the Parker\u2019s Ferry cross-roads.\nToo numerous for the building, they were using outdoor bush shelters\ncovered with green boughs and with hewn saplings for seats. At the tail\nof a \u201cdistracted meetin\u2019\u201d that had been running for several days, while\ngrass grew in their crops, they were in a state of exaltation, and\nthe high, sweet voices of the women blended in harmony with the deep,\nrich basses of the men in the perfect rhythm characteristic of African\nmusic. Old time hymns and \u201csperrituals\u201d alternated. At first, only two\nor three voices followed the leader, then one by one the singers joined\nin major and minor keys, until at the last the entire congregation\nswelled the diapason that floated away on the summer wind. The little\noxen and bulls, whose harness permitted the indulgence, lay down at\ntheir hitching posts, the less fortunate stood between the shafts and\nchewed their cuds, drowsing with half-closed eyes in the soft, warm air\nof the pineland, fragrant with the blossoming partridge peas.\n\nThe singers walked up and down the aisles of the open-air church,\nworking up enthusiasm in camp meeting fashion.\n\n\u201cSistuh Chizzum, won\u2019t you meet me yonduh?\u201d Sister Chisolm would, so\nshe responded to the masculine invitation, \u201cOh yaas, Lawd!\u201d\n\n\u201cBredduh Hacklus, won\u2019t you meet me yonduh?\u201d And Brother Hercules,\na wizened little member of Sister Chisolm\u2019s \u201cclass,\u201d shouted in\nacquiescent gallantry, \u201cOh yaas, Lawd!\u201d\n\nThe meeting drew to a close, the last inspiring \u201csperritual,\u201d of\nAfrican suggestiveness, remained to be sung. Who should raise the tune?\nSimon Jenkins the \u201csquerril\u201d hunter, a devout old rascal, called to his\nbrother-in-law, John Chisolm, \u201chice\u2019um, Chizzum! You hice de chune.\u201d\n\nJohn\u2019s resonant voice rolled out--\n\n    \u201cJedus, hol\u2019 de lion jaw,\n    Jedus, hol\u2019 de lion jaw,\n    Jedus, hol\u2019 de lion jaw,\n    \u2019Tell I git on de grazin\u2019 groun\u2019,\n    Oh, \u2019tell I git on de grazin\u2019 groun\u2019,\u201d\n\n    \u201c_Hol\u2019um, Jedus!_\u201d\n    \u201c_Don\u2019 tun\u2019um loose, Lawd!_\u201d\n    \u201c_Maussuh Jedus, hol\u2019 \u2019e jaw!_\u201d\n\ncame the responses in bass and treble, then, as the refrain again\nswelled and died away, \u201cOh-h \u2019tell I git on de grazin\u2019 groun\u2019,\u201d an\nominous \u201cmmmm, mmmm, mmmm, mmh! mmh! mnmh!\u201d rolled through the woods.\n\u201c_Duh Baa\u2019ney! Great Gawd, duh Baa\u2019ney!_\u201d shrieked the panic-stricken\nwomen who scattered in every direction, while the men ran to release\ntheir hitched animals as old Barney leisurely approached, routing\nsonorously. \u201cMek\u2019ace, gal, mek\u2019ace! Him duh walk sedate but \u2019e bex,\u201d\nshouted a man to a leggy, dry-boned black girl who, although guiltless\nof shoes and stockings, had worn to the meeting an antiquated hoopskirt\nwhich now impeded her progress. \u201cHice\u2019um, gal! Hice yo\u2019 \u2019coat en\u2019\n_run_!\u201d She \u201chiced\u201d her petticoat and ran, but the crinoline billowed\nabout her knees as she passed Dick Smashum on her way to the Savage\nplantation. Dick was duck-legged and as slow of speech as of foot, but\ndiscretion had urged him to get an early start and he was well out of\nthe danger zone. Later, when Atalanta\u2019s mother overtook him and asked,\n\u201cYou see my gal? Weh \u2019e gone?\u201d he replied. \u201cUh yiz see one sump\u2019nurruh\nduh run like de debble, gwine Sabbidge. \u2019E pass me duh paat\u2019, en\u2019 \u2019e\nbinnuh trabble so swif\u2019 uh yent ruckuhnize um \u2019zackly, but \u2019e stan\u2019\nsukkuh two blacksnake duh \u2019tretch out een one bu\u2019dcage.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\u201cBILLYBEDAM\u201d\n\n\nBillybedam was bibulous.\n\nNone knew how he achieved his devilmaycare nickname--the only name he\nhad, but everybody around Pocotaligo knew that he came by his thirst\nthrough patient industry, and that he loved his work. No round-paunched\nmonk of the Middle Ages, no Falstaff of the English taverns, ever\nabsorbed dusky Tuscan wine or Sherris Sack with more appreciative\navidity than Billybedam soaked up the \u201cFus\u2019 X\u201d corn sold on the sly\nby Yemassee blind tigers and bootleggers, for Billybedam had acquired\nhis \u201cliquorish mouth\u201d during the days, the glorious, honorable days,\nof the State Dispensary, when, under the operation of that \u201cGreat\nMoral Institution,\u201d certain sons of \u201cGrand old South Carolina\u201d had\nshown the world that the Caucasian was not \u201cplayed out,\u201d but could,\nupon occasion, graft like any freedman of the good old days of\nReconstruction!\n\nSo the bibulousness of Billybedam became a byword all about \u201cde\nYamassee,\u201d where \u201cde Po\u2019 Trial\u201d Railway--significant name--crosses the\nAtlantic Coast Line, and, not infrequently, the tempers of passengers\nbound for Beaufort and Port Royal.\n\nPerhaps it was the frequent pouring of libations--his gods were all in\nhis gullet--that enabled Billybedam to crook his elbow so expertly,\nbut this facility, and a marvelous twist of the wrist, contributed\nto his success as a fisherman, and the greater part of what he ate\nand drank and wore, came from the brown waters of the Salkehatchie,\nwhose deep and narrow current flowed between wooded banks a mile or\nso away. With rod and line he fished the stream by day, and many a\nstring of bream and redbreast perch was sold at the station to buy the\nprecious whiskey, while the narrow-mouthed \u201cblue cats,\u201d caught on his\nset lines over night, were traded among the negroes in exchange for his\nscanty food and shelter, for Billybedam was a bachelor and a vagabond,\nunattached and unaffiliated, and called no roof his own.\n\nSometimes in the spring when the sturgeon were running, the fisherman\nwould get the big-game fever, and, armed with a \u201cgrain\u201d which he threw\nas the whaler throws a harpoon, stationed himself on some log that\njutted out over the water, or in the fork of a low, overhanging tree,\nand took toll from the passing thousands. During the sturgeon run,\nwhen, too, mulberries and blackberries were plentiful, the negroes grew\nfat and \u201cswonguh\u201d and became more than usually irresponsible.\n\nThe heavy, sensuous Southern spring was in the air. The bayous or\n\u201cbackwaters,\u201d which irrigated the inland swamp ricefields, were dotted\nwith the sweet white pond lilies, or aflame with the yellow lotus,\nwhile over the broad leaves of lily and lotus, purple gallinules\ntripped daintily. Every log that floated and every stump that rose\nabove the water carried a string or a cluster of terrapins, their\nglistening backs reflecting the sunshine. The sloping trunks of the\nwillows that fringed the banks were festooned with water snakes,\nbasking in the grateful warmth. Here and there on tussock or muddy\nflat, rough-backed alligators lay dozing. Blue flags flaunted along the\nmarges. Tall white cranes stalked slowly about the shallows, pausing\nnow and then with spear-like bill poised, watching, waiting.\n\nBillybedam was full of the magic of the spring-time, but it was\nnot altogether a satisfying fullness, and as he pushed the shallow\nflat-bottomed skiff off from shore, he laid down the paddle long enough\nto eat a hunk of coarse corn bread and swallow a nip from his \u201cFus\u2019 X\u201d\nflask. And then, thoroughly satisfied with the world, he dipped his\nblade and, with alternate strokes to right and left, pushed the clumsy\nsnub-nosed bateau across the backwater to a famous \u201cdrop,\u201d a deep pool\njust below a gap in the dam where the dark waters flowed slowly through\nfrom an upper reservoir. This was Billybedam\u2019s favorite preserve\nwhenever high water in the Salkehatchie forced the river fishermen to\nseek their living elsewhere.\n\nToday, however, he made an unpropitious start. After his earthworm bait\nhad been repeatedly stripped from his hook by the troublesome silver\nfish, whose small mouths enabled them to nibble it away piecemeal\nwithout getting hooked, his cork bobbed furiously, and he jerked\nquickly, only to bring swinging over the boat one of the malodorous\nlittle black turtles commonly called \u201climus cootuh\u201d by the low-country\nnegroes. This unwelcome catch he disengaged from the hook and threw as\nfar away from him as possible. \u201cYou good fuh nutt\u2019n\u2019 _nigguh_! Yunnuh\nt\u2019ink me come spang f\u2019um Macfuss\u2019nbil fuh ketch limus cootuh, enty? Who\neenwite you fuh eat \u2019long fish? You ebbuh see nigguh eat \u2019long buckruh?\nDe debble!\u201d Running his cork a foot or two higher up the line, he\nfished at a deeper level and soon began to haul in fine perch, which he\nstrung on the willow withes he had provided. At the end of two hours\nhe had several strings of marketable fish, and, as the sun had set, he\npaddled to shore, threw away his now empty flask, tied his boat to a\nsnag, and started for Yemassee to convert his catch into cash.\n\nAn hour later, with silver jingling in his pocket, he encountered in\nthe dusk, Miss Maria Wineglass, a much sought-after ornament of colored\nsociety. Miss Wineglass was, in a manner of speaking, a peripatetic\nparadox. Altho\u2019 dour-looking and glum, she was noted for her spirits\n(80 proof); bootless and bare-legged, she was McPhersonville\u2019s most\ndaring and accomplished bootlegger, and so circumspect and resourceful\nthat she seldom met the law face to face.\n\nWhen her course crossed that of Billybedam, she was traveling an\nunfrequented path on the outskirts of the settlement, and, with little\nneed for caution, she walked rapidly, giving out as she moved a faint,\nhollow sound like the subdued tones of a xylophone. She hailed the\nbibulous one as a regular and valued customer.\n\n\u201cWeh you gwine, bubbuh?\u201d\n\n\u201cWuh you got? I gwine \u2019tell I fin\u2019um.\u201d\n\n\u201cI got \u2019nuf.\u201d\n\n\u201cGimme uh pint;\u201d and he held out half a dollar.\n\n\u201cGimme seb\u2019nty fi\u2019 cent. Dishyuh t\u2019ing hol\u2019 mo\u2019n uh pint.\u201d\n\n\u201cWuh kinduh t\u2019ing dat? Lemme shum.\u201d\n\n\u201cYuh him,\u201d and Miss Wineglass fumbled under her skirt and, from a\nmarvelously durable and comprehensive pair of bloomers made of two\ncottonseed meal sacks sewed together at the top, produced a gourd\nholding about three half-pints, and passed it over. The gourd was\nbottle-shaped and cob-stoppered and ingeniously laced about with\nhickory bark, as flasks of Chianti are wrapped with flags. The knocking\ntogether of half a dozen of these gourds, tied around her waist and\nsuspended within her bloomers, had produced the xylophone music. The\nmoney paid, they parted.\n\nBillybedam went his ways. Whatever the nature of the nepenthe the \u201cFus\u2019\nX\u201d extracted from the calabash, it so \u2019whelmed his wits that oblivion\nlurked in the bottom of the gourd and overcame him. He fell among\nthieves, who stripped him of a new shirt he wore and left him, in his\ntrousers only, by the roadside, where a local constable found him next\nmorning and haled him before the magistrate for being inadequately\nclothed on the public highway.\n\n\u201cWhat have you to say for yourself?\u201d\n\n\u201cCap\u2019n, uh yent hab nutt\u2019n\u2019 fuh say. Uh gone fish duh backwatuh, en\u2019\neen de fus\u2019 gwinin\u2019 off, uh did\u2019n\u2019 hab no luck, \u2019cause silbuhfish tek\nme bait en\u2019 uh nubbuh ketch\u2019um, en\u2019 one limus cootuh grab de hook en\u2019\nuh ketch _him_ en\u2019 t\u2019row\u2019um\u2019way, en\u2019 den uh ketch \u2019nuf fish, en\u2019 uh\ngone Yamassee en\u2019 sell\u2019um, en\u2019 uh binnuh walk duh paat\u2019, en\u2019 uh meet\none gal duh walk duh paat\u2019, name \u2019Riah Wineglass, en\u2019 uh yeddy\u2019um befo\u2019\nuh shum, \u2019cause \u2019e mek one soun\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e walk sukkuh cow foot crack\nw\u2019en him duh run, en\u2019 w\u2019en uh _yiz_ shum close, \u2019e frock duh bunch out\nall roun\u2019um sukkuh cootuh \u2019tring out \u2019puntop\u2019uh log, en\u2019 uh ax\u2019um,\n\u2019gal, wuh you got fuh fifty cent?\u2019 en\u2019 \u2019e say \u2019e yent got nutt\u2019n\u2019 fuh\nfifty cent but \u2019e hab \u2019nuf fuh seb\u2019nty fi\u2019 cent, en\u2019 I tell\u2019um \u2019lemme\nshum,\u2019 en\u2019 \u2019e hice \u2019e frock, en\u2019 him hab one t\u2019ing onduhneet\u2019 him\nfrock, dem call\u2019um bloomuh, uh nubbuh see shishuh debble\u2019ub\u2019uh t\u2019ing\nbefo\u2019 sence uh bawn! \u2019E hol\u2019 \u2019bout t\u2019ree-fo\u2019 bushel, en\u2019 \u2019e mek outuh\ngrano sack, en\u2019 britchiz duh \u2019e farruh en\u2019 frock duh \u2019e murruh, en\u2019\n\u2019e stan\u2019 sukkuh alltwo. Den de gal graff een da\u2019 t\u2019ing wunnuh call\u2019um\nso, en\u2019 \u2019e full\u2019uh de pyo\u2019 killybash \u2019long Fus\u2019 X, en\u2019 \u2019e ketch\u2019out\none en\u2019 gimme, en\u2019 uh gone off en\u2019 drink\u2019um, en\u2019 fus\u2019 t\u2019ing uh know uh\nyent know _nutt\u2019n\u2019_, \u2019tell de counstubble fin\u2019 me dis mawnin\u2019, en\u2019 las\u2019\nnight w\u2019en uh bin een one strance, some dem Macfussn\u2019nbil nigguh\u2019 t\u2019ief\none new shu\u2019t off me back, en\u2019,\u201d said Billybedam, \u201cuh tengk Gawd uh\ndid\u2019n\u2019 bin hab on uh new _britchiz_!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nA SHORT CUT TO JUSTICE\n\n\nEver since the days of Solomon, the courts and tribunals of the\nlaw in all lands have sought short cuts to justice, but one of the\nstraightest and strangest in the history of jurisprudence was achieved\nby one Daniel W. Robinson, colored, sometime Magistrate or Trial\nJustice of the sovereign State of South Carolina, for the Bailiwick of\nJacksonboro, in lower Colleton County.\n\nUnder the trying days of Reconstruction in South Carolina, the white\nmen and boys living in the so-called \u201cblack belt,\u201d comprising the\ncoastal counties of the State, were constantly seeking to lure the\nblack voters into the fold of Democracy, with but indifferent success,\nfor the wary freedman, under the secret instructions given him by the\nleaders of his own race and the white-skinned spoilers, native and\nalien, who controlled his political activities for their own profit,\nwas hard to wean away from the idols set up for him within \u201cthe awful\ncircle\u201d of the Republican fold.\n\nThese poor, deluded negroes, absolutely dependent upon their former\nmasters, the landholders, for food, for clothing, for shelter, for\nremunerative work--often for free medicines and medical treatment in\ncommunities where there were no doctors and no drug stores--though\nmaking profuse lip service for benefits received, forgot them all on\nelection day when, under the influence of the knaves who manipulated\nthem, they turned away from their best friends and, hurdled at the\npolls like sheep, voted blindly the ballots put into their hands by the\ncorruptionists.\n\nAt one of these elections the Republican ballot was headed with the\nnational flag in colors, swathed around the ample loins and spreading\nhips of the figure of Liberty, with the legend \u201cUnion Republican\nticket.\u201d One of these flamboyant affairs was secured from the printer\na day or two before the election and the Democratic tickets were also\nprinted in red ink with a rooster at the top, in the hope that some\nof the negroes might accept and vote them for Republican ballots. One\nof these rooster ballots was offered an old darkey at the polls by a\nDemocratic negro worker, but the wary old fellow had been rehearsed in\nhis lesson too well, and he rejected it indignantly, saying: \u201cNo, man!\nuh yent want da\u2019 t\u2019ing! Gimme da\u2019 ticket fuh wote wuh hab de gal wid de\nBalmuhral sku\u2019t wrop roun\u2019um!\u201d And he got it.\n\nThen came \u201976 and the \u201cStraight-Out\u201d campaign. Every white man and boy\nwho could raise two or three dollars to buy a few yards of flannel,\nsported a red shirt, usually put together by the loving hands of some\nmember of his family, but, occasionally, fearfully and wonderfully\nmade by a sweetheart or feminine acquaintance--some perhaps \u201ca little\nmore than kin,\u201d but all \u201cless than kind.\u201d The boys, however, upon whom\nhad been wished the needlework activities of their lady friends, wore\nthem jauntily nevertheless, absolutely indifferent to the want of\nco-ordination of \u201cseam and gusset and band.\u201d\n\nAs the campaign progressed and enthusiasm increased, an occasional\ncourageous black, taking his life in his hands and braving the hatred\nand ostracism of his fellows, even of his church and his family, would\nboldly put on a red shirt and ride with the whites to political\nmeetings or rallies. One of these, old Clitus Wilson, a life-long\nDemocrat, who, as his master\u2019s body servant, fought with him in the\nbattle of Gettysburg, flaunted his red shirt bravely and defiantly.\nAnother was Paul Jenkins, a thrifty, property-owning negro, whose\ncourageous work in the first Hampton campaign was remembered by the\nwhites, who elected him county commissioner soon after the Democrats\ncame into power. Paul, a wiry, coal-black negro, was once beset by\nseveral members of the Grant family, \u201cFree-Issue\u201d mulatto Republicans,\nand cruelly beaten. In the courts of radicalism there was no redress\nfor a negro Democrat, but Paul bided his time and, meeting one of the\nGrants alone, retaliated so vigorously that the mulatto was laid up for\na week. The victim went before Trial Justice Robinson, over the river\nat Jacksonboro, and swore out a warrant, charging Paul with aggravated\nassault and battery.\n\nPaul, summoned to appear on the following Saturday, came in great\ntrouble to a stripling planter of the neighborhood who willingly\naccompanied him to see that the Democrat got justice, and to go on his\nbond in case he should be sent up to a higher court.\n\nOn Saturday morning the deep and swift Edisto, lacking a ferry,\nwas crossed in a shallow bateau, the saddle-horses, held by their\nbridles, swimming alongside, and the accused and his protector soon\nappeared before the august Court, sitting in a small shanty, facing an\nimposing layout of writing materials and a copy of the statutes. The\nyoung planter told the Court that he had come over with Paul to look\nafter his interests and see that he got justice. The Court responded\ngraciously that he was \u201cglad to welcome the distinguished counsel from\nacross the river\u201d and took pleasure in extending to him the courtesies\nof his Court.\n\nA jury was asked for and Justice Robinson, calling up some of the idle\nnegroes who hung about his office, selected five elderly darkeys, all\nof them as black as crows. To these five jurors the magistrate added\n\u201cthe distinguished counsel from across the river,\u201d whom he graciously\nrequested to consent to serve as foreman. In the interest of justice\nthe request was complied with.\n\nGrant, the aggrieved, appeared as prosecuting witness, \u201ctore a passion\nto tatters\u201d in describing the sudden and furious onslaught made upon\nhim by the black Democrat, and rantingly demanded justice. Paul simply\ntold the story of the attack made upon him by the Grant family and\nadmitted his retaliation, which he held was justifiable, and the jury\nwithdrew to a vacant room nearby which was indicated as the place of\ndeliberation.\n\nThe foreman was given a primitive split white-oak chair with a rawhide\nseat, while his five dusky associates ranged themselves like roosting\nbuzzards upon a teetering bench, whose supports, two short boards\nsawed into the semblance of legs at the bottom, were placed so close\ntogether that the utmost skill was required on the part of the sitters\nto maintain their equilibrium, for if the central section rose, both\nend men had to sit tight until they could rise simultaneously, else the\nlaggard would be in jeopardy.\n\nAnd now the jurors were ready for the case. Paul, having beaten his\nman fairly and in righteous retaliation, was entitled to an acquittal\nand to this end the foreman directed his efforts. As a preliminary,\nPaul was called to the shanty window, provided with sixty cents, and\ndespatched to Arnold\u2019s store for a quart of corn whiskey. Upon his\nreturn with the pallid pop-skull, there was an excited shifting of\nfive seats on the shaky bench and five pairs of eagerly expectant\neyes rested their kindly regard upon the messenger of Bacchus as he\nwithdrew, leaving his fate in their hands.\n\nThe lone and crafty Caucasian, playing Iago to five Othellos, picked\nout a gorilla-like old codger on the near end of the bench as the\ndominant personality among them, and extending the flask told him to\ntake a drink and serve his fellows. Hacklus Manigo jumped up with such\nalacrity, and was followed so quickly by the negroes who sat next him,\nthat the near end of the bench, relieved of their combined weight, flew\nup, and the two remaining jurors tumbled ignominiously and indignantly\nto the floor. The grumbling of the fallen and the derisive guffawing of\nthe risen, ceased suddenly, however, as eight saucered and fascinated\neyes fastened upon old Manigo\u2019s Adam\u2019s apple which moved up and down\nhis neck in perfect unison with the \u201cglug, glug,\u201d of the liquid\nflowing so easily down his throat. The drinker\u2019s ocular and auricular\ndemonstration of hydraulics was too much for his associates, who cried\nout in indignant protest. \u201cTek\u2019care, man! We\u2019own dey een da\u2019 t\u2019ing!\u201d\n\u201cCap\u2019n, please, suh, mek\u2019um tek \u2019e mout\u2019 off da\u2019 bottle. \u2019E gwine drink\neb\u2019ry Gawd\u2019 drap!\u201d\n\nManigo, having absorbed almost one-fourth of the contents of the flask,\ngave it into the nearest of the eager hands held out to receive it,\ndrew his coat sleeve with a great swipe across his wet and glistening\nmouth, gave a grateful grunt, \u201cumh, da\u2019 t\u2019ing _good_! Tengky, Boss,\ntengky, suh!\u201d accompanied by an elaborate scrape of the foot and a low\nobeisance, and took his seat in the center of the bench, where he was\nsoon flanked by the four, whose watchful eyes, each upon the other, had\nnot permitted their attainment of Manigo\u2019s state of exaltation.\n\n\u201cNow, Manigo, and you boys,\u201d said Iago. \u201cThis is a plain story. Three\nor four yellow men double-team a black man and beat him up. He doesn\u2019t\ntake them to court but waits his chance, and when he catches one of\nthese yellow men away from his gang, why the black man beats him to pay\nhim back for what the yellow man helped to do to him. Now, that\u2019s what\nPaul did to this free-issue yellow fellow Grant. Paul is black like all\nof you. Do you want to send him to jail for laying hands on a mulatto,\njust because mulattoes think themselves better than you blacks?\u201d\n\n\u201cGreat Gawd, _no, suh_!\u201d shouted Manigo, springing up. Turning half\nway round out of respect to the foreman, he alternately jumped in the\nair and squatted like a gigantic frog, while he whirled his arms and\nharangued his fellow blacks, cutting his eye around now and then for\na nod of approval from Iago. \u201cDe debble! Punkin-skin\u2019 nigguh fuh beat\nblack nigguh en\u2019 black nigguh ent fuh beat\u2019um back, enty? Oonuh ebbuh\nyeddy \u2019bout shishuh t\u2019ing sence you bawn? Me fuh \u2019low yalluh nigguh\nfuh knock me en\u2019 me yent fuh knock\u2019um back! No, man! Uh knock\u2019um ef uh\ndead!\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, man, _knock\u2019um, knock\u2019um_!\u201d came the cries of approval as old\nHacklus, having put up his yellow man of straw, leaped about as he\nproceeded to bowl him over.\n\n\u201cUh yent fuh wait \u2019tell \u2019e knock me fus\u2019. Uh gwine knock\u2019um befo\u2019 \u2019e\nhice \u2019e han\u2019! Uh knock\u2019um een \u2019e yeye, uh kick\u2019um on \u2019e shin, alltwo\none time. Den uh butt\u2019um een \u2019e belly. Uh double\u2019um up \u2019cause \u2019e too\nswonguh, \u2019e too \u2019laagin\u2019! Cap\u2019n, who dis yalluh nigguh nyuse to blonx\nto een slabery time?\u201d he asked the foreman.\n\n\u201cTo nobody. He was free. He belonged to himself.\u201d\n\n\u201cGreat Gawd! Cap\u2019n, all dese\u2019yuh mans blonx to quality! All uh we yuh\nnyuse to blonx to Baa\u2019nwell, eeduhso Heywu\u2019d en\u2019 Wandross. All duh\njuntlemun\u2019 nigguh. Nigguh stan\u2019 sukkuh \u2019e maussuh. Ef \u2019e blonx to\njuntlemun, him gwine mannusubble, ef \u2019e blonx to po\u2019buckruh, him ent\nnutt\u2019n\u2019, \u2019cause uh po\u2019buckruh nigguh _ent wut_, but ef \u2019e blonx to\n\u2019eself, \u2019e blonx to nigguh, en\u2019 da\u2019 yalluh t\u2019ing wuh blonx to nigguh\ntek \u2019t\u2019oruhty \u2019puntop \u2019eself fuh knock nigguh wuh blonx to juntlemun,\nen bex w\u2019en de nigguh knock\u2019um back! No, suh, \u2019e mus\u2019 be fool! Leh we\ntu\u2019n Bredduh Paul loose!\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, man, _tu\u2019n\u2019um loose, tu\u2019n\u2019um loose_!\u201d came the chorus.\n\n\u201cWell, boys, before we go, you\u2019d better finish the flask.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Tengk Gawd, suh!_\u201d ejaculated old Hacklus whose mouth was now as\ncottony as a stump-tailed water moccasin\u2019s, as he lifted the flask to\nhis lips, \u201cme t\u2019roat dry. Uh binnuh talk.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Hol\u2019 on, man!_\u201d\n\n\u201c_Don\u2019 tek\u2019um all!_\u201d\n\n\u201cManigo drink\u2019 too hebby!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019E gwine dreen\u2019um dry!\u201d came the protests, but Manigo had swallowed\nthe lion\u2019s share before he passed the flask to the next man. \u201cBoss, we\nfuh pit da\u2019 yalluh Grant een jail, enty?\u201d and he was much disappointed\nwhen told it couldn\u2019t be done.\n\nThe jury returned to the Court room with their verdict of acquittal,\nand received the thanks of the Court, who assured them all, \u201cand\nespecially the distinguished foreman,\u201d of his appreciation of the\nexpedition with which they had dispatched the business of the Court.\nAs Paul and his protector mounted their horses for the homeward ride,\nDaniel stood bare-headed at the Court room door, and expressed the hope\nthat he might again welcome to his temple of justice \u201cthe distinguished\ncounsel from across the river.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nSAM DICKERSON\n\n\nFor many years after the war, Sam Dickerson, a former slave of the\nHorlbeck family, ranted around the courts of the lower counties of\nSouth Carolina in the practice of the legal profession, which he\nhad acquired in a jack-leg sort of way soon after his emancipation.\nTall, black, pompous, and as voluble as an overshot water-wheel, he\ncut his grotesque antics in higher and lower courts to the intense\namusement of blacks as well as of whites. He habitually carried with\nhim a bag of tawdry and greasy law books, which he hauled out and\nspread upon tables, wherever the space was available, to impress\njurors and court-room spectators with his importance. With monkey-like\nimitativeness he copied the court-room gestures and mannerisms of\nprominent lawyers of the white race, and he had memorized certain\npassages from the statutes and the law blanks, which he spouted\nwhenever opportunity offered. Upon one occasion Dickerson was defending\nin a magistrate\u2019s court a negro accused of larceny. The word written\non the indictment pleased him and he mouthed and slobbered over it as\none mouths the pit of a clingstone peach. \u201cDis man bin chaa\u2019ge\u2019, yo\u2019\nonnuh, wid laa\u2019ceny! He bin chaa\u2019ge\u2019 wid laa\u2019ceny! W\u2019at am laa\u2019ceny,\nyo\u2019 onnuh?\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you know what it is to steal?\u201d retorted the court.\n\n\u201cOf co\u2019se uh does, yo\u2019 onnuh. Laa\u2019ceny is t\u2019ief, en\u2019 t\u2019ief is steal,\nen\u2019 uh man w\u2019ich steal is uh man w\u2019ich enter anodduh man\u2019 house een\nde dead ub night en\u2019 did mos\u2019 feloniously steal, tek, carry away en\u2019\nappropriate to he own use de whole or uh paa\u2019t dereof uh de juntlemun\u2019\nproputty. But de chaa\u2019ge, yo\u2019 onnuh, am laa\u2019ceny!\u201d\n\nDickerson was so well known about the magistrates\u2019 courts of the City\nof Charleston that many prominent white citizens were attracted to\nthe trials when it was known that this simian-like advocate was going\nto participate in the proceedings, and it was quite the thing to take\nNorthern visitors or the captains of vessels in port, to the court room\nto see the black perform, and sometimes the magistrate, or the opposing\ncounsel, would be given a hint to stir him up for the entertainment of\nthe visitors.\n\nIn a trial before a Charleston magistrate, the black lawyer once sought\nto have a bad case continued because of \u201cthe absence of a material\nwitness,\u201d that threadbare plea so frequently urged in our courts. The\nmagistrate, inclined to bait him, insisted that the material witness be\nproduced in court forthwith.\n\n\u201cYo\u2019 onnuh, I hope you will not insis\u2019 upun de material witness bein\u2019\nproduce\u2019 een dis co\u2019t.\u201d\n\nThe court demanded his reason.\n\n\u201cYo\u2019 onnuh, de material witness am a female en\u2019 she cannot\ncunweenyuntly be produce\u2019 een dis co\u2019t.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy can\u2019t a female witness be produced in court? What is the matter\nwith the witness?\u201d\n\n\u201cYo\u2019 onnuh, I hope you will not compel me to state w\u2019at is de matter\nwid de material witness w\u2019y she cannot be produce\u2019 een dis co\u2019t.\u201d\n\n\u201cUnless you can give me good reasons why the material witness should\nnot be brought to court, I will insist upon going on with the case,\u201d\nsaid the court.\n\n\u201cYo\u2019 onnuh, I appeal to you as a juntlemun ub delicacy not to fo\u2019ce me\nto tell de co\u2019t w\u2019y de material witness cannot be produce\u2019 een co\u2019t.\u201d\n\nBut the appeal to the magistrate\u2019s delicacy of mind was of no avail and\nhe peremptorily ordered the case to proceed.\n\n\u201cWell, yo\u2019 onnuh, my delicacy will not permit me to state een de\nEnglish langwidge w\u2019at is de reason w\u2019y de material witness cannot\nbe produce\u2019 een co\u2019t.\u201d--just then a laugh from a gentleman of French\nextraction in the audience, caused him to turn his head, and he\nproceeded. \u201cYaas, suh, you kin laugh, but you cannot fo\u2019ce me to use\nde English langwidge, en\u2019 I will haffuh fall back on my French.\u201d Then,\nwheeling around and facing the magistrate, \u201cde reason, yo\u2019 onnuh, w\u2019y\nde material witness cannot be produce\u2019 een co\u2019t, is \u2019cause de material\nwitness is\u201d--just then a negro woman entered the room, and, hurrying up\nto Dickerson pulled him by the sleeve and whispered in his ear. Turning\ndramatically, he shouted, \u201cmay it please yo\u2019 onnuh, I hab jus\u2019 hear\nfrom de material witness en\u2019 I kin now resume de English langwidge.\nDe reason w\u2019y de material witness cannot be produce\u2019 een dis co\u2019t, is\n\u2019cause _de material witness hab two twin_!\u201d\n\nOn a certain summer day, twenty or thirty negroes from the Toogoodoo\nsection, assembled at the office of the trial justice at Adams Run\nstation to settle a legal matter. The dispute to be adjusted involved\nthe ownership of a brindled ox, to which claims, apparently equally\nstrong, were set up by two black ladies from \u201cDown on de Salt.\u201d One,\nBina Youngblood, the \u201clawfully lady\u201d of Scipio Youngblood, the other\nthe lone, though not lorn, Clara Jenkins, for the moment unaffiliated.\nScipio, the \u201csea-lawyer\u201d of the Swinton plantation, undertook to plead\nhis wife\u2019s cause before the magistrate, while Clara, having money in\nher purse, because, perhaps, she had just then no man to support, had\n\u201cdone git de buckruh fuh write uh letter town, fuh tell Sam Dickuhsin\nfuh come fuh rupezunt me een de co\u2019t.\u201d At 9 o\u2019clock Sam arrived from\nCharleston on \u201cde shoofly strain,\u201d as the negroes call the local which\nstops at all way stations. The ox, having caused mutual wool-pulling\non the part of both claimants, had been put in the custody of the\nmagistrate\u2019s constable, and, tied to the picket fence surrounding a\ncorn patch near the station, was chewing his cud complacently, viewing\nwith drowsy eyes the human turmoil about him. Clara laid excited hands\nupon the Charleston advocate and pulled him into the presence of the\nox, which she introduced. \u201cDish\u2019yuh duh him, Mistuh Dickuhsin. Dish\u2019yuh\nduh de oxin wuh me en\u2019 Mis\u2019 Nyungblood agguhnize \u2019bout. Uh buy dis oxin\nf\u2019um Bredduh Izick Puhshay wuh lib tuh Slann\u2019 Ilun\u2019 en\u2019 Buh Izick him\nbuy\u2019um f\u2019um de Jew wuh hab uh sto\u2019 to Wadmuhlaw, en\u2019 \u2019e buy\u2019um f\u2019um\nde Jew \u2019cause de oxin gone een de maa\u2019sh fuh eat, en\u2019 \u2019e bog een de\nmaa\u2019sh, en\u2019 de Jew stan\u2019 \u2019puntop de bluff en\u2019 \u2019e look \u2019puntop de oxin,\nen\u2019 \u2019e \u2019f\u2019aid \u2019e gwine drowndid, en\u2019 \u2019e shake alltwo \u2019e han\u2019 \u2019bout de\noxin, en\u2019 Buh Izick binnuh stan\u2019up close\u2019um, en\u2019 de Jew try fuh sell\u2019um\nde oxin, \u2019cause \u2019e t\u2019ink de oxin gwine dead een de maa\u2019sh, en\u2019 Buh\nIzick tell\u2019um him willin\u2019 fuh g\u2019em fibe dolluh\u2019 fuh de oxin, en\u2019 him\nwill tek\u2019um out de maa\u2019sh \u2019eself, eb\u2019nso ef \u2019e dead, en\u2019 de Jew tell\u2019um\nno, \u2019e yent fuh sell him oxin fuh no fibe dolluh\u2019 \u2019cause him kin sell\n\u2019e meat fuh mo\u2019n fibe dolluh\u2019 eb\u2019nso ef \u2019e done dead, but \u2019e say \u2019e\nwillin\u2019 fuh tek ten dolluh\u2019 fuhr\u2019um weh \u2019e stan\u2019. Buh Izick tell\u2019um him\nwill nebbuh git\u2019um out ef \u2019e dead, \u2019cause him well acquaintun wid uh\nquicksan\u2019 dey een de maa\u2019sh puhzackly weh de oxin duh bog\u2019up een de\nmaa\u2019sh, en\u2019 \u2019e say suh de quicksan\u2019 gwine swalluhr\u2019um up, en\u2019 den de\nJew ent fuh git nutt\u2019n\u2019. W\u2019en de Jew yeddy \u2019bout de quicksan\u2019, \u2019e dat\n\u2019f\u2019aid him gwine loss \u2019e oxin, \u2019e sell\u2019um tuh Buh Izick fuh de fibe\ndolluh\u2019, en\u2019 soon ez \u2019e buy\u2019um en\u2019 \u2019e done pit de money een de Jew\u2019\nhan\u2019, Buh Izick know berry well suh no quicksan\u2019 dey een de maa\u2019sh, en\u2019\ne\u2019 gone weh de oxin duh stan\u2019up een de mud, en\u2019 ketch\u2019um by \u2019e tail en\u2019\ntwis\u2019um two\u2019t\u2019ree time, en\u2019 de oxin walk out de maa\u2019sh jis\u2019 ez good\nez you en\u2019 me, en\u2019 Buh Izick git\u2019um een de flat en\u2019 fetch\u2019um \u2019cross,\nen\u2019 \u2019e nebbuh stop \u2019tell \u2019e git\u2019um spang home weh \u2019e lib. Uh bin to\nBuh Izick house de berry day w\u2019en him fetch de oxin home, en\u2019 uh yent\nhab nutt\u2019n\u2019 fuh plow, en\u2019 uh buy de oxin f\u2019um Buh Izick fuh fifteen\ndolluh\u2019, en\u2019 pay\u2019um ten dolluh\u2019, en\u2019 owe\u2019um de odduh res\u2019 uh de money.\n\n\u201cW\u2019en de Jew fin\u2019out how Buh Izick obuhreach\u2019um, \u2019e dat bex \u2019e yent\nable fuh nyam \u2019e bittle, en\u2019 \u2019e study all day \u2019bout how him kin git \u2019e\noxin \u2019gen. \u2019E h\u2019aa\u2019t hebby \u2019bout de oxin, en\u2019 \u2019e jaw drap eb\u2019ry time\n\u2019e t\u2019ink \u2019pun Buh Izick, \u2019cause him t\u2019ink suh nigguh ent fuh smaa\u2019t\n\u2019nuf fuh cheat no Jew. Nex\u2019 day \u2019nuf nigguh f\u2019um Swintun en\u2019 Toale gone\nWadmuhlaw full dig Irish tettuh, en\u2019 dem gone tuh de Jew\u2019 sto\u2019 fuh buy\ngunjuh en\u2019 nickynack en\u2019 t\u2019ing. Mis\u2019 Nyungblood en\u2019 \u2019e juntlemun alltwo\ngone to de sto\u2019, en\u2019 de Jew yeddy\u2019um duh talk \u2019bout one brinly oxin wuh\nbuy een dem nigguhhouse yaa\u2019d, wuh come f\u2019um Wadmuhlaw Ilun\u2019, en\u2019 de\nJew tell\u2019um yaas, duh him oxin, en\u2019 \u2019e tell\u2019um de oxin sell fuh true,\nbut all de money ent done pay, en\u2019 \u2019e sen\u2019 ansuh fuh tell me wuh got de\noxin fuh sen\u2019um ten dolluh\u2019 mo\u2019 fuh de oxin, \u2019scusin\u2019 him gwine tek\u2019um\n\u2019way en\u2019 sell\u2019um \u2019gen. Buh Scipio en\u2019 \u2019e lady alltwo fetch de Jew\u2019\nmetsidge jis\u2019 ez \u2019e come out \u2019e mout\u2019, but uh nebbuh bodduh \u2019bout\u2019um,\n\u2019cause uh know uh hab witness fuh de money uh done pay Buh Izick, en\u2019\nuh look tuh Buh Izick fuh puhteck me, but de nex\u2019 week Mis\u2019 Nyungblood\ngone Wadmuhlaw \u2019gen, en\u2019 de Jew \u2019suade him fuh buy de oxin fuh fifteen\ndolluh\u2019, en\u2019 him pay\u2019um t\u2019ree dolluh\u2019 on de oxin, en\u2019 de Jew g\u2019em uh\npaper fuh tek de oxin wehrebbuh \u2019e kin fin\u2019um. W\u2019en \u2019e git home, de\n\u2019ooman walk een my yaa\u2019d wid de Jew\u2019 papuh een \u2019e han\u2019, en\u2019 e\u2019 walk\nswonguh, en\u2019, please Gawd, \u2019e gone to de oxin weh \u2019e duh bite grass een\nde fench cawnuh, en\u2019 \u2019e tek\u2019um by \u2019e bridle en\u2019 staa\u2019t fuh lead\u2019um out\nde yaa\u2019d. Bubbuh, uh yent got no man \u2019bout de house fuh puhteck me,\nbut uh got dese ten finger \u2019puntop alltwo me han\u2019 fuh puhteck meself,\nen\u2019 w\u2019en uh see de \u2019ooman \u2019long de oxin, blood full\u2019 alltwo me yeye!\nUh peaceubble \u2019tell uh bex, but w\u2019en uh bex, uh ready fuh dead, en\u2019\nuh light \u2019puntop\u2019uh da\u2019 \u2019ooman same lukkuh fu\u2019lhawk light \u2019puntop\u2019uh\nchickin! Me en\u2019 him en\u2019 de oxin, alltwo tanglety\u2019up een de du\u2019t \u2019tell\ndem man een de nigguhhouse yaa\u2019d haffuh suffuhrate we. Nex\u2019 day me\u2019\nen\u2019 de \u2019ooman hitch \u2019gen, w\u2019en him come een de yaa\u2019d fuh onhitch de\noxin de two-time, en\u2019 uh \u2019cratch\u2019 him face en\u2019 him \u2019cratch\u2019 my\u2019own, en\u2019\nattuh dat, de trial jestuss yeddy \u2019bout\u2019um en\u2019 sen\u2019 \u2019e counstubble fuh\ntek\u2019way de oxin, en\u2019 lef\u2019 one metsidge fuh alltwo uh we fuh come Adam\u2019\nRun deepo fuh try de case, en\u2019 uh glad dem fuh try\u2019um teday, teday,\n\u2019cause me en\u2019 da\u2019 \u2019ooman en\u2019 da\u2019 oxin ent fuh lib tuhgedduh \u2019puntop no\nSwintun plantesshun!\u201d\n\n\u201cCome eento co\u2019t,\u201d yelled the constable, and Clara and her counsel went\nwithin.\n\nThe two principals and their partisans, glowering at one another,\nranged themselves on opposite sides of the little room, and the\nproceedings were opened. Bina came to the witness stand with a slowly\nhealing gridiron of scratches covering her face, tokens of the\nefficiency of Clara\u2019s finger nails, which courtesies she had handsomely\nreciprocated.\n\n\u201cUh gone Wadmuhlaw fuh dig Irish tettuh, en\u2019 w\u2019en middleday come, me\nen\u2019 all dem todduh man en\u2019 \u2019ooman gone to de Jew fuh buy bittle fuh\neat, en\u2019 him yeddy suh we come f\u2019um Swintun place, en\u2019 him yeddy we\nduh talk \u2019bout one brinly oxin wuh come f\u2019um Wadmuhlaw, wuh one uh we\n\u2019ooman buy f\u2019um Izick Puhshay, en\u2019 de Jew say suh de oxin duh him\u2019own,\nen\u2019 nex\u2019 time me en\u2019 my juntlemun gone Wadmuhlaw, de Jew say suh de\noxin ent pay fuh, en\u2019 him fuh sell\u2019um \u2019gen, en\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e say dat, uh\nbuy\u2019um en\u2019 pay t\u2019ree dolluh\u2019 exwance on\u2019um en\u2019 de Jew gimme uh papuh\nfuh tek de oxin wehrebbuh uh fin\u2019um, en\u2019 w\u2019en uh gone home uh tek de\npapuh en\u2019 gone een de \u2019ooman\u2019 yaa\u2019d en\u2019 tek de oxin out de fench cawnuh\nen\u2019 staa\u2019t fuh gone, en\u2019 \u2019fo\u2019 uh kin git out de yaa\u2019d, da\u2019 debble\u2019ub\u2019uh\nblacksnake ub uh \u2019ooman tek uh exwantidge w\u2019en uh yent binnuh study\n\u2019bout\u2019um, en\u2019 him git een de fus\u2019 lick, en\u2019 \u2019e yent sattify fuh \u2019cratch\nme eyeball\u2019 en\u2019 fight deestunt lukkuh lady fuh fight, but him haffuh\nbite me een de same time, en\u2019 \u2019e teet\u2019 shaa\u2019p ez ottuh\u2019 teet\u2019, en\u2019\nde \u2019ooman mek \u2019e fang\u2019 fuh meet een me yez, but me Jedus help me fuh\nobuht\u2019row\u2019um, en\u2019 befo\u2019 dem man suffuhrate we, uh done spile \u2019e face\n\u2019tell \u2019e maamy yent fuh know\u2019um! Uh gone t\u2019ru\u2019um sukkuh bulltongue plow\ngone t\u2019ru blackberry wine! You shum stan\u2019 dey? Duh me mek \u2019e mout\u2019 fuh\ntwis\u2019up oagly same lukkuh him binnuh chaw green possimmun!\u201d\n\nWith a curtsy to the court and a scornful glance at her opponent,\nBina retired, and after Clara had repeated word for word the story\npreviously related to her attorney--for some negroes have the\nfaculty of memorizing and repeating a romantic story over and over\nagain, omitting none of the mendacious minuti\u00e6--Scipio, a stout,\nself-conscious black, rose to match his plantation wit with that of the\nexperienced advocate.\n\n\u201cJedge, w\u2019en my lady ubtain dis cow f\u2019um de Jew tuh Wadmuhlaw--\u201d\n\nOld Sam rose impressively. \u201cDo my distinguish\u2019 fr\u2019en\u2019 frum Toogoodoo\nallude to de annimel dat is now een de custody ub dis honuhrubble co\u2019t\nez _cow_?\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, uh call\u2019um cow! Cow duh \u2019e name! Mekso me yent fuh call\u2019um cow!\nUh call\u2019um cow, uh dunkyuh ef e\u2019 duh _bull_! Enty roostuh en\u2019 hen\nalltwo is fowl? Uh call\u2019um cow, yaas! Wuh de debble town nigguh\u2019 know\n\u2019bout annimel?\u201d\n\n\u201cKin de \u2018town nigguh\u2019 eenfawm de distinguish\u2019 counsel,\u201d observed Sam,\nsarcastically, \u201cdat he is berry well acquaintun wid uh sutt\u2019n annimel\ndat eenhabit de jungle ub Aff\u2019iky, but, ontell teday, he hab always\nobserb dis annimel fuh hab tail. Puhhaps de specie\u2019 dat roam t\u2019ru de\nfores\u2019 ub Toogoodoo is bawn bidout tail!\u201d\n\n\u201cGreat King! \u2019E fuh call me _monkey_!\u201d protested Scipio, as the\naudience exploded with laughter, for however resentful they may be of\nsuch characterization by the whites, in their lighter moments, the\ncoast negroes, at least, delight in the exchange among themselves of\n\u201cmonkey,\u201d \u201c\u2019ranguhtang,\u201d \u201ccrow,\u201d \u201cbuzzut,\u201d \u201cblacksnake,\u201d \u201cnigguh\u201d and\nlike terms of opprobrious endearment. \u201cDa\u2019 \u2019ranguhtang f\u2019um town fuh\ncall me monkey! _Him gran\u2019daddy \u2019self duh monkey!_\u201d\n\nThe magistrate put a stop to these amenities between counsel, but\nScipio\u2019s verbal machine gun was jammed and, too full for utterance, he\ntook his seat, muttering wrathfully as Sam rose triumphant.\n\n\u201cEf it please de co\u2019t,\u201d said Sam, \u201cI repeah een dis tribunul fuh\nrupezunt dis defenseless female ub de Aff\u2019ikin race f\u2019um de paa\u2019simony\nub uh membuh ub de tribe dat tek Juhruzelum f\u2019um de Christ\u2019un t\u2019ree\nt\u2019ous\u2019n\u2019 yeah\u2019 ago!\u201d\n\n\u201cNow \u2019e duh talk\u2019um!\u201d commented a spectator.\n\n\u201cI am sattisfy\u2019, yo\u2019 onnuh, dat I kin repeal to yo\u2019 onnuh\u2019 sense ub\njestuss fuh gib dis po\u2019 \u2019ooman de puhtekshun to w\u2019ich de po\u2019 en\u2019 weak\nam eentitle\u2019 f\u2019um de rich en\u2019 de strong, \u2019cause, yo\u2019 onnuh, een de\nlangwidge ub uh distinguish\u2019 membuh ub de Chaa\u2019lstun baa\u2019, w\u2019enebbuh we\nenter de sacrid premussis ub uh co\u2019t ub law, we all seddown onduhneet\u2019\nde eagle ub jestuss as de chicken seddown onduhneet\u2019 de hen!\n\n\u201cNow, yo\u2019 onnuh, what am de fack? Dish\u2019yuh tenduh female, yo\u2019 onnuh,\nbidout de puhtekshun ub uh man fuh gyaa\u2019d\u2019um f\u2019um de human race, is\nt\u2019rowed on his back fuh puhteck \u2019eself, lukkuh de wil\u2019cat t\u2019row \u2019eself\n\u2019pun \u2019e back onduhneet\u2019 de harricane tree fuh refen\u2019 \u2019eself \u2019genst de\npack ub houn\u2019 by whom she is attacktid.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, him \u2019cratch lukkuh wil\u2019cat fuh true!\u201d commented Mrs. Youngblood.\n\n\u201cYo\u2019 onnuh, dis tenduh female buy de ox een queschun f\u2019um Izick\nPuhshay, uh respected citizen ub de Newnited State\u2019, en\u2019 she hab\nwitness fuh proobe dat de money wuz to him een han\u2019 pay, en\u2019 to\n\u2019stablish his \u2019t\u2019oruhty obuh de ox. De afo\u2019sed Izick Puhshay buy de\nox f\u2019um de Jew, de paa\u2019ty ub de fus\u2019 paa\u2019t, residin\u2019 een de premussis\nafo\u2019sed \u2019pun de Ilun\u2019 ub Wadmuhlaw, een de State ub Sous Cuhlina. De\nJew\u2019 ox hab fall eento de pit, yo\u2019 onnuh, en\u2019 \u2019less \u2019e is fuh perish,\nde ox is sell to Izick Puhshay, dis respected citizen ub de Newnited\nState\u2019 afo\u2019sed, who by his ability twis\u2019 de tail ub de ox en\u2019 mek\u2019um\nfuh \u2019bandun he puhsishun een de maa\u2019sh, en\u2019 betake himself to de high\ngroun\u2019. W\u2019en de membuh ub de tribe ub Juhruzelum see dat de ability ub\nde Aff\u2019ikin race sabe de life ub de ox, he feel disapp\u2019int\u2019 wid \u2019eself,\nen\u2019 he seek to agen ubtain de proputty dat he hab loss, en\u2019 \u2019e sell de\n\u2019denticul ox de two time, to de paa\u2019ty ub de secon\u2019 paa\u2019t.\n\n\u201cDeyfo\u2019, yo\u2019 onnuh, I mek uh plea fuh dis tenduh female ub de human\nrace, alldo\u2019 his skin is black, dat jestuss be done, en\u2019 dat his ox\nshall not be tek away.\u201d\n\nHis plea was effective, for Clara returned joyfully to Toogoodoo with\nthe restored ox tied behind the cart in which she had come, while Bina\nnursed her wrath to keep it warm until she could return to Wadmalaw to\nseek to recover her three dollars \u201cexwance\u201d from \u201cde membuh ub de tribe\nub Juhruzelum.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nSIMON, THE \u201cSQUERRIL\u201d HUNTER\n\n\nAs boys, a few years after the war, we knew him as a mighty squirrel\nhunter, and the negroes in the neighborhood knew him as a mighty\nslippery old scoundrel, whose smoothness had earned him the sobriquet\nof Okra--at once a tribute and a reproach--for the skill acquired in\nslaughtering \u201cde buckruh\u2019 cow en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019\u201d in the swamps, was sometimes\nused to lift a shoat from some nearby colored brother or sister when\nSimon did not care to hunt far afield, and, however commendable one\u2019s\nprowess in preying upon \u201cde buckruh,\u201d who, for purposes of spoliation,\nstood in the same relation to the newly freed slaves that the esteemed\nEgyptians did to the children of Israel, it was regarded in dusky\ncircles as somewhat unethical to steal from one\u2019s own color.\n\nAlthough always suspected, old Okra was never caught. When he killed\na cow or other large game, the hide, and the head with its telltale\near-marks, were carefully buried in the woods, and part of the meat\ndistributed among his cronies, insuring not only their protective\nsilence, but a full crop of elaborate alibis for Simon, should\nsuspicion ripen into accusation. \u201cNigguh haffuh stan\u2019 by we colluh,\u201d\nbeing the motto on all the plantations round about.\n\nThe squirrel hunter was as lean and hungry-looking as Cassius, with a\nshifty eye and a face deeply pock-marked. His footfall was stealthy and\nnoiseless and he could walk the woods from dawn to dusk without tiring.\n\nFor several years following the war, many low-country negroes carried\ncondemned army muskets which they bought for a dollar or two--long,\nheavy muzzle-loaders, straight of stock and hard of trigger. Although\nrifled, their proud owners rammed down and shot out of their grooved\nbarrels anything and everything but ball. Shot of uniform size was not\nonly held unnecessary, but really undesirable, an assortment of sizes\nrunning from No. 8 to No. 2, the latter called \u201chigh duckshot,\u201d being\nregarded as a mixed dose seriously jeoparding the safety of rabbit or\n\u201csquerril\u201d at a distance of \u201ctwo tas\u2019\u201d--two tasks (\u00bd an acre).\n\nMost of the new-fledged negro sportsmen were content to hunt the\nlittle cat squirrels that were plentiful in the wooded swamps and the\noak and hickory knolls, but Simon was ambitious and habitually hunted\nthe beautiful fox squirrels, grays and blacks, wary creatures, rarely\nmet with and found only among tall pines--sometimes in the long leaf\n_palustris_ of the ridges, but oftener in the great \u201cloblollies\u201d\nskirting the bays, the height of the trees and the Spanish moss that\nclustered thick about their towering tops, making them safe retreats,\nonce reached. One of these big squirrels would sometimes be surprised\non or near the ground, offering a shot before he got far up the tall\ntrunks which he always ascended rapidly with a great clatter of claws\non the bark, cunningly keeping on the off side from the hunter, but\nnever slackening speed till a fork or one of the higher branches was\nreached, upon which he would flatten out and keep absolutely still.\nEven a boy then knew it was wasting precious powder and shot to attempt\nto make him break sanctuary, but not so old Okra. He had implicit faith\nand infinite pride in the shooting powers of his old \u201cmuskick,\u201d--\u201cOle\nBetsey, him cya\u2019 shot fuh sowl,\u201d and he would crack away as long as\nhis ammunition lasted, at a gray or black spot at the tip-top of some\nforest giant; often indeed, at a dead squirrel, for these \u201cfoxes\u201d have\nan exceedingly inconsiderate habit of digging their claws so deeply\ninto the bark that they hang on after death and are hard to dislodge.\nOften the boy hunter roaming the woods, day-dreaming of the buck or big\ngobbler that was always about to spring up just ahead of him, to fall\ngloriously to his little single barrel, would hear at intervals the\nheavy \u201c_duhbaw!_\u201d of Simon\u2019s ordnance and know that the indefatigable\nold sinner was, like most of us, reaching up after the unattainable.\n\nCuriosity to learn how he was faring would sometimes overcome caution,\nfor Simon always begged for powder, and his ingratiating \u201cMass----\nso freehan\u2019,\u201d seldom failed to coax from the flask part of the boy\u2019s\nscanty store, but woe to the scanty store if Simon was permitted to\n\u201cpo\u2019rum.\u201d \u201cBerry well den, suh, you po\u2019rum,\u201d and into the deeply\ncupped palm of the avaricious hand he held out, the precious powder\nwould trickle. Simon never stinted his gun, and as long as the donor\nwould pour, the recipient had no scruples about drams running into\nounces. Whatever you poured into his hand went into the gun, and when\nshe responded in recalcitrance to a double charge, sending her owner\nstaggering back among the gallberry bushes, he would grin proudly and\nremark, \u201cHim duh tell we tengky fuh wuh we g\u2019em. Betsey him hab uh\nhebby belly fuh powder.\u201d\n\nOne crisp winter\u2019s day, Simon and his half-grown son, \u201cBoyzie,\u201d were\nencountered on a high pineland plateau dotted with a chain of shallow,\nsedgy ponds. Suddenly, from the marge of a pond a hundred yards away,\nthe plume-like tail of a big gray fox squirrel was seen waving jerkily\nover the ground as he ran for the timber. The party gave chase and\nsucceeded in putting him up in a clump of tall long-leaf saplings\nbefore he could reach the big trees. Simon\u2019s eyes shone like brown\npebbles through the sunlit waters of a shallow brook. His slouch was\ngone and he was all alertness, apprehension.\n\n\u201cWeh him, Boyzie? Weh him?\u201d\n\n\u201cYuh him, Pa! Yuh him! Shum! Shum!\u201d\n\n\u201c_Duhbaw!_\u201d boomed Betsey, and Simon reeled from the recoil as the\nload cut the top from a sapling down which the squirrel raced to the\nground and scampered off for a big pine not far away, rushing up the\ntrunk in long spirals. \u201cWatch\u2019um, Boyzie! Don\u2019 tu\u2019n yo\u2019 yeye loose\noff\u2019um \u2019tell I git Betsey load\u2019,\u201d and Simon hurriedly rammed down his\ncharge with many furtive glances at the watching sentinel to see that\nhe didn\u2019t \u201ctu\u2019n \u2019e yeye loose.\u201d Extracting from a greasy rag a huge\ncopper cap of the grandfather\u2019s hat pattern, he fitted the nipple and\ncocked his musket, as strenuous an operation as pulling the trigger,\nfor at half-cock Betsey\u2019s hammer leaned back like the head of a\nstrutting gobbler, while at the full, the cup yawned toward the heavens\nlike the crater of a miniature Mauna Loa. Circling the pine he tried\nto locate the squirrel now lying flat in a crotch near the crown of\nthe long-leaf, his long tail hanging down while his body was securely\nhidden. Boyzie pointed out the drooping tail. \u201cDey him, pa, dey him,\nbut \u2019e too fudduh. You cyan\u2019 reach\u2019um.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Who?_ Dat squerril? _Watch\u2019um!_\u201d The piece was raised, two sinewy\nfingers clutched the trigger with a jerk that would have disconcerted\nany aim, and the hammer, describing a parabola, fell upon the cap\nwhich exploded with a report like a parlor rifle, but Betsey\u2019s muzzle\nremained glum and silent.\n\n\u201c\u2019S\u2019mattuh, Betsey? You got \u2019ooman name en\u2019 you ent got \u2019ooman mout\u2019?\nYou cyan\u2019 talk? De debble!\u201d Another cap was fitted, another hopeful aim\ntaken and another futile \u201cpaow!\u201d echoed among the pines. Simon, now\nhaving only two caps left, accepted the suggestion that priming might\nhelp. He also accepted the powder which he poured with a liberal hand\ndown the capacious nipple and rammed home with a lightwood splinter.\n\n\u201cNow watch\u2019um come down.\u201d Another careful sight at the tantalizing\ntail up aloft, another \u201cpopped\u201d cap with a little blue smoke from the\npriming, and a sorely puzzled squirrel hunter.\n\n\u201cWitch mus\u2019 be pit bad mout\u2019 \u2019puntop Betsey. I \u2019spec\u2019 \u2019e done cunjuh.\u201d\n\n\u201cPa, is you pit any powduh een dat gun?\u201d\n\n\u201cWho? Me? Wuh gun? Betsey? C\u2019ose I pit powduh een \u2019um.\u201d\n\n\u201cBettuh try\u2019um,\u201d said doubting youth, and he did. When the shot was\ndrawn and the screw of the long iron ramrod clicked against the breech\nof the musket, old Okra\u2019s face was a study. \u201cYaas, ef I did\u2019n\u2019 bin\nhaffuh watch Boyzie duh watch de squerril, I wouldn\u2019t bin fuhgit fuh\nload\u2019um.\u201d Consoling himself with this shifting of responsibility,\nhe loaded deliberately and fired, bringing down, with a lot of pine\nneedles, half the squirrel\u2019s tail, which he stuck in the cord which\nbound his old hat with the remark, \u201cWell, ennyhow I git all wuh I shoot\nat. _Ef man kin git all wuh \u2019e try fuh git, him oughtuh tengkful!_\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE \u201cCUNJUH\u201d THAT CAME BACK\n\n\nLucy Jones, of Pon Pon, square and stout and widowed, had in her youth\nbeen as frequently husbanded as the Wife of Bath. One by one, however,\nthrough death, incompatibility of temperament, or indifference, she\nhad lost these affiliations, and now, a \u201csettled woman,\u201d Lucy lacked\nthe masterful ways and the loving club of a man about the house, for\nit is axiomatic among the Gullah ladies of the Carolina coast that\nlove and physical chastisement are inseparable. \u201cEf man ent lick you,\n\u2019e yent lub you.\u201d So, yearning for the touch of a vanished hoe handle\nor axe helve, Lucy languished. There was no longer satisfaction in\n\u201ccawnhom\u2019ny\u201d or \u201ctu\u2019n flour.\u201d There was no savor in \u201cpoke\u201d greens or\nlamb\u2019s-quarter. Fat bacon, while greasing her mouth, no longer anointed\nher soul. Her cabin was snug and comfortable, her bed was wide, and\ncovered with a patchwork quilt that would have made Joseph\u2019s coat look\nlike a drab jacket of butternut jeans. This quilt, slowly fabricated\nof all the bits of bright cloth--silk, cotton and wool--that she had\nbegged from \u201cde buckruh\u201d during a period of several years, she had\nstitched together with painstaking fingers and exalted soul, absolutely\nconfident that with its completion would come a husband to share\nits chromatic glories. \u201cAll de time uh binnuh mek dat quilt uh bin\nagguhnize een me min\u2019 duh study \u2019pun wuh kinduh husbun\u2019 uh gwine git\nw\u2019en \u2019e done finish. Sometime\u2019 uh t\u2019ink uh gwine git uh nyung nigguh,\nen\u2019 den uh \u2019membuh suh dese\u2019yuh nyung nigguh ent wut. Dem too lub fuh\nt\u2019row bone. En\u2019 den, \u2019nodduh time uh study en\u2019 uh t\u2019ink uh\u2019ll git uh\nsettle\u2019 man, but uh know berry well uh haffuh git some kind\u2019uh man\n\u2019cause uh lonesome tummuch, en\u2019 uh keep on sew de quilt \u2019tell \u2019e done,\nen\u2019 uh pit\u2019um on de bed, en\u2019 dat night w\u2019en uh gone\u2019sleep onduhneet\u2019 de\nquilt, uh hab one dream, en\u2019 one sperrit come to me een de dream en\u2019\ntell me suh me fuh marry Isaac Middletun.\u201d\n\nSo the notion got into her head. Isaac was tall, as Lucy was short;\nIsaac was thin, as Lucy was stout, and Isaac was wary, as Lucy was\npredaceous. Himself an elderly widower, he was living alone when Lucy\ndelicately intimated to him her desire to change the Welsh name of\nJones for the aristocratic English patronymic of Middleton. Middleton,\nacknowledging the compliment, politely declined the offer, preferring\nto keep his lonely cabin to himself. \u201cUh tell\u2019um wuh de sperrit say,\u201d\nshe said, \u201cen\u2019 uh tell\u2019um de sperrit say him fuh come fuh marry me dat\nsame night. Uh hab fait\u2019 een de sperrit\u2019 wu\u2019d, en\u2019 uh scour\u2019 out de\nhouse en\u2019 uh mek de bed, en\u2019 uh pit de tea by de fiah, en\u2019 still yet\nMiddletun ent come. Uh nebbuh know shishuh eegnunt nigguh. W\u2019en uh fin\u2019\nsuh \u2019e yent come, uh gone deepo fuh fin\u2019um, en\u2019 uh tell\u2019um \u2019gen wuh de\nsperrit say. Uh tell\u2019um \u2019bout de quilt en\u2019 de tea en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019, en\u2019 uh\ntell\u2019um nemmine\u2019 \u2019bout him house, cause myself hab house fuh alltwo uh\nwe fuh lib een, but Middletun ent haa\u2019kee to wuh uh tell\u2019um \u2019bout de\nsperrit. \u2019E say suh de sperrit hab bidness fuh talk \u2019long nyung \u2019ooman\nef de sperrit fuh send wife fuh him. Uh tell\u2019um uh nyung \u2019ooman cyan\u2019\nspecify fuh wife fuh settle\u2019 man lukkuh Middletun, \u2019cause dem lub fuh\ndress tummuch, but seem lukkuh uh cyan\u2019 git Middletun\u2019 min\u2019 straight.\u201d\nSo she \u201ctook her foot in her hand\u201d and went home, dejected but not\nhopeless, for she determined to stick to the trail, as the hound to the\nslot, until she ran the wily quarry to earth, to wit, cabin, for she\nhankered after him with an intense hankering.\n\n\u201cLucy Middletun,\u201d \u201cMis\u2019 Middletun,\u201d how it filled the mouth and the\near, and exalted the spirit with satisfaction! Ever since emancipation\nthe negroes have laid great store by their \u201ctitles,\u201d prefaced by\n\u201cMistuh\u201d or \u201cMis\u2019.\u201d Very dear to their hearts was the evolution of\n\u201cCuffee,\u201d \u201cCudjo\u201d and \u201cSancho\u201d of slavery, into \u201cMistuh Scott,\u201d\n\u201cMistuh Hawlback\u201d and \u201cMistuh Middletun,\u201d of freedom, and, in the\ntwinkling of an eye, \u201cDinah\u201d and \u201cBina\u201d and \u201cBella,\u201d the grubs, were\ntransformed into \u201cMis\u2019 Wineglass,\u201d \u201cMis\u2019 Chizzum\u201d and \u201cMis\u2019 Manigo,\u201d\nthe butterflies. So, as Lucy mused and spun the spider web of fancy in\nwhich she hoped to entrap the wary and unappreciative Isaac, her mind\ncrossed the stormy seas of Endeavor, and, resting in the snug harbor of\nAchievement, she thought of the deed as done, and imagined herself as\ngoing to work on week days, to church on Sundays, and to class meetings\nin the evenings, carrying, as appurtenant to her person, the longed-for\n\u201ctitle\u201d of Isaac, and as she thought upon the occasions when on public\nroad or by-path she should \u201cpass the time of day\u201d in the ceremonial\nsalutations so dear to her kind, she was filled to the jowls with\necstasy and her eardrums vibrated with the melody of \u201cMiddleton.\u201d\n\n\u201cMawnin\u2019, Mis\u2019 Jones, how you do, ma\u2019am?\u201d\n\n\u201cMawnin\u2019, Mis\u2019 Wineglass, uh tengk Gawd fuh life, but you know uh yent\nname Mis\u2019 Jones now. Me duh Mis\u2019 Middletun.\u201d\n\n\u201cDat so? I nebbuh yeddy \u2019bout Bredduh Jones dead.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, ma\u2019am, \u2019e yent dead, ma\u2019am, but him hab anodduh lady, en\u2019 me hab\nIsaac Middletun. You know dat same Mistuh Middletun lib close Adam\u2019 Run\ndeepo? Well, she duh my juntlemun now, en\u2019 me duh Mis\u2019 Middletun.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, ma\u2019am, well, mawnin\u2019, ma\u2019am,\u201d and so on.\n\nAnd always as Lucy sat in the sunshine before the cabin door and smoked\nher short clay pipe, or in the loneliness of night lay pondering and\nponderable under the quilt that looked like a county map of Texas,\nconstantly she projected thought waves towards Adams Run station,\nnear which abode the recalcitrant Middleton. Along this main-traveled\nroadway of the Atlantic Coast Line, many trains passed by day and\nby night. The shrill shriek of the local freight, as it took the\nsiding at the distant station, reminded her that Middleton\u2019s ears\nwere filled with the same sound. The hoarse warning of the Florida\nLimited at the curve, as it rushed southward filled with Northern\ntourists, who,--viewing from observation cars the fruit-laden thickets\nof gallberry bushes covering the damp, flat pinelands--marveled at\nthe prodigality of the Southern climate that ripened huckleberries in\nmidwinter, every whistle that blew along the busy line reminded Lucy\nof the railroad, and the railroad reminded her of the station, and\nthe station reminded her of Middleton. Theoretically, a member of the\ngentler sex has only to wish herself upon a man and the man is as good\nas wived, and the dogma that \u201ca woman has only to make up her mind to\nmarry a man and she gets him,\u201d is probably as old as the Creation,\nfor Adam, like the gentleman he was, accepted philosophically and\nuncomplainingly--even gallantly--the spouse which kind Heaven had\nwished upon him. But much thought had brought Lucy to the conclusion\nthat in her chase of a husband she was after all a dachshund, while the\nelusive Middleton was a fox. His defenses having proved impenetrable by\ndirect attack, she had tried sapping and mining without success, even\nthe \u201csperrit\u201d bomb projected Middletonwards had fizzled at the fuse,\nand her cabin and its encircling yard and garden were still, alas! \u201cno\nman\u2019s land!\u201d\n\nIn her desperation Lucy decided to conjure! Like old Lorenzo in \u201cLa\nMascotte,\u201d she believed in \u201csigns, omens, dreams, predictions,\u201d and\nalso in the potency of the dried frog, the blacksnake skin and the\nkerosene-soaked red flannel rag, as charms to pull a bashful wooer up\nto the scratch, to put a \u201cspell,\u201d resulting in sickness or death, upon\nan enemy, or for any other purpose suggested by the mind of the one\npreparing the charm, for, a sort of aftermath of voodooism, \u201ccunjuhs\u201d\nare still believed in by many of these superstitious people.\n\nLucy bethought her of old Simon, not an authenticated witch-doctor,\nfor he demanded no fixed fees, but a wily old sinner, a sort of\namateur in black magic, who gave advice free of charge, although his\nservices were always rewarded with gifts of eggs, or sweet potatoes,\nor clean rice. As snake skins and dried frogs were component parts of\nalmost all old Simon\u2019s \u201ccharms,\u201d the boys of the community frequently\nbrought him those they killed or found dead by the roadside. These,\nat his convenience, old Simon skinned and salted, or rubbed with\nashes and smoked and dried and put away, for use when occasion should\nrequire. The low-country negroes seldom pass a dead frog lying on its\nback, believing that if so exposed for any length of time, rain will\ninevitably follow, and those so found, if not turned over to prevent\nthe floods from Heaven, were taken to old Simon and added to his store.\n\nSo in the dusk of the early night and the dark of the moon, for Lucy\ndid not wish the black sisterhood to know her business, she locked her\ncabin door, put a shawl over her head and slipped away to Simon.\n\nThe weather was cold and Simon\u2019s door was shut. She rapped faintly and\nfurtively, and a fierce bark challenged from within. Simon hobbled to\nthe door and opened it, a black cur growling at his knee. Kicking the\ndog away, he bade Lucy enter.\n\n\u201cCome een, sistuh, how you do?\u201d\n\n\u201cTengk Gawd fuh life, Unk\u2019 Simun. Uh come yuh fuh ax you fuh gimme uh\ncunjuh fuh t\u2019row uh spell \u2019puntop Isaac Middletun wuh lib Adam\u2019 Run\ndeepo, fuh mek\u2019um haa\u2019kee to de sperrit\u2019 wu\u2019d, wuh tell\u2019um fuh hab me\nfuh wife, \u2019cause uh done tell\u2019um _two time_ wuh de sperrit hab fuh say,\nbut him ent study \u2019bout no sperrit, en\u2019 \u2019e suck \u2019e teet\u2019 at me, en\u2019\nhim say suh him fuh marry nyung \u2019ooman \u2019cause him ent hab no appetite\nfuh marry settle\u2019 \u2019ooman, en\u2019 uh done tell\u2019um suh nyung \u2019ooman cyan\u2019\nspecify fuh settle\u2019 man, but Middletun dat eegnunt en\u2019 haa\u2019d-head\u2019, uh\ncyan\u2019 git\u2019um fuh do nutt\u2019n\u2019, en\u2019 please suh fuh mek one hebby cunjuh,\n\u2019cause Middletun stubbunt sukkuh oxin en\u2019 mule alltwo, en\u2019 w\u2019en you\ngimme de cunjuh, tell me wuh fuh do \u2019long\u2019um en\u2019 weh uh mus\u2019 pit\u2019um fuh\nt\u2019row de spell \u2019puntop\u2019uh Middletun, en\u2019 uh fetch t\u2019ree aig\u2019 en\u2019 some\nyalluh yam tettuh fuh you fuh eat.\u201d And she took these gifts out of her\napron and presented them to the weaver of spells.\n\nSimon was a man of few words. Going to an old cupboard where he kept\nhis store of raw materials, he fumbled about and at last drew forth the\ndried skin of a \u201ccopper-belly\u201d moccasin, about three feet long. This\nhe wound about a smoke-dried toad, to which had been added two rusty\nhorseshoe nails. Around them all a dirty strip of red flannel, well\nsoaked in kerosene, was tied, and the charm was ready. Wrapping it in a\npiece of brown paper he gave it to Lucy who, tremulous with happiness\nand excitement, tied it in a corner of her apron.\n\n\u201cDaughtuh, you f\u2019aid fuh walk duh paat\u2019 duh middlenight?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, suh, uh yent \u2019f\u2019aid fuh go Middletun\u2019 house.\u201d\n\n\u201cBerry well den, you fuh go Middletun\u2019 house middlenight tenight. You\nfuh tek dis cunjuh en\u2019 pit\u2019um \u2019puntop de do\u2019step to Middletun\u2019 house,\nen\u2019 you fuh walk easy so him ent fuh yeddy you. Onduhstan\u2019?\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, suh, tengk Gawd.\u201d And she hurried homeward.\n\nFor awhile she dozed before her fire, and then, an hour before\nmidnight, with that uncanny instinct which guides those who live close\nto nature, she roused herself, and with her precious charm, set out\nhot-foot for the station. As she hurried through the dark a raccoon\npadded noiselessly across the path. Farther on, a grey fox trotted\nfearlessly in front of her for a few yards then sprang into the bushes\nand disappeared. The terrifying shriek and wild laugh of a barred owl\njust overhead, as she passed along a dark aisle in the forest, made\nher heart stand still for an instant, but the thought of Middleton\nwarmed its cockles again and she kept on her way. At last she reached\nMiddleton\u2019s cabin and, thanking her stars that he kept no dog, she\ncautiously lifted the latch of his yard gate and tiptoed up to the\nsteps where, with a silent prayer for success, she deposited the\nprecious \u201ccunjuh\u201d and quietly slipped away.\n\nJust at the end of the \u201cdog watch\u201d of the mariners, just before the\n\u201cday clean\u201d of the negroes--the hour known to all night workers, when,\nwith the imminence of the dawn, somewhat of the weight of the world\nseems lifted from their shoulders--Middleton rose from his cornshuck\ncouch and opening his cabin door looked forth, as is the custom of the\nearly-rising negroes, to scan the sky and appraise the promise of the\ncoming day. A gibbous moon of dusky gold, new-risen, hung low in the\nEast. Diana had been banting for ten days and altho\u2019 her waist was\nwaning, she yet shed sufficient light to open the eyes and engage the\nthroats of all the roosters round about, and from the yards of lonely\nwoodland cabin, and plantation quarters, their voices, shrill and\nclear, deep and raucous, came to Middleton\u2019s ears as they saluted the\nfools\u2019 gold of the moonlight in the belief that they were heralding the\ndawn.\n\n\u201cFowl\u2019 mus\u2019 be t\u2019ink day\u2019 clean,\u201d commented Middleton, and as he opened\nthe door wider to get a better outlook, his bare toe came into contact\nwith the gelid snakeskin and he sprang back in fear. Striking a match,\nhe lit a lightwood splinter and discovered the \u201ccunjuh\u201d mysteriously\nplaced at his very threshold. He scratched his puzzled head. \u201cEh, eh!\nwuh dis t\u2019ing? Me nebbuh do nutt\u2019n\u2019 to nobody. Uh wonduh who duh try\nfuh t\u2019row spell \u2019puntop me! Tengk Gawd, uh nebbuh \u2019tep obuhr\u2019um,\u201d\nsecure in the belief that as he had not stepped over it, no harm could\ncome to him. So, picking it up fearlessly, he put it away in a chink\nin the clay chimney until he should find use for the dread instrument\nwhich Providence had placed in his hands. All day he pondered, for,\nhaving no enemies, there was none to whom he wished harm. At last, as\nevening fell, dark thoughts came with the dusk, and a sinister purpose\nslid into his soul, which he lost no time in putting into execution.\nVenus was the evening star but she told him nothing, for there was\nno love in his heart and his mind held only the definite purpose\nto rid himself once and for all of the vexing importunities of the\nhusband-hunter.\n\n\u201cUh gwine tek dis t\u2019ing to da\u2019 \u2019ooman\u2019 house en\u2019 t\u2019row one spell\n\u2019puntop\u2019um fuh mek\u2019um pit \u2019e min\u2019 \u2019puntop some dem todduh man en\u2019\nlemme \u2019lone,\u201d and walking briskly to Lucy\u2019s house, where she slept\nunsuspiciously beneath the unalluring quilt, he carefully placed the\ncharm in the middle of the top step and went his ways under the starlit\nheavens.\n\n\n\n\nTHE RACCOON HUNTER\n\n\nAll through the autumn, when golden-rod and sumac flaunted the colors\nof Spain from every neglected fence corner, and the ripening sun\nburned from the blue through the haze that hung over the earth, when\nthe crows, uttering their care-free harvest note, flew over the tawny\nfields of corn, and negroes with nimble fingers pulled the reluctant\nlocks from the half-opened Sea Island cotton bolls, when squirrels\nchattered and barked contentedly among the hickories as they commenced\nto gather their winter\u2019s store, and wild pigs nosed about for acorns\namong the rustling leaves in the oak groves--all through these\nSeptember and October days, the boy had pestered old Abram, the most\nsuccessful \u2019coon hunter on Pon Pon, to organize a torchlight hunt and\ntake him along. Abram White, or \u201c\u2019Bram,\u201d as he was commonly called, was\na slow-talking, slow-thinking, slow-moving old darkey; so deliberate\nthat the mental effort involved in answering the simplest question\nwould furrow his brow like an old-fashioned washboard. He had been\nallowed to clear up a piece of rich land on Cotton Hill, far removed\nfrom the \u201cquarters\u201d of the other negroes, and this field he held\nrent-free in return for the labor of bringing it under cultivation. The\ntask occupied old \u2019Bram for several years. First building a substantial\ncabin for his smart wife, Delia, he proceeded to \u201cring\u201d the forest\ntrees and, leaving them to die, slowly grubbed up the smaller trees\nand undergrowth, planting in the little cleared plots patches of\ncorn, peas and sweet potatoes, increasing his field bit by bit each\nyear. He was employed regularly as night watchman for the plantation\nand, armed with his long \u201cmuskick\u201d--a condemned army weapon--walked\nhis beat about barn and stables from dark till dawn, returning from\neach round to drowse near the big fire which he invariably made in an\nopen spot, summer as well as winter, for the coast negroes are true\nfire-worshipers and their love for the flames that leap and the embers\nthat glow is as great as their skill in fire-making. Abram owned the\nbest \u2019coon dog in the community, a black mongrel of medium size with a\nblaze in the face and a white ring around his neck. Devoted as he was\nto Delia, Abram\u2019s love for \u201cRing\u201d was almost as great, and his pride in\nthe dog\u2019s accomplishments and reliability was infinite. The abandoned\nrice field now overgrown, near old Abram\u2019s new-ground, was full of\nraccoons and \u2019possums and the old hunter often got permission to put on\na substitute watchman for part of the night, while he foraged the woods\nwith almost invariable success, and all through the winter the jambs\nof his wide-throated clay chimney were hung with the smoked flesh of\nhis spoils, while their pelts--ring-tailed and rat-tailed--adorned the\nouter walls of his log cabin.\n\nThe veteran \u2019coon dog will rarely follow any other animal than\nraccoon or \u2019possum--the lawful prey of his negro master--ignoring the\nfrequently crossed trails of deer or fox. Puppies and undisciplined\ndogs often break away and run rabbits, of course, but they are always\ncaught and thrashed and the occasional lapse is held derogatory to\nthe dog\u2019s master. Both objects of the chase are nocturnal feeders,\nsleeping most of the day in hollow trees or logs. Sometimes the hollow\nis high up in the fork of some forest giant, completely hidden by the\nlianas that run from the ground to the topmost branches. A dog will\noccasionally bark at a tree whence the \u2019coon has descended, or one from\nwhich the quarry has crossed on a limb or vine to another tree, and\nwhenever the hunter finds that his dog has \u201ctreed\u201d at a vacant tree,\nthe poor animal is held to have \u201clied\u201d and is given a severe whipping,\nso seasoned dogs make few mistakes and old Abram\u2019s Ring was always true.\n\nAt last, as October drew to a close and the first white frost nipped\nthe potato vines, the boy\u2019s importunities bore fruit in a promise from\nAbram to take him on the first clear night in the dark of the moon, the\ncondition being that the boy should furnish travel rations. The night\nappointed proved fine and frosty, with a sharp tang in the air, and an\nhour or two after dark the hunt assembled. Besides his single-barreled\nmuzzle-loader, the boy \u201cpacked\u201d a knapsack filled with smoked herrings\nand hardtack from the plantation commissary. Abram had his musket, and\nTom Ford and Joe Smashum, two young negroes, their axes. All three\ncarried bundles of \u201cfat\u201d lightwood for torches strapped to their backs.\nSike, a half-grown black boy, carried himself. All the negroes were\nbare-footed, the horny soles of their feet having become so toughened\nas to make them indifferent to briars and snags. Ring wagged his tail\nexpectantly and, like his master, looked contemptuously upon the two\nyoung curs that followed Joe.\n\nAnd now they started single file, the boy in front, then old \u2019Bram, the\ntorch-bearers last, throwing a flood of light ahead of them, the dogs\nat heel close to their respective masters. So, down the broad avenue\nof live-oaks, the great trees heavily bearded with the gray Spanish\nmoss, assuming fantastic shapes in the flare of the torches, on across\nthe old King\u2019s Highway, past the Big Spring and over a low causeway\nthat spanned an old rice field. Here the party hesitated between two\n\u201cdrives\u201d that seemed equally promising, one to the right across the\n\u201chalf moon\u201d dam to a thickly wooded island in the big savanna, the\nother with a slant to the left through a grove of big beeches toward\nthe \u201cBlue House\u201d back water. While old Abram scratched his head for\na decision which \u201cthe stubborn glebe\u201d was slow to yield, Ring, who\nhad been nosing about, dashed suddenly among the undergrowth of\nsaw-palmettoes that covered the ground under the beeches and, giving\ntongue on a hot trail, ended his master\u2019s cogitations. The other dogs\nfollowed the veteran in full cry, and in a few minutes Ring\u2019s slow and\nmeasured barking apprised his master that he had \u201ctreed.\u201d The negroes\nshouted encouragingly, \u201c_speak, Ring!_\u201d \u201c_Speak to\u2019um, boy!_\u201d as the\nparty pushed through the thicket and found Ring sitting before a\nloblolly pine, one of a group of three which grew close together with\ntheir upper limbs almost touching.\n\nThere are three methods of getting a raccoon out of a tree. By\n\u201cshining\u201d his eyes, which is done by holding the torch behind one, and\nshooting him; by cutting down the tree and trusting to the dogs to\ncapture him before he gets away; or by climbing the tree and shaking\nhim down or making him jump off. As Tom Ford was a noted climber and\nthe tree was not too large for him to \u201chug,\u201d it was decided to climb,\nafter the \u201cshining\u201d method had been resorted to without success. Tom\ncut a stick about six feet long which he tied around his neck and\ndragged up after him. This was to be used to poke the quarry off the\nlimb in case he came to close quarters. He threw off his jacket and cap\nand commenced swarming up the trunk which stretched full forty feet\nwithout a limb, lifting himself with his powerful ape-like arms and\nthe cupped hollows of his bare, horny feet, with which he gripped the\ntrunk. In a few minutes he reached the first limb and the excitement\nbelow him increased, both hunters and dogs looking earnestly upward as\nthe climber stood on the limb and looked above and around him, trying\nto locate the quarry.\n\n\u201cWeh \u2019e dey, Tom?\u201d called Abram. \u201cYou shum?\u201d\n\n\u201cUh yent shum,\u201d was the laconic response.\n\nTom again hugged the tree, whose narrowed trunk now gave him a better\nhold, and went up ten or twelve feet to the next limb. Just as he\npulled himself over it and got to his feet, there was a great rattling\nof claws on the bark of a long outstretching limb a few feet over his\nhead, and, silhouetted against the patches of starlight that broke\nthe leafage above him, he could make out the cunning \u2019coon running\nalong the limb to its very end where it touched a far-reaching bough\nfrom the second tree of the group. Tom yelled, with the hope that he\nmight frighten the animal into missing its step and falling, but the\nsure-footed creature passed safely and disappeared among the dark\nneedles that veiled his sanctuary.\n\n\u201cLook out, Unk\u2019 Ebbrum, look out! \u2019E done cross to de todduh tree,\u201d\nTom called, as he began to slide toward the earth. The group on the\nground flared torches and looked anxiously at the new retreat, but no\nshining eyes were visible, and the futility of further pursuit of this\nparticular \u2019coon was realized, as he had demonstrated that he could\ncross too readily from one to another of the three sister pines. The\nshort chase had lasted only a few minutes and the hunt took up its\nequipment and returned to the Caw Caw Swamp Road, Abram, after much\npondering, having decided to exploit the \u201cTombs\u201d drive, a noted hunting\nground. Half a mile farther and the party turned to the right and in\na few minutes passed near \u201cthe Tombs,\u201d one of the Colonial burying\ngrounds found occasionally in the low-country forests.\n\nThe solitary negro will seldom pass one of these graveyards at night,\nand even with companions and torches the \u2019coon-hunters walked more\nrapidly until \u201cthe Tombs\u201d was passed. As they entered an old field\nwith several large persimmon trees full of ripening fruit, to Abram\u2019s\nexperienced eye a presage of \u2019possums, sure enough, in a moment, one\nof Joe\u2019s curs, with a shrill yelp, struck a hot trail and off they\nwent across the big field, followed rapidly by men and boys. The dogs\novertook the quarry at the edge of the clearing and treed at a young\noak, near whose top the torches revealed a big \u2019possum about thirty\nfeet from the ground. As the tree was easy, Sike, the fourteen-year-old\nnovice, was given the place of honor as climber, and up he went, full\nof the pride that goeth before a fall. Sike was short and fat, and\nspread-eagled himself like a great black frog as he laboriously worked\nhis way upward. The going was heavy, and having his hands or his arms\nfull, he did not take the precaution to look above him until he had\nalmost put his hand on the animal. A sudden snarl from the hunted, and\na frightened yell from the hunter, who lost his hold and fell six or\neight feet toward the ground, clutching wildly at the branches on the\nway down, fortunately landing on one strong enough to bear his weight.\nHe did not linger in the tree but slid to the ground as quickly as\npossible, where he was received with shouts of laughter. \u201cHaw, Buck! ef\noonuh \u2019f\u2019aid _\u2019possum_, how you gwine t\u2019row down _rokkoon_?\u201d But Sike\nsaid nothing, while Joe went up the tree and threw down the \u2019possum,\nwhich rolled into a ball as soon as he touched the ground, and, after\nhaving been mouthed over by the dogs, was tied up in a sack and given\nto Sike to carry.\n\nAnd now into the big swamp that stretched from the Tombs to Long Life\nSpring, a noted water-hole that never failed in even the worst drought.\nRing gave tongue querulously once or twice on a cold trail. \u201cRokkoon,\u201d\nAbram laconically remarked, and, as a shrill outcry from Joe\u2019s\nnondescripts rang through the woods in another direction, \u201crabbit,\u201d\nhe added contemptuously. The younger negroes soon caught and thrashed\nthe rabbit-chasers and, as Ring had now developed his trail and was\ngiving tongue more freely, the other dogs were hied away to join him\nand soon added their voices to his. The cry skirted the swamp and in a\nfew minutes their barking indicated that they had treed a quarter of a\nmile away. The \u2019coon had taken refuge in a big rosemary, whose smooth\nbark and thick trunk presented difficulties to a climber, and Abram\ndecided to cut it down. Tom and Joe on opposite sides plied their axes\nvigorously. How many magnificent forest trees have been sacrificed\nsince the war by the wasteful negro hunters who have no compunction\nabout cutting down a ten dollar tree, belonging to some one else, to\ncapture a \u201ctwo-bit\u201d raccoon! And the negro who would grunt grievously\nif had to fell three or four big pines for a day\u2019s work, will throw an\nequal number as a pastime, in an hour or two at night! Soon the tree\nbegan to crack, and the dogs were seized, to prevent them from rushing\nunder the falling trunk in their eagerness to be on hand when the \u2019coon\nshould jump out of the thick branches at the top. They were released\nas the tree crashed to earth. Although they quickly surrounded the\ntop, the wary \u2019coon had already made a getaway, but the cry followed\nhot-foot and forced him up a white oak a hundred yards distant. The\ntree, of moderate size, was thickly branched and no glimpse of the\n\u2019coon could be discerned through the heavy leafage. Tom tied a long\nstick over his shoulder and was soon on the first big limb which he\nproceeded to explore, \u201ccooning\u201d it out, while the torch-bearers held\ntheir lights under the end of the limb, and thus the second and third\nlimbs were explored, but no dark form appeared against the light, and\nTom climbed to a fork thirty feet from the ground. He paused for a\nmoment and looked about him, then yelled \u201cGreat Gawd, Unk\u2019 Ebbrum, duh\n_two_ rokkoon!\u201d\n\n\u201cWeh \u2019e dey, boy? _T\u2019row\u2019um down!_\u201d\n\n\u201cDem alltwo dey \u2019pun dish\u2019yuh lef\u2019 han\u2019 limb.\u201d\n\n\u201cShine dem eye, Joe, lemme shoot\u2019um,\u201d said Abram.\n\n\u201cTek\u2019care oonuh ent shine my\u2019own en\u2019 shoot me!\u201d cried Tom.\n\n\u201cNigguh eye yent fuh shine,\u201d Abram replied, but he was spared the\nembarrassment of having to distinguish between Tom\u2019s eyes and the\nraccoons\u2019, for one of the animals, a half grown individual, broke\nsanctuary, and, dashing past Tom, slid down the tree to a lower limb,\nfrom whose extremity he sprang to the ground, unhappily for him, only\na few feet distant from the watching Ring, who was on him before he\ncould get started. There was a furious scuffle for a few minutes but\nthe veteran dog soon choked the \u2019coon to death.\n\nTom now commenced crawling out on the limb after the big raccoon, who\ngrowled menacingly and backed as the negro neared him. At last the limb\nbegan to sag under Tom\u2019s weight and the \u2019coon at the very end, eight or\nten feet beyond him, teetered uneasily, as the torches flared beneath\nhim and the dogs yelped expectantly. The long stick was now brought\ninto play and Tom straddled the bough while he tried to pry off the\nquarry, but in his zeal he overreached himself and slid too far. The\nbough buckled under him like a whip and he lost his balance, but while\nregaining his hold with monkey-like agility he clutched so frantically\nat the raccoon\u2019s end of the limb as to dislodge its occupant, who fell\nin the very teeth of the dogs. In the fierce fight that ensued, the\nraccoon slit the ears of the younger dogs and mauled them severely\nbefore Ring could get the throat-hold he wanted. Once secured, however,\nhe soon choked the \u2019coon to death. As midnight approached, it was\ndecided to eat supper and go home.\n\nA lot of dry wood was gathered and a big fire made in a little glade.\nThe younger negroes sat around the flames waiting for the coals upon\nwhich to broil the smoked herrings. Old \u2019Bram stretched out on the\nground with the soles of his bare feet toward, and almost in, the fire,\nand, true to the traditions of a night watchman, he soon fell asleep.\nThe flames crackled. Tom and Joe and the solemn Sike blinked at the\nlight and nodded, the dogs licked their wounds and whimpered at the\nsharper twinges of pain. Suddenly old Abram grunted and \u201csniffed the\ntainted gale.\u201d\n\n\u201cEh, eh! Uh smell foot duh bu\u2019n! Somebody\u2019 foot mus\u2019 be duh bu\u2019n! Uh\nwunduh who\u2019 foot duh bu\u2019n?\u201d Then, as he sat up and saw the curling\nsmoke rising from the thick horny sole of one of his own feet, \u201cGreat\nGawd, duh _my\u2019own! Duh my foot duh bu\u2019n!_ Tom, oonuh binnuh seddown duh\nfiah duh look \u2019puntop my foot duh bu\u2019n, hukkuh you nubbuh tell me?\u201d\n\n\u201cMe shum duh bu\u2019n fuh true, Unk\u2019 Ebbrum, but oonuh binnuh sleep en\u2019 uh\nt\u2019awt \u2019e would bex you fuh wake.\u201d\n\n\u201cOonuh had no bidness fuh t\u2019awt nutt\u2019n\u2019! You seddown duh fiah en\u2019 look\n\u2019puntop my foot duh bu\u2019n en\u2019 nubbuh tell me. Joe, oonuh binnuh seddown\nduh fiah duh look \u2019puntop my foot duh bu\u2019n, hukkuh you nubbuh tell me?\u201d\n\n\u201cUnk\u2019 \u2019Bram, I shum duh smoke, but uh nebbuh t\u2019ink \u2019e bu\u2019n bad \u2019nuf fuh\nhot you.\u201d\n\n\u201cCo\u2019se \u2019e didn\u2019 bu\u2019n bad \u2019nuf fuh hot me, but ef uh yent bin had sense\n\u2019nuf fuh smell\u2019um en\u2019 know suh somebody\u2019 foot duh bu\u2019n, \u2019e might uh\nbu\u2019n off, en\u2019 you seddown duh fiah en\u2019 look \u2019puntop my foot duh bu\u2019n\nen\u2019 nubbuh tell me. Sike, oonuh binnuh seddown duh fiah duh look\n\u2019puntop my foot duh bu\u2019n, hukkuh you nubbuh tell me?\u201d\n\n\u201cMe nebbuh shum, suh, uh binnuh sleep.\u201d\n\n\u201cMeself binnuh sleep. Enty uh smell somebody\u2019 foot duh bu\u2019n en\u2019 mek me\nfuh wake? Oonuh boy\u2019 grow up sence freedum, oonuh _ent wut_!\u201d\n\nThe herrings were broiled and eaten with the hardtack, the spoils were\nslung around the shoulders of the hunters, the fire beaten out, the\ntorches relit, and a short cut taken for home. As old Abram relieved\nhis substitute at the watchfire in the barnyard, his voice rumbled\nthrough his beard like the muttering of slow and distant thunder, \u201cUh\ndone tell Mas\u2019 Rafe suh dese\u2019yuh nigguh\u2019 grow\u2019 up sence freedum, dem\nent wut! Dem good fuh nutt\u2019n\u2019 _debble\u2019ub\u2019uh_ no\u2019count boy, dem seddown\nduh fiah duh look \u2019puntop my foot duh bu\u2019n en\u2019 dem nubbuh tell me suh\nmy foot duh bu\u2019n. _Dem nubbuh tell me!_\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE TURKEY HUNTER\n\n\nSabey, a queer, misshapen mulatto, almost an albino, with green eyes\nand yellow wool lighting and thatching a shrewd and twisted, though\ngood-natured, monkey face, lived, a few years after the war, on Pon\nPon. His wife, Bess, a good-looking black girl, was devoted to him as a\ngood husband and a first-rate provider. When twitted by the other negro\nwomen with her husband\u2019s lack of personal pulchritude, she was always\nready with a retort.\n\n\u201cMekso you marri\u2019d monkey fuh man, Bess?\u201d\n\n\u201cSabey oagly en\u2019 him look lukkuh monkey fuh true, but him iz uh good\npuhwiduh en\u2019 no odduh man haffuh come een him house fuh feed him wife,\nen\u2019 _Stepney_ nebbuh come een needuh.\u201d\n\nSabey lived in a cabin at the edge of the woods, far away from the\nother plantation settlements, seldom mixing with the other negroes,\nwho rather feared him, having a vague sort of belief in his ability to\nthrow spells. When not hunting, he worked, but he was usually hunting\nin winter, and hunting successfully, for although his piece was one\nof the condemned army muskets carried by so many low-country negroes\nafter Freedom, he was a good shot and possessed infinite patience and\nconsiderable woodcraft. Energetic, too, his twisted legs carried him\nfor miles through the forests and along the backwaters and abandoned\nricefields where, creeping on all-fours and worming his way through\ncane-brakes and briars, he frequently surprised summer ducks, and\noccasionally mallard and teal, feeding on the grass seeds along the\nmargins, or the rich acorns from the live-oaks whose far-flung boughs\nstretched over the canals, and Sabey was an economist and seldom wasted\nshot on a single bird. On frosty mornings when he peeped over the\nembankments and saw green-wing teal strung upon a floating log basking\nin the first rays of the wintry sun, he would maneuver and crawl\naround, regardless of bogs or briars, until he got into a position\nwhere he could line them up, when, after his old \u201cmuskick\u201d had spoken,\nhe would sometimes gather up a dozen or more, which he sold to \u201cde\nbuckruh\u201d on the plantations, or at the railway station; but it was as a\nturkey hunter that Sabey achieved distinction in the community.\n\nWild turkeys were very plentiful in the low-country soon after the\nwar, and in the winter season flocks sometimes came up in the live-oak\navenues and tangled gardens of the war-ruined plantations, making a\nboy\u2019s heart thump against his ribs as he watched them picking up the\nacorns just out of gunshot of his little single-barrel. In roaming\nthe woods, Sabey knew every dogwood knoll between the Stackyard and\nBeaver Dam, and when, in midwinter or later, he saw where the turkeys\nhad \u201cscratched\u201d among the leaf mould for the glossy red berries that\nform their favorite wild food, he scattered handfuls of peas or rough\nrice about and returned a day or two later to see if the turkeys had\ntaken the bait. If the scattered grain was untouched, he would offer\ntemptation elsewhere until the wary birds had overcome suspicion and\nestablished relations with the rich man-grown food placed before them.\nThe bait once taken, Sabey returned at two or three-day intervals and\nspread the feast anew, which after a while came to be to the turkeys\nas their daily bread. Then, behind some hurricane tree or old log\nnearby, the hunter prepared the \u201cblind\u201d--usually a pit three or four\nfeet deep, camouflaged with boughs or great pieces of pine bark, with a\ngun opening toward an open space where, in a shallow trench, grain was\nscattered. From the scratching ground under the dogwoods, a trail would\nbe laid to the trench, which was visited and replenished day after day\nuntil the greedy birds had become fearless and came regularly to their\nbreakfast table. Then \u201cone fine day,\u201d just at dawn, Sabey would shamble\noff to the forest and creep within his blind, where he almost held his\nbreath in \u201cwatchful waiting\u201d for the coming of his quarry.\n\nNothing save Sir Walter\u2019s conception of the mutability of the feminine\nmind, is quite so uncertain as the hour of the coming of wild turkeys\nto a blind. Sometimes at daylight, as they fly from their roosts on\nthe topmost limbs of the great pines, they go at once to the bait. The\nnext day, perhaps, they may roam the woods for hours and not reach the\nblind until noon, and on yet other days the fickle creatures resist\ntemptation altogether, so \u201cit is well understood\u201d that whoso would\nshoot turkeys at a blind must have abundant patience and a certain\ncomplacent attitude toward his own society.\n\nWho can tell what thoughts moved through Sabey\u2019s brain cells as he\nsat \u201csteadfast, ummovable\u201d through the waiting hours. Did the tips of\nAurora\u2019s rosy fingers mean anything to him as she lifted the somber\ncurtains of the night and ushered in the radiant God of day? Did the\nharsh yet homey \u201cchauw, chauw\u201d of the brown thrasher--the first winter\nbird to awaken in copse or forest--take his thoughts to the lonely\ncabin where Bess dreamed of the Sunday calico or the new shoes that\nwould follow Sabey\u2019s successful shot? Did the last hoot of the barred\nowl as, his night hunting over, he slipped away on muffled wing to\nthe thick woods to drowse his days away, tell him anything of the\nhuman prototypes of all birds of prey? They, too, the selfish and the\npredatory, clutter up the by-ways of the world, closing their eyes to\nthe light of service and the pulsing of humanity about them till, with\nthe falling shadows, their eyes open and they prowl in quest of the\nunwary!\n\nBut whatever Sabey\u2019s musings, he crept morning after morning into\nhis blind and waited patiently as the hours slipped by, for the\ngame that never came. Perhaps the wary birds had sensed danger at\nthe blind--perhaps they had found a more convenient food supply\nelsewhere--but late every morning for a week Sabey had returned home\nweary and empty-handed, but, with a true sportsman\u2019s spirit, determined\nto try again. Sunday intervened. A strong superstition in the negro\u2019s\nmind, that to fire a gun on Sunday is to \u201chab sin,\u201d kept him out of\nthe woods, and he shambled off to church, but four o\u2019clock the next\nmorning, an hour before dawn, found him at the tryst which, through\nthought-waves, he believed he had made with the flock of turkeys.\n\nThey kept the tryst. The dawn came up slowly and silently, bringing in\none of those rare windless, low-country winter days, when all the air\nis pale blue and gold and the forests are green and purple and brown.\nThe first rays of the sun touched with pallid flame the topmost boughs\nof the tall pines and glanced from the myriad glistening needles that\nhung motionless in the chilly air. As the sun climbed yet higher,\nits sensuous warmth drank up the white frost that lay like a crystal\nblanket upon the open spaces and the light vapors that hung over the\ndark places in the forest, and, as the warmer and softer air fell about\nSabey, he drowsed at his post.\n\nThe outdoor negroes of the coast need neither watch nor clock to tell\nthe time of day. From \u201cmiddlenight\u201d or \u201cfus\u2019 fowl crow,\u201d on through the\nprocession of the hours to \u201cdayclean,\u201d \u201csun\u2019up,\u201d \u201cone,\u201d \u201ctwo,\u201d \u201ct\u2019ree\nhour attuh sun\u2019up,\u201d to \u201cmiddleday,\u201d and then on, as the sun slants\ndownward, through \u201ct\u2019ree hour,\u201d \u201ctwo hour,\u201d \u201cone hour to sundown,\u201d and\n\u201cfus\u2019 daa\u2019k,\u201d he makes a close approximation. So, as Ph\u0153bus shot with\nflat trajectory across the Southern sky, Sabey, snuggled down among the\ndry pine needles with which he had nearly filled his trench, dozed and\nlistened and dozed, and waking, muttered \u201cmiddleday,\u201d and dozed again.\n\nA slight rustling of dead leaves like the whisper of gently falling\nrain, and ten beautiful gobblers entered the little glade and going\nstraight to the trench, began picking up the grain greedily. The\nsunlight flashed from their gleaming breasts as from planished bronze.\nTheir iridescent plumage showed all the tints of glorified autumn\nleaves, and, as they stooped to feed, their long beards touched the\nground. A braver sight to a hunter\u2019s eye than bear or buck or any other\ngame that roams the Southern forests!\n\nSabey slowly opened his eyes and stiffened like a setter at the point.\nHis long musket, already aligned to rake the trench, rested securely\nin a forked stick driven into the ground. As a sibilant whistle came\nfrom his twisted lips, ten heads uprose like the armed men from the\nmythical dragon\u2019s teeth, and came in line with the leveled gun. At\na warning \u201cputt\u201d from their suspicious leader, they stood on tiptoe\nfor a breakaway, but Sabey pulled his clumsy trigger, and following\nthe heavy roar, he clambered out of the blind and ran forward to find\nseven great birds fluttering on the ground, while the others ran at\nrace-horse speed for thirty or forty feet (your turkey, like your\ncondor and your aeroplane, must take wing from a running start) and,\nrising on a long slant with a great beating of the air, topped the\npines a quarter of a mile away and sailed off beyond \u201cthe Cypress.\u201d\nThe big birds, shot in the head, soon lay still and Sabey\u2019s simian\nface wrinkled with satisfaction. \u201cTengk Gawd, uh git oonuh at las\u2019,\u201d\nhe chuckled. \u201cOne, two, t\u2019ree, fo\u2019, fibe, six, seb\u2019n,\u201d he slowly\ncounted--\u201ct\u2019ree git\u2019way.\u201d And then he scratched his head. Sabey was\nundersized, \u201chim leetle but \u2019e ole,\u201d the negroes observed, and could\nhe pack far more than his weight in turkeys to the \u201cbig house\u201d a mile\naway? It seemed a task too great for his strength, but his spirit was\nhigh, and, as he thought of the wildcats and gray foxes that abounded\nin these forests so seldom entered by hunter or woodman, he shook his\nhead, pulled out a formidable-looking clasp knife and began to peel the\nbark from a young hickory. \u201cNo,\u201d he said to himself, \u201cuh yent fuh lef\u2019\nnone. Uh tote\u2019um all ef \u2019e tek me \u2019tell sundown fuh git Pon Pon. All\nwuh Mas\u2019 Rafe ent buy, uh gwine tek deepo. No fox, needuhso wil\u2019cat,\nnebbuh git \u2019e teet\u2019 een dem tuckrey!\u201d and he quickly removed the outer\nbark from the long strips he had skinned from the sapling and scraped\nand twisted the tough inner fibre into serviceable thongs. This strong\nhickory bark is the common cordage of the plantation negroes and serves\nfor girths, bridles and harness for horse and ox, and is also plaited\ninto the long whips used by herdsmen and bird-minders, the \u201cpop\u201d of\nwhose lash or \u201ccracker\u201d is as far-sounding as the report of a rifle.\nSabey tied six of the birds in pairs by their long necks, distributing\nthem as comfortably as he could about his ungainly person--one pair\nover each shoulder, while the other, hanging forward, supported by the\nback of his neck, was balanced by the seventh bird hung at his back,\nsuspended from the barrel of his musket. Thus laden like a pack donkey,\nhe threaded the thick woods, avoiding as best he could the tangled\nvines and dangerous stump holes, and came at last to the open clearing\nof \u201cCotton Hill.\u201d Here he laid down his burden and rested, \u201cfuh ketch\nme secun\u2019 win\u2019.\u201d Half an hour later he took up his load and, mindful\nof the fact that he had been poaching, avoided the direct way through\nthe fields to the settlement and, skirting the old ricefield, traversed\nwith furtive eye the negro burying ground where, shaded by giant\nlive-oaks, seven generations of slaves and freedmen slept under the\nthick mould. For many of the far-scattered family negroes still bring\ntheir dead to rest in these hallowed places on the old plantations.\nApart from the sentiment, it gives them standing among the low-caste\ndarkeys who had belonged to \u201cpo\u2019 buckruh\u201d and whose forbears slept in\nno ancestral graveyards. Passing behind the \u201cEcho Oak,\u201d Sabey reached\nthe big road and, a quarter of a mile beyond, tramped boldly up the\ngreat avenue to sell \u201cMas\u2019 Rafe\u201d his own game. He made a dramatic\nentrance into the yard, his deformed body completely covered by the\nsplendid birds, their black beards hanging from their burnished breasts\nand their feet nearly touching the ground. The hounds, which had run\nout with bristling backs and open mouths at the unwonted sight, wagged\ntheir tails and whimpered as they caught the familiar scent of the game.\n\n\u201cWell, you copper-colored imp of Satan! Where did you shoot those\nturkeys?\u201d\n\n\u201cUh shoot\u2019um Beabuh Dam.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, Sabey. Beaver Dam is more than two miles off, and I heard a gun in\nthe Stackyard.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, suh, but duh Beabuh Dam uh shoot\u2019um. Uh mek uh bline\u2019 on da\u2019\npo\u2019 buckruh\u2019 groun\u2019, \u2019cause him all-time duh mek bline\u2019 \u2019puntop\u2019uh\nyo\u2019 groun\u2019, en\u2019 uh shoot him tuckrey fuh pay\u2019um back, en\u2019 uh \u2019spec\u2019\nda\u2019 gun you yeddy shoot duh da\u2019 po\u2019 buckruh wuh bin attuh da\u2019 gang\nuh tuckrey wuh use een dem dogwood t\u2019icket. Meself been yeddy uh gun\nshoot Stackyaa\u2019d w\u2019en uh bin Beabuh Dam.\u201d \u201cMas\u2019 Rafe\u201d passed his hand\nadmiringly over the glossy breast of the largest bird while deftly\nfeeling his crop. \u201cWhat did you bait these turkeys with?\u201d\n\n\u201cUh bait\u2019um wid cawn, \u2019cause uh nebbuh mek no peas las\u2019yeah, needuhso\nno rice.\u201d\n\n\u201cDid you work here last week?\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, suh, uh wu\u2019k Chuesday and T\u2019ursday ebenin\u2019.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d\n\n\u201cUh beat rice, suh.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow much rice did you take home in that bag you carried?\u201d\n\n\u201cEh, eh, Mas\u2019 Rafe! You see me wid bag? You t\u2019ink suh me t\u2019ief yo\u2019\nrice? Wuh nyuse me hab fuh rice? Me en\u2019 Bess alltwo lub fuh eat cawn\nhom\u2019ny tummuch.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou didn\u2019t bait these turkeys with rice, did you?\u201d\n\n\u201cWho? Me! Mas\u2019 Rafe, you hu\u2019t me feelin\u2019s fuh talk \u2019bout bait dese\ntuckrey wid rice! Weh me fuh git rice? Dese tuckrey nebbuh see uh rice\nsence dem bawn!\u201d\n\n\u201cHow did the rice get in their crops?\u201d\n\n\u201cDem got rice een dem craw? Mas\u2019 Rafe, dem tuckrey mus\u2019be bin spang\nWilltown dis mawnin\u2019 fuh use een Baa\u2019nwell\u2019 ricefiel\u2019, en\u2019 full dem\ncraw, en\u2019 attuh dat dem come six mile to de bline\u2019 weh uh kill\u2019um.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut it is only five miles from Willtown to Beaver Dam, Sabey, and six\nmiles to the Stackyard, where you _didn\u2019t_ kill the turkeys!\u201d\n\nCompletely cornered, Sabey grinned. \u201cMas\u2019 Rafe, you sho\u2019 hab uh good\nonduhstan\u2019 fuh know nigguh! Nigguh ent fuh fool you! No, suh!\u201d\n\nAnd then the former slaveholder bought the game shot on his own land\nand baited with his own grain, from the freedman who had stolen both,\nwhich is not infrequently the way of former slave-holders in dealing\nwith former slaves.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GATOR HUNTER\n\n\nCrook-legged, pumpkin-colored, yellow-wooled, green-eyed Sabey--the\nmightiest turkey hunter on Pon Pon--sat in the midsummer sunshine at\nhis cabin door and talked, partly to himself and partly to his black\nwife, Bess, who busied herself within. A protracted drought was over\nthe land, and Sabey\u2019s summer harvest was at hand. Hunting turkeys\nand ducks in the winter, he was equally successful in his summer\nquest for the much-esteemed fresh water terrapins which abounded in\nthe backwaters and the sluggish lily-covered canals that intersected\nthe abandoned inland ricefields. They found a ready market on the\nplantations or at the railway station, whence they were shipped to\nCharleston, to appear on the tables of her discriminating gourmets in\nthe form of highly spiced soups and stews. These big terrapins were\nfrequently offered for sale by negroes who surprised the slow creatures\nwhile crossing the road or path on their way from one canal or pond\nto another, or trapped them in some shallow water hole. A few negroes\neven hunted them occasionally, the only equipment necessary being an\nempty crocus bag and a pair of legs--naked or trousered--with bare feet\nattached. Sneaking as close as possible to the floating log on which\nthe terrapins sunned themselves, the hunter crept up until they became\nalarmed and slid off into the water, when he jumped in after them,\nand if the water was not more than three or four feet deep he could\nusually locate them by feeling about on the bottom near the log with\nhis bare feet, when he would bob his head and his hands under, and the\nprize would go into the sack hung about his neck. But Sabey followed\nsuccessfully, not only the ordinary methods of capture, but during dry\nspells adopted the hazardous expedient of going down into the alligator\nholes after them. As Prairie dogs, owls and rattlesnakes live together\nin the same burrows on the Western plains, terrapins are always found\nin alligator holes with their hosts in dry spells when the water is\nlow, and he who would secure them must either get the alligator out\nfirst, or go down into the hole with him--one a difficult, the other a\ndangerous, adventure.\n\nIn the cruel midsummer droughts that sometimes occurred in the\nlow-country, even the wet savannas and backwaters were parched to\ndesert dryness. The muddy bottoms, ordinarily covered with water,\neven the shallower canals and ditches, sun-baked and cracked open,\nwere abandoned by the life that sometime swam or waded in the waters\nnow receded. Only the deeper places held water, and these roiled with\nthe teeming fish and eels and terrapins that cluttered up the muddy\npools. Crane and heron--greater and lesser--flew squawking overhead,\nor stalked along the marges taking heavy toll of their helpless prey,\nwhile in the mud round about countless tracks of otter, mink and\nraccoon showed that, like lions at the African water holes, these\nlesser creatures, too, held nightly carnival at the water. Now came\nthe human spoilers--negroes with \u201cjampots\u201d or \u201cchurnpots\u201d--cylindrical\ncontrivances about fifteen inches in diameter by thirty inches in\nheight, made of canes tied together with hickory bark thongs, and\nlooking like tall, bottomless waste-baskets. Wading in the shallow\nwaters, the fisherman holds his jampot by the upper rim with both\nhands, churning the water in front of him. Apprised by splash or\nflutter that a fish has been trapped, he reaches one hand into the\ncage, withdraws his catch, which he bestows in a bag hung about his\nneck, and \u201cchurns\u201d again. When conditions were favorable for this form\nof fishing, the negroes, in the years immediately following the war,\ncaught not only the coarse mudfish and \u201ccats\u201d which they so affect,\nbut destroyed also countless thousands of trout and bream and other\nfine food fish. In Sabey\u2019s time, almost every other negro in the\nwell-watered districts owned a jampot, and the making of this was an\nimportant side line of the old plantation chair and basket-makers, but,\nsynchronously perhaps with the destruction of the fish, the art, or the\npractice, of \u201cchurning\u201d passed away, and it is seldom heard of now.\n\nNow that a \u201chebby dry drought\u201d was on, Sabey licked his chaps in\npleasant anticipation. No rain was in prospect. The roaring of\nalligators is regarded by low-country weather sharps as a sign of\ncoming rain, but, although the old bulls had bellowed lustily at dawn\non several consecutive mornings, the sun still blazed from a cloudless\nsky and the heat waves danced and shimmered in the breathless air,\ngiving point to the saw that in a drought all signs fail, which was\nonce strikingly illustrated by an old-time plantation driver, whose\nmaster, needing rain, drew comfort from the persistent bellowing of\nthe alligators. \u201cDid you hear those \u2019gators this morning, Scipio? That\nshould bring rain.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, Maussuh, uh yeddy\u2019um, but dis duh Dry Drought, enty?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, a very severe drought.\u201d\n\n\u201cBerry well, suh. Enty you know, Maussuh, suh Dry Drought duh him own\nmaussuh, en\u2019 him ent \u2019f\u2019aid alligettuh? En\u2019, Maussuh, Dry Drought\nhim haa\u2019d-head\u2019 ez de berry Satan! Nobody ent fuh mek\u2019um fuh do\nnutt\u2019n\u2019! All dem todduh kinduh wedduh dem berry \u2019f\u2019aid alligettuh.\nW\u2019en alligettuh belluh fuh rain, dem big Bloodynoun frog dem jine\u2019um,\n\u2018_come\u2019yuh rain, come\u2019yuh\u2019 rain, come\u2019yuh rain!_\u2019 Den dem po\u2019 leely\nfrog een de tree, dem hab shishuh mo\u2019nful woice, dem biggin fuh cry.\nBimeby, rain come. But Dry Drought, him ent stan\u2019 so. W\u2019en Dry Drought\ncome, bullfrog know suh alligettuh cyan\u2019 mek\u2019um fuh wedduh, en\u2019 you\nyeddy\u2019um holluh \u2018_\u2019e yent fuh rain, \u2019e yent fuh rain, \u2019e yent fuh\nrain!_\u2019 Alligettuh bex. \u2019E holluh \u2019gen. Dry Drought suck \u2019e teet\u2019\nat\u2019um. \u2019Scuse me fuh cuss, Maussuh, but Dry Drought him ent care uh\n_dam_ \u2019bout alligettuh, uh dunkyuh ef\u2019 \u2019e holluh \u2019tell \u2019e belly bus\u2019!\u201d\n\nSo, as the unterrified \u201cDry Drought\u201d burned about him, Sabey prepared\nto start his campaign. The waters, long drying up, were now low\nenough. Many alligators had been forced to move, and the smaller ones\nwere frequently encountered in the road--sometimes even on the high\npineland plateaus--as they traveled toward the river or adventured in\nsearch of deeper canals or water holes. They always showed fight, too,\nswelling up like pouter pigeons, standing high off the ground, and\nhissing like geese, while they watched for a chance to lash out with\ndangerous tail. But, with the conservatism of age and wealth, the big\nold fellows seldom moved from their favorite pools on which opened\ntheir subterranean holes or burrows, excavated with their forefeet,\nlike those of other burrowing creatures. Here in the deep pools were\nfish at hand, and nearby were the pig paths along which unwary shoats,\ngoing to the water, or nosing about in the soft earth for succulent\nroots, would often come in reach of the sweeping tail, and add to the\nvariety of the big \u2019gator\u2019s fare. In these deep underground holes,\nthe ugly creatures hibernated from autumn to spring, until, with the\nearliest warm sunshine, first the nose and eyes would appear cautiously\nabove the water which covered the entrance to the hole, and, growing\nbolder day by day, as the weather became warmer, next the head, and, at\nlast the entire body would be exposed, lying on the muddy bank, or on a\ntussock among the rushes. Here, perhaps, he would be descried by some\nadventurous boy, who, sighting carefully despite his palpitating heart,\nwould shatter the \u2019gator\u2019s skull with a rifle bullet or reach his heart\nby a well-aimed charge of buckshot behind the shoulder; but, barring\nthe boy, the days of the big \u2019gators were long in the land, for they\nbecame more wary with advancing years and seldom fell to the negroes\u2019\nfirearms.\n\nWhile the drought was yet young, the heaviest alligator in the\ncommunity had been located by Sabey at the \u201cHalf Moon\u201d dam, and now the\ndeep pool into which his hole opened contained all the water that was\nleft in the great savanna. The yawning mouth of the big \u2019gator hole,\nordinarily covered with water, now disclosed a parched throat wide\nenough to have taken in a barrel. From day to day during the pendency\nof the drought, Sabey had sneaked up to the pool hoping to surprise\nthe \u2019gator out of his hole and by a lucky shot get him out of the way\nand clear the path to the terrapins, but he had not been fortunate\nenough to see him, although he knew he was there by the tracks and the\nimpress of his great body in the baked mud that lay between the pool\nand the entrance to his hole. Even had Sabey found him, he could have\nslain him only with a close shot in the unprotected region just under\nthe arm, for the negro seldom shoots anything larger than number two\nshot, which would have glanced harmlessly off the tough scales with\nwhich the \u2019gator was almost completely armored.\n\nForced to oust the householder, in order to get at his unbidden guests,\nthe terrapin hunter was now turned \u2019gator hunter. Although almost\ninvariably hunting alone, pulling the smaller \u2019gators out of their\nholes with an iron hook and killing them with his axe, the master of\nthe Half Moon pool was too ugly a customer to be so easily disposed\nof, and, after pondering long, Sabey determined to organize a \u2019gator\nhunt for the following day and call to his aid some of the plantation\nnegroes.\n\nOn Saturday morning a dozen negroes, men and boys, met Sabey at the\nHalf Moon. They were making holiday and laughed and chaffed in high\nspirits. A few carried jampots, intending to churn the waters for\ntheir favorite mudfish. Others, directed by Sabey, had brought strong\nplow lines which they had borrowed without leave from \u201cde buckruh\u2019,\u201d\nand three or four were provided with axes. Besides his musket, Sabey\ncarried on his shoulder a stout seven-foot hickory staff, at one end\nof which the village blacksmith had attached an iron ring, while at\nthe other he had riveted a strong iron shaft shaped somewhat like a\nmedieval pike--a spear-like point with which to prod and stir up his\n\u2019gatorship, and a sharp, though heavy, hook with which to drag him out\nof his retreat. Although Sabey was the master craftsman of them all in\nthis form of adventure, the two or three old darkeys in the bunch could\nnot refrain from giving advice. \u201cGit een de hole, Sabey, git een de\nhole,\u201d said old Cato Giles, the plantation foreman. \u201cTek de plow line\nen\u2019 tie\u2019um to \u2019e foot, den we mans kin drag\u2019um out.\u201d\n\n\u201cDuh me gwine een de hole, enty? Hukkuh uh gwine git at da\u2019 alligettuh\u2019\nfoot bedout git at \u2019e head fus\u2019? Me fuh pit my head een \u2019e mout\u2019 w\u2019ile\nuh duh tie \u2019e foot, enty? No, suh!\u201d\n\nCutting a long, supple pole from a nearby thicket, Sabey ran it down\nthe hole in order to determine its underground course and locate its\noccupant. He knelt at the opening and ran his sapling down carefully,\nlistening for the scraping of the far end against the rough scales\nof the alligator. The hole, which slanted downward at an angle of 45\ndegrees, proved to be almost straight, and, when twelve feet of the\npole had been shoved in, Sabey heard the grating sound he had been\nlistening for, and knew what work was before him. Withdrawing the pole,\nhe first made fast a double plow line to the ring end of his staff,\nwhile he tied another line around one of his ankles and prepared to go\ndown into the hole. \u201cTek off yo\u2019 shu\u2019t, man,\u201d advised old Cato. \u201cEf da\u2019\n\u2019gatuh bite you \u2019e gwine spile\u2019um, en\u2019 no use fuh t\u2019row\u2019way uh shu\u2019t.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, man,\u201d another said, \u201ctek\u2019um off. You kin slip een da\u2019 hole\nbettuh bedout\u2019um.\u201d\n\nSo Sabey cast off shirt and hat, and, with a warning to his companions\nto pull him out quickly if he should call, went down on his hands and\nknees and crawled head-foremost into the hole, pushing his billhook\nbefore him. Wriggling like a snake, he dragged himself slowly and\ncautiously downward, and, about the time he had gone down far enough to\nleave only his toes sticking out of the mouth of the hole, the sharp\npoint of his staff rattled against the \u2019gator\u2019s skull as he lay head on\ntoward the entrance. The strong, musky smell of the great saurian would\nhave suffocated one less tough than Sabey, but he paid no attention to\nit, and prodded with his staff until he had maneuvered the sharp point\nof his hook under the \u2019gator\u2019s throat when, with a quick upward jerk,\nhe fastened it in the creature\u2019s lower jaw, and, as a hissing sigh met\nhim in the face, he shouted and kicked his heels at the same time as\na signal that he wished to come up. They pulled so lustily that his\ncrooked leg was almost jerked out of its socket, and his head came out,\ngrumbling and scolding, \u201cOonuh t\u2019ink me duh alligettuh \u2019long fo\u2019 foot,\nenty? Wuh me fuh do fuh foot attuh oonuh pull off dem wuh uh got? Oonuh\nmus\u2019be fool! Oonuh nebbuh pull nigguh outuh alligettuh hole befo\u2019?\u201d\n\nBut they were now too excited to quarrel, and, seizing the double\nplow lines, they began, under Sabey\u2019s direction, to pull slowly on\nthe \u2019gator. Had Sabey hooked him in a less sensitive part, they could\nnot have budged him. He was too well braced for hanging back, but his\nthroat was comparatively tender, and inch by inch he began to come up,\nwhile the negroes shouted and chanted with delight, their excitement\nincreasing as the line shortened and the quarry neared the mouth of\nthe hole, till at last the ugly snout was pushed forward, and then\nthe head, full two feet long, appeared as the fore feet followed, and\nthe \u2019gator reared up. Frightened, the negroes retreated to the very\nend of the line. Meanwhile, Sabey had seized his musket and executed\na flank movement, and realizing that, as the \u2019gator\u2019s tail was still\nunderground, there was little danger in a close approach, crept up and,\nfiring when the muzzle of his gun almost touched the \u2019gator\u2019s side,\ntore a great hole just behind the shoulder. The negroes shouted with\njoy, for they realized that the wound was mortal. But \u2019gators take a\nlong time to die, and they kept pulling, and he kept crawling, until\nhis entire length of nine feet had been drawn out of the hole. Sabey\nwas wary, and insisted on their retaining hold of the staff, which\nwas still hooked in the \u2019gator\u2019s throat, and he warned his companions\nof the danger in approaching within reach of the treacherous tail,\nbut after awhile, as the great creature slowly bled to death, several\nof the younger negroes walked too near, and, while appraising with\ngastronomic appreciation the great tail, which many of the negroes eat\nwith avidity, it lashed out suddenly. A feeble effort, but with force\nenough to send the frightened negroes on both sides of him sprawling\nand rubbing their bruised legs which the \u2019gator\u2019s sweep, delivered with\nfull force, could have broken like pipe stems.\n\nAnd now that the Dragon that guarded the treasure had been haled from\nthe dungeon and put _hors de combat_, Sabey tied a couple of empty\nsacks, each to a plow line, and essayed a second nose dive into the\npit of promise. There is always danger of getting jammed or stuck in\nexploring a \u2019gator hole, but Sabey was experienced and cautious, and\nthe hole was large, so down he went, taking the sacks with him, and\nsoon reached the bottom, which had widened into a considerable cavity\neighteen feet from the mouth. His exploring hands, feeling in front\nof him, found a small pool of water literally alive with terrapins.\nHaving ample room to turn around, Sabey lost no time in filling one\nof his sacks with terrapins, which, at a jerk of the line, was hauled\nup out of his way. The second sack held all that remained, and, when\nthis had followed the first, he turned, and, facing upward, decided\nto go head-foremost, preferring to crawl out like a self-respecting\ncaterpillar, under his own steam, rather than be hauled up by the\nheels like a slaughtered shoat. But, fearing suffocation in the close\nquarters underground, he had admonished the men above, who managed the\nrope attached to his foot, to pull him up quickly at the first jerk,\nand, as he turned upward, his free leg became entangled with the tied\none. In kicking loose, he gave the line a jerk, to which his friends\nresponded so suddenly that they hauled his legs up under him, trussing\nhim into the semblance of a bronze statuette of a squatting Buddha.\nSabey yelled with pain and anger, for the hole, while large enough for\na man to pass extended, was too close for him doubled up, and Sabey\nwas stuck in the barrel. His muffled cries reached his friends, but\nthey thought them calls for more speed, and the harder they pulled, the\ntighter they jammed the unhappy wretch.\n\n\u201cEh, eh! Da\u2019 felluh pull _hebby_!\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, man, Buh Sabey pull hebby sukkuh alligettuh.\u201d\n\nIt was old Cato who noticed that they had not budged him an inch.\n\u201c_\u2019Top_, oonuh man, _\u2019top_!\u201d he shouted. \u201c\u2019Ee yent duh moobe. Slack de\nrope.\u201d\n\nAs they stopped pulling, Sabey hauled in the slack, released his legs,\nand, hauling on the rope hand over hand, was soon at the mouth of\nthe hole, where he lay for several minutes to fill up with fresh air.\nWhen, recovered sufficiently to get mad, he rose on all-fours like an\nalligator, he presented a fearful sight. His yellow wool, his face, and\nhis copper-colored arms and torso were smeared and streaked with black\nmud, his ragged trousers, water-soaked and muddy, clung to his crooked\nlegs, and he looked like a composite of iguana and ape.\n\nThough ordinarily a taciturn negro, Sabey, under the spur of anger,\ngalloped through his vocabulary of invective at top speed. \u201cOonuh good\nfuh nutt\u2019n\u2019 debble\u2019ub\u2019uh _no\u2019count nigguh_! Oonuh ent _wut_! Uh tell\noonuh \u2019sponsubble fuh haul de rope w\u2019en uh pull\u2019um \u2019long me han\u2019, uh\nnebbuh tell oonuh fuh haul\u2019um w\u2019en uh kick\u2019um \u2019long me foot! Oonuh ent\nknow de diff\u2019unce \u2019twix\u2019 man\u2019 han\u2019 en\u2019 \u2019e foot? Ef man tell oonuh fuh\ntek uh cucklebuhr outuh mule _yez_, oonuh gwine saa\u2019ch fuhr\u2019um een \u2019e\n_tail_, enty? Oonuh mus\u2019be tek me fuh annimel!\u201d\n\n\u201cEf you ent wash off dem mud en\u2019 t\u2019ing \u2019fo\u2019 you gone home, Bess gwine\ntek you fuh cootuh, eeduhso fuh \u2019ranguhtang, en\u2019 him ent gwi\u2019 leh you\nfuh gone een him house,\u201d they chaffed.\n\nSabey washed in the muddy pool, resumed his shirt, tied the two sacks\nof terrapins together, hung them over the gun barrel at his back, and\nprepared to shake the mud of the Half Moon off his feet. \u201cW\u2019en uh done\nsell dese yuh yalluh-belly cootuh en\u2019 gone een me house wid alltwo me\nhan\u2019 full\u2019up wid money, Bess gwine lub me tummuch, ef uh _yiz_ look\nlukkuh \u2019ranguhtang. Monkey hab fo\u2019 han\u2019, en\u2019 de mo\u2019res\u2019 han\u2019 man hab,\nde mo\u2019 \u2019ooman lub\u2019um! Oonuh black Aff\u2019ikin _Guinea nigguh_! Oonuh\nkin nyam da\u2019 alligettuh, en\u2019 w\u2019en oonuh _yiz_ nyam\u2019um, _oonuh duh\ncannibel_!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\u201cTHE WILES THAT IN THE WOMEN ARE\u201d\n\n\nFor many years old John, as country coachman for the late Governor\nAiken, periodically drove a pair of switch-tailed mules to the\nGovernor\u2019s carriage, making round trips between Jehossee Island and\nAdams Run station, whenever his employer came from Charleston to visit\nthe great rice plantation. John was a trim and finicky old darkey, with\nquite a manner, and, in his old beaver hat and long-tailed coat, made a\nnotable figure among the darkeys usually loafing about the station.\n\nLow-country negroes never miss a train. Journeying by rail, they take\nno chances, but invariably reach the station several hours ahead of\ntrain time, where, chattering and gossiping, the waiting time passes\nquickly and pleasantly.\n\nAmong these groups old John, with his long-handled whip of plaited\nbuckskin, correctly looped, and carried coachman fashion, moved and\nexchanged pleasantries. He, too, was always ahead of time, and his\ndocile mules, switching their long, untrimmed tails about, and hitched\nto the only closed carriage in the community, were always objects of\ninterest to the station idlers.\n\n\u201cUncle John, mekso oonuh ent shabe dem mule tail?\u201d inquired one of a\ngroup that squatted upon the platform.\n\n\u201cSistuh, you ebbuh yeddy \u2019bout Johossee muskittuh\u2019?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, suh.\u201d\n\n\u201cAhnhn, uh t\u2019awt so. Gal, you ebbuh see blackbu\u2019d\u2019 \u2019puntop\u2019uh rice\nrick? You _is_ shum, enty? Berry well; dem muskittuh\u2019 een Johossee\nmaa\u2019sh stan\u2019 same fashi\u2019n. W\u2019en dem light \u2019puntop\u2019uh mule, dem\nkibbuhr\u2019um \u2019tell oonuh cyan\u2019 see dem haa\u2019ness! One time, jis\u2019 attuh\ndaa\u2019k, uh binnuh dribe comin\u2019 een late f\u2019um Adam\u2019 Run, en\u2019 w\u2019en uh\n\u2019trike de causeway, all ub uh sudd\u2019nt uh nebbuh yeddy no mule\u2019 foot duh\ntrot \u2019puntop\u2019uh de groun\u2019! De cyaaridge duh moobe, but uh yent yeddy\nno soun\u2019 f\u2019um de mule\u2019 foot. Uh say tuh mese\u2019f, eh, eh, duh warruh\ndish\u2019yuh? Uh look \u2019gen, en\u2019, uh \u2019cla\u2019 tuh goodness, de muskittuh\u2019 _dat_\nt\u2019ick \u2019puntop de mule\u2019 belly, dem hice\u2019um up off de groun\u2019, en\u2019 duh\nflew t\u2019ru de ellyment duh cya\u2019um \u2019long! Dem wing\u2019 duh sing sukkuh bee\nduh swawm, en\u2019 de mule\u2019 duh trot wid all fo\u2019 dem foot, but \u2019e nebbuh\ntetch no groun\u2019! Uh nebbuh do nutt\u2019n \u2019tell uh cross de bridge, \u2019cause\nde bridge mek out\u2019uh pole, en\u2019 dem berry slip\u2019ry duh night time, en\u2019\nuh glad de mule\u2019 ent haffuh pit dem foot \u2019puntop\u2019um, but attuh uh\ndone cross de bridge, uh tek me lash en\u2019 uh cut de mule\u2019 two\u2019t\u2019ree\ntime onduhneet\u2019 dem belly, en\u2019, uh \u2019cla\u2019 tuh my Mastuh, t\u2019ree peck uh\nmuskittuh\u2019 drap \u2019puntop de groun\u2019 en\u2019 uh yeddy de mule\u2019 foot duh trot\n\u2019gen een de road! So, attuh dat, uh nebbuh shabe de Gub\u2019nuh\u2019 cyaaridge\nmule\u2019 tail no mo\u2019, en\u2019 now you shum stan\u2019 dey, dem kin lick muskittuh\u2019,\nfly en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019 same lukkuh hawss.\u201d\n\nSo old John, coachman and raconteur, a faithful and respected servant,\nlived his days, which were long, and when at last he was gathered to\nhis fathers, his funeral was the talk of the colored countryside, and\nhis grave, ornately decorated with broken bits of old blue china and\nthe stone bottles in which Bass\u2019 ale had once been imported, was much\nadmired by those whose sad occasions brought them to the plantation\nGod\u2019s-Acre under the spreading live-oaks.\n\n\u201cEh, eh, Buh John sho\u2019 hab uh fine grabe.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, tittie, \u2019e fine fuh true. You see da\u2019 blue chaney, enty? Dat\nchaney bin \u2019e Missis\u2019 pitchuh \u2019tell de pitchuh\u2019 mout\u2019 done bruk out.\nOne time \u2019e missis sen\u2019 one leely nigguh gal duh big spring wid \u2019e blue\npitchuh fuh fetch watuh. De gal full\u2019 de pitchuh en\u2019 pit\u2019um \u2019puntop \u2019e\nhead duh walk duh paat\u2019 comin\u2019 fuh de house. De gal duh walk ca\u2019less\nlike, duh swing \u2019e han\u2019, en\u2019 \u2019e yeye high, en\u2019 \u2019e nebbuh look \u2019puntop\nde paat\u2019, en\u2019 one limus cootuh binnuh cross \u2019e paat\u2019, en\u2019 him git to\nde paat\u2019 same time de gal git dey, en\u2019 de gal \u2019tump \u2019e toe \u2019puntop\nde cootuh, en\u2019 de cootuh t\u2019row\u2019um down, en\u2019 de pitchuh fall off de\ngal\u2019 head en\u2019 \u2019trike \u2019puntop\u2019uh root, en\u2019 de pitchuh\u2019 mout\u2019 bruk out\nen\u2019 de gal gone back duh big spring en\u2019 full\u2019 de pitchuh \u2019gen, en\u2019\npit\u2019um \u2019puntop \u2019e head en\u2019 gone big house duh paat\u2019, but \u2019e dat \u2019f\u2019aid\nsuh limus cootuh gwine hit\u2019um \u2019gen, \u2019e \u2019tep\u2019 high, en\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e \u2019tep\u2019\nhigh de watuh wuh \u2019e fetch f\u2019um big spring \u2019plash\u2019 out de pitchuh\u2019\nbruk mout\u2019 en\u2019 drap\u2019 \u2019puntop de gal two eye\u2019 en\u2019 run down \u2019e face en\u2019\ngone een \u2019e mout\u2019, en\u2019 w\u2019en de gal git duh big house, \u2019e missis look\n\u2019puntop all de watuh en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019 dey \u2019puntop \u2019e face en\u2019 \u2019e missis\nt\u2019ink de gal cry tuh dat, en\u2019 \u2019e missis sorry fuhr\u2019um en\u2019 \u2019e nebbuh\nlick\u2019um nuh nutt\u2019n\u2019, en\u2019 \u2019e gi\u2019 de bruk mout\u2019 pitchuh to de gal, en\u2019\nw\u2019en de gal grow up, Buh John hab\u2019um fuh wife, en\u2019 da\u2019 de way Buh John\ngit de pitchuh, en\u2019 attuh Buh John done dead, \u2019e wife wuh \u2019e lef\u2019 tek\nhatchitch en\u2019 bruk de pitchuh \u2019gen, en\u2019 pit eb\u2019ry Gawd piece \u2019puntop\nBuh John\u2019 grabe, en\u2019 da\u2019 w\u2019ymekso \u2019e stan\u2019 so.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019E grabe look stylish fuh true, but uh know berry well w\u2019en _my_\njuntlemun dead me yent fuh bruk no pitchuh en\u2019 t\u2019ing fuh pit \u2019puntop\n_him_ cawpse, \u2019cause da\u2019 nigguh _ent wut_, \u2019e too lub fuh drink rum,\nen\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e fetch\u2019um home, him fuhrebbuh duh fall down en\u2019 bruk de\nbottle wuh \u2019e fetch\u2019um een, en\u2019 uh hab all dem bruk bottle pile\u2019 een de\nfench cawnuh fuh pit \u2019puntop him grabe w\u2019en \u2019e dead. Two\u2019t\u2019ree time Joe\nseem lukkuh \u2019e kinduh spishus \u2019bout de bruk bottle, en\u2019 \u2019e ax me wuffuh\nuh duh sabe\u2019um, but uh tell\u2019um uh sabe\u2019um fuh beat\u2019um up \u2019long pessle,\nfuh pizen buckruh\u2019 dog, en\u2019 dat sattify \u2019e mine\u2019 en\u2019 \u2019e lemme \u2019lone.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou sho\u2019 hab uh good onduhstan\u2019, tittie, \u2019cause man ent fuh know\ntummuch. Ef \u2019ooman tell\u2019um de trute \u2019e nebbuh sattify. \u2019Ooman haffuh\nfool\u2019um fuh mek\u2019um easy een \u2019e mine\u2019!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou duh talk trute, tittie, him _lub_ you fuh fool\u2019um. Fool\u2019um duh de\nonly t\u2019ing him gwine b\u2019leebe.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, man, meself hab uh good ecknowledge fuh fool\u2019um. One time Paul,\nhim duh my juntlemun, binnuh wu\u2019k to de maa\u2019l, duh dig rock, down to\nJohn Ilun\u2019. Monday mawnin\u2019, him git up soon, \u2019e gone deepo, \u2019e ketch\nde shoofly strain, en\u2019 \u2019e gone! Uh nebbuh shum \u2019gen \u2019tell Sattyday\nnight. Wuh me fuh do? Seddown een me house \u2019tell him come home en\u2019\nwatch \u2019tettuh duh bile? No, suh! Uh lub fuh talk tummuch! Soon ez uh\nyeddy de strain blow, en\u2019 uh sattify\u2019 my juntlemun gone, uh tek me two\nfoot en\u2019 uh gone Paa\u2019ker\u2019 Ferry Cross Road\u2019 weh da\u2019 buckruh hab \u2019e big\nsto\u2019. All dem boy\u2019 wuh ent hab nutt\u2019n\u2019 fuh do, dey dey duh talk, en\u2019\n\u2019nuf \u2019ooman\u2019 dey dey duh hol\u2019 cumpuhshashun \u2019long de man en\u2019 t\u2019ing.\nW\u2019en daa\u2019k come, uh gone home. Uh cook, uh eat, uh leddown duh bed,\nuh sleep. Chuesday mawnin\u2019, uh gone same fashi\u2019n, en\u2019 eb\u2019ry Gawd\u2019\nday \u2019tell bimeby Sattyday come \u2019gen. Uh clean de house, uh wash, uh\nsweep de yaa\u2019d, en\u2019 uh gone Cross Road\u2019. Uh pass de time uh day \u2019long\ndem todduh nigguh\u2019 \u2019tell uh yeddy de strain f\u2019um town blow deepo, den\nuh gone home fuh wait \u2019tell Paul come. Befo\u2019 uh lef\u2019 de sto\u2019, Sancho\nFrajuh binnuh drink rum en\u2019 \u2019e t\u2019row\u2019way \u2019e money berry freehan\u2019, en\u2019\n\u2019e buy \u2019bout two quawt\u2019 uh candy, dese\u2019yuh \u2019ticky kind\u2019uh t\u2019ing, dem\nhab \u2019ooman name, de buckruh call\u2019um Carrie Mel, but eb\u2019n so, \u2019e mek\nout\u2019uh pinegum en\u2019 muhlassis, en\u2019 ef oonuh chaw\u2019um \u2019e gwine hol\u2019 yo\u2019\njaw \u2019tell t\u2019unduh roll. De buckruh hab\u2019um een \u2019e sto\u2019 sence las\u2019 yeah\nen de t\u2019ing haa\u2019d ez uh i\u2019un. Sancho gi\u2019 eb\u2019ry \u2019ooman two han\u2019ful\u2019.\nUh wrop one de han\u2019ful\u2019 een uh papuh en\u2019 drap\u2019um een me ap\u2019un pocket.\nUh t\u2019row de todduh han\u2019ful een me mout\u2019 en\u2019 biggin fuh chaw. Uh chaw,\nen\u2019 uh chaw, uh chaw, en\u2019 uh chaw. De t\u2019ing sweet\u2019n\u2019 me fuh true, but\n\u2019e ketch me jaw\u2019 en\u2019 \u2019e hol\u2019um same lukkuh pinegum plastuh! De mo\u2019 uh\nchaw\u2019um de mo\u2019 \u2019e swell. Time uh git tuh me house, de t\u2019ing wrop roun\u2019\neb\u2019ry teet\u2019 een me head lukkuh jackwine wrop roun\u2019 tree. Alltwo me jaw\u2019\nstan\u2019 same fashi\u2019n ez mufflejaw fowl, en\u2019 me mout\u2019 swell\u2019up same lukkuh\nBuh Quash\u2019 mout\u2019 stick out w\u2019en \u2019e bex! W\u2019en uh git tuh de do\u2019, Paul\ndey dey duh wait fuh me! \u2019Fo\u2019 him kin ax me no squeschun, uh smaa\u2019t\n\u2019nuf fuh t\u2019row me ap\u2019un tuh me mout\u2019 fuh hide\u2019um, en\u2019 uh kibbuhr\u2019um up\nen\u2019 biggin fuh moan. Uh moan, en\u2019 uh moan. Paul ax me wuffuh uh mek\nshishuh hebby cumplain. Uh \u2019ca\u2019cely kin able fuh talk, but uh tell\u2019um\nuh binnuh walk roun\u2019 de fench en\u2019 uh walk \u2019puntop yalluh jacket nes\u2019\nen\u2019 de t\u2019ing \u2019ting me tuh dat. \u2019E ax me w\u2019ich one de jaw \u2019e \u2019ting\nme \u2019pun. Uh p\u2019int tuh me lef han\u2019 jaw. \u2019E ax me \u2019smattuh mek alltwo\nde jaw\u2019 swell. Uh tell\u2019um gumbile mek todduh one fuh swell. Den uh\nbiggin fuh cry. Watuh stan\u2019 een me two eye\u2019. Uh baig\u2019um fuh gone deepo\nen\u2019 baig some dem buckruh\u2019 fuh g\u2019em some linniment fuh de mis\u2019ry een\nalltwo me jaw\u2019. Paul say suh him kin gone Cross Road\u2019 en\u2019 buy\u2019um, but\nuh \u2019f\u2019aid ef him gone Cross Road\u2019, Sancho dem gwine tell\u2019um suh me bin\ndey, en\u2019 uh tell\u2019um no, uh yent want\u2019um fuh t\u2019row\u2019way him money \u2019cause\nuh lub\u2019um tummuch, en\u2019 uh mo\u2019 redduh him fuh baig de buckruh\u2019, den fuh\nbuy\u2019um out him own money. Dat mek\u2019um sattify, en\u2019 \u2019e gone deepo. Soon\nez \u2019e gone, uh try fuh git da\u2019 debble\u2019ub\u2019uh \u2019ceitful Carrie Mel out me\nmout\u2019. De t\u2019ing \u2019tick same lukkuh Buh Rabbit \u2019tick tuh Taar Baby. \u2019E\nwon\u2019 tu\u2019n me loose! Den me bline\u2019gawd tell me fuh greese\u2019um. Uh gone\nduh house, uh mek fiah, uh pit one fat bakin een de pan, en\u2019 w\u2019en de\nmeat done fry, uh tek\u2019um een me mout\u2019 en\u2019 biggin fuh chaw. Bimeby de\ngreese biggin fuh loose de Carrie Mel, en\u2019 uh tek alltwo me han\u2019 en\u2019 uh\npull\u2019um out me mout\u2019, en\u2019 uh t\u2019row\u2019um \u2019way, en\u2019 uh t\u2019row\u2019um _fudduh_!\n\n\u201cW\u2019en Paul come back wid de buckruh linniment, uh duh hol\u2019 me two jaw\u2019\nen\u2019 uh dull moan. Him gimme de t\u2019ing, uh rub\u2019um, en\u2019 attuhw\u2019ile, w\u2019en\nhim done cook de bittle wuh \u2019e fetch f\u2019um John Ilun\u2019, uh call\u2019um fuh\nlook \u2019puntop me two jaw\u2019 weh de swell\u2019 done gone, en\u2019 \u2019e dat sattify,\n\u2019e gimme de money wuh him bin fuh buy linniment duh Cross Road, en\u2019 \u2019e\nnebbuh yeddy \u2019bout no Sancho!\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, tittie, \u2019ooman fool\u2019um fuh true! Him _done_ fuh fool\u2019um!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nA RICEFIELD IDYLL\n\n\nA brilliant tropical day in late August. A strong breeze from the\nriver moved the glistening leaves and swayed the long pennons of\ngray Spanish moss that swung from every bough and twig of the great\nlive-oaks, whose spreading arms stretched their protecting shade over\nthe plateau upon which stood the Big House, crowning the highest point\nof Prospect Hill. A mile away swept the flowing tide of the broad\nand beautiful Edisto, whose shimmering waters, opposed by the summer\nwind, danced and sparkled in the sunlight. Upon the lower levels\nbetween the uplands and the river lay the great fields of early rice,\nnow ready for the sickle. Intersecting the fields or \u201csquares\u201d at\nregular intervals, and contrasting with their green and gold opulence,\nshining silver-blue canals ran from river to headland. Far across the\nriver on \u201cthe Island,\u201d the eye rested upon an emerald expanse of June\nrice which would come to harvest six weeks later. From the ripening\nfields the \u201charvest flow\u201d had been taken off, the squares dried, and\non this Monday morning 100 hands had gathered by sunrise, for, by the\nmysterious grapevine telegraph through which negroes on one plantation\nhear almost instantaneously what is going forward on other plantations\nmiles away, the news had gone about that rice-cutting was to commence\nat Prospect Hill, and the gregarious negroes, deserting the smaller\nsettlements, flocked hither to the big plantation where, working in\ngangs, they could exchange quip and jest and gather the gossip of the\ncountryside. Some of the best rice-cutters were the sturdy young\nwomen, who, with skirts tied up above their knees and wearing men\u2019s\nwool hats to mitigate the heat of the sun, kept pace with the best of\ntheir masculine associates. Cutting and tying by piece work, an active\nhand could readily complete his task, the allotment for a day\u2019s work,\nan hour before noon, and some of those who had walked six or seven\nmiles in the morning would knock off as soon as the task was finished\nand loaf around the quarters until sundown, while others, pushing their\nluck, held on until the evening, putting two days\u2019 work into one. Armed\nwith the saw-edged, sickle-like \u201crice hooks,\u201d the cutters stretched\nacross the squares, each seizing with her left hand as large a bundle\nof the heavy-headed stalks as she could conveniently grasp, which, with\none stroke of her right arm, she quickly severed a few inches above the\nground, laid the bundle on the stubble ready for those who tied into\nsheaves behind her, and, with a sweep of her left, gathered another\nhandful for the embrace of the crescent-shaped blade. Down the steaming\nfield moved a skirmish line of lusty black wenches, bare-armed,\nbare-footed and bare-legged, their skirts drawn above their knees by\na cord about the waist, which took up the slack. Here and there among\nthem worked men, and these, often physically inferior to the females\nof the species, were subjected to constant raillery and frequent\nchallenges to equal the self-appointed tasks of the women.\n\nVenus Chisolm and Diana Smashum, two strapping Amazons, were the most\nexpert of the women rice-cutters, and excelled most of the men in\nefficiency. Scipio Jenkins, a smart young buck, was the special butt\nof the gang of which Diana and Venus were the leaders. Scipio was\nunusually black, with the common combination of yellow eyes and blue\ngums, and upon this color scheme his tormentors lit like bee martins on\na crow.\n\n    \u201cBlue gum, yalluh eye,\n    Black nigguh berry sly;\n    Yalluh eye, blue gum,\n    Black nigguh lub rum.\n\n    Yalluh eye, w\u2019en you shum,\n    Black nigguh lub rum.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, tittie, \u2019e stan\u2019 so fuh true. Sat\u2019d\u2019y night da\u2019 nigguh gone\nCross Road\u2019. \u2019E buy uh killybash full uh rum f\u2019um de buckruh. \u2019E\ndrink\u2019um eb\u2019ry Gawd\u2019 drap. \u2019E nebbuh gi\u2019 nobody none. \u2019E gone home.\nSunday, _\u2019e dead_! \u2019E nebbuh know nutt\u2019n\u2019 \u2019tell Sunday night \u2019e maamy\nfull\u2019 uh piggin full uh watuh out de well en\u2019 t\u2019row\u2019um \u2019puntop\u2019uh\nScipio, weh \u2019e duh leddown \u2019puntop de flo\u2019, fuh mek\u2019um fuh wake. De\nnigguh binnuh leddown \u2019puntop \u2019e back fuh sleep. \u2019E sleep\u2019 haa\u2019d. \u2019E\ngroan\u2019 en\u2019 \u2019e groan! \u2019E groan\u2019 en\u2019 \u2019e groan\u2019! \u2019E mout\u2019 op\u2019n roun\u2019 same\nlukkuh snake hole. W\u2019en de watuh full\u2019 \u2019e mout\u2019, \u2019e blow lukkuh de\n\u2019strucshun strain injine duh blow off steam w\u2019en \u2019e duh load grabble!\nDe t\u2019ing \u2019trangle\u2019um. \u2019E choke! \u2019E jump out \u2019e maamy\u2019 do\u2019 en\u2019 \u2019e gone\nt\u2019ru de briah-patch dat fas\u2019 \u2019e lef\u2019 half \u2019e britchiz \u2019puntop de briah!\nBumbye, w\u2019en \u2019e maamy gone duh \u2019ood fuh fine\u2019um, please Gawd, de nigguh\nbinnuh leddown flat \u2019puntop \u2019e belly een de du\u2019t, duh swim! Da\u2019 piggin\nfull uh watuh hab shishuh cuntrady tas\u2019e een \u2019e mout\u2019, \u2019e mek\u2019um t\u2019ink\nsuh him dey een de ribbuh! \u2019E \u2019tretch out all fo\u2019 \u2019e han\u2019 en\u2019 \u2019e foot.\n\u2019E ten finguh\u2019 duh grabble een de du\u2019t. Bumbye, w\u2019en \u2019e han\u2019 loos\u2019n\nde du\u2019t, \u2019e feel uh pinetree root. \u2019E graff\u2019um een alltwo \u2019e han\u2019! \u2019E\nholluh. \u2018_Tengk Gawd_,\u2019 \u2019e say, \u2018_uh done sabe! Uh yent fuh drowndid no\nmo!_\u2019 En\u2019 da\u2019 fool nigguh pull \u2019pun de pinetree root fuh hice \u2019eself\nout de ribbuh! Da\u2019 rum do\u2019um _bad_!\u201d\n\nScipio swelled with wrath, but at first \u201ctoo full for sound or foam,\u201d\nbent to his task and, cutting savagely at the thickest stalks, under\nthe impetus of anger, soon forged ahead of the others and led the line.\nBefore he drew away, however, he projected this Parthian shot with a\ntorpedo in its tail: \u201cBenus en\u2019 Diana, oonuh alltwo duh bodduh me,\nw\u2019ymekso oonuh ent study \u2019bout Paul? Him duh alltwo oonuh sweeth\u2019aa\u2019t\nen\u2019 t\u2019ing. Diana t\u2019ink suh Paul duh him\u2019own \u2019cause \u2019e ge\u2019m da\u2019 catfish\n\u2019e ketch las\u2019 Sat\u2019d\u2019y, en\u2019 Benus t\u2019ink suh him duh she\u2019own, \u2019cause \u2019e\nbuy gunjuh fuhr\u2019um duh Cross Road\u2019, but Paul nebbuh buy no frock fuh\nDiana, en\u2019 \u2019e nebbuh buy none fuh Benus, but him buy\u2019um fuh Minda,\nen\u2019 \u2019e duh keep cump\u2019ny \u2019long Minda, en\u2019 him duh yalluh gal, en\u2019 Paul\nnebbuh fuh study \u2019bout no black nigguh\u2019 no mo\u2019! Him duh fool oonuh\nalltwo!\u201d\n\nThe torpedo exploded.\n\nTwo dusky faces quickly changed from smirking comedy to girding\ntragedy. Two stalwart forms stiffened in their tracks and stood\nastraddle like two Colossi of Rhodes. Two pairs of powerful arms\nakimboed, and two sets of sinewy fingers clutched the handles of their\nrice hooks!\n\n\u201cHukkuh Paul happ\u2019n fuh gi\u2019 you catfish? You mus\u2019be baig fuhr\u2019um, enty?\u201d\n\n\u201c_Baig fuhr\u2019um!_ Me fuh baig man fuh catfish! _I_ iz uh lady, uh wan\u2019\nyou fuh know, en\u2019 ef _you_ haffuh baig\u2019um fuh _gunjuh_, me yent haffuh\nbaig\u2019um fuh _catfish_!\u201d\n\n\u201cWuh you got fuh do wid wuh Paul gi\u2019 me? Him duh _yo\u2019_ juntlemun, enty?\u201d\n\n\u201cEf \u2019e yent my\u2019own, uh know berry well suh him ent fuh blonx to no\nblack nigguh lukkuh you!\u201d\n\n\u201c_Nigguh!_ Who you call nigguh? _De Debble is uh nigguh!_\u201d\n\n\u201cHim duh nigguh fuh true, but dis ricefiel\u2019 full uh \u2019e chillun, en\u2019 \u2019e\ngran\u2019chillun alltwo, en\u2019 uh \u2019spec\u2019 you duh one uh \u2019e gran\u2019!\u201d\n\nA shriek of laughter from Scipio filled Diana\u2019s cup of anger to\noverflowing, and, with a savage rice-cutting swing, she sideswiped\nVenus with her saw-edged sickle, and cut her acquaintance below, and\nbehind, the belt. Bustles were not then worn, but the victim was saved\nfrom a most inconvenient wound by the folds of her looped-up skirt,\nwhich, like a furled sail, hung just abaft the beam, and she received\nonly a scratch. Starting at the scratch, however, Diana was twenty feet\naway and going strong when Venus, yelling with pain, turned and gave\nchase. Screams of laughter mingled with shouts of excitement, as Diana\ntripped and fell on the stubble, and Venus, too close to check her\nspeed, stumbled over her prostrate assailant and came a cropper, the\nrice hook flying out of her hand as she fell. Diana\u2019s weapon, having\nbeen taken from her by one of the men, the two ladies were on equal\nterms with nature\u2019s weapons, and, both being on all-fours, literally\nand figuratively, they soon fastened their \u201cten commandments\u201d in each\nother\u2019s wool. They fought viciously and silently, and not until,\ncollapsed from exhaustion, they had been separated by the men, did they\nagain become vocal. Venus\u2019 gingham skirt had suffered a cruel rent.\nAs she reached behind her and felt the yawning gap in her sartorial\nhinterland, and realized the ignominy that had been put upon her by\nthis \u201cmost unkindest cut of all,\u201d she shrieked in anger. \u201cUh gwine\ntek you Trial Jestuss! You fuh gone Adam\u2019 Run fuh dis t\u2019ing wuh you\ndone do!\u201d and she flung wrathfully out of the field. Out of the babel\nof voices that arose among the partisans of the two goddesses, the\ndominant note was abuse of Scipio, who had flung Paul, the apple, or\nrather the Guinea squash, of discord among them.\n\n\u201cWuh you haffuh do \u2019long Paul\u2019 name? Ef him _iz_ buy gunjuh en\u2019 frock\nen\u2019 t\u2019ing fuh t\u2019ree \u2019ooman\u2019, uh sho\u2019 \u2019e mo\u2019 bettuh den fuh nebbuh buy\nnutt\u2019n\u2019 fuh none!\u201d showing the world-wide feminine appreciation of a\nfree spender. \u201cWuh you ebbuh buy fuh \u2019ooman? Eb\u2019ry Sat\u2019d\u2019y night da\u2019\nbuckruh\u2019 sto\u2019 duh Cross Road\u2019 full up wid \u2019ooman, en\u2019 _you_ ebbuh buy\nuh tencent wut\u2019 uh bakin fuh greese dem mout\u2019? No, suh! You lub fuh\ntalk sweetmout\u2019 talk \u2019long\u2019um, but you dat stingy you nebbuh buy uh\ncandy, eeduhso uh sugar, fuh sweet\u2019n dem mout\u2019. Ent you know suh \u2019ooman\nlub uh freehan\u2019 man?\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, tittie! You talk trute! \u2019Ooman redduh hab \u2019e mout\u2019 full\u2019uh\nmuhlassis den \u2019e yez full\u2019uh sweetmout\u2019 talk!\u201d\n\n\u201cHim lub\u2019um alltwo,\u201d observed a sapient one. \u201cHim mout\u2019 en\u2019 him yez\nalltwo fuh full one time!\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn the second Saturday thereafter, having been summoned by Big Jim\nGreen, the negro constable, Venus and Diana, with their respective\nsatellites, appeared before the Trial Justice at Adams Run station,\nwhere Diana, duly indicted, was charged in the comprehensive\nphraseology of the Criminal Code with such a string of offenses against\nthe peace and dignity of the State of South Carolina and the proper\nperson of Venus Chisolm that her ears tingled and her eyes popped with\namazement.\n\n\u201cGuilty or not guilty?\u201d\n\n\u201cUh yent know wuh you call so, Jedge, but uh nebbuh do none uh dem\nt\u2019ing wuh da\u2019 papuh call dem name. Ef Jedus yeddy me, uh nebbuh do uh\nGawd\u2019 t\u2019ing but cut da\u2019 \u2019ooman, en\u2019 uh nebbuh hab uh chance fuh cut\u2019um\n_good_, \u2019cause \u2019e hab \u2019e frock tie\u2019up \u2019roun\u2019 \u2019e wais\u2019, en\u2019 w\u2019en uh cut\nat \u2019e hanch en\u2019 de rice hook ketch \u2019e frock weh \u2019e roll\u2019up behine\u2019um,\ndat sabe de \u2019ooman\u2019 meat, en\u2019 uh only able fuh \u2019cratch \u2019e skin, but\nuh \u2019cratch\u2019um \u2019nuf fuh mek\u2019um holluh same lukkuh hog\u2019 holluh w\u2019en\noonuh cut dem yez fuh maa\u2019k\u2019um, en\u2019 alldo\u2019 uh yent puhzac\u2019ly _cut_ de\n\u2019ooman, uh _try_ fuh cut\u2019um, but uh cut \u2019e frock en\u2019 uh only able fuh\n\u2019cratch\u2019um, en\u2019 ef uh _yiz_ bin cut\u2019um, duh Scipio mek\u2019 me fuh do\u2019um,\n\u2019cause him come duh ricefiel\u2019 wid da\u2019 bluegum mout\u2019 uh him\u2019own full\u2019uh\npizen talk fuh bex me nuh Benus, en\u2019 uh always yeddy suh ef uh bluegum\nnigguh bite you \u2019e gwine pizen you same lukkuh moccasin, en\u2019 same\nfashi\u2019n de talk wuh come out da\u2019 nigguh\u2019 jaw pizen alltwo uh we en\u2019 mek\nwe fuh fight, but, Jedge, uh nebbuh cut Benus lukkuh da\u2019 papuh say,\n\u2019cause ef uh had\u2019uh cut\u2019um _fuh true, true_! da\u2019 \u2019ooman would\u2019uh haffuh\nstan\u2019up \u2019puntop\u2019uh \u2019e two foot fuh t\u2019ree week!\u201d\n\n\u201cReceived as information,\u201d observed the magistrate, and he called\nVenus, who came up smiling. \u201cYou have heard Diana\u2019s story. What have\nyou to say?\u201d\n\n\u201cUh yeddy\u2019um, suh. But \u2019e cut me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere did she cut you?\u201d\n\n\u201cSuh?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere did she cut you?\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019E cut me een Mas\u2019 Edwu\u2019d\u2019 ricefiel\u2019, suh.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I know you were all in the ricefield, but where did she cut you?\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019E cut me een ten acre, suh.\u201d\n\n\u201cCut you in ten acre!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019E cut me een da\u2019 ten acre square wuh stan\u2019 close to de baa\u2019nyaa\u2019d,\nsuh.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, you have given the location in the ricefield, now, where on your\nperson did Diana cut you with a rice hook?\u201d\n\n\u201cSuh?\u201d\n\n\u201cYour person is your body. Did she cut you on your body?\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, suh, \u2019e cut me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, on what part of your body did she cut you?\u201d\n\n\u201cDa\u2019 same place wuh you call \u2019e name, suh.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat place?\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019E cut me on me _pussun_, suh, en\u2019, Jedge, de t\u2019ing sweet\u2019n\u2019 me so\nbad, ef uh could\u2019uh ketch da\u2019 \u2019ooman \u2019fo\u2019 uh ketch me foot en\u2019 fall\nobuhr\u2019um, da\u2019 \u2019ooman would uh _dead_!\u201d\n\nAs there was murderous intent in the sudden heat and passion of both\nVenus and Diana, the court imposed upon the defendant a fine only\nsufficient to rehabilitate the wardrobe of the prosecuting witness,\nwho sailed out of court thoroughly satisfied with the new frock in\nprospect and the present enrichment of her vocabulary by the buckra\nword \u201cpussun.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE DOWER HOUSE\n\n\nThe \u201cDower House,\u201d which Abram Drayton had inherited from his father,\nold John, now resting under the great live-oaks of the plantation\nburying ground, was quite a pretentious affair, two stories high, with\ntwo chimneys and a leak. The stories were not very high, only six or\nseven feet in the clear, but it was sometimes convenient to be able\nto reach up and touch the ceiling, and, after all, it was a two-story\nhouse and, like all two-story houses among the negroes, added greatly\nto the prestige of the owner\u2019s family. In the usual one-story negro\ncabin, the boarded-over \u201cloft,\u201d reached by ladder, is at once the\nsleeping room for the children, the granary for corn and peas, and the\nhay mow for whatever straw or fodder the householder possesses, but\nthe Dower House had a real second story, attained by steps, narrow\nand teetering \u2019tis true, which the ascending biped usually \u201ccooned\u201d\non all-fours, but they were steps, not rungs, and, however vigorously\nthe negro expresses in hymns and spirituals his willingness, indeed\nanxiety, to \u201cclimb up Jacob\u2019s ladder,\u201d in the present life he prefers\nthe creak of a board under his foot.\n\nUnder the law of primogeniture, arbitrarily established by old John for\nthe disposition and control of his landed property, the \u201cTwo-Chimbly\nHouse\u201d was bequeathed by word of mouth to his eldest son, and similarly\nsettled upon his eldest grandson, and so on, as long as the line\nlasted, or until the shingles fell off, when dynastic difficulties\nwould inevitably intervene. Perhaps he had heard of primogeniture and\ndower houses while waiting at the table of his English-bred master\nin the old times, but however the idea came into his kinky head, once\nin, it stuck, and he determined that a Dower House he would leave, and\na Dower House entailed. \u201cUh gwine tie de \u2019tail \u2019puntop da\u2019 house fuh\nhol\u2019um _fas\u2019_! Uh tie\u2019um fus\u2019 \u2019puntop my boy, Ebbrum, en\u2019 den \u2019e fuh\ntie \u2019puntop _him_ boy, my gran\u2019, en\u2019 de \u2019tail ent fuh tek\u2019off! De \u2019tail\nent fuh tie \u2019puntop no \u2019ooman. \u2019Ooman ent fuh hab no house. Man fuh\nhab\u2019um en\u2019 him fuh hol\u2019um, so him kin fetch de \u2019ooman to \u2019e han\u2019!\u201d\n\nSo, the \u201c\u2019tail\u201d still tied to Abram, in due time he came into the Dower\nHouse, and here, in the woods on the road from Adams Run Station to Caw\nCaw Swamp, he lived and reared a family.\n\nAt the tail of the summer his wife partook \u201cnot wisely but too well\u201d\nof watermelon and buttermilk, and through the unfortunate combination\nwas forthwith translated from the bosom of Abram to that of Abraham.\nThe widowed man resigned himself to the will of the Lord, and accepted\nhis bereavement not the less philosophically that his crop was already\nmade and partly gathered. \u201cEf de Lawd haffuh tek\u2019um, uh glad \u2019E yent\ntek\u2019um \u2019tell de crap done mek,\u201d he reflected gratefully and reverently.\nIn a week he had picked and sold the last of his cotton, and out of the\nproceeds outfitted his old mare with a new saddle, bridle and cloth,\nnotwithstanding which, the ungrateful creature, with true feminine\nperversity, \u201cgone en\u2019 leddown en\u2019 _dead_, jis\u2019 \u2019cause uh yent feed\u2019um\nfuh two\u2019t\u2019ree day. Uh nebbuh know da\u2019 mare gwine hongry to dat! \u2019E\nhongry \u2019tell \u2019e dead, en\u2019 now uh haffuh tek me two foot en\u2019 walk!\u201d\n\nAbram, being now more than a \u201csettled\u201d man, jogged along in single\nharness uneventfully for several months. \u201cNot so young, sir, to love a\nwoman for singing, nor so old as to dote on her for anything,\u201d he now,\nin the autumn of his days, became somewhat critical in the matter of\nfeminine needlework. His grown daughter esteemed herself a competent,\nalmost a skilful, patcher of broken, frayed or frazzled raiment. She\nknew very well how to put crocus or burlap patches on the knees of\nthe jeans or blue denim trousers affected by her sire, but though she\ncould attach them in such fashion that they would hold, the edges\nalways overlapped like the strakes of a clinker-built whale boat. But\nwhatever these patches lacked in symmetrical attachment, they served\nwell enough, for, as Abram advanced in years, he did not kneel so often\nas he sat. The seats of his trousers, however, yawned in pathetic\nneglect for, however acceptably his daughter repaired his broken knees,\nthe half-soling of the seats was a much more serious matter, which she\nlacked the high spirit to undertake, and he carried about with him,\nwhithersoever he went, gaping wounds in his sartorial equipment where,\naccording to Hudibras, \u201ca kick in that part more hurts honor than deep\nwounds before.\u201d Not that anyone would ever have kicked him, for he was\nof a quiet and inoffensive disposition.\n\nMost observers of humanity have noted with interest the close\nresemblance of certain types of the \u201cwild (and tame) animals one has\nknown.\u201d The horse, the ass, the bulldog, the pug, sheep and goat,\nfox, raccoon and rat, the \u2019possum, grinning with pious hypocrisy,\nand the Berkshire pig with slanting eyes and champing jowls, are all\nmarked likenesses frequently reproduced in human faces, representing\nthe stupid, the sly, the selfish, the grasping, the predaceous, the\nstubborn, the sensual, the combative, the treacherous--all of them to\nbe avoided, or warily appraised, for the good of one\u2019s soul--and of\none\u2019s pocket. Unhappily, those who have been blessed with so rich an\nexperience as to have suffered both fools and knaves, seldom learn\nto read the buoys with which nature has wisely marked the dangerous\nreefs in her physiognomonic charts, until the keels of their craft\ngrind upon the rocks! But Abram\u2019s face was that of the mild-eyed,\nintrospective ox. There was no militant personality in the neighborhood\nto \u201cwalk a mile out of his way to kick a sheep,\u201d and, even had there\nbeen, to have kicked Abram would have been anatomically impossible,\nfor the unsportsmanlike may shoot a sitting bird, but he cannot kick\n(offensively) a sitting man, and Abram was usually sitting! So, having\nheld inviolate against the insulting toe the seats of his trousers,\nwhich he had lost only through the slow attrition of honest sloth, he\nretained his self-respect, though he was a peripatetic scandal whenever\nhe went abroad upon his \u201cpeaceful occasions.\u201d With praiseworthy\npropriety, he now came in late to church or prayer-meeting, and, a\nvigorous and devout \u201cclass leader,\u201d coached his class from the bench,\ndreading the publicity of the sidelines. Then he sat discreetly at the\nclose of the services until \u201cde \u2019ooman en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u201d had gained an offing\nand sailed away, when, as he showed a fairly presentable front, he\nwould follow after them and engage in long distance conversation.\n\n\u201cCome on, Bredduh Drayton. Mekso you walk so slow?\u201d\n\n\u201cUh haffuh walk slow, tittie, \u2019cause dese debble\u2019ub\u2019uh britchiz bus\u2019,\nen\u2019 dem ent wut. Da\u2019 gal uh my\u2019own able fuh pit uh berry deestunt patch\n\u2019puntop de knee, but seem lukkuh him ent able fuh do nutt\u2019n\u2019 \u2019long de\nseat. Da\u2019 w\u2019ymekso dish\u2019yuh britchiz do berry well fuh man fuh seddown\neen\u2019um, but dem cyan\u2019 specify fuh walk.\u201d\n\n\u201cWuh mekso you ent tek anodduh lady fuh wife? You got big house en\u2019\n\u2019nuf groun\u2019 fuh mek crap, mekso you ent fuh hab \u2019ooman?\u201d\n\n\u201cUh hab house en\u2019 groun,\u2019 fuh true. Uh got uh two-chimbly house, but\n\u2019ooman shishuh onsaa\u2019t\u2019n t\u2019ing, uh kinduh \u2019f\u2019aid fuh tek anodduh\nchance. Ebbuh sence my lady nyam dem watuhmilyun en\u2019 buttuhmilk en\u2019 him\nJedus tek\u2019um, uh yent hab nutt\u2019n\u2019 fuh bodduh me. Uh kin seddown een de\nsunhot eenjurin\u2019 de whole day en\u2019 nebbuh yeddy no \u2019ooman\u2019 woice duh\ncall fuh tell me fuh git\u2019up. Uh kin seddown tell uh fuh gone \u2019sleep.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, my Bredduh, you binnuh seddown, fuh true!\u201d a church sister\nlaughingly retorted. \u201cDa\u2019 de reas\u2019n w\u2019ymekso you shame\u2019 fuh stan\u2019up fuh\nlead yo\u2019 class! Long seddown mek short stan\u2019up, you know.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo \u2019way, gal! \u2019Nuf man wuh hab wife een dem house, dem britchiz ent\nable fuh specify. Dem wife lazy tummuch fuh patch\u2019um.\u201d And so Abram,\nalways backward in company, put on the best front he could for a while\nand, unlike Edward Bellamy, never looked behind him. At last the\nraillery told on him, however, and he made up his mind to take another\nplunge into the roiling waters of married life. Not the \u201cuncertain sea\nof matrimony\u201d beloved of poets, but just the black and sluggish current\nof the branch or run, in which, among snags and cypress knees, swam\nthe slimy catfish and the venomous moccasin. The hazard was not great,\nfor, however forbidding they looked, the waters were shallow, and the\nlow-country negro, stepping into matrimony, keeps at least one big toe\non dry ground, and, if one steps in the wrong place, one can always\nstep out again, and try elsewhere. So, with more than a toe-hold of\nmental reservation, Abram at last, like the storied frog, \u201cwould a\nwooing go\u201d--and he went. \u201cUh gwine Cross Road\u2019. Uh gwine Sat\u2019d\u2019y night\nw\u2019en \u2019nuf \u2019ooman dey dey, en\u2019 uh gwine saa\u2019ch dem eb\u2019ry Gawd\u2019 one \u2019tell\nuh git one wuh kin specify. Uh yent wan\u2019 no settle\u2019 \u2019ooman, \u2019cause dem\ndone hab \u2019nuf man fuh marri\u2019d, en\u2019 dem know tummuch. Dem too schemy!\nSeem lukkuh de mo\u2019 husbun\u2019 en\u2019 t\u2019ing dem fuh hab, de mo\u2019 schemy dem\ngit! Ef uh tek uh nyung gal fuh wife, wuh ent know nutt\u2019n\u2019, uh kin\nbruk\u2019um fuh suit, same lukkuh oxin bruk fuh pull plow. Uh kin fetch\u2019um\nonduhneet\u2019 me han\u2019!\u201d\n\nWith these masterful masculine reflections, Abram went his ways to the\nCross Roads, and having, like Poe\u2019s Raven, acquired the sitting habit,\ndown he sat near the store on a convenient log which offered at once\nrest for his weary bones and camouflage for his sartorial infirmities.\nFor an hour or more he watched with an appraising eye the women coming\nand going, acknowledging the salutations of those who passed near\nhim. At last, his approving regard rested upon what the ante-bellum\nadvertisements would have called a \u201clikely girl\u201d who curtseyed as she\ncame opposite him. \u201cCome\u2019yuh, gal,\u201d he called. \u201cWuh you name?\u201d\n\n\u201cSukey, suh.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou duh An\u2019 Minda\u2019 gal, enty?\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, suh, him duh my Grumma en\u2019 me duh him gran\u2019.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou onduhstan\u2019 \u2019bout cook en\u2019 wash, enty?\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, suh, uh well acquaintun wid alltwo.\u201d\n\n\u201cBerry well. You know how fuh patch man\u2019 britchiz en\u2019 t\u2019ing?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, suh, uh know how fuh patch \u2019ooman\u2019 frock, but uh yent know nutt\u2019n\u2019\n\u2019bout no britchiz \u2019cause none ent fuh dey een we house.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou hab Pa, enty?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, suh, uh yent hab no Pa. Uh yeddy \u2019bout\u2019um but uh nebbuh shum.\nGrumma tell me suh one time uh bin hab Pa, but Ma run\u2019um off en\u2019 \u2019e\n\u2019f\u2019aid fuh come back, en\u2019 attuhw\u2019ile w\u2019en uh biggin fuh grow big, Ma\nsen\u2019 me fuh lib \u2019long Grumma, \u2019cause \u2019e say suh uh tek attuh Pa \u2019tell\neb\u2019ry time \u2019e look \u2019puntop me \u2019e bex \u2019tell him haffuh lick me, en\u2019 him\nsay suh \u2019e yent hab time fuh fuhrebbuh duh lick me.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou tek attuh yo\u2019 Pa, enty?\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, suh, uh nebbuh shum, but eb\u2019rybody say suh uh look luk\u2019um en\u2019\ntek attuhr\u2019um alltwo.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou ent tek attuh yo\u2019 Ma, iz you?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, suh, uh yent tek attuh _him_.\u201d\n\n\u201cBerry well, uh gwine hab you fuh wife. You know who uh yiz, enty? Me\nduh Ebbrum Drayton, en\u2019 uh lib todduh side Adam\u2019 Run deepo, en\u2019 uh hab\nuh two-chimbly house en\u2019 \u2019e got two story, en\u2019 uh bin hab uh mare, but\nhim gone en\u2019 dead. En\u2019 w\u2019en you gone home, tell yo\u2019 Grumma uh gwine fuh\nshum Sunday night fuh tell\u2019um uh gwine hab you fuh wife.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, suh. Well, good ebenin\u2019, suh,\u201d and, with another curtsy, she was\ngone.\n\nBut Abram\u2019s plans they gang\u2019d agley, for old John, in putting the\nword-of-mouth entail on the Dower House, had tied the \u201c\u2019tail\u201d so\nloosely that its terms and conditions were constantly subject to family\ndiscussion and interpretation, and Abram\u2019s son now objected to his\nfather\u2019s marriage, believing that it would break the entail and deprive\nhim of the right of succession to \u201cde Two-Chimbly House.\u201d \u201cW\u2019en Grumpa\nhim tie de \u2019tail \u2019puntop de house, \u2019e say \u2019sponsubble suh \u2019e yent fuh\ntek off, en\u2019 suh \u2019e yent fuh tie \u2019puntop no \u2019ooman. Pa ent know uh\nGawd\u2019 t\u2019ing \u2019bout da\u2019 gal him duh talk \u2019bout hab fuh wife. \u2019E nebbuh\nsee \u2019e Ma, \u2019e nebbuh shum fight. Da\u2019 gal\u2019 Ma iz de debble! W\u2019en da\u2019\n\u2019ooman fight da\u2019 gal\u2019 Pa, \u2019e run\u2019um \u2019long hoe en\u2019 hatchitch alltwo! Da\u2019\nnigguh run \u2019tell \u2019e cross Jacksinburruh. \u2019E nebbuh stop\u2019 \u2019tell \u2019e gone\nspang Ti Ti! W\u2019en \u2019e bog up to \u2019e crotch \u2019mong dem waa\u2019ment\u2019 en\u2019 t\u2019ing\n\u2019e git sattify een \u2019e mine\u2019. No, suh! Pa ent study nutt\u2019n\u2019 \u2019cep\u2019 hab\nwife fuh sweep \u2019e house en\u2019 patch \u2019e britchiz. Bumbye, w\u2019en da\u2019 gal\u2019\nmaamy\u2019 sperrit git een\u2019um en\u2019 \u2019e bex fuh true! Ki! Da\u2019 gal gwine tek\nde \u2019tail off Grumpa\u2019 house en\u2019 none uh we gwine shum \u2019gen! W\u2019en Pa duh\nbog up to \u2019e crotch een Ti Ti, wuh saa\u2019bis den fuh hab patch \u2019puntop \u2019e\nbritchiz? No, suh!\u201d\n\nHis daughter sought to comfort Abram, who, in the short space of 36\nhours, had loved and wooed, and won and lost. \u201cNemmine\u2019, Pa, you got\nyo\u2019 Two-Chimbly House.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, but uh cyan\u2019 seddown befo\u2019 alltwo de chimbly one time.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nAT THE CROSS ROADS STORE\n\n\nFor many years after freedom came to the negroes of the low-country,\nthey were cruelly and ignobly cheated by the tradespeople who set up\nlittle Cross Roads stores in every community. Many of these were German\ncorner-shopkeepers from the cities. Others were wandering Jews, whose\npredatory instincts took them wherever there were pickings to be had.\nYet others, to their shame, were certain low-class South Carolinians\nthat did not scruple to take advantage of the ignorant freedmen who,\na wasteful and improvident people, whose needs had all been supplied\nunder slavery, squandered the money they were unaccustomed to handling\nand unable to compute.\n\nImitative as monkeys, however, it is to the credit of their\nintelligence, if not of their morality, that they soon learned to\nretaliate, and many a brick and rusty plowshare was weighed in their\nbags of seed cotton and paid for by the tricky shopkeeper who, knowing\nthat in many cases the cotton was stolen from the planter for whom the\nnegro worked, and brought stealthily by night to the sophisticated\nmerchant, did not scan his purchase too closely, and many an ancient\nnest egg, too, was sold to the shopkeeper as a new-laid \u201cyaa\u2019d aig\u201d and\nshipped away to city customers.\n\nThe marks upon the brass beams of the counter-scales with which the\nnegroes\u2019 purchases were weighed, were so obscured and tarnished\nthat they could not be deciphered, even by customers who could\nread, but the wily shopman knew exactly where to put his weight to\ngive a twelve-ounce pound, which is what the negro usually got.\nAlways suspecting \u201cde buckruh\u201d of cheating him, and being unable to\ndo even the smallest addition, the negro soon learned to protect\nhimself, if not from short weights, at least from short change, and\nit was interesting to observe a shopper making her week\u2019s purchases\non Saturday nights at one of these neighborhood stores. The women,\ncommonly more alert, and always more suspicious, than the men, were\nusually charged with the buying. If a customer had a dollar to spend,\nshe would first price the various commodities under consideration.\n\n\u201cHummuch you ax fuh sugar?\u201d\n\n\u201cTen cents a pound.\u201d\n\n\u201cTen cent\u2019 uh poun\u2019?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cHummuch fuh fibe cent\u2019?\u201d\n\n\u201cHalf a pound.\u201d\n\n\u201cGimme fibe cent\u2019 wut.\u201d\n\nThe short-weight sugar wrapped up and handed out, the customer would\ndraw it to her bosom and, leaning on the counter, put her protecting\narms around it. The dollar, ceremonially unwrapped from a corner of her\napron, would be handed over, and ninety-five cents in change returned,\nwhich she would count over carefully before proceeding with her next\npurchase.\n\n\u201cYou got any bakin\u2019?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cWuh kind\u2019uh bakin\u2019?\u201d\n\n\u201cSide meat and shoulder meat.\u201d\n\n\u201cHummuch fuh him?\u201d\n\n\u201cTen cents for the shoulders and twelve and a half cents for the sides.\u201d\n\n\u201cGimme ten cent\u2019 wut uh side meat.\u201d\n\nWhen that was delivered, ten cents would be slowly taken from the\nlittle pile and paid over.\n\n\u201cWuh kinduh clawt\u2019 you got?\u201d\n\n\u201cHomespun, gingham, calico. What kind you want?\u201d\n\n\u201cLemme shum.\u201d\n\nBolts of each would be placed before her.\n\n\u201cHummuch da\u2019 speckly kin\u2019?\u201d (pointing to the gingham).\n\n\u201cTen cents a yard.\u201d\n\n\u201cGimme ten cent\u2019 wut.\u201d\n\nA thirty-three-inch yard would be torn off.\n\n\u201cYou got any salt?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cHummuch fuh him?\u201d\n\n\u201cFive cents a quart.\u201d\n\n\u201cGimme t\u2019ree cent\u2019 wut.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou got any flour?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cHummuch you ax fuh him?\u201d\n\n\u201cFive cents a pound.\u201d\n\n\u201cGimme ten cent\u2019 wut.\u201d\n\nThe flour and the salt would come within the encircling arms, fifteen\ncents be counted out, and all transactions suspended until the two\ncents change was returned to her.\n\n\u201cWuh kinduh tubackuh you got?\u201d\n\nTwo or three samples of plug tobacco, the only sort in common use,\nwould be offered for inspection, and perhaps the advice of a colored\nsister asked before deciding upon a selection.\n\nBy the time the dollar was expended, the clerk had walked a hundred\nyards or so, had used up lots of brown paper and paper twine and had\nhad his patience sorely tried, but he charged liberally for his time\nand trouble, and the poor darkey got far less than she paid for.\n\nIn the funny columns of Northern periodicals, and in the immemorial\nminstrel jokes and songs, the negro not only steals chickens, but\neats them. The low-country negroes, however, while all of them keep\nchickens, seldom, if ever, eat them, the coarsest fat bacon being far\nmore to the negro\u2019s taste than the juiciest broiler. Then, too, eggs\nand chickens are currency in most negro communities and can always be\nconverted into cash at the country store or at the back door of the\nnearest white family.\n\nThe country negroes on the coast still speak of \u201cfo\u2019punce\u201d chickens\nand \u201cseb\u2019npunce\u201d chickens, meaning the sizes that were sold for four\npence and seven pence respectively before the Revolution, when British\ncoinage was the currency of the country.\n\n\u201cGal, ketch da\u2019 seb\u2019npunce chickin en\u2019 dem t\u2019ree fo\u2019punce chickin\u2019 en\ntek dese\u2019yuh six aig\u2019, en\u2019 tek\u2019um to de Cross Road\u2019, en\u2019 buy de six\naig\u2019 wut\u2019uh tubackuh en\u2019 de seb\u2019npunce chickin wut\u2019uh flour, en\u2019 one de\nfo\u2019punce chickin\u2019 wut\u2019uh sugar, en\u2019 norruh one uh de fo\u2019punce chickin\u2019\nwut\u2019uh side meat, en\u2019 de todduh fo\u2019punce chickin wut\u2019uh muhlassis, en\u2019\ntek dish\u2019yuh bucket fuh fetch\u2019um een, en\u2019 don\u2019 \u2019low de buckruh fuh\ncheat you, en\u2019 tie de aig\u2019 een yo\u2019 hengkitchuh, en\u2019 tie all fo\u2019 de\nfowl\u2019 foot so dem cyan\u2019 git\u2019way, en\u2019 hol\u2019um een yo\u2019 ap\u2019un, en\u2019 don\u2019\nstay duh sto\u2019 too long, en\u2019 w\u2019en you tek de chickin\u2019 out de ap\u2019un,\nhol\u2019um by \u2019e two foot fuh mek \u2019e head heng down, so \u2019e wing\u2019 kin \u2019pread\nout fuh mek\u2019um look big so de buckruh t\u2019ink suh de fo\u2019punce chickin\u2019\nduh seb\u2019npunce chickin\u2019, en\u2019 w\u2019en de buckruh po\u2019 out de muhlassis,\nmek\u2019um fuh po\u2019rum \u2019tell de muhlassis stop run out de medjuh, \u2019cause\nef you ent watch\u2019um \u2019e sho\u2019 fuh lef\u2019 some een de quawt cup, en\u2019 w\u2019en\nyou come back duh night\u2019time, walk middle\u2019uh de paat\u2019, \u2019cause \u2019e rain\u2019\nteday en\u2019 toadfrog does jump \u2019bout w\u2019en de ground en\u2019 t\u2019ing wet, en\u2019\nmoccasin does folluhr\u2019um fuh ketch\u2019um, en\u2019 uh yent wan\u2019 you fuh git\n\u2019structed by no snake duh paat\u2019.\u201d\n\nThe little girl leaned on the counter, slowly unrolled an old bandanna\nhandkerchief, and spread the six eggs before her, carefully keeping the\nunhappy chickens concealed in her apron.\n\n\u201cEbenin\u2019, suh. Ma tell me fuh git uh plug\u2019uh tubackuh wid dese aig\u2019.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou can get only half a plug for half a dozen eggs. Eggs are ten cents\na dozen!\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas\u2019suh, but Ma tell me fuh git\u2019uh whole plug,\u201d said the shrewd\nlittle trader. \u201cMa tell me fuh ax you ef you ent g\u2019em uh whole plug uh\ntubackuh fuh de six aig\u2019, please, suh, fuh gimme uh gunjuh--tengky,\nsuh,\u201d as the obliging clerk handed her a big scalloped molasses cake\nand short-cut the plug of tobacco enough to pay for it.\n\nThe tobacco trade consummated, the girl fumbled furtively in her apron,\nand, feeling about deftly, located and drew forth the \u201cseb\u2019npunce\u201d\nchicken. That adolescent fowl, a rooster whose voice was changing,\nalternately peeped and squawked, as the seller with outstretched\narm dangled him by the legs high over the counter, his outspread\nwings making him look a full size larger, but the shopkeeper was\ncountry-bred, and felt the rooster\u2019s breastbone. \u201cFifteen cents,\u201d he\nsaid.\n\n\u201cMa tell me fuh git twenty-fibe cent\u2019 wut uh flour \u2019long dish\u2019yuh one,\u201d\nshe fibbed.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll give you twenty cents\u2019 worth,\u201d he countered, and, as she nodded\nin acquiescence, jubilant at the thought of having outwitted him, he\nplunged his scoop into a barrel and weighed out twelve cents\u2019 worth of\nflour. When this had been wrapped and delivered, the clerk, knowing by\nher expectant look that further commercial transactions were imminent,\nstood at attention, while the girl abstracted the first of the three\n\u201cfo\u2019punce\u201d chickens from her apron and held the noisy fledgling, naked\nand unashamed, at arm\u2019s length above the counter. \u201cMa tell me fuh\ngit dis seb\u2019npunce chickin wut uh side meat,\u201d she ventured, craftily\nwatching the face of the Caucasian whom she sought to overreach.\n\n\u201cWhy, that\u2019s a fo\u2019punce chicken. He ain\u2019t half the size of the other\none.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas\u2019suh, alltwo come out de same nes\u2019 en\u2019 alltwo hatch out de same\ntime. Da\u2019 todduh one duh dish\u2019yuh one bubbuh, en\u2019 dish\u2019yuh one duh\nda\u2019 todduh one tittie. Him look big mo\u2019nuh dish\u2019yuh one \u2019cause him\nduh roostuh en\u2019 him hab comb, en\u2019 dish\u2019yuh one duh pullet en\u2019 him\nent hab no comb, en\u2019 de roostuh greedy mo\u2019nuh de pullet, en\u2019 him\nnyam de mor\u2019is\u2019 bittle, en\u2019 dat mek \u2019e stan\u2019 so,\u201d she prevaricated\nunblushingly. These earnest asseverations had no effect on the\npurchaser, however, and, appraising the gallinaceous juveniles at ten\ncents each, he stood pat, and one by one they were withdrawn from the\napron and exchanged for bacon, sugar and molasses. Upon the pouring of\nthe latter commodity, however, Aryan and African again locked horns.\nThe weather was warm, and as even the thick \u201cblackstrap\u201d molasses\nflowed freely, the careless shopman very nearly gave his customer the\nfull quart for which she had paid--an inadvertence which, it should be\nsaid in justice to his commercial acumen, he very seldom committed.\nRealizing too late that nearly all the molasses had run into the tin\nbucket out of the quart measure (false-bottomed as it was) he gave it\na quick upward flirt to save what he could, and started back to the\nbarrel, but was checked by the girl\u2019s scream of protest. \u201cMa tell\u2019 me\nfuh tell you \u2019sponsubble fuh mek you fuh po\u2019rum out \u2019tell eb\u2019ry drop\ndone dreen een de bucket,\u201d she cried excitedly, and, in shame-faced\ncompliance, he let her hold the measure till the uttermost drop had\nbeen \u201cdreened\u201d out. With a sideswipe of a very questionable finger, she\ngarnered the dulcet drops that clung to the curved lip of the cup and,\nsucking the sweetened digit greedily, she grinned with satisfaction.\nAnd now, with the packages carefully tied up in the bandanna in one\nhand, and the covered tin bucket in the other, she dropped a curtsy,\nfor she was a polite little darkey, and went her ways homeward,\nsweetened in soul and saliva.\n\nThe night was dark, and the path traversed a small bay, where the\nsweetgums spread their limbs above the track, and their heavy foliage\nhid the stars and deepened the shadows along the way. Along the edge\nof the bay, in the sodden soil, grew lush water-grasses, and they\nwere very sweet to a vagabond ox, as he cropped them, undisturbed by\nflies, in the cool night air. But the peaceful ox, playing truant, poor\nwretch, from his negro master, was full of tragedy, for the ox was\nwhite, and no solitary negro in the low-country, where the forests are\nfull of little negro graveyards, can bear the sight of anything white\nin the woods at night. The fear of ghosts is always with them, and a\nwhite cow, grazing in or near a graveyard, will often stampede a road\nfull of worshipers returning from a prayer-meeting.\n\nAs she reached the shadowy places along the way, the child heard a\nrustling sound in the bushes that suggested snakes. She instinctively\njumped to the other side of the path, at the same time looking over\nher shoulder in the direction of the sound. One glance was enough! The\npallid ox loomed gigantic in her affrighted eyes, and, with a scream of\nterror, she fled homeward and was soon, wide-eyed and trembling, before\nher mother. Faithful to her trust, she had held on to bundle and tin\nbucket, but the molasses was spattered liberally over her bare legs and\nhad soaked her homespun skirt and apron.\n\n\u201c_Wuh \u2019smattuh, gal?_ You done t\u2019row\u2019way half de muhlassis! Wuh de\ndebble mek you duh trimble?\u201d\n\n\u201cMa, w\u2019en uh binnuh walk t\u2019ru de branch, een da\u2019 daa\u2019k t\u2019icket\nonduhneet\u2019 dem gum tree, uh yeddy sump\u2019nurruh duh shake de bush, en\u2019 uh\nt\u2019ink \u2019e duh snake, en\u2019 uh jump en\u2019 look \u2019roun\u2019, en\u2019 uh see uh sperrit,\none big w\u2019ite sump\u2019n\u2019 high mo\u2019nuh dis house, en\u2019 de t\u2019ing groan\u2019 at me,\nen\u2019 uh dat \u2019f\u2019aid\u2019um, uh run\u2019way, en\u2019 \u2019e nebbuh ketch me, en\u2019 uh mek de\nbuckruh gimme twenty cent\u2019 wut uh flour fuh de seb\u2019npunce chickin, en\u2019\n\u2019e gimme uh gunjuh!\u201d\n\n\u201cTell yo\u2019 bubbuh fuh git da\u2019 hom\u2019ny spoon en\u2019 \u2019crape da\u2019 muhlassis off\nyo\u2019 two knee, en\u2019 pit\u2019um een da\u2019 pan, en\u2019 tek off yo\u2019 ap\u2019un, en\u2019 you\nen\u2019 yo\u2019 bubbuh alltwo kin chaw\u2019um, so de muhlassis ent fuh t\u2019rowway.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nMINGO, THE DRILL MASTER\n\n\nAt the close of the war, thousands of disbanded negro troops, how many,\nonly the Lord knows and the pension roll shows, swarmed over the Coast\nCounties comprising the South Carolina Black Belt. Swagger in their\nnew-minted freedom, and resplendent in the light blue trousers and\ndark blue coats of the Federal uniform, with ridiculous little forage\ncaps perched aslant upon the sides of their kinky heads, like chickens\nroosting on leaning poles, girdled with great brass-buckled U. S.\nBelts, and shouldering army muskets, full of insolence and of ribaldry,\nthey took the highways and the by-ways for their own. Their former\nmasters, however kindly they had been to them before and since freedom,\nwere frequently spoken of behind their backs as \u201cde rebel,\u201d and the\ndays of slavery were referred to as \u201crebel time\u201d (times). Some of these\nsoldiers had served for years, perhaps, others for months or weeks,\nfew of them had smelt powder, all of them had smelt and fattened upon\nthe bad--wickedly bad--bacon with which the loyal sutlers had supplied\nthe invading army. (And, by the way, thousands of tierces of that same\nsutler\u2019s bacon of the years \u201964 and \u201965 were still at large for full\nfive years thereafter, supplied by the Charleston and Savannah factors\nto the low-country planters for their plantation commissaries.)\n\nIn addition to the disbanded troops, thousands of other negroes, who\nhad never seen service, wore cheaply bought Federal uniforms and\nlong, light blue overcoats, and sported caps and belts and condemned\nmuskets, so that the whole countryside was black and blue, and they\nwere constantly drilling, while the women, peahens that they were,\nworked for them and admired the strutting of their lordly peacocks.\nOften at night, from the quarters of a distant plantation, instead of\nthe peaceful \u201ctap, tap-a-tap, tap-a-tap, tap-a-tap,\u201d of the sticks\nwhich the negroes beat on the floor to mark time for their dancing and\n\u201cshouting,\u201d there would come the rattle of a snaredrum, and one knew\nthat an awkward squad was being put through awkward evolutions in the\ncompound or \u201cnigguhhouse yaa\u2019d\u201d for the edification of the quarters.\n\nIt was a psychological study to watch one of these squads or companies\ndrilling or parading on the public highway, when a white man of a\nformer slave-holding family approached. Neither stern disciplinary\neye, nor sharp command, could keep the lines straight until after \u201cde\nbuckruh\u201d had passed. There were sure to be some members of the squad\nwhose hereditary respect--stronger far than the fear of the drill\nmaster--would impel them to scrape a foot or pull wool, till the\nalignment was as wabbly as a swimming moccasin.\n\nOne August day in the early \u201970s, Prince Manigo, captain of the\nAdams Run Company, ordered his command out for drill, inspection and\nmaneuvers. Sixty-five men reported; these were of all ages from 17\nto 70. Some of them belonged around the village, but most of them\ncame from about Toogoodoo, \u201cdown on de Salt,\u201d as the inland negroes\ndesignate the sea coast and the contiguous lands lying along the salt\nrivers and creeks.\n\nThe place of assembly indicated by Captain Manigo was about a mile\nsouth of the village on the way to Toogoodoo. Once a member of Col\nThomas Wentworth Higginson\u2019s negro regiment, the \u201cFirst South Carolina\nVolunteers,\u201d organized at Beaufort in 1862, he had known picket duty\nabout Port Royal Ferry during the war, and wished to familiarize his\ndusky outfit with service in the field. The road ran along the edge\nof a deep swamp, or bay. The growth on the rich lowlands was heavy,\nand beautiful magnolias, close-limbed and tall, as is their habit of\ngrowth in thick places, rose to a height of sometimes a hundred feet,\nthe sunlight flashing from the curved backs of their dark and glossy\nleaves. Under these great trees, sweet bay, red bay, beech and maple\ngrew in a tangle, and below these, tall canes and great sword ferns,\nwith riotous vines of bamboo and wild grape, thickened into an almost\nimpenetrable chaparral. In these woods, dimmed to a twilight darkness,\nCaptain Manigo established his picket posts. Fifteen or twenty men\nwere selected for this dangerous duty, for, at this season, the swamp\nwas full of rattlesnakes and some of those picked for outpost duty\nobjected. \u201cMan, I cyan\u2019 go een da\u2019 t\u2019icket. Snake dey dey tummuch.\u201d\n\n\u201cSnake cyan\u2019 see fuh bite now,\u201d said another. \u201cEnt you know suh\nrattlesnake\u2019 hab skin \u2019puntop \u2019e yeye een Augus\u2019 munt\u2019? \u2019E bline\u2019. \u2019E\ncyan\u2019 see fuh bite.\u201d\n\n\u201cUh dunkyuh ef \u2019e yiz bline\u2019, ef uh \u2019tep \u2019puntop\u2019um \u2019e gwine bite me.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo \u2019way, man, snake ent gwine bite you w\u2019en you hab muskick een you\nhan\u2019 wid dat shaa\u2019p bay\u2019net en t\u2019ing \u2019puntop\u2019um.\u201d\n\nSo all objections were overruled, and the posts established at\nintervals of a few hundred yards, the password \u201craccoon\u201d was given\nto the corporals, and the captain and his inspectors, dismissing the\nremaining members of the company for a rest period, prepared to test\nthe line of outposts. Making a wide detour they sneaked through the\nwoods almost noiselessly. The dead leaves, fallen during the preceding\nwinter, had softened long ago and were rapidly settling into the thick\nmold that covered the damp earth. Sneaking up on the farthest sentinel\nfrom the rear, Prince was almost upon him before the startled negro\nchallenged \u201cHalt! Weh oonuh gwine? Gimme de passwu\u2019d!\u201d\n\n\u201cRaccoon,\u201d Prince responded.\n\n\u201cOonuh cyan\u2019 go t\u2019ru \u2019puntop dat wu\u2019d.\u201d\n\nPrince expostulated. \u201cRaccoon\u201d was the password he had given the\ncorporals to pass on to their men, and having been selected as a word\nof singular appeal to the negroes, should have been one of the easiest\nto remember, so he repeated petulantly \u201c_Raccoon, raccoon, raccoon_.\u201d\n\n\u201c_\u2019E yent wut_,\u201d insisted the sentinel, as the long bayonet projected\nthreateningly through the gum bushes. \u201cDat passwu\u2019d cyan\u2019 specify. Da\u2019\nlongmout\u2019 nigguh f\u2019um Slann\u2019 Ilun\u2019, name Mingo, him dull de cawprul en\u2019\nhim done tell me de wu\u2019d two time, en\u2019 \u2019scusin\u2019 oonuh hab dat wu\u2019d,\noonuh yent fuh pass.\u201d\n\nAs the corporal was several hundred yards away, Prince retired\ngrumbling, and attempted the line at another point. He approached a\nwary old picket, a noted \u2019coon hunter, whose experienced ear detected\neven the soft footfalls of the inspectors, and he hailed them at a\ndistance of 50 yards, in most unmilitary language. \u201cHaw, buck! Oonuh\ntry fuh sneak \u2019puntop me, enty? Uh binnuh hunt rokkoon en\u2019 dem todduh\nwaa\u2019ment en\u2019 t\u2019ing \u2019fo\u2019 you bawn! Come out, bubbuh! Uh yeddy you\u2019 foot\nen\u2019 uh see bush duh shake alltwo. Come out de t\u2019icket. Exwance en\u2019\ngimme de passwu\u2019d!\u201d\n\nBut they couldn\u2019t give it; not at least intelligibly to the ear of\nold C\u00e6sar. Prince spoke with only a slight taint of Gullah, and when\nhe had given \u201craccoon\u201d to his Toogoodoo corporals, who understood him\nonly after several repetitions, he didn\u2019t realize that they would pass\nit on as \u201crokkoon\u201d and that as \u201crokkoon\u201d the \u201copen sesame\u201d of the\ncountersign must be given. Again, therefore, with his own password\ncorrectly pronounced, the Captain had reached an impasse, and as C\u00e6sar\ntruculently stuck out both his mouth and his bayonet, the Corporal of\nthe guard was demanded.\n\n\u201cCawprul uh de gyaa\u2019d! Pos\u2019 number t\u2019ree!\u201d he bellowed. \u201cMek\u2019ace en\u2019\ncome\u2019yuh! T\u2019ree mans dey yuh duh try fuh git t\u2019ru bedout no passwu\u2019d.\nEf dem got\u2019um dem cyan\u2019 call \u2019e name. Uh dunkyuh ef one is de cap\u2019n,\noonuh done tell me \u2019sponsubble suh \u2019e yent fuh pass bedout \u2019e got de\nwu\u2019d.\u201d\n\nThe thick-lipped corporal came.\n\n\u201c\u2019Smattuh, Unk\u2019 C\u00e6sar? Yuh fuh call me?\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, uh fuh call you fuh true. Mek dese\u2019yuh man fuh gi\u2019 we de sign.\u201d\n\n\u201cRaccoon!\u201d bellowed Prince.\n\n\u201cYou shum, enty! Enty uh tell you \u2019e yent hab\u2019um!\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, man, da\u2019 duh him! \u2019Rokkoon\u2019 duh de passwu\u2019d wuh Buh Prince gi\u2019\nwe, but him ent call \u2019e name lukkuh we call\u2019um, \u2019cause him bin Beefu\u2019t\nrebel time \u2019long dem Nyankee en\u2019 t\u2019ing, en\u2019 duh so dem call\u2019um.\u201d\n\n\u201cUh dunkyuh how dem eegnunt Nyankee call rokkoon\u2019 name, demself cyan\u2019\npass dis t\u2019icket \u2019scusin\u2019 dem call\u2019um lukkuh we call\u2019um \u2019puntop\nToogoodoo. En\u2019 \u2019cause dis nigguh bin Beefu\u2019t, him fuh \u2019spute \u2019long me\nen\u2019 tell me how fuh call rokkoon\u2019 name w\u2019en uh binnuh ketch rokkoon\nbefo\u2019 \u2019e daddy hab \u2019e maamy! Ef \u2019e cyan\u2019 call rokkoon\u2019 name, uh keep\u2019um\nyuh \u2019tell t\u2019unduh roll!\u201d\n\n\u201c_Rokkoon!_\u201d conceded the chapfallen captain, and he passed, somewhat\nchagrined at the outcome of his picketing experiment.\n\nThe outposts were recalled, the other negroes aroused from among the\nroadside bushes where they had been resting, and the full company\nassembled for drill. The outfit was heavily officered, and the captain\nallowed them to take turns at putting the men through their paces.\nAt last they were turned over to Mingo Brown, a pompous corporal, so\npuffed up with \u201ca little brief authority\u201d that most of the negroes\ngrinned in his face, and some openly guffawed, \u201ceh, eh, Buh Mingo\nswonguh fuh sowl!\u201d The men, a ragged line, were ranged on one side of\nthe road, and, facing them on the other, Mingo drew a great cavalry\nsabre and began to cut such anthropoidal antics before high heaven,\nthat three gentlemen, returning from a successful hunt, reined in their\nhorses a few yards away and paused to see the fun.\n\n\u201c\u2019Tenshun! \u2019Tan\u2019up \u2019traight, oonuh man! Oonuh stan\u2019 crookety sukkuh\nwurrum fench w\u2019en dem staa\u2019t fuh t\u2019row off \u2019e riduh fuh tayre\u2019um down\nfuh moobe cowpen!\n\n\u201cShoulduh, _aam!_ Pit oonuh muskick \u2019puntop oonuh shoulduh en\u2019 hol\u2019um\n\u2019traight. You mus\u2019be t\u2019ink dem duh hoe, enty? Fo\u2019 man fuh stan\u2019 side\nen\u2019 side fuh mek one t\u2019ickness. Faw-wud, _maa\u2019ch! \u2019Top!_ Weh de debble\noonuh gwine? Uh done tu\u2019n oonuh head fuh face Toogoodoo Bridge, en\u2019,\nplease Gawd, oonuh w\u2019eel sukkuh mule hab cucklebuhr een \u2019e yez, \u2019en fuh\ngone Adam\u2019 Run billage!\u201d Sure enough, as the execution of the command\nwould have taken them over hunters and pack, they had reversed the\norder and started in the opposite direction.\n\n\u201cFuh true, bubbuh, enty you see Mas\u2019 Rafe en\u2019 Mas\u2019 Tom en\u2019 dem duh\npaat\u2019? Nigguh fuh maa\u2019ch obuh buckruh, enty?\u201d\n\n\u201cBuckruh, de debble! Enty de Freedmun Bruro mek we fuh free? Uh free\ntell uh fool! Prizzunt, _aam!_\u201d\n\nSome were shouldered, others ordered, a few \u201cpresented\u201d with the butt\nof the piece against the waist and the bayonet sticking out at right\nangles to the body. \u201c\u2019Tenshun! Da\u2019 man f\u2019um Slann\u2019 Ilun\u2019 wuh duh\n\u2019tan\u2019up close da\u2019 \u2019tump fuh hol\u2019 \u2019e gun een alltwo \u2019e han\u2019. Him mus\u2019be\nt\u2019ink suh gun duh oshtuh rake! Groun\u2019, _aam!_\u201d And the whole perspiring\nline squatted and laid their pieces on the ground, rising just as the\nhunters gathered up their reins and rode along the line, while the\nhounds, with lofty tails, trotted after them, sniffing scornfully at\nthe warriors\u2019 legs as they passed.\n\n\u201cHuddy, Mas\u2019 Rafe. How ole Missis en\u2019 dem?\u201d\n\n\u201cMas\u2019 Tom, you look nyung mo\u2019nuh Mas\u2019 Rafe.\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, suh. Phyllis him well, suh, tengk Gawd.\u201d\n\n\u201cMas\u2019 Dick, you sho\u2019 hab uh hebby buck,\u201d as the great velveted horns\nof a fine buck tied behind the hunter\u2019s saddle brushed against him.\nAnd all down the line, their hands being free, men touched their\nlittle monkey caps or tugged at their kinky forelocks and scraped\ntheir feet, in token of the kindly respect in which, spite of freedom\nand franchise, muskets and uniforms, and the poisonous propaganda\nof the Freedman\u2019s Bureau, they yet held those known throughout the\ncountryside as having been kindly masters to their slaves, and just and\nliberal employers of the freedmen.\n\n\u201cMas\u2019 Rafe, please suh, gimme some tubackuh,\u201d and the outstretched hand\nreceived a generous share of the contents of the donor\u2019s pouch.\n\n\u201cDa\u2019 duh my maussuh,\u201d said the recipient proudly, filling his pipe as\nthe hunters rode away.\n\n\u201cCump\u2019ny fawm two t\u2019ickness\u2019 een de rank,\u201d shouted Mingo savagely.\n\u201c_Don\u2019 look at de buckruh, look at yo\u2019 officer!_\u201d and, turning to the\nsmoker, he added: \u201cMe yent hab no maussuh. _Uh free ez uh buzzut!_\u201d\n\n\u201cYaas, bubbuh. Buzzut free en\u2019 buzzut black, but buzzut ent free \u2019nuf\nfuh light \u2019puntop nutt\u2019n\u2019 \u2019cep\u2019n\u2019 \u2019e dead, en\u2019 nigguh ent free \u2019nuf fuh\nmek buckruh fuh bex!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\u201cOLD HARRISON\u201d\n\n\nA few years after the war old John Harrison came into the coast country\nfrom somewhere beyond Caw Caw Swamp. He boasted a strain of Indian\nblood, and he showed it in his pigeon-toed walk and the red, coppery\ntint that stained his bronzed face. Six feet tall and powerfully\nbuilt, he carried his fifty-odd years lightly, although his high,\nheavy shoulders were somewhat hunched from the heavy burdens to which\nthey were accustomed for, a noted \u201cpot hunter,\u201d he thought nothing of\n\u201cpacking\u201d a hundred and fifty-pound buck five or ten miles through the\nforest. During the close season for game he was not averse to working,\nand had quite a local reputation as a shingle-maker and rail-splitter.\nHis speech was the ordinary \u201ccracker\u201d dialect of the low-country with a\nsuggestion of the Gullah, but he clipped his words, and when excited,\nhis sentences ran into a quick crescendo, almost unintelligible and\ndefying reproduction in print.\n\nWhen he came to Pon Pon he was allowed to clear a small field in a\ndistant part of the plantation, a mile away from the \u201cbig house,\u201d\nnow only a beautiful ruin, with ivy, woodbine, and Lamarque roses\nclambering 50 feet in the air over the 200-year-old chimneys of English\nbrick. On his \u201cnew ground,\u201d old Harrison built a large and trim-looking\nlog cabin, and here he took up residence with his motherless children,\ntwo small girls and a straight and strapping son of 18, who helped his\nfather with his work, but not in the chase, for Harrison hunted alone,\nsometimes, with a single well-trained hound, disappearing for two or\nthree days at a time, to return laden with venison or wild turkeys\nwhich were sold at the railway station. His dog, like those of most of\nthe \u201cpot hunters\u201d who follow the chase on foot, was trained to silence,\nand never gave tongue. A small bell was attached to his collar and he\nwas seldom out of sight of his master, who could tell by the movement\nof his ears and tail when the animal had found a trail, and when the\nlifting of the ears and the more rapid wagging of the tail indicated\nthe near approach to the myrtle thicket where the deer lay in his bed,\nboth barrels of the muzzle-loader were cocked and Harrison usually got\na shot as the deer \u201cjumped.\u201d\n\nBen Summers, a large black negro in late middle-age, was a \u201clocus\u201d\npreacher in the neighborhood and, a jackleg carpenter, worked as well\nas preached. Throughout his life he had been partial to wives, having\nbeen more or less affiliated with six or seven, whom he put away and\ntook back again, with no more ceremony than his change of mind. Unruly\nand insubordinate as a slave, he became \u201cswonguh\u201d with freedom, and\nwas more or less insolent, save to his former master\u2019s family. He was\nregarded as a rascal by whites and blacks, and when a calf or a shoat\nwas missed in the community, Ben was not infrequently suspected of\nhaving shared the meat, either as a participant in the slaughter, or as\na welcomed guest at the banqueting board of the thief.\n\nOne of Ben\u2019s wives had achieved a son by a former husband, before Ben\ntook her over, and this stepson had acquired a wife, a husky, cornfed\nwench, an Amazon in strength and fierceness. Soon after her marriage,\nold Ben, a rough-talking, brutal fellow, who tyrannized over the women\nof his entourage, undertook to discipline this step-daughter-in-law\nwith physical chastisement. Cutting a hickory, he proceeded to\nmanhandle her as he had been accustomed to use his wives. She accepted\ntwo or three blows, and then turned upon him so swiftly that he was\nswept off his feet and mauled almost into unconsciousness. After he had\nbeen patched up and rehabilitated, and the first bitterness of defeat\nhad worn off, he really liked to tell the story, laying the unction to\nhis soul that only his Christian spirit had stayed his hand and saved\nthe life of the virago.\n\n\u201cBen, you are a big strong man, why did you let that woman beat you?\u201d\n\n\u201cGin\u2019ul, lemme tell you de trute, Gawd bin wid me dat day. You know,\nall me life uh bin uh strong man. Uh nebbuh hab no man fuh outdo me fuh\nwu\u2019k, eeduhso fuh fight, en\u2019 uh bin nyuse fuh lick \u2019ooman en\u2019 t\u2019ing all\nme life. W\u2019en \u2019ooman ent sattify me wid \u2019e wu\u2019k, eeduhso \u2019e mannus, uh\nlick\u2019um fuh mek\u2019um mannusubble. W\u2019en my wife Sarah\u2019 son John\u2019 wife come\neen my house dat day, \u2019e sassy \u2019tell \u2019e mek me bex. Uh nebbuh tek sassy\nf\u2019um no \u2019ooman, uh dunkyuh ef \u2019e big ez cow, en\u2019 da\u2019 gal big \u2019ooman fuh\ntrue. So uh cut one \u2019tick en\u2019 uh graff\u2019um by \u2019e sleebe en\u2019 biggin fuh\nlick\u2019um. Gin\u2019ul, de \u2019ooman tu\u2019n on me en\u2019 box me same lukkuh him duh\nman. Blood bin een me yeye! Uh \u2019membuh de time w\u2019en uh could\u2019uh box\u2019um\nen\u2019 kick\u2019um alltwo one time, en\u2019 ef uh ebbuh leh de _foot_ folluh de\n_han\u2019_, uh would uh kill\u2019um _dead_. But Gawd hol\u2019 me han\u2019 en\u2019 me foot,\nalltwo, Gawd tell me fuh peaceubble, en\u2019 spayre de \u2019ooman life. Gin\u2019ul,\nme don\u2019 want no \u2019ooman life \u2019pun me han\u2019. Enty you know, suh, ef uh\nhad uh kick dat \u2019ooman \u2019e would uh dead? Gawd tek\u2019care uh ol\u2019 Ben dat\nday. Da\u2019 \u2019ooman t\u2019ink suh him lick me, Gin\u2019ul, but enty you know suh\nhim oughtuh tengk Gawd fuh sabe\u2019um? Ef uh didn\u2019 bin hab \u2019lij\u2019un, da\u2019\n\u2019ooman\u2019 cawpse would\u2019uh gone Jacksinburruh een one oxin cyaa\u2019t weh \u2019e\ncome f\u2019um. All de time \u2019e binnuh box me, uh bin study \u2019bout how da\u2019\n\u2019ooman\u2019 cawpse would\u2019uh look ef uh had uh hit\u2019um like de time w\u2019en uh\nnyuse to be uh Ben! En\u2019 uh study \u2019pun him husbun\u2019, my wife Sarah\u2019 boy\nJohn, en\u2019 uh study \u2019pun John\u2019 maamy, en\u2019 uh t\u2019ink \u2019bout how dem will\nmo\u2019n ef uh kill dis \u2019ooman, en\u2019 wid Gawd\u2019 help uh hab strengk \u2019nuf fuh\nhol\u2019 me han\u2019. Gin\u2019ul, w\u2019enebbuh uh look \u2019puntop de\u2019 dead \u2019ooman een me\nmine\u2019, uh tengk Gawd eb\u2019ry day fuh hol\u2019 me han\u2019!\u201d\n\nOnce a fine shoat strayed too near to Ben\u2019s little field and soon found\nits way into the old man\u2019s larder, where it was found by a search\nparty in charge of old Harrison. An examination showed that the animal\nhad been shot with duck shot, and shot of the same size having been\nfound in the undischarged barrel of the negro\u2019s double-barrel, Ben\nwas arrested and sent to Walterboro jail and Harrison was summoned\nas a witness. Harrison was fond of a dram and looked forward to the\napproach of court week which would bring him a visit to the county seat\nwith witness fees of 50 cents a day and mileage. Walterboro was 35\nmiles away, and five cents a mile both ways meant $3.50, which loomed\nlarge in the mind of the old hunter. On the Saturday night before the\nconvening of court, he prepared a week\u2019s rations of cornbread, bacon\nand baked sweet potatoes, and early Sunday morning filled a great\nknapsack, and, with his long gun on his shoulder, walked all the way to\nthe county seat. On the following day the pig thief was duly arraigned,\nthe jury organized, and old Harrison, loaded to the muzzle with\nWalterboro whiskey, to which he had been treated by the youngsters who\nliked to hear him talk, came to the witness stand, a 20-pound knapsack\nof provisions around his shoulders and his long gun in his hand. His\ndirect testimony was:\n\n\u201cSunday mornin\u2019 bin over t\u2019 Cap\u2019n Elliott\u2019s, coz mostly Sunday mornin\u2019\nef uh goes by th\u2019 house Cap\u2019n gennully gives me uh pow\u2019ful drink, en\u2019\nuh allus likes me dram. W\u2019en uh got through me dram, uh was walkin\u2019\n\u2019long by ol\u2019 Ben\u2019s house, en\u2019 uh heerd uh gun shoot. Uh meet some boys\nand went to th\u2019 house en\u2019 fin\u2019 th\u2019 shoat en\u2019 fin\u2019 number two duck shot\neen \u2019im. Uh fin\u2019 ol\u2019 Ben\u2019s gun in the corner, one barrel been fired,\nen\u2019 uh drawed th\u2019 load of t\u2019other barrel en\u2019 fin\u2019 number two duck shot,\nsame size ez een th\u2019 shoat. Then uh told Cap\u2019n, he give me \u2019nother\ndram, we \u2019rested ol\u2019 Ben in th\u2019 pulpit where he was preachin\u2019 to a raft\nuh niggers, en\u2019 we send him to Walterboro.\u201d\n\nThen came the cross-examination. The young lawyer for the defense\nbaited old Harrison to the great amusement of the court room.\n\n\u201cWhat do you know about duck shot?\u201d he was asked. \u201cI don\u2019t believe you\nknow the size of a duck shot.\u201d\n\n\u201cUh don\u2019t know de size uv uh duck shot! _Course_ uh knows de size uv\nuh duck shot. Bin hunt\u2019n\u2019 all me life, bin shoot\u2019n\u2019 _duck shot_ all me\nlife.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you know the size of a duck shot, take this pencil and let the jury\nsee you draw one on the court house wall.\u201d\n\nHarrison rose with bleary eyes and a fatuous smile on his bronzed\nface. Unable to read or write, he held the pencil as a small boy\nholds a sizzling firecracker, but he was game and stepped up to the\nwall primed with the confidence born of ignorance. Judge, jury and\nspectators craned their necks to see the performance. The draftsman\nstuck close to the wall and moved the pencil slowly and laboriously\nover the whitewashed surface. When at last he stepped back and turned\naround proudly to reveal his work, the court house exploded with\nlaughter, from Judge Wallace on the bench, to the tipstaff at the\ndoor, for the tipsy old hunter\u2019s outline of a duck shot was about\neight inches long and five inches wide and bore a striking resemblance\nto the continent of Africa. He returned to the witness chair. Taking\nthe shouts of merriment as tributes to the accuracy of his sketch, he\nlooked scornfully at the young lawyer.\n\n\u201cAin\u2019t I tell ye uh know\u2019d d\u2019size uv uh duck shot? Bin shoot\u2019n\u2019 duck\nshot all me life. _Course_ uh knows d\u2019size uv uh duck shot!\u201d And there\nwas more laughter.\n\nThe negro was convicted, and sent to the penitentiary for two years,\nbut was soon leased to a railroad contractor, and, becoming a \u201ctrusty\u201d\nand a cook, had an easy time. When he returned to Pon Pon he resumed\nhis place in the pulpit without the slightest loss of caste, and often\nreferred to his sojourn in the Capital City, telling many stories to\nthe members of his flock about \u201cde time w\u2019en uh bin penitenshus,\u201d or\n\u201cw\u2019en uh bin Cuhlumbia.\u201d\n\nOne Christmas morning old Harrison came to the house with the\nportentous information that he intended to marry the widow Pendarvis,\nwas then on his way to her habitation seven or eight miles away, and\nwould bring back his bride the same evening.\n\n\u201cDat whut uh yaim t\u2019do Cap\u2019n. Uh knows hits pow\u2019ful resky t\u2019marry uh\nwidder, coz dey allus knows toomuch, but uh needs uh \u2019ooman to clean\nup en\u2019 do about d\u2019house, en\u2019 look after d\u2019children, en\u2019 de widder\nPendarvis is uh right peart creeter, en\u2019 she ain\u2019t got uh lazy bone\neen her, so uh reck\u2019n uh\u2019ll resk it. Den, she\u2019s got a son, John Henry,\n\u2019bout d\u2019age uh my William. John Henry he ain\u2019t much account, but uh\nneeds anuther han\u2019 en\u2019 uh reck\u2019n uh kin make out wid John Henry, so uh\nyaims to tek d\u2019widder.\u201d\n\nThe old adventurer was fitted out with a white shirt and a\nhandkerchief, a pocketful of Christmas candies and a couple of stiff\nsnifters, and so, fortified, he started toward the widow, stepping\nhigh, gun on shoulder. \u201cUh allus totes m\u2019gun. Y\u2019never knows whut\ny\u2019gwine t\u2019see.\u201d\n\nSo the widow Pendarvis was duly acquired and proved a faithful and\nuseful spouse, but old Harrison soon reached the conclusion that he had\nbeen gold-bricked in John Henry. \u201cHe ain\u2019t no manner uv account. Ain\u2019t\nwuth d\u2019powder\u2019n shot it ud\u2019take t\u2019kill\u2019im! W\u2019en uh married d\u2019widder,\nuh didn\u2019 aim t\u2019git much uv uh bargin in John Henry, he was jus\u2019 kinder\nthrow\u2019d een fuh good measure like, but now uh wisht he mout uh bin\nthrow\u2019d out.\u201d\n\nA year or two later William Harrison was walking the woods one day, and\nfrom a shallow grave at the edge of a negro\u2019s field, his dogs dug up\nthe hide and head of a stolen cow which the thief had buried to hide\nthe ear-marks and the brand. The negro was sent to jail to await trial\nand William was subp\u0153n\u00e6d as the chief witness. Old Harrison protested.\n\u201c\u2019Taint uh bit uh use t\u2019sen\u2019 William t\u2019Walterboro fuh fifty cents uh\nday, w\u2019en \u2019e\u2019s makin\u2019 seventy-five cents uh day now. W\u2019y don\u2019t yuh take\nmy stepson John Henry Pendarvis fer uh witness? He ain\u2019t a workin\u2019 en\u2019\nhe\u2019ll be glad t\u2019git d\u2019fifty cents uh day.\u201d It was explained to the old\nhunter that as John Henry had not found the telltale hide and head, and\nknew nothing about the case, he could not be accepted as proxy. \u201cDon\u2019t\nmake uh bit uh diff\u2019unce. William kin tell John Henry whut he found en\u2019\nJohn Henry kin go t\u2019Walterboro en\u2019 swear to it. John Henry he\u2019s a noble\nliar, en\u2019 he kin lie en\u2019 stick to\u2019t. Them Walterboro lawyers can\u2019t\nshake him.\u201d\n\nAfter awhile, bad health came upon the former widow, and in taking\npalliatives to relieve her pain, she became addicted to opium and spent\nall she could scrape for the drug at the village store. At last the\nneighborhood doctor warned her husband, \u201cHarrison, if you don\u2019t look\nout, some day your wife will take an overdose of laudanum and go up the\nspout.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, Doctor, \u2019tain\u2019t fuh me to go ag\u2019in her! She\u2019s bin\u2019uh noble\n\u2019ooman in \u2019er time. She\u2019s never had uh lazy bone een \u2019er body. She\u2019s\nbin uh pow\u2019ful hand to do about, en\u2019 she\u2019s bin as peart uh \u2019ooman as\never was wropped up in that much hide, but she\u2019s gitt\u2019n kinder poorly\nnow, she ain\u2019t whut she used to be, she ain\u2019t much account now, she\ncan\u2019t scrub no mo\u2019, she\u2019s got de rheumatism in de jints, so, Doctor,\nif she aims to go, uh reck\u2019n d\u2019best thing to do is to let her take a\npow\u2019ful dost en\u2019 _let \u2019er go_!\u201d So--poor, tired soul--she went.\n\n\n\n\nA MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE\n\n\nTwenty-five years ago, old Jane was the very efficient cook at\nthe Pawley\u2019s Island hotel. A widow woman of fifty-odd, her black\ncountenance, with its aquiline nose and sharp chin, was shrewd and\nwitchlike.\n\n\u201cOld maids\u201d are seldom met with among the low-country negroes, most of\nthe women achieving matrimony, or having matrimony thrust upon them,\nat an early age in communities where marrying and unmarrying are but\nthe merest incidents in their social and economic lives--and they are\nlargely socio-economic relations,--\u201cUh haffuh hab wife fuh cook fuh me\nen\u2019 wash me clo\u2019es, enty?\u201d \u201cUh haffuh hab man fuh wu\u2019k fuh me en\u2019 min\u2019\nme, enty?\u201d--\u201cand so they were married.\u201d\n\nOften, however, in early life, less frequently in middle age, women\nare, for the moment, unmarried, or, as one might more correctly say,\nunaffiliated, and if one of these \u201cunaffiliations\u201d should last long\nenough to constitute more than a very brief intermission in the\nmatrimonial program, one, if of the fiercer sex, incurs the odium\nsupposedly attaching to \u201coldmaidenhood.\u201d\n\nJane had in her time looked upon husbands in yellow and brown and\nblack, and had almost run the chromatic scale in temperament as in\npigmentation. The sharps had irritated, the flats had wearied her--the\n\u201cnaturals,\u201d being neither too sharp nor too flat, were, like the small\nwee bear\u2019s belongings, \u201cjust right,\u201d and Jane, like Chaucer\u2019s Wife of\nBath, thanked the Lord for them while they lasted. \u201cBut pleasures are\nlike poppies spread,\u201d and, as in Georgetown colored circles husbands\ndon\u2019t always \u201cstay put,\u201d one by one Jane\u2019s poppies--perhaps she\nthought them snap-dragons--folded their petals and their tents, and,\nforsaking the dusky companionship of the old love, flitted away to\npresent freedom and prospective enslavement to the new--for there\u2019s\nalways a new--\u201cef rokkoon only hab one tree fuh climb, dog ketch\u2019um,\u201d\nbeing an axiom among them. As Jane couldn\u2019t trot in double harness,\nshe single-footed successfully for several years--so successfully,\nindeed, that she developed a fine scorn for the opposite sex. \u201cDem ent\nwut,\u201d she thought, and \u201c_dem ent wut_,\u201d she said, whenever men were\nmentioned. In her solitude she found solace in industry, and, working\nat odd jobs during the winter, supplemented her summer earnings at the\nhotel and soon acquired enough to buy \u201cuh piece uh groun\u2019\u201d (the coast\nnegroes never speak of land) and built thereon a comfortable cabin,\nnear which, within a wattled clapboard fence, she enclosed a plot where\nshe grew the easy-going squashes and beans in summer, and Georgia\ncollards--the holly-hocks of the vegetable garden--in winter.\n\nJane\u2019s domain was on the mainland in the flat pine woods thick sown\nwith clumps of the dark green tropical-looking saw-palmettoes, and\nbordered the marsh-fringed inlet or tidal lagoon, beyond which, half\na mile distant, lay the broad ocean beach, the rolling sand dunes and\nthe dwarf live-oak and cedar scrub of \u201cthe Island.\u201d Here, nestling\namong the thickets, and sheltered under the protecting shoulders of\nthe hills, were the summer cottages of the Islanders, and here, too,\njust opposite Jane\u2019s cottage, stood the hotel, where all through the\nsummer days she fried whiting, boiled sheepshead, deviled crabs, and\ndid sundry other things to the sea-food that the fishermen constantly\nbrought to her kitchen. Jane\u2019s riparian rights permitted her a landing\nwhere, moored to a primitive little pier, she kept the flat-bottomed\nskiff in which morning and evening she crossed the unvexed waters that\nlay between her home and her work.\n\nEsau, a trifling, ramshackle, youngish negro, made an easy living by\nfishing, crabbing and doing odd jobs about the Island community. He\nwas venturesome, as most saltwater negroes are, and often in the early\nmornings ran his leaky skiff through the breakers at the mouth of\nthe inlet, and rowing--or wafted, when the wind favored, by a rag of\na sail--adventured out to sea five miles from the beach, dropped an\nanchor made of two condemned iron pots tied together, and fished upon\nthe blackfish rocks in the broiling sun till noon, returning to shore\nto sell the good fish to the Islanders and, later, eat the culls and\nodds and ends himself. On other days, when the East wind warned him\nthat the fish wouldn\u2019t bite, he bogged about the little creeks and runs\nof the marsh, or along the edge of the lagoon, and caught crabs by the\nbasketful, which usually found a ready market.\n\nBringing his fish often to the hotel, Esau was on pleasant\nconversational terms with old Jane, and she often handed him out\ntoothsome bits of \u201cbuckruh bittle\u201d that fell from the overflowing\ntable. In return for these gastronomic courtesies, Esau would chop\nwood, split kindling, or do other manly things that chivalrous colored\nbucks not infrequently perform for the females outside of their own\nfamily circles.\n\nOne hot August morning, Esau gathered lines and bait as soon as it\nwas broad daylight, and, slipping over the shallow bar at the mouth\nof the lagoon, sculled lazily out to the \u201cdrop\u201d on the rocks. It was\na windless dawn, the sea was without a ripple, and the slow, heaving\nswells reflected the opalescent tints of the eastern sky. The tide was\nstill on the ebb, and its impulse, augmenting his speed, soon brought\nhim to the drop where he cast anchor, and the boat swung round, bow\nto land, while Esau, in the stern, sat with his back to the rising\nsun and threw out his lines. The fish bit well, and at the end of two\nor three hours the bottom of Esau\u2019s boat was well covered with the\nshining catch, chiefly speckled sea trout, whiting and blackfish. The\nsun increased in warmth, and Esau nodded and dozed and then slept,\nalthough, with the turn of the tide, the prow of his boat now pointed\nseaward and the sunshine burned in his face. At last, at noon, when\nits beams fell vertically upon his kinky head, he awoke with a start\nas a big horse-mackerel leaped from the water so near him that he was\ndrenched with its spray. He looked out upon a sea of molten silver.\nA great shark, as long as his boat, rose slowly from the depths to\nwithin a foot of the surface, and, lying motionless, regarded him with\ncold, expressionless eyes. Esau shuddered. \u201c_Great Gawd_,\u201d he muttered,\n\u201c_time fuh gone home_!\u201d and, as the sinister creature sank out of\nsight, he quickly hauled up anchor, shipped oars, and pulled lustily\nto shore. It was high tide when he reached the inlet, and he rode the\nlong rollers over the bar, and soon ran the nose of his skiff ashore\non the oyster shells of the landing. He strung his fish and set out\nto find a market, but the time lost while he slept had made him too\nlate to supply the dinners of his usual customers, and, as his fish\nwere now stale, he had no recourse but to eat them himself, so he\nset about cleaning them, and an hour later, when Jane, having served\nthe hotel dinner, was dining alone in the kitchen, Esau appeared and\ningratiatingly asked the loan of a frying pan, \u201cplease, ma\u2019am, en\u2019 some\ngreese fuh greese\u2019um.\u201d As neither fat nor fuel cost Jane anything,\nshe graciously complied, in the handsome spirit that prompts so many\nof us to be generous at the expense of others. Esau rubbed the greasy\nbacon-rind over the broad, generous bottom of the hotel frying pan and,\nhaving lubricated it sufficiently, cast in his fish, and the horrible\nsound and the horrible smell of frying soon filled the ears and the\nnostrils of every one about the establishment. Esau fried and he fried\nuntil, having filled a large tray with fish, he hung up the frying pan,\ntook down his appetite, and began to eat. Esau was an eater, and had\nno half-dealings with his art. Seizing a fish by the head and tail,\nhe moved it laterally across his mouth as some traveling men maneuver\ngreen corn on the cob, or as the village darkey plays the mouth-organ,\nuntil, in the twinkling of an eye, only the bones remained in his\ngreasy fingers; then he played another mouth-organ, until in a few\nminutes he was filled to the neck, and only ten or twelve fried trout\nremained, and these he _cached_ with old Jane for future attention,\nand betook himself to the shade of a scrubby live-oak nearby to rest.\nHe threw himself on the sand and slept for several hours like a\ngorged Anaconda. At last, toward sundown, the land breeze brought the\nmosquitoes from the mainland across the lagoon, and they swarmed over\nhim. Thrashing about in his troubled sleep, some of the cockspurs that\ngrow everywhere in the Island sands worked their way through his thin\nhomespun trousers and stung him into wakefulness. He arose grouchy and\ngrumbling, and returned to the kitchen where Jane was already preparing\nsupper. \u201cEh, eh, weh you bin, Esau?\u201d she greeted him.\n\n\u201cUh binnuh sleep, ma\u2019am, en\u2019 muskittuh\u2019 en\u2019 cockspuhr\u2019 en\u2019 t\u2019ing wake\nme en\u2019 mek me fuh git up.\u201d\n\n\u201cWuh you gwine do wid dese fish wuh you lef\u2019, Esau? De buckruh sen\u2019\nwu\u2019d suh dem fish duh bodduhr\u2019um, en\u2019 \u2019e tell me fuh t\u2019row\u2019um een de\nribbuh.\u201d\n\n\u201cUh had bidness fuh eat all dem fish one time, den uh wouldn\u2019 haffuh\nt\u2019row\u2019um \u2019way.\u201d And Esau sidled over to the tray of fish, and, looking\nat them regretfully, pinched off nibbling bits with his fingers and\ncarried them to his mouth.\n\n\u201cYou bettuh t\u2019row\u2019way da\u2019 t\u2019ing, Esau,\u201d admonished Jane as she bustled\nabout her work.\n\n\u201cYaas, ma\u2019am, uh gwine t\u2019row\u2019um \u2019way bumbye. Uh yent duh eat\u2019um, uh\njis\u2019 duh pinch\u2019um.\u201d And he went slowly out toward the lagoon with\nthe tray under his arm, but, as he walked, he pinched the fish so\nassiduously that, by the time he came to the water, little save the\nbones remained.\n\nTwo hours later, Jane approached the mistress of the house with an\nanxious face. \u201cPlease, ma\u2019am, fuh gimme some ginjuh en\u2019 t\u2019ing fuh\ngi\u2019 Esau \u2019fo\u2019 \u2019e dead. Da\u2019 nigguh sho\u2019 hab uh hebby appetite fuh eat\nbittle. \u2019E ketch all dem fish, en\u2019 \u2019e couldn\u2019 sell\u2019um to de buckruh\n\u2019cause dem binnuh leddown all day een de sunhot, en\u2019 him fry\u2019um en\u2019\nnyam t\u2019ree string by \u2019eself, en\u2019 \u2019e lef\u2019 one string \u2019tell aw\u2019ile ago,\nen\u2019 uh tell\u2019um fuh t\u2019row\u2019way dat one, en\u2019 \u2019e staa\u2019t\u2019 fuh t\u2019row\u2019um\n\u2019way, but de fish cry out fuh Esau en\u2019 Esau yeddy de cry, en\u2019 \u2019e\npinch de fish, en\u2019 \u2019e keep on pinch\u2019um, pinch \u2019um, \u2019tell \u2019e done nyam\nmos\u2019 all de fish, en\u2019 now de fish pinch _him_! Uh bin hab uh bottle uh\nhawss linniment fuh rub hawss, en\u2019 uh t\u2019row dat een\u2019um, but de bottle\ndidn\u2019 bin mo\u2019nuh half full, en\u2019 uh \u2019f\u2019aid de linniment ent \u2019nuf fuh\ndo\u2019um good, alldo\u2019 \u2019e strangle Esau w\u2019en him swalluhr\u2019um, en\u2019 mek\u2019um\nfuh spit sukkuh crab spit. Now, \u2019e duh roll obuh en\u2019 obuh \u2019pun de\ngroun\u2019 same lukkuh mule roll w\u2019en \u2019e tu\u2019n out duh Sunday, en\u2019 oonuh\nkin yeddy\u2019um groan sukkuh dem \u2019ooman groan to the sett\u2019n\u2019up, w\u2019en dem\nhusbun\u2019 en\u2019 t\u2019ing dead. Ef you please, ma\u2019am, kin gimme some linniment,\nuh sump\u2019n\u2019nurruh fuh g\u2019em, uh dunkyuh ef \u2019tis kyarrysene, \u2019cause da\u2019\nnigguh gwine dead!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you want, Jane--ginger, peppermint or whiskey?\u201d\n\n\u201cWuh da\u2019 las\u2019 one you call \u2019e name, Missis?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhiskey.\u201d\n\n\u201cMissis, da\u2019 t\u2019ing too sca\u2019ceful fuh t\u2019row\u2019um \u2019way ef da\u2019 nigguh gwine\ndead. Ef you ent got de linniment, please, ma\u2019am, gimme de ginjuh en\u2019\nde peppuhmint alltwo, so uh kin t\u2019row\u2019um een Esau.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t give him too many things, Jane, one is enough.\u201d\n\n\u201cMissis, enty da\u2019 nigguh eat _fo\u2019 kinduh fish_? Uh wan\u2019 g\u2019em meddisin\nfuh reach all de kinduh fish wuh \u2019e done eat. Uh yent want\u2019um fuh\ndead on my han\u2019, \u2019cause him ent hab no fambly, en\u2019 \u2019e yent blonx to\nno suhciety fuh bury\u2019um, en\u2019 uh know berry well me yent fuh t\u2019row\u2019way\nmoney fuh buy shroud en\u2019 cawpse en\u2019 t\u2019ing fuh no Esau, so please,\nma\u2019am, mek\u2019ace en\u2019 gimme de t\u2019ing fuh t\u2019row een\u2019um en\u2019 see ef uh kin\nsabe \u2019e life!\u201d\n\nA liberal dose of mixed ginger and peppermint was poured into a tin\ncup, the rim of which Jane forced between Esau\u2019s teeth, and drenched\nhim so successfully that in a few minutes he was flopping over the\nground like a fish just pulled out of the water. His spasms were soon\nover, however, and he lay in a state of semi-coma. Jane was delighted.\n\u201cMissis, me en\u2019 you done sabe Esau\u2019 life. Da\u2019 nigguh blonx to me en\u2019\nyou, Missis, en\u2019 uh gwine mek\u2019um wu\u2019k.\u201d\n\nSummer passed into early autumn. The days shortened. September suns\nburned fiercely upon the ripening corn, and through the lengthening\nnights heavy dews fell on the purple petticoat-grass and the\ngolden-rod. Between sunset and dusk, summer ducks flew over from their\nfeeding grounds to their roosts in the pineland ponds, and all through\nthe night sounded the faint \u201ctweet, tweet\u201d of the ricebirds passing on\nto their winter quarters.\n\nSo Jane, in the late summer of her days, looked kindly upon the man\nshe had saved, even though she did not value the salvage very highly,\nand Esau gradually got in the habit of hanging about her kitchen and\nsubmitting to the air of proprietorship which she assumed toward him,\nchopping wood and doing other little chores for her, as a matter of\ncourse.\n\nAt last, one Thursday evening toward the end of the month, Jane\nbashfully appeared before her mistress, holding a corner of her apron\nagainst a corner of her mouth, which widened almost from ear to ear.\n\n\u201cMissis, uh come fuh tell you, ma\u2019am, uh gwine marri\u2019d Esau. Da\u2019 nigguh\nduh heng roun\u2019 de kitchen \u2019tell \u2019e git een me way. Uh cyan\u2019 tu\u2019n roun\u2019\nbidout step \u2019puntop\u2019um, so uh gwine tek\u2019um fuh husbun\u2019.\u201d\n\nThe announcement caused quite a flutter among the ladies at the hotel,\nand, as Jane had fixed the following Saturday evening for the wedding,\nthey hastened to overhaul their wardrobes for suitable material with\nwhich to deck out the bride. An old dotted-swiss muslin, found hidden\naway, was contributed by its owner as something sweet and virginal with\nwhich to rig out the craft that had sailed the seven seas of matrimony.\nAnother guest of the hotel contributed a pair of white stockings,\nand, as Jane desired a veil, a breadth of old mosquito-netting,\nstiffly starched and skilfully laundered, was added to the outfit.\nOn Saturday night, an hour after supper time, Jane, under the convoy\nof Esau and accompanied by the \u201clocus pastuh\u201d (the local preacher\nof her church) appeared before the hotel company assembled on the\npiazza, and announced her readiness to wed. The mosquito-net veil had\nbeen artistically looped about her by some of the ladies, and the\ndotted-swiss enveloped her with its starched stiffness. The knot was\nsoon tied, and Jane, carrying the bride cake in her arms and followed\nby her new husband, floated away like a smutty coal-carrying brig,\nunder a new suit of sails.\n\nOn the following morning, Jane appeared in the kitchen earlier than\nusual. The lady of the house asked what she had done with her new\nhusband. \u201cUh run\u2019um off, missis. Uh yent want\u2019um. Wuh me fuh do wid\nman! Enty uh hab proputty! Uh marri\u2019d Esau fuh git husbun\u2019, uh yent\nmarry\u2019um fuh git man! Nigguh\u2019 wuh grow up sence freedum, dem ent wut!\nUh marry\u2019um, den uh t\u2019row\u2019um \u2019way!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy did you marry him, then, if you didn\u2019t want him?\u201d\n\n\u201cKi! Missis! _Uh marry\u2019um fuh shet dem todduh \u2019ooman\u2019 mout\u2019! You t\u2019ink\nme wan\u2019 dem gal\u2019 fuh call me ole maid?_\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE PLAT-EYE\n\n\nAll low-country negroes believe more or less in \u201csperrits,\u201d \u201chaants\u201d\nand other mysterious appearances, but the \u201cplat-eye,\u201d peculiar to\nthe Georgetown coast, is the weirdest and most fearsome that vexes\nthe roaming negroes at night. Plat-eyes appear to old and young of\nboth sexes, sometimes in the form of a small dog or other animal,\nwhile at other times they may float like wraiths along the marshes\nor unfrequented paths, or stoop like low-hung clouds and envelop the\nvictim. Most frequently, however, the plat-eye appears in the form\nof some familiar animal which, glaring at the beholder with eyes of\nfire, springs upon him, frightening him into rigidity, and, just as he\nexpects his vitals to be torn out, the apparition vanishes, and the\ntrembling negro hurries on his way. The belief has been expressed that,\nin some instances, the negroes to whom plat-eyes appear have fallen\nasleep as they walked, and, dreaming of these terrors, awakened to find\nthem gone. In whatsoever form they come, however, the negroes dread the\nvisitations as Werewolves were feared in Europe not so long ago.\n\nNow, old Jane, the cook at the Pawley\u2019s Island summer hotel, the\nmany-times widowed woman who, having saved the life of Esau, the\nfisherman, by drenching him with horse liniment after he had partaken\ntoo freely of the spoils of his lines, had wedded that same Esau to\nsave herself the reproach of oldmaidenhood, and had chased him away the\nmorning after her _Marriage de Convenance_, was a fervent and fearful\nbeliever in plat-eyes. Whenever and wherever she went her ways at\nnight, she was on the lookout for them, and the expectation of their\nmomentary appearance kept her nerves in a pleasant state of jumpiness.\nA stray calf at the edge of the clearing, a raccoon ambling along a\nwoodland path, a sudden rabbit bouncing up before her, the horned owl\nthat lifted her wayward fowls from their runaway roost on the ridgepole\nof her cabin, even the ghostly sandcrabs that drifted along the beaches\nat night as lightly as wind-blown foam, were all potential plat-eyes!\n\nTwo weeks had passed since Jane, the self-made celibate, had ejected\nthe transitory husband of her bosom from the \u201cbed and board\u201d to\nwhich, under colored custom, if not under State law, he was supposed\nto be entitled. Esau wandered about, following his usual vagrant\noccupations, but vaguely conscious of his rather indefinite status\nas a husband--responsibilities there were none. Jane, to whom the\nmarriage had brought wifehood--in the abstract, and very real things in\nthe dotted-swiss and the white stockings of her bridal outfit--being\nwithal as free and untrammeled in her property and her person as she\nhad been before the episode, felt herself the gainer, and, to do her\njustice, regarded Esau rather as a slaughtered innocent. In respect\nof one small matter, however, Esau, too, had gained something. During\nhis tentative courtship, or rather while, without his knowledge, Jane\nhad had him under consideration, he chopped wood and did other chores\nfor her without specific contract for compensation, for Jane was then\nan unrelated and unconnected female of the species, and he willingly\nperformed these gallantries for her; but once married, even though\nshe had so speedily and unceremoniously divorced, or put him away,\nshe was yet his woman--in thought at least, his chattel--and, harking\nback to his African ancestry, he bethought him that women were but\nhewers of wood and drawers of water, the domestic slaves of the lordly\nmales, and, before laying hand to axe or stooping to pick up chips or\ndriftwood, he never failed to bargain and chaffer with the cook for\nwhat she should pay him--at the expense of the lady of the house.\n\n\u201cEsau, uh wish you please kin pick up some chip\u2019 fuh me fuh staa\u2019t me\nfiah.\u201d\n\n\u201cWuh you gwi\u2019 gimme?\u201d\n\n\u201cWuffuh me haffuh pay you fuh chop wood, Esau?\u201d\n\n\u201cEnty uh done marri\u2019d you fuh wife? Wuffuh man haffuh chop wood fuh \u2019e\nown wife?\u201d\n\n\u201cUh marri\u2019d you, fuh true, Esau, but enty uh done run you off, en\u2019 now\nyou stan\u2019 same lukkuh all dem todduh man wuh uh nebbuh bin hab fuh\nhusbun\u2019?\u201d\n\nEsau scratched his head, the point being rather fine for his\ncomprehension, but he grunted stubbornly, nevertheless.\n\n\u201cMan hab wife fuh cook \u2019e bittle fuhr\u2019um, enty? Hukkuh ooman kin cook\nbittle bidout \u2019e chop wood, eeduhso pick up chip\u2019 fuh mek fiah? No,\nma\u2019am! Wuh you gwine gimme fuh eat ef uh chop wood fuh you?\u201d Therefore,\nwhenever Esau chopped wood, the hotel kitchen paid the fee.\n\nSeptember burned and passed away. October came. Among the brown and\npurple trunks of the pines, the red-bronze foliage of blackgum and\nsourwood glowed like dull fires. Tripods rose above the breakers, and,\nfrom the vantage of their elevated tops, the Islanders fished with rod\nand reel for the beautiful channel bass which came up with the rising\ntide. The long rollers crashed upon the strand and broke into lace-like\nspray that the sea-wind tossed into a thousand miniature rainbows. The\nplaintive cry of the sea-birds, the whisper of the wild-oats as their\nripening seed panicles rustled in the wind, and the sharp tang in the\nair, brought to the spirit the poignant sadness of autumn--\u201cFalling\nLeaf and Fading Tree,\u201d and Tosti\u2019s haunting melody.\n\nOn a certain night, Jane permitted Esau\u2019s escort to a cottage two\nmiles up the beach, whither she had undertaken an errand for her\nemployer. The night was dark and overcast, and the air was heavy with a\npromise of coming rain. A fitful breeze picked up the loose sand above\nhighwater mark into little whorls, sent them dancing about the upper\nbeach, and set the clumps of wild-oats on the dunes above to shivering\nweirdly. The tide was at the flood, and the long dun rollers boomed\nsullenly on the beach and sucked at the sands as though loath to leave\nthem.\n\nAs she got farther away from the comforting lights of the hotel\nand adventured into the creepy darkness that lay before her,\nJane shuddered, and lifted the shawl from her shoulders over her\nbandanna-topped head as though to shut out from her apprehensive ears\nall fearsome sounds. Esau shuffled along beside her, but he, too, was\nuncomfortable, for he was a timid negro, and even the boldest are none\ntoo brave at night.\n\nA sudden gust of wind lifted the foam cap from a breaking wave, blew\nit in their faces and whistled eerily through the wild-oats. A ghost\ncrab sprang up at their very feet and scurried away, affrighted. Jane\nclutched Esau\u2019s arm. \u201c_Great Gawd!_\u201d she groaned, \u201c_duh plat-eye!_ Uh\nshum! uh shum!\u201d\n\n\u201cWeh-weh \u2019e dey?\u201d stammered her frightened but less imaginative escort.\n\nBefore she could point to the flying crab, another pallid, spider-like\ncreature drifted across her path and followed the first. Jane was\npoised for flight, but Esau stood firm and steadied her nerves, and\nin a few moments they moved on again, but with wide eyes and hesitant\nsteps. At last they had covered half the distance, and a mile away,\nbeyond the dark, a spot of yellow light marked their goal, which they\nmight have reached but for the raccoons\u2019 love for shell fish. At a low\nspot in the broad beach the tide had eaten out a narrow channel through\nwhich the waters rushed almost up to the sand-hills, bringing small\nfish and shrimp and clams far beyond the break of the rollers, and, at\nthe entrance to this cut, facing the ocean, a big raccoon was fishing\nat the moment the negroes reached the tidal rivulet and paused to look\nfor a crossing. Esau, with trousers rolled up to his knees, adventured\nfirst, and as Jane, \u201cstanding with reluctant feet,\u201d on the marge,\ncalled to him to ask the depth, she unhappily cast her eyes seaward\njust as the four-footed fisherman, startled by the voices behind him,\nwheeled, and turned his round, green eyes full upon them. As their\nsinister light shone fearsomely against the dark background of the\nwaves, Jane shrieked in agony. \u201c_Oh Jedus! de plat-eye! de plat-eye!_\u201d\nAnd, turning tail, she fled along the back track, screaming at every\njump. Esau\u2019s gallantry, and one look at the shining eyes, prompted\nhim to follow Jane, which he did at top speed, while the wretched\nraccoon, frightened out of his supper by the havoc he had unwittingly\nwrought, lost no time in attaining sanctuary among the scrub beyond the\nsand-hills.\n\nOn sped Jane. Her screaming-wind gave out after the first hundred\nyards, and, save for her labored breathing, she ran silently, Esau, a\nblack shadow, close behind. In an incredibly short time, Jane and her\nrunner-up reached the hotel, speechless with exhaustion and fright.\nWhen she had recovered her breath, Jane hurried to her mistress.\n\u201cMissis, ma\u2019am, uh nebbuh tek de ansuh wuh you sen\u2019 to da\u2019 juntlemun\ntodduh side de Ilun\u2019, \u2019cause uh nebbuh git dey, Missis; en\u2019, ef Jedus\nyeddy me, uh nebbuh fuh gone to da\u2019 place no mo\u2019 duh night-time!\nMissis, dem plat-eye t\u2019ick \u2019puntop da\u2019 beach sukkuh fiddluh crab\u2019\nt\u2019ick een de maa\u2019sh w\u2019en tide low! Uh binnuh walk \u2019long Esau, en\u2019 one\nsumpn\u2019nurruh come off de wabe\u2019 top, en\u2019 \u2019e float by me sukkuh cloud wuh\nhab uh sperrit een\u2019um. Uh shet me yeye, en\u2019 \u2019e gone. Den de win\u2019 mek uh\njump, en\u2019 \u2019e biggin fuh shake dem grass en\u2019 t\u2019ing \u2019puntop de san\u2019hill\n\u2019tell \u2019e mek me hair fuh rise! Same time uh see two w\u2019ite sperrit run\n\u2019cross de paat\u2019. Esau binnuh trimble \u2019tell uh graff\u2019um by \u2019e sleebe fuh\nkeep\u2019um f\u2019um run\u2019way, but none de t\u2019ing nebbuh hab uh chance fuh t\u2019row\ndem eye \u2019puntop me \u2019tell uh git to de place weh de tide bruk t\u2019ru de\nbeach. W\u2019en uh git dey, Missis, Esau roll up \u2019e britchiz fuh cross. Me\nduh wait \u2019tell him git \u2019cross befo\u2019 uh staa\u2019t\u2019 fuh hice me \u2019coat fuh\nwalk t\u2019ru\u2019um, en\u2019, ef me Jedus didn\u2019 tell me fuh t\u2019row me yeye fuh look\nroun\u2019, uh nebbuh would\u2019uh bin yuh, but w\u2019en uh look, uh see da\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019\ntwo eye\u2019 duh shine sukkuh lightship\u2019 eye\u2019 shine \u2019puntop\u2019uh Rattlesnake\nshoal\u2019! Missis, w\u2019en uh fus\u2019 look \u2019puntop\u2019um uh t\u2019ink \u2019e duh lightship\nfuh true, but bumbye \u2019e shake \u2019e head en\u2019 uh know suh \u2019e duh plat-eye,\nen\u2019 \u2019e duh try fuh t\u2019row uh spell \u2019puntop me fuh mek me fuh dead! Uh\nyent hab time fuh kneel down, but uh staa\u2019t fuh pray een me h\u2019aa\u2019t,\nen\u2019 uh baig Gawd, ef da\u2019 plat-eye haffuh ketch nigguh, fuh mek\u2019um fuh\nketch Esau en\u2019 lef me, \u2019cause, Missis, eb\u2019rybody know\u2019 suh Esau ent\nwut! But seem lukkuh Gawd nebbuh yeddy de pray\u2019, \u2019cause me mout\u2019 bin\nshet w\u2019en uh mek\u2019um, \u2019cause uh yent wan\u2019 Esau fuh yeddy wuh uh say,\nen\u2019 de plat-eye nebbuh tek \u2019e yeye off\u2019uh my\u2019own. \u2019E look en\u2019 \u2019e look,\nen\u2019 \u2019e yeye git mo\u2019 bigguh en\u2019 mo\u2019 shiny, en\u2019 w\u2019en uh see suh him duh\nlook \u2019puntop\u2019uh me en\u2019 ent duh study \u2019bout Esau, Missis, _uh comin\u2019\nfuh home_! Missis, you see dog run, you see hawss run, you see bu\u2019d\nfly, en\u2019 you see pawpus jump een de ribbuh, but you nebbuh see none dem\nt\u2019ing trabble lukkuh me trabble w\u2019en uh staa\u2019t fuh run! W\u2019en me ten\ntoe\u2019 dig een de du\u2019t, \u2019e t\u2019row de san\u2019 mo\u2019nuh half uh acre behin\u2019 me!\nDe win\u2019 wuh uh mek t\u2019row dem wil\u2019oats en\u2019 grass en\u2019 t\u2019ing flat \u2019pun de\ngroun\u2019, en\u2019 all de time uh duh run uh yeddy Esau\u2019 foot duh beat drum\nbehin\u2019 me, en\u2019 w\u2019en uh yeddy\u2019um, uh tengkful, \u2019cause uh know da\u2019 t\u2019ing\nfuh ketch him fus\u2019 \u2019fo\u2019 \u2019e kin git me; en\u2019, Missis, ef you ain\u2019 hab no\n\u2019jeckshun, ma\u2019am, uh gwine tek Esau fuh husbun\u2019 \u2019gen, \u2019cause, attuh\ntenight, uh know suh me kin run fas\u2019 mo\u2019nuh him, en\u2019 him will be uh\nnyuseful t\u2019ing fuh tek \u2019long w\u2019en uh duh walk duh paa\u2019t duh night-time,\n\u2019cause, ef plat-eye mek alltwo uh we fuh run, him _\u2019bleege_ fuh ketch\nEsau _fus\u2019_, en\u2019, alldo\u2019 da\u2019 nigguh ent wut, \u2019e hab shishuh slow foot,\nMissis, uh kin mek\u2019um fuh sabe me life!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\u201cOLD PICKETT\u201d\n\n\nBefore the war, the low-country planters, migrating each summer to\ntheir mountain homes at Flat Rock, N. C., frequently bought horses and\nmules from the drovers as they passed along the Buncombe Road on their\nway South from the stock ranges of Kentucky and Tennessee. Sometimes\nbeautiful ponies were brought from the Pink Beds, away back in the\nNorth Carolina mountains, others came from the nearer valleys of the\nFrench Broad, but most of the Seacoast planters supplied their needs\nfrom the Tennessee drovers as they moved down the main-traveled road.\n\nFrom an old drover named Pickett, a mule was acquired to which the\nnegroes gave the drover\u2019s name. Although a young mule, and of the\nopposite sex, she was christened \u201cOld Pickett,\u201d and bore the name\nwith distinction for nearly a quarter of a century. Long and low, and\npowerfully built, Old Pickett was a light bay in color, with the brown\nstripe down the back and the zebra legs which mule wranglers regard as\nevidence of toughness--and Old Pickett was tough.\n\nOld Pickett came into the hands of the family late in October. A\nthin skin of ice had formed along the shores of the lakes. Flocks of\nblue-winged teal whistled through the air and splashed as they alighted\non the clear waters. Chestnuts had fallen, and their green and brown\nburrs covered the ground under the far-spreading limbs of the big\ntrees. Their little cousins, the chinquapins, had long been gathered\nand strung in necklaces, or roasted at the hearths of the glowing wood\nfires. The pheasant-shooting was nearly over, and Westly-Richards and\nGreener were cleaned and oiled and slipped into their buckskin covers,\nin readiness for the campaign against deer and duck and turkey in the\nlow-country. With the first days of November, as the branches of the\ngreat oaks cracked under the weight of the roosting wild pigeons, and\nthe sloping sides of old Pinnacle and all the lesser peaks burned with\nthe flame-like foliage of the hickory and the ruby fires of the oaks,\nthe family started down the mountain for Greenville, the first stop\nin the ten-day journey to the sea. Carriages for the ladies and the\nelders, saddle horses for the younger men, and comfortable covered\nwagons for the house servants, the cavalcade moved out, Old Pickett and\nher companions tethered behind the wagons to take their turn at the\npole later on.\n\nArrived at the big plantation, Old Pickett became familiar with the\nplow, the cart and the Gullah negro, and for twelve years led an\nuneventful life, buckling to the tough \u201cjoint grass\u201d of the uplands in\nsummer, and bogging pastern deep in winter as the slim plowshare slid\nthrough the sticky soil of the ricefields and turned the stubble into\nlong greasy-looking furrows. While a willing worker, Old Pickett took\nher time and always \u201cgang\u2019d her ain gait.\u201d She was nimble, too, with\nher heels, and the stable boys about the mule lot could always amuse\nthemselves by throwing sticks or light clods of earth on Old Pickett\u2019s\nhindquarters to make her \u201ckick up,\u201d when she came in to be unharnessed\nafter her day\u2019s work, and she was always ready to oblige. Wearing a\nblind bridle, she could not see behind her, but she was strong for the\nuplift, and whatever touched her in the rear had to go up, whether\nstick, or clod or stable boy!\n\nThen the war! In the dawn of an April morning, came the sound of the\nbig guns in Charleston harbor thirty miles away, and, a few months\nlater, from another direction, rolled the thunder of yet heavier and\nmore distant guns, bombarding Port Royal, and still Old Pickett plowed\nand carted, and otherwise plodded in the ways of peace, but not for\nlong. The questing eye of the Confederate Government looked approvingly\non Old Pickett\u2019s short legs, arched loins and well-sprung ribs, and,\ndiscerning an artillery mule, intimated a desire for ownership, but Old\nPickett, compelling as she did the little negroes who walked behind and\naround her to become alert and watchful, was a plantation institution\nand could not be parted with permanently, but she was loaned to the\nConfederacy, and for a year or two hauled caissons and cannon and army\nwagons about the coast section wherever an attack was threatened by the\ninvaders.\n\nAt last, the booming of cannon came nearer, an expedition having\nreached Willtown only seven miles away, and, as negroes from nearby\nplantations were \u201crunning away to the Yankees,\u201d a farm was leased in\nthe far away land of Abbeville, and thither, for safekeeping, went\na number of slaves under Zedekiah Johnson, a kindly and reliable\noverseer. With this venture went Old Pickett, and here, until the end\nof the war, she faithfully followed the curved and crooked furrows that\nran around the terraced hills, and stubbed her unshod hoofs against the\nflinty stones thick sown about the ruddy soil. In the up-country, women\nsometimes plowed, and Old Pickett, blinkered and forward-looking as\nshe was forced to be, submitted to the indignity of being \u201cgee\u2019d\u201d and\n\u201chaw\u2019d\u201d and chevied along by a bare-footed, sun-bonneted female of the\nspecies.\n\nFreedom came. The low-country negroes whom it overtook in Abbeville,\nwent their ways. The wagons and mules, all save old Pickett, were sold\nfor the pitiful greenbacks that the profiteering few who had them, were\nwilling to pay, and old Pickett came home. A low-country freedman,\nwishing to return to his habitat, kindly consented to ride her the two\nhundred miles, cannily exchanging his fore-knowledge of the road for\nthe use of her four legs. And what a home-coming! The \u201cbig house\u201d at\nthe head of the wide live-oak avenue lay in ruins, sentineled by the\ntall, charred trunks of \u201cSherman\u2019s laurels,\u201d the two great magnolias\nthat sometime stood in their glossy green liveries overhanging the\nhospitable hearths that once glowed within. Wildcats lurked in the\nbriar thickets now upsprung from the fertile soil where once stood\nthe great stables. The plantation quarters, whose streets formerly\nresounded with jest and laughter, at the touch of the vandal\u2019s torch\nhad flared into flame and vanished, and among their ashes Jimpson weed\nand other rank growths struggled.\n\nIn a rough stable, hastily improvised of blackgum logs, Old Pickett was\nintroduced to strange, young Western mules, new to negro ways, but,\nfrom the time of her home-coming, she seemed to grow resentful toward\nall the world. While still performing her tasks faithfully, she would\nnot be hurried, and no freedman was ever able to urge her into a trot,\nso, by example, if not by precept, the younger mules associated with\nher gradually acquired somewhat of trickiness and of truculence. Old\nPickett still respected the former slave-holding planters, and under\none of these (she was a good saddle animal) she would still condescend\nto canter, but the small white boy of ten or eleven years, and the\nnegroes of all ages, she held in utter contempt. Saddles and bridles\nwere scarce after the war, and spurs were rare. \u201cThe Captain\u201d had a\nsingle ante-bellum spur with which he urged recalcitrant horse or mule\nto such bursts of speed as a grass diet would warrant. When rallied\nby his hunting companions on his lack of the twin spur, he shrewdly\nobserved that if he could make one side of his steed travel fast enough\nto suit him, the other could always be induced to go along, too. As\nthis precious tool was never loaned, the small boy who aspired to\nequestrian exercise was forced to kick his steed in the ribs with his\nbare heel, to which was sometimes tied, with a piece of hickory bark,\na forked stick shaped like a wishbone, usually an effective goad with\nwhich to tickle the equine flank, but Old Pickett was unresponsive.\nShe was, in a manner of speaking, on all-fours with St. Paul. \u201cNone\nof these things move me,\u201d she thought--and they didn\u2019t. The ambitious\nboy who expressed a willingness to adventure a trip to the railway\nstation, two miles away, for the mail, only for the chance to ride, was\nsometimes offered Old Pickett, just to chill his ardor. If he accepted\nthe mount, he was given a plow bridle, a folded crocus bag upon which\nto sit, and was allotted a few hours in which to make the trip. A stout\nswitch was permitted him, which he carried in his right-hand for style,\nrather than for any impression he hoped to make on Old Pickett\u2019s tough\nhide. Fortunately, the kindly amenities of war had left the great\navenue without a gate, or he could not have passed, as no amount of\nurging could have brought Old Pickett within arm\u2019s length of the latch,\nso the way was clear to the old King\u2019s Highway. The boy had plenty\nof time to admire the scenery as Old Pickett walked sedately along\nbetween the willow-fringed canals that flanked the approach to the\n\u201cTwo Bridges.\u201d In the summer, water snakes dropped quietly into their\nelement from the overhanging branches upon which they had been sunning\nthemselves, terrapins slid from their floating logs, and now and then\na small alligator sank slowly downward, leaving only his eyes above\nthe water. Just beyond, where the boughs of a grove of Spanish oaks\nstretched above the road, squirrels sometimes played, alighting among\nthe smaller branches with a soft \u201cswish\u201d as they sprang from tree to\ntree. Then, on to Jupiter Hill, or \u201cTown Hill,\u201d as the negroes called\nit, because it lay in the direction of Charleston. Here, with a clay\nhole on one side and a Colonial milestone on the other--\u201c31 M. to C\nTown\u201d cut in its brown sandstone face--the roads forked, the right-hand\nleading to the Village, the left to the station. Although Old Pickett\u2019s\nway always led to the station, she never failed to submit the selection\nof the road to argument, and invariably leaned to the right. Whether\nthe memory of the brave, hopeful, early days of the Confederacy, when\nshe had drawn artillery or army wagons along this road, urged her to\ntread again the once familiar paths, or whether she sought only to\nmatch her will and her wits against the boy\u2019s, one may not know, but,\nas far as the boy was concerned, the discipline was wholesome, for\nloss of temper availed nothing against Old Pickett. Her response to\nan application of the switch was to sidle up to the nearest tree or\nsapling, against which she would rub her rider\u2019s bare legs, so she\nwas seldom switched. Sometimes the boy would sit on her back ten or\nfifteen minutes without moving, while she drowsed and dreamed of the\npast, and then, when, perhaps, she had forgotten the dispute between\nthem, he would get her started in the way she should go. At other\ntimes, however, when she could not be wheedled out of the Village road,\nher rider let her have her way, and, after going two or three hundred\nyards, would slowly turn her head into the pineland and, gradually\nsweeping around in a wide semi-circle to the left, would reenter\nthe road to the station a quarter of a mile beyond. Arrived at his\ndestination, the boy would be fortunate to find some idle negro around\nwho would bring out the mail to him, for, once dismounted, he could not\nremount without assistance, Old Pickett invariably backing her ears,\nbaring her teeth, and altogether turning toward him \u201can unforgiving\neye and a damned disinheriting countenance.\u201d To grown-ups Old Pickett\nwas dangerous only at the rear, but to a dismounted boy she was loaded\nat both ends and--a revolver at that--she was so pivoted that head and\ntail could swap places with surprising facility. Old Pickett\u2019s tracks\non her way home, however, were the prints of peace. Like so many of the\nhuman race, she knew the way to the trough, and thither she was willing\nto be guided.\n\nOn Sundays, Old Pickett was turned into the big pasture with the other\nmules, for rest and recreation, but, while her companions galloped\nor trotted and played, she kept away from them, grazing alone until\nsatisfied, when, withdrawing to a far corner of the field, and resting\nher head upon the rider of the rail fence, she would gaze into space\nwith retrospective eyes. Sometimes the Sunday outings would be in\ncornfields after harvest, where the slovenly freedmen usually left\nbunches of rank-growing sheep burrs, having a strong affinity for the\nmanes and tails of horses and mules. Of these, Old Pickett acquired\nher share. The negro who plowed her extracted without difficulty those\nwhich lodged in her mane, but the taking of them out of her tail was\nan event in stableyard circles. Strongly tethered in her stall with a\nshort halter, a stout bar was run into grooves behind her, so hampering\nher hindquarters that she could not extend herself. Thus helpless, she\nwas ignominiously despoiled of the burrs that clung to her tail, even\nthe small black boys participating in the spoliation, of which they did\nnot fail to brag later to their companions at the quarters.\n\n\u201cYou see dis sheep buhr, enty? Uh tek\u2019um out\u2019uh Ole Pickett\u2019 tail,\u201d\nsaid one, proudly pulling a burr out of the wool about his ears.\n\n\u201cNo, you nebbuh! You duh Gawd fuh projick \u2019long Old Pickett\u2019 tail? \u2019E\nyent come out\u2019um!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019E yiz, now!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019E yent!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019E yiz!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019E yent!\u201d and then they fought.\n\nBesides the burrs acquired by her mane and tail, Old Pickett sometimes\ngot them in her ears, and then a circus act was necessary to get the\nbridle over her head in the morning.\n\nOne summer afternoon, crook-legged, yellow Sabey came up to the house\nto borrow a mule with which to drag from a distant backwater a large\nalligator he had just killed, offering to recompense the favor by\nbringing a portion of the creature\u2019s oily flesh to be cooked for the\nalways hungry hounds. As all the other farm animals were busy, Sabey\nwas told that he might have Old Pickett, who grazed alone in a distant\npasture. Not knowing Old Pickett intimately, the poor darkey scraped\nhis foot gratefully, and taking a bridle from the rack, an ear of\ncorn from the crib and a bundle of fodder from the stack, he set out\nas gaily and as full of faith as the small boy who, receiving from an\nelder his first handful of \u201cfresh salt,\u201d goes forth in quest of the\nelusive robin\u2019s tail. Arrived at the pasture, Sabey shambled toward Old\nPickett, holding the ear of corn and the blades coaxingly before him.\nThe bridle was hidden from sight at his back, tied to a hickory bark\nsuspender. As Sabey approached, though he looked like no Greek that\never walked, or fought, or ran, Old Pickett, appraising the provender\nas camouflage and fearing even the Gullah bearing gifts, raised her\nhead and looked at him suspiciously, but, as Sabey slowed down his\npace and called \u201ccoab, coab, coab\u201d softly and appealingly, she let him\ncome up to her and condescended to nibble at the outstretched handful\nof blades. The negro\u2019s favorite method of catching a loose mule is to\nseize her firmly by the ear, and to this Old Pickett, without an earful\nof sheep burrs, might have submitted, but, as Sabey grabbed, the sharp\nburrs were pressed so painfully into the inner lining of her ear, that\nshe wheeled as quick as a flash and, lashing out with heels that had\nlost none of their youthful vigor, would have lifted Sabey into the\nair had he not with quick presence of mind thrown himself flat on the\nground, so that she kicked over him. When the immediate danger had\npassed, Sabey rose to his feet and followed her about the pasture for\ntwo hours, in the vain effort to coax her again within reach, or to\ndrive her into a fence corner, where he might, by getting a rail behind\nher, so pen her up that the bridle could be slipped over her head\nwithout danger. But Old Pickett could neither be led nor driven, and,\njust as the sun was setting, Sabey returned alone to the house.\n\n\u201cMas\u2019 Rafe, uh bin ketch cootuh een me time, uh bin ketch alligettuh,\nbut uh yent fuh ketch no t\u2019unduh en\u2019 no lightnin\u2019, en\u2019 da\u2019 t\u2019ing oonuh\ncall Ole Pickett, him duh t\u2019unduh en\u2019 lightnin\u2019 _alltwo one time_! Uh\ngone een de pastuh en\u2019 alltwo me han\u2019 full\u2019up wid bittle fuh da\u2019 mule\nfuh eat. Uh hab uh kin\u2019 feelin\u2019 een me h\u2019aa\u2019t fuh da\u2019 mule \u2019tell uh\nfin\u2019um out, but now, uh nebbuh fuh trus\u2019um \u2019gen no mo\u2019! Mas\u2019 Rafe, da\u2019\nmule \u2019ceitful ez uh \u2019ooman! \u2019E nyam de bittle out me han\u2019, en\u2019 w\u2019en uh\ngraff \u2019e yez fuh ketch\u2019um, please Gawd, \u2019e head en\u2019 \u2019e yez gone, en\u2019\nme han\u2019 duh graff \u2019e two hin\u2019 foot! Uh nebbuh see shishuh swif\u2019 hin\u2019\nfoot lukkuh da\u2019 mule got. Ef me Jedus didn\u2019 bin tell me fuh fall flat\n\u2019puntop me belly, sukkuh alligettuh, uh would\u2019uh dead; but w\u2019en uh do\ndat, een Gawd\u2019 mussy, de mule kick obuh me, en\u2019 de du\u2019t en\u2019 t\u2019ing wuh\n\u2019e kick up out de pastuh, gone \u2019way up een de ellyment, en\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e\nfall \u2019puntop me \u2019e kibbuh me up same lukkuh dem t\u2019row du\u2019t \u2019puntop\u2019uh\nman een \u2019e grabe! Mas\u2019 Rafe, uh tengkful fuh you fuh len\u2019 me da\u2019 mule\nfuh ride, but \u2019fo\u2019 uh try fuh ketch\u2019um \u2019gen, uh redduh walk on me han\u2019\nen\u2019 me foot frum yuh _spang_ Caw Caw Swamp!\u201d\n\nOld Pickett had now passed her twenty-fifth year, and day by day\nbecame sadder and wiser. She accepted her daily tasks with resignation,\nbut not with enthusiasm. The sockets above her weary eyes grew deeper,\nand white hairs thickened among the tawny pelage about her brow. Her\nears, once so erect and responsive to all the sounds of the world about\nher, now flopped dejectedly like an unstarched \u201ccracker\u201d sunbonnet.\nHer lips, as pendulous as those of the bull moose that once tried to\nbite the Faunal Naturalist, hung lower and lower, and the hour drew\nnear when she must shuffle off the mortal harness she had worn so long.\nHer eyes had looked upon smiling Peace, upon grim War, and--under\nReconstruction, the once proud planters on foot and their quondam\nslaves on horseback--it was time to go. Turned out in the pasture to\nspend her last days in idleness, she walked listlessly about, cropping\nhere and there a bunch of tender grass, while she waited for the\nsummons. When it came, and she lay down to rise no more, a black spot,\nslowly circling in the sky, stooped, and, on a lower level, sailed\nagain in narrowing circles. The keen eyes of other questing vultures,\nmiles away, watched the drop, and followed. From the four corners of\nthe heavens they came, and, alighting on rail fence and blasted pine,\nor hovering low on shadowy wings, they watched and waited, until at\nlast Old Pickett\u2019s glazing eyes told them that her heart and her heels\nwere stilled forever.\n\nA month or two later in the Autumn, when the family returned to the\nplantation from the pineland village, the boy indignantly reproached\nthe negroes for not having given Old Pickett decent sepulture, and two\nof them were induced to gather up her whitened bones and bury them\nin a shallow grave at the edge of the ante-bellum \u201chorse burying\nground,\u201d where the old family horses rested under the live-oaks. The\nnegroes could not understand the boy\u2019s emotion as the clods fell on the\nbones of the faithful old mule. \u201cEh, eh, buckruh boy too commikil. Him\nduh cry \u2019cause mule dead!\u201d They did not know that the passing of Old\nPickett severed a link with the golden past, and that into her grave\nwent something of The Lost Cause!\n\n\n\n\nTHE LOST BUCK\n\n\nAn hour after sunrise, hunters and pack assembled at the appointed\nrendezvous, a centrally situated plantation. There was the usual\nexchange of pleasant badinage as to the relative speed, stamina\nand other qualities of the different hounds, who, now united in an\nimposing pack of twenty, combined almost every type known to the deer\nhunter, and each had its admirers. The older men preferred the native\nlow-country stock, a blend, perhaps, of the blood of fox hound and\nbeagle, bred for a hundred years or more from dogs brought from England\nlong, long ago. These were fine, high-bred looking animals, mostly\n\u201cblue speckled,\u201d flecked with patches of black and fawn, whose twisted\nears, soft as velvet, were long enough to tie under their wearers\u2019\nthroats--very aristocrats of the dog world, from their long muzzles\nto the tips of their slender \u201crat\u201d tails, not very fast, perhaps, but\nwith noses so \u201ccold\u201d that they could follow a deer trail more than\ntwenty-four hours old. Then, too, their cry! \u201cRolling tongues,\u201d all of\nthem, sweet and sonorous, whose blending of deep and high-pitched tones\nsent the blood tingling through the veins. The hard-riding youngsters,\nhowever, preferred the recently imported \u201cEnglish\u201d dogs--thick-set,\npowerful creatures, white, with great patches of black and tan,\nbroad-eared and \u201cfeather-tailed.\u201d Their noses were not cold, nor was\nthe music of their yelping \u201cchopped\u201d tongues inspiring, but they had\ngreat speed, and their feet were so hard that they could be run day\nafter day without becoming footsore. Here and there, a somber spot in\nthe pack, was a black and tan and--a touch of flame--a big \u201cred-bone\u201d\nof a western North Carolina strain, a rangy fellow, bred to speed\nand endurance in a rough, red-fox country. So each type and each\nindividual had special qualities and special advocates, and all were\ngathered--Countess, Echo, Music, Harper, Lead, Luck, Modoc, Rowser,\nBlueman, the panther-like Huntress, and many younger dogs--into a pack\nwhose all-round efficiency could not have been matched between Ashley\nRiver and the tawny waters of the Savannah!\n\nAt last the horns were sounded, and horsemen and hounds passed up the\nCypress road. Soon after crossing the two bridges a mile or so away,\na short consultation was had, and the \u201cElliott Big Drive\u201d was decided\nupon. The elder huntsmen directed the standers to their positions and,\nafter allowing sufficient time for those who had been assigned the more\ndistant passes to reach their stands, the two expert and daring riders\nwho had been designated as the \u201cdrivers\u201d put in the eager pack and they\nspread fanlike among the myrtles.\n\nThe old buck, whose trophies were the special object of this day\u2019s\nhunt, had long baffled the Nimrods of the neighborhood. Unusually large\nand with a magnificent head of \u201cbasket\u201d horns, his resourcefulness had\nalways enabled him to escape his pursuers. He varied his tactics as\noccasion required. In the early fall and winter, while lying with does\nand yearlings in the myrtles, or on the sunny side of some broomgrass\nfield, he would cunningly keep his place upon the approach of hounds\nand hunters, allowing his companions to spring up and lead the cry off\non a long run for the river. Then, when the danger was over, he would\nsneak away and take sanctuary in some distant thicket. Later on, in\nFebruary and March, when the bucks, having dropped their horns, herded\ntogether like timid sheep, he pursued the same course, allowing the\nyounger and less experienced to \u201cjump\u201d at the approach of the pack\nand lead it away while he remained in safety. In his bachelor days,\nhowever, he changed his methods, and, at the first cry of a distant\ndog opening upon the trail, the wary buck would \u201csneak,\u201d and, by the\ntime the pack reached his erstwhile bed, they found only the outline of\nhis burly body in the petticoat grass where he had made his luxurious\ncouch, while the old fellow would be perhaps six or seven miles away\nin the Ti Ti across the Edisto, or in some remote and inaccessible\nfastness beyond the Toogoodoo. In summer, when his great antlers in\nthe \u201cvelvet\u201d were tender and sensitive to the slightest touch of twig\nor foliage, he avoided thickets and tangled places, skirting the\nridges that rose like shoulders on either side of the narrow bays that\nintersected the great forests of long-leaf pine.\n\nBut on this crisp November day, the woods were clean and clear, with\nno tangle of summer foliage, and the big buck, now carrying iron-hard\nhorns, was as free to run through swamp or thicket as on the higher\nknolls and ridges, and, cunning and deceitful, he changed his tactics\nfrom chase to chase, and kept his pursuers guessing as to whether he\nwould \u201cjump\u201d or \u201csneak,\u201d whether his course would be east, south or\nwest. Northward he never ran, for thither lay the railway and the flat\nwoods, with no rivers beyond whose waters lay sanctuary.\n\nOne of the standers, well-mounted, took up a distant pass at Elliott\u2019s\nWells, the site of a settlement abandoned many generations ago.\nConcealing his horse in a thicket at the rear of the stand, he returned\nto the knoll, stood in front of a great pine, a giant among its lofty\nfellows, and listened for the cry of the pack. But listening was\ndifficult and no cry came to his ears. The wind was high, and, singing\namong the pine tops like \u00e6olian harps, rose and swelled and softened\nand died away, now whispering of the wold with its peaceful sheep,\nand quiet meadows where cattle grazed, now thundering of stormswept\nmountain tops and the break of ocean surges on rockbound coasts, and\nagain softened to the lap of sluggish wavelets on the shining shores\nof placid bays, and sighing told of those that grieved, and shrieked\nwith the anguish of those that suffered, and softened again with the\nlaughter of little children, and told the myriad stories and waked the\nthousand memories that the weird and mysterious songs of the wind among\nthe pines bring to those whose hearts are attuned to nature. More than\nonce the stander stood at attention, thinking he heard the cry of a\ndistant hound, but, with a lull in the wind, the aural will-o\u2019-the-wisp\nwas gone, so misleading are the wind-sounds to even the trained ear. An\nhour passed. Two hours--but only the wind was heard, no bay of dog, no\nblast of horn betraying the presence of hunter or hound anywhere in the\ngreat expanse of forest.\n\nNot far away was an old graveyard, one of the Colonial villages of\nthe dead occasionally found in the low-country forests. The lettering\non the marble slabs that covered the eternal sleepers revealed them\nas members of important families, many of them children who died of\nfever during the summer months before the days of quinine, deep wells\nand wire screens. The stander, while listening for the cry of the\npack, read the lichen-covered inscriptions on the tombs and mused\nlike Gray and Omar. With a whimsical smile, he looked at the towering\ncrown of a great water-oak deep-rooted in the mould of a stout-hearted\n17th century squire--a \u201cfive-bottle man\u201d perhaps, and marveled at the\nalchemy of nature that could, from Madeira, Port and old Jamaica Rum,\nresolve a dew to nourish a Water Oak! Then, with ineffable sadness, he\nread the brief life-stories of God\u2019s little children, \u201cMary,\u201d \u201cAnne,\u201d\n\u201cWilliam,\u201d \u201cbeloved daughter,\u201d \u201cbeloved son\u201d \u201cof ---- and ---- his\nwife,\u201d \u201cdied August 171-,\u201d \u201cdied September 172-.\u201d A cherub deep-carved\nin the marble, the line \u201cSuffer little children to come unto Me\u201d--no\nmore! Seven, eight generations of men and women had lived their lives\nand passed since these little children were taken home 200 years ago!\nYet, how near the tragedy seemed! The father returning from field\nor forest to find the mother in agony over the stricken child, no\ndoctor, no ice, no effective medicines. The brilliant eyes, the burning\ncheeks, delirium, the end. The little mound in the woodland, wet with a\nmother\u2019s tears, the graver\u2019s chisel in the marble--and that was all. So\nmen and women lived, and little children died--two hundred years ago!\n\nAt the end of the fourth hour of waiting, the stander, hearing only the\nwind-harps among the pine-tops, and realizing that, either the pack\nhad jumped and been led by the chase out of the drive--a cunning old\nbuck sometimes running contrary to all precedent--or that, striking\nno trail, the drivers had \u201cblown out\u201d of the Big Drive and called the\nhunt together for exploitation elsewhere, mounted his horse and rode\ndue west through the woods for the Willtown road, which, running north\nand south, and nearly parallel with the Edisto and its tributary Penny\nCreek, would be crossed by any deer making for the river. Just as he\nreached the road, he accosted a negro walking toward Parker\u2019s Ferry\nX-Roads, and asked if he had heard horns or hounds.\n\n\u201cMaussuh, uh binnuh stan\u2019 een Willtown road close to Mas\u2019 Edwu\u2019d\nBaa\u2019nwell\u2019 Clifton place, w\u2019en uh yeddy de dog duh comin\u2019 fuh me, en\u2019\nuh stop fuh liss\u2019n. Bimeby, uh see de mukkle duh shake, en\u2019, fus\u2019 t\u2019ing\nuh know, de deer jump out de t\u2019icket en\u2019 light een de big road en\u2019 look\n\u2019puntop me! \u2019E foot fall saaf\u2019ly \u2019pun de groun\u2019 same lukkuh cat duh\nsneak \u2019puntop\u2019uh bu\u2019d. \u2019E tu\u2019n \u2019e head en\u2019 \u2019e look \u2019puntop me lukkuh\nsomebody, \u2019cep\u2019n\u2019 suh \u2019e yeye big lukkuh hawn owl\u2019 eye. \u2019E look at me\nso positubble, uh t\u2019ink mus\u2019be \u2019e duh haant, en\u2019 uh dat \u2019f\u2019aid \u2019e gwine\nt\u2019row one spell \u2019puntop me, uh tu\u2019n \u2019way me head. W\u2019en uh look roun\u2019\n\u2019gen, \u2019e gone! Yuh come de dog\u2019! Uh nebbuh see summuch dog\u2019! Dem full\u2019\nde road, en\u2019 dem woice\u2019 roll \u2019tell you nebbuh yeddy shishuh music. Dem\ncross\u2019 de road, en\u2019 dem gone! Attuh leetle w\u2019ile, uh yeddy\u2019um duh gib\ndem toung een de gyaa\u2019d\u2019n uh ole Maussuh\u2019 Clifton house wuh dem Nyankee\nbu\u2019n down eenjurin\u2019 uh de wah. De gyaa\u2019d\u2019n big ez uh cawnfiel\u2019, en\u2019\n\u2019e full\u2019uh high rose bush duh climb up \u2019pun de tree, en\u2019 all kind\u2019uh\nbriah en\u2019 t\u2019icket dey dey. Uh yeddy de dog\u2019 mek uh sukkle roun\u2019 de\ngyaa\u2019d\u2019n, den dem stop. Bimeby, yuh come de ole buck duh run puhzackly\n\u2019pun \u2019e back track, en\u2019, w\u2019en \u2019e git to de big road weh him lef\u2019 me duh\nstan\u2019up, uh t\u2019awt at de fus\u2019 \u2019e bin gwine jump \u2019puntop me, but \u2019e tu\u2019n\nshaa\u2019p roun\u2019 en\u2019 light down de road gwine Paa\u2019kuh\u2019 Ferry Cross-road\u2019.\n\u2019E run \u2019traight een de big road, en\u2019 uh\u2019 spec\u2019 \u2019e gone \u2019way todduh\nside Allstun\u2019 Abenue befo\u2019 de dog\u2019 git back to de big road on \u2019e trail.\nDe dog\u2019 comin\u2019 so fas\u2019 uh git out \u2019e way fuh l\u2019em pass, en\u2019 dem so\nhasty, dem nebbuh \u2019top fuh smell weh de deer tu\u2019n off down de road, en\u2019\ndem gone uh bilin\u2019 t\u2019ru de mukkle t\u2019icket on de back track weh dem come\nf\u2019um, en\u2019 dem run \u2019bout uh mile befo\u2019 dem fin\u2019 out sun dem bin \u2019puntop\nde back track, den dem tu\u2019n roun\u2019 en\u2019 come back fuh weh uh binnuh stan\u2019\nup. One leetle blue speckle\u2019 toad bus\u2019 out de pack en\u2019 tek de fresh\ntrail weh de buck jump off de back track, en\u2019 gone! Soon ez dem todduh\ndog\u2019 yeddy him woice, dem lef\u2019 de ole trail en\u2019 bu\u2019n de win\u2019 down de\nbig road on de fresh track. Da\u2019 duh de las\u2019 uh shum, en\u2019 uh nebbuh\nyeddy\u2019um no mo\u2019 attuh \u2019e done gone.\u201d\n\nSure enough, the veteran Echo, the most intelligent dog in the pack,\nwas running wide when she reached the road for the second time and\ndetected the old buck\u2019s maneuver. With a roar, the pack followed her\nat top speed down the open road, but, by the time the cry reached the\nAllston place on Penny Creek, the buck, with two or three miles the\nstart of them, had run directly through the negro quarters, causing\ngeneral consternation in the settlement, and had taken the water at\nthe landing. Instead of crossing, however, he swam rapidly up stream\nand, aided by the flood tide, was a mile away before the pursuing pack\nreached the water\u2019s edge. True to their usual practice, they crossed\nthe creek and spread over the swamp on the other side in search of the\ntrail, but trail there was none. The puzzled hounds ran up and down\nthe bank for several hundred yards, whimpering with disappointment,\nbut, for them that day, the buck was lost as completely as though the\nbrown waters had swallowed him up, and one by one the disappointed\ndogs reluctantly recrossed the stream, and, as there was no sound of\nhorn to summon them, singly and in groups they made their way to their\nrespective homes.\n\nRealizing that the buck had run far out of the chive, and, by giving\nall the passes a wide berth had lost the hunt, the sometime stander of\nElliott\u2019s Wells followed the spreading slot of the deer in the \u201cbig\nroad\u201d as far as Allston\u2019s, and, riding up to the quarters, sought\ninformation of hounds and quarry from an old negress who was seated on\nthe steps of her cabin, trying to loosen, with a tough horn comb, the\nkinky wool of a little black girl who sat on a lower step between her\nknees.\n\n\u201cMauma, have you seen anything of a deer or dogs?\u201d\n\nThe old woman, true to her training, tried to rise to drop a curtsy\nbefore replying, but the wide-eyed imp of darkness between her knees\nsat stolidly on the hem of her homespun skirt and prevented her rising.\n\n\u201cGit up, gal, ent you hab sense \u2019nuf fuh mek yo\u2019 mannus w\u2019en you see\nw\u2019ite people? Uh bin agguhnize \u2019long all dem fowl\u2019 fedduh en\u2019 t\u2019ing you\nhab een you head, en\u2019 dem tanglety up \u2019tell uh cyan\u2019 git \u2019um out, en\u2019\nyou hab no bidness fuh gone en\u2019 creep t\u2019ru da\u2019 fowlh\u2019us\u2019 winduh fuh git\ndem aig\u2019. Git up en\u2019 gone!\u201d\n\nBut long before she reached the end of her sentence, the girl was up\nand gone, and, with a deep curtsy, the old woman answered the hunter.\n\n\u201cMaussuh, \u2019bout two hour attuh middleday, dish\u2019yuh nigguhhouse yaa\u2019d\nbin full\u2019uh nigguh\u2019, \u2019cause duh Sattyday, en\u2019 all dese\u2019yuh \u2019ooman duh\nwash dem clo\u2019es. All ub uh sudd\u2019nt, uh yeddy\u2019um holluh same lukkuh\nroostuh holluh w\u2019en \u2019e see hawk\u2019 shadduh \u2019puntop de groun\u2019, en\u2019 eb\u2019ry\nGawd\u2019 nigguh, \u2019ooman en\u2019 chillun alltwo, drap eb\u2019ryt\u2019ing wuh dem got\neen dem han\u2019 en\u2019 run fuh dem house. Uh look \u2019roun\u2019 fuh see wuh \u2019smattuh\nmek\u2019um fuh holluh, en\u2019, ef you b\u2019leebe me, suh, one deer duh comin\u2019\ndown de paat\u2019, big same lukkuh ole Baa\u2019ney, Mas\u2019 Rafe dem bull! \u2019E\nhawn big \u2019nuf fuh hol\u2019 bushel tub, en\u2019, w\u2019en \u2019e jump, \u2019e rise een de\nellyment high mo\u2019nuh dem house ebe\u2019. W\u2019en \u2019e look \u2019puntop me wid alltwo\n\u2019e yeye, uh \u2019f\u2019aid suh de debble dey een\u2019um, en\u2019 uh drap \u2019pun me knee\neen de du\u2019t en\u2019 uh pray! Bimeby uh look \u2019roun\u2019, en\u2019 uh yent see nutt\u2019n\u2019\nbut \u2019e tail. De pyo\u2019 tail dat big \u2019e kibbuhr\u2019um, en\u2019 \u2019e \u2019pread out\nw\u2019ite lukkuh buckruh\u2019 shu\u2019t buzzum duh Sunday w\u2019en \u2019e yent got on no\nweskit! \u2019E gone duh crick, \u2019e jump een, en\u2019 nobody shum no mo\u2019! All\nde nigguh\u2019 come out dem house fuh look, en\u2019 attuh w\u2019ile dem yeddy de\ndog\u2019 duh comin\u2019, en\u2019 dem run back \u2019gen. De beagle\u2019 tayre up de street\n\u2019long dem foot, en\u2019 dem mek shishuh woice de fowl\u2019 fly up \u2019puntop de\nroof, en\u2019 dem jis\u2019 leely w\u2019ile come down. Tengky, Maussuh, Gawd bless\nyou, suh!--Come\u2019yuh, gal! Yo\u2019 head full\u2019uh fedduh\u2019 \u2019tell \u2019e stan\u2019 same\nlukkuh frizzle\u2019 hen! Come\u2019yuh!\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, the big buck\u2019s sensitive ears told him what had happened.\nHe knew that the pack, at fault and silent, a mile behind him, was\nout of the running for that day, at least as far as he was concerned,\nand, touching bottom on a little wampee-covered spit of land that\nthrust itself into the creek, his dun and dripping body rose from the\nwaters as he leisurely walked to shore, landing conveniently near a\ndense canebrake, within whose safe seclusion he found a dry bed until\nnightfall. With the rising of the moon soon thereafter, he slowly fed\nhis way homeward through the forest, pausing, first near the edge of\nthe Baring backwater, and then on every knoll where he could find\na grove of the beautiful swamp white-oaks, for his favorite autumn\nfood, the great over-cup acorns. At last, as the morning star blazed\nin the east and the far off roosters--long before Maude Adams won her\nspurs and her tail-feathers in Edmond Rostand\u2019s Chanticler--heralded\nthe coming of the dawn, the old fellow returned to his bed among the\nmyrtles in the Big Drive, and, full of acorns and the satisfaction of\nhaving again outwitted his pursuers, lay down to his well-earned rest,\nundisturbed by dreams of horn or hound.\n\n\n\n\nJIM MOULTRIE\u2019S DIVORCE\n\n\nThe tail of a cold, blustering February day. In the creeks and leads of\nthe Jehossee marshes the ducks sought protection from the wind until\nflushed by the hunter. Since early morning he had successfully explored\nevery promising hiding place in the great marsh, under the guidance\nof Jim Moultrie, a skilled negro hunter and paddler, who pushed the\nnose of his clumsy dugout canoe up every little run that looked like a\nlikely shelter for the wary game. As the sun sank below the horizon,\nstaining the sky a dull red, the hunter quitted the marshes, and the\nbow of the canoe was turned toward Willtown, five miles away. Crouching\nlow in the stern, Jim paddled silently and strenuously against the\ncurrent for an hour. Like birdshot \u201cpatterns\u201d thrown against the red\nsky, flocks of belated blackbirds hurried to their roosts.\n\nGradually the shadowy mantle of the dusk shrouded marsh and headland\nand the shimmering waters that slid by the struggling canoe; then night\nfell and healed the blood-red wound in the West. The dugout crept along\nthe shore where the current was less swift. Now and then a raccoon\nhunting in the marsh sprang away affrighted. The whistling wings of\na swift-flying teal cut through the icy air. Far up the river, like\nlow-hung stars, twinkled the watchfires of a great timber raft outward\nbound for the estuary of the North Edisto. From a distant plantation\ncame the sweet lu-la-lu of a happy negro freed from work. The raft,\nborne upon the bosom of the strong ebb-tide, neared rapidly, and,\naround its fires built on earth-covered platforms, the negro raftsmen\ntalked and laughed as they cooked their supper, and the flames lighted\nthe face and magnified the figure of the black steersman who stood by\nthe great sweep oar with which, at the stern of the raft, he guided its\ncourse down stream.\n\nFor an hour Jim had silently bucked the tide, impelling the boat under\nthe powerful strokes of his paddle, alternately left and right.\n\n\u201cWhat are you thinking of, Jim?\u201d\n\n\u201cStudy \u2019bout \u2019ooman, suh.\u201d (A short silence.)\n\n\u201c\u2019Ooman shishuh cuntrady t\u2019ing, dem nebbuh know w\u2019en dem well off. You\nkin feed dem, you kin pit clo\u2019es \u2019puntop dem back, you kin pit shoe\n\u2019puntop dem foot, you kin pit hat \u2019puntop dem head, you kin pit money\neen dem han\u2019, en\u2019 still yet oonuh nebbuh know de \u2019ooman, nebbuh know\nw\u2019en dem min\u2019 gwine sattify. Dem fuhrebbuh duh lookout fuh trubble.\nEf dem ent meet trubble duh paat\u2019, dem gwine hunt fuhr\u2019um duh \u2019ood. I\ndunkyuh howsoeb\u2019uh fudduh de trubble dey, dem gwine _fin\u2019um_. Ef dem\ncyan\u2019 see \u2019e track fuh trail\u2019um, dem gwine pit dem nose een de du\u2019t en\u2019\ntry fuh smell\u2019um, but dem gwine _fin\u2019um_! I duh study \u2019pun dat wife I\nnyuse fuh hab, name Mary. Look how him done, w\u2019en him hab no cajun! You\nyeddy \u2019bout me trubble, enty, suh? Lemme tell you. One Sat\u2019d\u2019y night I\ngone home frum de ribbuh. I tek two duck\u2019, bakin, flour en\u2019 sugar en\u2019\ntea, den I pit fibe dolluh\u2019 een Mary\u2019 lap. Enty you know, suh, dat is\nbig money fuh t\u2019row een nigguh\u2019 lap? W\u2019en I binnuh boy en\u2019 you t\u2019row uh\n\u2019ooman uh fifty cent, \u2019e t\u2019ink \u2019e rich, but I bin all dat week wid one\ncump\u2019ny uh dese yuh rich Nyankee buckruh\u2019 dat Mr. FitzSimmun hab yuh\nfuh shoot, en\u2019 dem buckruh\u2019 t\u2019row me fibe dolluh bill same lukkuh dem\nbin dime\u2019! W\u2019en I t\u2019row de money in de \u2019ooman\u2019 lap, en\u2019 pit de todduh\nt\u2019ing wuh I fetch \u2019pun de flo\u2019, Mary nebbuh crack \u2019e teet\u2019. I ax\u2019um\n\u2019smattuh mek\u2019um stan\u2019 so? \u2019E mek ansuh, \u2019nutt\u2019n\u2019. Nex\u2019 day de \u2019ooman\nkeep on same fashi\u2019n. \u2019E nebbuh crack \u2019e bre\u2019t\u2019. I quizzit\u2019um \u2019gen. I\nax\u2019um \u2019smattuh \u2019long\u2019um. Him say, \u2019nutt\u2019n\u2019. Den I say \u2019berry well den.\u2019\nMonday mawnin\u2019 I tek me gun, I call me dog en\u2019 den I talk to de \u2019ooman.\nI say, \u2019Mary, I gwine duh ribbuh, en\u2019 I gwine come back Sat\u2019d\u2019y two\nweek\u2019. I dunno \u2019smattuh mek you stan\u2019 so, but I know suh de debble dey\neen you. No \u2019ooman \u2019puntop dis ribbuh hab mo\u2019 den you, no \u2019ooman got\nso much, but I yent able fuh lib dis way \u2019long no \u2019ooman wuh tie\u2019up \u2019e\nmout\u2019, en\u2019, w\u2019en I come back las\u2019 Sat\u2019d\u2019y two week\u2019, I gwine \u2019tarrygate\nyou one mo\u2019 time, en\u2019 I gwine ax you \u2019smattuh mek you stan\u2019 so, en\u2019 ef\noonuh still een de same min\u2019 ez now, den me nuh you paa\u2019t.\u2019\n\n\u201cWell, suh, Sat\u2019d\u2019y two week\u2019, I gone back en\u2019 I say, \u2018well, Mary, I\ncome, how \u2019bout\u2019um, wuh you got fuh say?\u2019 Him mek ansuh: \u2018Ent nutt\u2019n\u2019\n\u2019bout\u2019um. Yent got nutt\u2019n\u2019 fuh say.\u2019 Den I tell\u2019um \u2019berry well, den, I\ngone my way, en\u2019 you tek you\u2019n. Now, Mary, I yent no Wanderbilt fuh gi\u2019\nyou fibe t\u2019ousan\u2019 dolluh\u2019 allimunny fuh lib off, so you is free fuh lib\n\u2019cawd\u2019n\u2019 to yo\u2019 own min\u2019, en\u2019 I is free fuh do ez I please.\u2019 Den I tek\nme gun, I call me dog, en\u2019 I _gone_!\n\n\u201cDe nex\u2019 week, I bin comin\u2019 out de maa\u2019sh on Mr. Rab\u2019nel\u2019 place, w\u2019en I\nmeet Mary. Him binnuh wait fuh me. I say \u2018hello! dat duh you?\u2019 Him say:\n\u2018Jim, I come fuh tell you dat all dem t\u2019ing I bin yeddy \u2019bout you, I\nfin\u2019 out dem is lie, en\u2019 I want you fuh come back to me.\u2019 I say, \u2018enty\nI tell you dat de finull wu\u2019d would be talk w\u2019en I come back fuh me\nansuh Sat\u2019d\u2019y two week\u2019, en\u2019 ent dat time done pass? You bidness fuh\nfin\u2019 out \u2019bout dat lie een dem twelbe day\u2019 time wuh I done gib you. \u2019E\ntoo late now.\u2019 En\u2019 I walk off en\u2019 lef\u2019um!\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you another wife, Jim?\u201d\n\n\u201cI hab dat gal you see wid me dis mawnin\u2019 een Mr. FitzSimmun\u2019 yaa\u2019d.\n_Him_ ent wut\u2019!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\u201cBUH ALLIGETTUH EN\u2019 BUH DEER\u201d\n\n\nOne time, w\u2019en nutt\u2019n\u2019 cep\u2019 de bu\u2019d en\u2019 de annimel en\u2019 de Injun bin\nyuh, buh deer en\u2019 buh alligettuh ain\u2019 bin fr\u2019en\u2019, en\u2019 buh alligettuh\nblan does kill buh deer en\u2019 nyam\u2019um w\u2019enebbuh \u2019e git uh chance, en\u2019 buh\ndeer does \u2019f\u2019aid fuh swim \u2019cross ribbuh, en\u2019 w\u2019enebbuh \u2019e go down to de\nribbuh\u2019 aige fuh drink, \u2019e does cock \u2019e yez en\u2019 squint \u2019e yeye fuh buh\nalligettuh befo\u2019 \u2019e pit \u2019e mout\u2019 down fuh drink; but, bimeby, yuh come\nde buckruh, en\u2019 bimeby \u2019gen, de buckruh fetch de nigguh, en\u2019 bimeby\n\u2019e fetch houn\u2019 dog, en\u2019 den de Injun gone, en\u2019 de buckruh\u2019 biggin fuh\nhunt buh deer wid dem English houn\u2019, en\u2019 de dog\u2019 so swif\u2019 en\u2019 dem blan\npush buh deer so close, de only chance \u2019e hab fuh git\u2019way is fuh tek\nde watuh \u2019spite uh buh alligettuh, so, w\u2019edduh de ribbuh dey close uh\nfudduh, buh deer mek fuhr\u2019um w\u2019enebbuh de dog jump\u2019um.\n\nNow, de fus\u2019 time de buckruh\u2019 run buh deer wid houn\u2019, buh deer ain\u2019\n\u2019quaintun\u2019 wid\u2019um, en\u2019 \u2019e leddown een \u2019e bed een one mukkle t\u2019icket on\nde aige uh de broom grass fiel\u2019 duh tek \u2019e res\u2019, \u2019tell de dog mos\u2019 git\nup tuhr\u2019um, den \u2019e fin\u2019 him ain\u2019 able fuh hide, en\u2019 \u2019e buss\u2019 out de\nmukkle en\u2019 lean fuh de ribbuh fuh who las\u2019 de longes\u2019! Yuh come de ole\nbuck, yuh come de English houn\u2019! Buh deer \u2019f\u2019aid. \u2019E jump. \u2019E run. \u2019E\ngit dey fus\u2019. Jis\u2019 ez \u2019e ketch de bluff fuh jump off een de ribbuh, buh\nalligettuh\u2019 two eye\u2019 rise out de watuh duh wait fuhr\u2019um! De alligettuh\nhongry. Bittle berry sca\u2019ceful. \u2019E belly pinch\u2019um. Buh deer fat. \u2019E fat\nfuh sowl. Buh deer dey een one hebby trouble. Alligettuh dey befor\u2019um,\nbeagle\u2019 dey behin\u2019um, en\u2019 dem toung duh roll t\u2019ru de swamp en\u2019 dem\ncomin\u2019 _fas\u2019_. Wuh buh deer gwi\u2019 do? \u2019E yeye dey \u2019pun de alligettuh,\n\u2019e yez dey \u2019pun de beagle\u2019. \u2019E mek uh sudd\u2019n twis\u2019 jis\u2019 befo\u2019 de dog\u2019\nsight\u2019um, en\u2019 bu\u2019n de win\u2019 down de ribbuh bank \u2019bout seb\u2019n acre f\u2019um de\nbluff and tek de watuh \u2019cross weh buh alligettuh nebbuh shum.\n\nYuh come de beagle\u2019 uh bilin\u2019 fuh de bluff. Dem come so fas\u2019 \u2019pun buh\ndeer track dem nebbuh stop, en\u2019 two\u2019t\u2019ree gone obuh de bank en\u2019 drap\neen de watuh close buh alligettuh\u2019 snout. Buh alligettuh reason wid\n\u2019eself. \u201cWuh dis t\u2019ing? I nebbuh see shishuh annimel befo\u2019, but, duh\nbittle!\u201d en\u2019 \u2019e graff one de beagle\u2019 en\u2019 pull\u2019um onduhneet\u2019 de water.\nTodduh dog\u2019 swim out en\u2019 tek dem foot een dem han\u2019 en\u2019 gone home.\n\nBuh deer git\u2019way dis time. \u2019E gone! W\u2019en \u2019e ready fuh tu\u2019n back \u2019cross\nde ribbuh, \u2019e walk easy to de bank duh skin \u2019e yeye fuh buh alligettuh,\nen\u2019 bimeby \u2019e shum \u2019tretch out \u2019pun one mud bank een de sunhot. \u2019E\nbelly full\u2019uh beagle. \u2019E sattify. \u2019E duh sleep. Buh deer sneak close\nto de ribbuh fuh tek a chance fuh git \u2019cross, but befo\u2019 him kin wet \u2019e\nfoot, buh alligettuh shum, en\u2019 \u2019e slip off de bank fuh meet\u2019um. Yuh de\ndebble now! How buh deer kin git \u2019cross to \u2019e fambly? Him biggin fuh\nstudy, but befo\u2019 him kin crack \u2019e teet\u2019 fuh talk, buh alligettuh op\u2019n\nde cumposhashun.\n\n\u201cBudduh,\u201d \u2019e tell buh deer, \u201cdat t\u2019ing wuh I done eat, wunnuh call\u2019um\nbeagle, berry good bittle. Me lub um berry well. \u2019E easy fuh ketch, en\u2019\n\u2019e ent gots no hawn fuh \u2019cratch me t\u2019roat. Me _done_ fuh lub\u2019um!\u201d\n\n\u201cEf you lub\u2019um, mekso wunnuh don\u2019 ketch\u2019um, en\u2019 lef\u2019 me en\u2019 my fambly\n\u2019lone?\u201d buh deer ax\u2019um. Buh alligettuh mek ansuh: \u201cMe cyan\u2019 ketch de\ndog \u2019cep\u2019n\u2019 wunnuh fetch\u2019um t\u2019ru de ribbuh, so leh we mek \u2019greement\nfuh las\u2019 long ez de ribbuh run. Wunnuh tek de ribbuh, me tek de\nbeagle\u2019. Me fuh you, en\u2019 you fuh me, en\u2019 alltwo fuh one\u2019nurruh.\u201d\n\nDat w\u2019ymekso ebbuh sence de\u2019 \u2019greement mek, w\u2019enebbuh dog run\u2019um, buh\ndeer tek de ribbuh en\u2019 buh alligettuh lem\u2019lone, en\u2019 w\u2019en de beagle\u2019\ncome \u2019e ketch\u2019um, but ef buh deer ebbuh come duh ribbuh bidout dog dey\natt\u2019um, him haffuh tek \u2019e chance.\n\n\n\n\nBUH HAWSS EN\u2019 BUH MULE\n\nA FABLE\n\n\n    Buh Hawss\u2019 tail long sukkuh willuh switch,\n    Buh Mule\u2019 own stan\u2019 lukkuh t\u2019istle.\n\nOne time Buh Hawss en\u2019 Buh Mule tu\u2019n out duh pastuh duh Sunday. Dem\nalltwo blonx to high buckruh. Buh Hawss binnuh dribe een buggy, en\u2019 Buh\nMule binnuh wu\u2019k duh plow. Dem alltwo glad fuh git out en\u2019 dem alltwo\nkick up dem foot en\u2019 play \u2019bout de fiel\u2019. Buh Hawss cantuh. \u2019E bow \u2019e\nneck sukkuh gobbluh duh strut, en\u2019 \u2019e tail heng sukkuh willuh switch.\nBuh Mule trot. \u2019E \u2019tretch \u2019e neck out \u2019traight sukkuh Muscoby duck\nduh fly. \u2019E step high en\u2019 \u2019e tail stan\u2019 up sukkuh t\u2019istle. Buh Mule\ntail oagly, fuh true, but da\u2019 duh all de tail wuh \u2019e got en\u2019 \u2019e berry\nwell sattify \u2019long um. Buh Hawss biggin fuh brag. \u201cLook \u2019puntop oonuh\ntail,\u201d \u2019e say. \u201cMekso oonuh ent hab tail lukkuh my\u2019own?\u201d \u2019e ax\u2019um.\n\u201cOonuh yent kin switch fly \u2019long\u2019um \u2019cause \u2019e shabe. Shishuh no\u2019count\ntail ent wut\u2019,\u201d \u2019e tell\u2019um. \u201cMe duh buckruh, you duh nigguh!\u201d Buh Mule\nbiggin fuh shame. \u2019E yent sattify \u2019long \u2019e tail no mo\u2019. Buh Mule cyan\u2019\nswitch fly, fuh true, but \u2019e skin tough, en\u2019 fly don\u2019 bodduhr\u2019um, but\nBuh Hawss git\u2019um so agguhnize\u2019 een \u2019e min\u2019 \u2019e fuhgit fuh tell\u2019um suh \u2019e\nyent hab cajun fuh switch fly \u2019long \u2019e tail, en\u2019 \u2019e heng \u2019e head en\u2019 \u2019e\ntail alltwo, en\u2019 \u2019e lef Buh Hawss en\u2019 \u2019e gone off todduh side de fiel\u2019\nen\u2019 \u2019e study. Bimeby, \u2019e look obuh de pastuh, en\u2019 todduh side de fench\n\u2019e see one las\u2019yeah cawnfiel\u2019 weh de nigguh lef\u2019 \u2019nuf sheep buhr duh\nstan\u2019 \u2019long de cawnstalk. Buh Mule biggin fuh laugh. \u2019E op\u2019n \u2019e mout\u2019.\n\u2019E blow \u2019e hawn. \u201c_Aw-e-Aw-e-Aw-e!_\u201d Buh Hawss cantuh. \u2019E come close.\n\u2019E ax\u2019um \u2019smattuh mek \u2019e duh laugh. Buh Mule say \u2019e laugh \u2019cause Buh\nHawss ent smaa\u2019t \u2019nuf fuh jump de fench en\u2019 run\u2019um uh race t\u2019ru de\ncawnfiel\u2019. Buh hawss tek\u2019um up. \u2019E jump de fench. \u2019E behin\u2019 foot ketch\nde top rail en\u2019 knock\u2019um off. Buh Mule tumble t\u2019ru. Yuh dem come! Buh\nHawss cantuh, Buh Mule trot, up en\u2019 down de fiel\u2019 t\u2019ru de sheep buhr.\nBuh Mule tail shabe \u2019tell \u2019e slick. \u2019E switch\u2019um roun\u2019 en\u2019 roun\u2019 \u2019mong\nde buhr but none nebbuh stick. Bimeby, Buh Hawss\u2019 tail biggin fuh\nhebby. \u2019E ketch full\u2019uh buhr. Dem tanglety een \u2019e tail \u2019tell \u2019e stan\u2019\nsukkuh timbuh cyaa\u2019t rope. \u2019E duh drag. Eb\u2019ry time \u2019e switch\u2019um roun\u2019\n\u2019e hanch, de buhr sting\u2019um. \u2019E say to \u2019eself, \u201cwuh dis t\u2019ing? Me fuh\nlick me own self! Me fuh hab spuhr een me own tail! De debble! Me dey\neen trubble, fuh true!\u201d \u2019E talk trute. \u2019E tail lick\u2019um en\u2019 spuhr\u2019um\nalltwo one time.\n\nBuh Mule pass\u2019um. \u2019E look \u2019puntop Buh Hawss\u2019 tail, en\u2019 \u2019e yent shame no\nmo\u2019. \u201cTengk Gawd,\u201d \u2019e say, \u201cfuh shabe tail. Low tree stan\u2019 high win\u2019!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nLISS \u201cBIN EENSULT\u201d\n\n\nFrom Olar, that favored spot in a fruitful section of the State,\nwhere, under the guidance of a Carolina Burbank, the amorous Iron\npea, loving the \u201cShinny\u201d despite her freckles, wooed and won her\nto wilt-resistance, where quiet farmers are classical scholars and\nhermits are hospitable, comes a story of Liss, a character as noted in\nlocal colored circles for oddity as for ugliness. A white neighbor,\nwho recently met her, noticing that she was swelling with wrath, and,\nseeking to get a rise out of her, asked:\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the fun today, Liss?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo fun een dis t\u2019ing; I done bin eensult.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho has insulted you?\u201d\n\n\u201cMimy\u2019 yalluh gal Clara eensult me, suh. Dat gal en\u2019 \u2019e maamy mek crap\nfuh Cap\u2019n Willie. I bin to Mimy\u2019 house, en\u2019 one bale uh cotton bin fuh\nhaul town fuh sell. Clara tell \u2019e maamy, \u2018Ma, lemme go town wid dat\nbale, en\u2019 lemme git a spo\u2019tin\u2019 suit out dat bale uh cotton?\u2019\n\n\u201cNow, Mimy swell up bex, same lukkuh bullfrog. \u2018Spo\u2019t suit de debble!\u2019\n\u2019e say. \u2018You binnuh do nutt\u2019n\u2019 but spo\u2019t de Gawd\u2019 blessed yeah. You\ndon\u2019t git a shimmy out dat bale uh cotton.\u2019\n\n\u201cDen de gal mek ansuh en\u2019 say:\n\n\u201c\u2018Ma, ef you don\u2019t lemme git dat spo\u2019tin\u2019 suit, I gwi\u2019 do eb\u2019ry bad\nt\u2019ing I know \u2019bout. I gwi\u2019 do bad right now.\u2019\n\n\u201cClara hab on one deseyuh newfanglety kinduh t\u2019ing dem call\n\u2018_middle-blouse_.\u2019 You know um, suh. \u2019E stan\u2019 same lukkuh man shu\u2019t,\nwid \u2019e shu\u2019t tail heng out, excusin\u2019 \u2019e got one kind\u2019uh shoe string\ntie onduhneet\u2019 de gal\u2019 buzzum. _My Gawd, w\u2019at a gal!_ Alldo\u2019 t\u2019ree man\ndey een \u2019e ma\u2019 house, Clara staa\u2019t fuh tek off \u2019e middle-blouse. I\ntell\u2019um:\n\n\u201c\u2018Gal, ef you tek off dat middle-blouse een dis house befo\u2019 dese mans,\nyou will sho\u2019 hab sin.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Sin, _nutt\u2019n\u2019_! I gwi\u2019 strip nakit ez a jaybu\u2019d befo\u2019 \u2019e fedduh\u2019\ngrow! I gwi\u2019 do bad!\u2019 W\u2019en de gal say dis wu\u2019d, \u2019e ketch \u2019e\nmiddle-blouse by \u2019e shu\u2019t tail wid alltwo \u2019e han\u2019 en\u2019 hice\u2019um obuh \u2019e\nhead! Befo\u2019 \u2019e kin git\u2019um off, all t\u2019ree de man jump out de do\u2019, en\u2019\nw\u2019en I look out een de yaa\u2019d, I shum duh roll obuh en\u2019 obuh een de du\u2019t\nsame lukkuh hawss roll, en\u2019 duh buss\u2019 demself wid laugh. Now, w\u2019en I\nsee de gal\u2019 yalluh skin biggin fuh shine lukkuh dese yuh yalluh-belly\ncootuh, myself git eensult, en\u2019 I lef\u2019 \u2019e ma\u2019 house, \u2019cause I is a\n_lady_, suh, en\u2019 dat is a _ondeestunt gal_!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE RETORT COURTEOUS\n\n\nHer name was Patty. She was as black as a tar baby, as oleaginous as a\ncotton oil mill and--like Captain Merrimac in Olivette--as broad in the\nbeam and as square in the rig as a Dutch brig, when she appeared before\na tidewater trial justice as the prosecuting witness _in re_ the State\nof South Carolina _vs._ Cudjo Manigo, charged with malicious mischief.\n\nTaking the stand, she put her head on one side and complacently smiled\nuntil the corners of her mouth--evidently designed for the wholesale\ntrade--approached dangerously near her ears. Twisting his amber\nimperial, his Honor began:\n\nQ. \u201cWhat\u2019s your full name?\u201d\n\nA. \u201cMis\u2019 Wineglass, suh.\u201d\n\nQ. \u201cWhere\u2019s your residence?\u201d\n\nA. \u201c\u2019E yent come teday, suh.\u201d\n\nQ. \u201cI mean where do you live?\u201d\n\nA. \u201cYaas, suh. I lib on Mass Kit FitzSimmun\u2019 plantesshun, w\u2019ich\u2019n \u2019e\njis\u2019 done buy\u2019um de Chuesday een week befo\u2019las\u2019 mek six munt\u2019 done\ngone, en\u2019 I glad \u2019e buy\u2019um, too, bekasew\u2019y jis\u2019 ez soon ez \u2019e buy\u2019um \u2019e\nrun dat las\u2019 husbun\u2019 w\u2019ich I marry een Augus\u2019 off de place, w\u2019ich\u2019n me\nen\u2019 dat nigguh nebbuh could \u2019gree, \u2019cause, een de fus\u2019 place, \u2019e too\nlub fuh lick \u2019e lady; en\u2019, een de two place, \u2019e too oncommun lazy en\u2019\nno\u2019count, en\u2019, een de t\u2019ree place, \u2019e fus\u2019 wife en\u2019 me nebbuh could\ngit \u2019long, en\u2019, een de fo\u2019 place, him is a class-leaduh een de Baptis\u2019\nchu\u2019ch, en\u2019 eb\u2019rybody know berry well dat wehreas class-leaduh mek a\nberry po\u2019 kind\u2019uh husbun\u2019 fuh \u2019e own wife, en\u2019--\u201d\n\nHis Honor--\u201cThat will do. What is your charge against the defendant?\u201d\n\nA. \u201cBredduh Cudjo, suh?\u201d\n\nQ. \u201cYes. What\u2019s your charge?\u201d\n\nA. \u201cI nebbuh chaa\u2019g\u2019um nutt\u2019n\u2019, suh.\u201d\n\nQ. \u201cWell, what did Cudjo do?\u201d\n\nA. \u201cB\u2019Cudjo is a berry nomannus nigguh, suh. Him is de class-leaduh een\nmy chu\u2019ch, en w\u2019en eeduhso de preachuh on de sukkus, elsehow de locus\npreechuh, onable to filfill de pulpit, den B\u2019Cudjo does hol\u2019 saa\u2019bis\neen de chu\u2019ch, en\u2019 w\u2019en B\u2019Cudjo done resplain de Lawd\u2019 wu\u2019d, \u2019e berry\nlub fuh talk sweetmout\u2019 talk to all \u2019e freemale sistuh een de chu\u2019ch,\nen\u2019 eb\u2019ry time \u2019e meet me een de road \u2019e baig me fuh kiss\u2019um, en\u2019 I\nyent wantuh kiss no shishuh oagly, twis\u2019mout\u2019 nigguh lukkuh B\u2019Cudjo,\nen\u2019 I tell\u2019um so, en\u2019 den \u2019e does cuss at me berry nomannusubble, en\u2019\nde las\u2019 time I meet\u2019um een de paat\u2019, \u2019e quizzit me berry rappit, en\u2019\nI tell\u2019um \u2018go\u2019way, B\u2019Cudjo, bekasew\u2019y I ent wantuh yeddy no shishuh\ncumposhashun\u2019, en\u2019 yet B\u2019Cudjo keep on peruse \u2019long de paat\u2019, en\u2019 \u2019e\nkeep on ax\u2019me shish squeschun, en\u2019 fus\u2019 t\u2019ing I know \u2019e cuss me a berry\nbad cuss.\u201d\n\nQ. \u201cWhat did he curse you?\u201d\n\nA. \u201c\u2019E tell me dat my mout\u2019 does wide same lukkuh Ashley ribbuh!\u201d\n\nQ. \u201cWhat else?\u201d\n\nA. \u201cDat all \u2019e had chance fuh tell me, \u2019cause I tell\u2019um, \u2018Haa\u2019k\u2019ee at\nme good fashi\u2019n, B\u2019Cudjo, \u2019fo\u2019 de Lawd, ef my mout\u2019 _is_ stan\u2019 lukkuh\nAshley ribbuh, _you cyan\u2019 paddle yo\u2019 boat cross\u2019um\u2019_, en\u2019 den \u2019e git\nbex en\u2019 knock me wid \u2019e hoe handle, en\u2019 dat w\u2019yso I fetch\u2019um yuh.\u201d\n\nAt this stage of the proceedings, the Toogoodoo trial justice adjourned\ncourt to measure the Ashley River.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CAT WAS CRAZY\n\n\nOn a recent Sunday afternoon, an itinerant evangelist with a throat of\nbrass was stationed at the corner of Richardson and Plain Streets in\nColumbia, singing hymns in the laudable endeavor to save a soul or two.\n\nFrom an upper window of the Grand Central Hotel a fair face looked out\nto the westward, while a child tapped upon the pane.\n\nAt a club window opposite, a young bachelor banker sipped his Sunday\ncocktail while he eyed critically the passers-by on their way from\nchurch. How many of their financial secrets did he hold in his keeping!\nHow many of their obligations were locked in his vaults! The note\nof that jauntily dressed young man, who held his head so high as he\nspurned the dust from his patent leathers, had gone to protest but\nyesterday. The extravagance of yonder portly lady, who, with silken\nsails spread to the breeze, towed after her, as a tug tows a coal\nbarge, one of the fashionable fourteen-inch trains, scattering in her\nwake banana peel, cigar butts and other miscellaneous wreckage of the\nstreet, had cost her husband another mortgage.\n\nThe banker was of a thrifty mind, and he wondered why, in the name of\nSaint Peter--why, in the name of the patron saints of cleanliness and\nall the gods of common-sense, fashion should exact of its devotees\nthe performance of the un\u00e6sthetic work of the street-sweeper and the\nscavenger! Thinking, with a sigh, that shorter skirts might have\npermitted longer bank accounts, he turned his eyes to the wooded hills\nof Lexington above which hung the setting sun, a great disk of gold.\nWith his mental coupon shears, the speculative financier quickly\nclipped the \u201corb of day\u201d into gold treasury certificates, put them\nout at interest--compounded, of course--and, with one more Vermouth\ncocktail to aid his imaginative computation, he was, in a twinkling,\npossessed of the wealth of Monte Cristo. And now the world and all\nbeyond was his! On fancy\u2019s wings he sailed away, away to Arcadie.\nInstead of herding bulls and bears, a shepherd now was he. Like\nStrephon, he played upon a pipe, while at his feet the lambkins played,\nor huddled together in the sunshine \u201cso warm and sleepy and white.\u201d\n\nGarlanded with roses, the shepherdess led him through leafy bowers\ninto an open glade, where, among the buttercups and daisies, he fell\nasleep, and dreamed. _Ay, Dios!_ How few of us realize, until all\ntoo late, that the simplest pleasures are the best, that in home and\nfriends we may make for ourselves happiness far above that which must\nbe sought beyond our circle. How few of us realize that there is more\nexhilaration in a five-mile spin than in a quart of champagne, that\n\u2019tis more blessed to swish the briefest cotton skirt in Arcadie--if in\nArcadie we belong--than to drag a satin train in a Paris salon!\n\nBut the banker dreamed, and the strains of the Santiago waltz were in\nhis ears, and the houris of Mahomet glided along before him wreathed\nin--smiles. One, fairer than the rest, beckoned, and he followed on and\non. Out into the darkness he followed the golden gleam of her beautiful\nbi-carbonated hair, followed through tangled forest and treacherous\nfen--alas! the will-o\u2019-the-wisp!\n\nWith a start, he awoke from his reverie to find--like the market girl\nwho stumbled and smashed the basket of eggs from which she had hatched\nout all her hopes--that his gold was gone, for suddenly the sharp edge\nof the horizon was drawn like a scimitar across the throat of the\nsinking sun, and in an instant the western sky, away up to the zenith,\nwas stained as with his life blood!\n\nWith a shudder, as though chilled from sitting in the overdraft of his\nimagination, the banker took his hat and went out into the street,\nwhere the evangelist, having closed his song service, was exhorting the\nlittle group clustered around him.\n\nSuddenly, on the edge of the gathering, an old negro, bent with age\nand with a face furrowed by grief, appeared. He led by the hand a\nlittle black girl about ten years old. Her eyes were round with fright,\nand about her thin legs a ragged red calico skirt flapped like a\nweather-stained flag at half-mast.\n\nThe old man skirted the group, eagerly scanning each face as though\nlooking for a sympathetic ear into which to pour his sorrows. Not\nfinding what he wanted, he hurried on toward the State House, dragging\nthe child after him, until, in front of a newspaper office, he saw\na round-waisted gentleman with a priestly look talking to a tall,\nlong-bearded one of the old school. Detecting benevolence in the faces\nof both, he approached the shorter of the two, and, in an anxious\nvoice, inquired--\u201cMaussuh, please, suh, tell me ef cat kin git crazy?\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you mean is it possible for a cat to have rabies?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, suh, \u2019taint rabbit, \u2019tis cat.\u201d\n\n\u201cI apprehend,\u201d said the English purist, \u201cthat you desire to ascertain\nwhether it is possible for a cat to have the rabies. I may say,\nfor your information, that there are, literally and mathematically\nspeaking, 18 phases of insanity to which humanity is subject, ranging\nfrom the emotional insanity of commerce, to the popular _mania a\npotu_, vulgarly called _delirium inebriosa_. I do not care to give\nan off-hand opinion as to whether or not a cat may have one or more\nof these kinds of insanity, unless you will accurately describe the\nsymptoms and put your questions categorically. It is manifestly a work\nof supererogation--\u201d\n\n\u201cGreat Gawd, maussuh!\u201d said the old man, turning appealingly to the\ntall gentleman. \u201cPlease, suh, tell dis juntlemun dat my cat nebbuh had\nno rabbit, \u2019e only had kitten\u2019. Yaas, suh. My cat name Jane, en\u2019 \u2019e\nb\u2019long to dis leetle gal chile w\u2019ich is my gran\u2019, en\u2019 him (dat is de\ngal) name Jane, en\u2019 Jane (dat is de cat) b\u2019long to Jane (w\u2019ich is de\ngal) en\u2019 Jane does use to folluh Jane eb\u2019ryweh \u2019e go, en\u2019 Jane does\nberry lub Jane, en\u2019 w\u2019enebbuh Jane does ketch rat, \u2019e fetch\u2019um een de\nhouse, en\u2019 w\u2019enebbuh Jane does git \u2019e bittle fuh eat, \u2019e always keep\nsome uh de bittle fuh Jane, en\u2019 w\u2019en Jane (dat is de cat) had nine\nkitten\u2019 een Mistuh Claa\u2019k\u2019 smokehouse on de t\u2019ree Chuesday een dis same\nberry munt\u2019, den Jane (dat is de gal) set up all night fuh nuss Jane\n(dat is de cat) en\u2019, please Gawd, maussuh, jis\u2019 as soon as de nyung\nkitten\u2019 eye\u2019 biggin fuh op\u2019n, one shaa\u2019pmout\u2019 black dog, wid \u2019e tail\nstan\u2019 like dese bu\u2019d fedduh buckruh \u2019ooman does lub fuh pit on \u2019e hat\nw\u2019en Sunday come, dis dog jump obuh de fench en\u2019 bite\u2019um, en\u2019 Jane\n(dat is de cat en\u2019 de gal alltwo) git berry agguhnize en\u2019 twis\u2019 up een\nalltwo dem min\u2019, en\u2019 Jane (dat is de cat) him jump obuh de fench en\u2019\nrun\u2019way, en\u2019 de dog en\u2019 Jane (dat is de gal) run attuh Jane (dat is\nde cat) \u2019tell w\u2019en Jane (dat is de cat) staa\u2019t fuh run down de lane,\nJane (dat is de gal) see ole Unk\u2019 Bill Rose--w\u2019ich\u2019n him is de Gub\u2019nuh\u2019\nClaa\u2019k, walkin\u2019 good fashi\u2019n down de lane. Now, de gal holluh att\u2019um\nfuh ketch de cat, but eb\u2019rybody know dat Unk\u2019 Bill Rose is leetle\nkinduh bowleggit, en\u2019, alldo\u2019 him hol\u2019 alltwo \u2019e foot togedduh, \u2019e\nfoot couldn\u2019 specify, en\u2019 Jane (dat is de cat) jump clean t\u2019ru Unk\u2019\nBill Rose\u2019 britchiz, en\u2019 \u2019e git\u2019way en\u2019 gone, please Gawd, en\u2019 lef\u2019\nJane (dat is de gal) en\u2019 lef\u2019 \u2019e nine kitten\u2019, w\u2019ich all dem eye\u2019 ent\ndone open, een Mistuh Claa\u2019k\u2019 smokehouse, en\u2019 gone en\u2019 jump obuh de\nfench w\u2019ich run roun\u2019 de \u2019Sylum yaa\u2019d--en\u2019 dat de reaz\u2019n w\u2019ymekso I\nknow berry well Jane (dat is de cat) mus\u2019 be gone crazy, \u2019cause he gone\n_spang_ een de \u2019Sylum!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nA CONGAREE WATER-COLOR\n\n\nDuring the last freshet in the Congaree river, three negroes living on\nthe Childs plantation five miles below Columbia took advantage of the\nhigh water to go rabbit hunting in a boat. Paddling about between the\ntree trunks, they scanned the knolls and tussocks that, rising above\nthe flood, afforded sanctuary to the cotton-tail refugees.\n\nSo intent were they upon the chase, that the carelessly managed skiff\nstruck a cypress \u201cknee\u201d and was instantly swamped. Fortunately, the\ntrees were thick, and the wrecked crew climbed into a tall gum, where,\nfar above the swelling flood, they spent the entire day, sending out\nfrom time to time across the waste of waters a piteous cry for help,\nuntil, late in the evening, their voices were heard from the highlands,\nand a boat was sent to their rescue by Mr. Childs.\n\nMingo Singletary, one of the treed nimrods, was in the city yesterday,\nand gave the following account of the adventure:\n\n\u201cYaas, suh, me en\u2019 Silus Smit\u2019 en Hacklus Rab\u2019nel, w\u2019ich Hacklus is my\nniece, \u2019cause _him_ gran\u2019 en\u2019 _my_ gran\u2019 alltwo is de same man, en\u2019\n_him_ farruh en\u2019 _my_ farruh is two twin; so, berrywellden, me en\u2019 dese\ntwo mans gone out een de bateau fuh hunt rabbit, \u2019cause w\u2019en de ribbuh\nhigh, rabbit is a berry easy t\u2019ing fuh ketch, \u2019cause dey berry \u2019f\u2019aid\nfuh git dem foot wet, en\u2019 dey does climb high \u2019puntop de tussock. So\nwe paddle \u2019long en\u2019 quizzit all de tussock, en\u2019 de same time w\u2019en me\nen\u2019 Silus binnuh peep onduhneet\u2019 one briah bush weh rabbit does hide,\nfus\u2019 t\u2019ing we know, we ain\u2019 know _nutt\u2019n\u2019_, \u2019cause my niece Hacklus,\nw\u2019ich dat nigguh nebbuh did hab a Gawd\u2019 piece uh sense, him paddle\nde boat \u2019puntop de snag, en\u2019 de boat\u2019 bottom couldn\u2019 specify, en\u2019 de\nboat\u2019 bottom buss\u2019, en\u2019 lef\u2019 we een de water. Now, Silus had a fight\nwid he lady las\u2019 week, en\u2019 he lady strong mo\u2019den Silus, en\u2019 Silus\u2019\nlady lick\u2019um en\u2019 mos\u2019 bruk \u2019e back, so w\u2019en Silus try fuh swim \u2019e back\ncouldn\u2019 specify, en\u2019 jis\u2019 ez \u2019e biggin to drowndid, my niece Hacklus\nketch\u2019um by \u2019e britchiz, but de britchiz buss\u2019, en\u2019 Silus gone down\nonduhneet\u2019 de water fuh de two time, en\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e rise \u2019gen I graff\u2019um\nby \u2019e lef\u2019 han\u2019 foot en\u2019 hice\u2019um up close to one big gum tree, en\u2019\nall t\u2019ree uh we climb de tree \u2019tell we git \u2019puntop de limb, en\u2019 den,\nplease Gawd, we seddown, en\u2019 seddown, en\u2019 seddown; en\u2019 we all t\u2019ree\nberry well sattify fuh seddown, \u2019tell hongry biggin fuh ketch we, en\nw\u2019en _him_ come, den we staa\u2019t fuh holluh\u2019 en\u2019 holluh\u2019 en\u2019 holluh.\nBut de mo\u2019 we holluh, de mo\u2019 we hongry, en\u2019 bimeby we see Silus\u2019 lady\nwalkin\u2019 by de ribbuh\u2019 aige wid dat yalluh boy Sam, w\u2019ich lib to Mistuh\nHamptun\u2019 place, en\u2019 Silus holluh at \u2019e lady en\u2019 scole\u2019um, but you know\nberry well, suh, \u2019ooman is de debble, en\u2019 dat \u2019ooman nebbuh had Silus\neen de back uh \u2019e head. So, we stillyet seddown, en\u2019 seddown, \u2019tell\nwe mos\u2019 ready fuh drap off de tree limb; en\u2019 Silus is a class-leader,\nen\u2019 him biggin fuh praise de Lawd, en\u2019 bimeby him tell we \u2019bout how de\nrab\u2019n feed \u2019Lijah, en\u2019 we look high een de ellyment en\u2019 we see \u2019nuf\nbuzzut flyin\u2019 high obuh de tree top, en\u2019 Hacklus call to de buzzut fuh\nfetch de bittle, but de buzzut keep on flew high een de ellyment, en\u2019\nnebbuh bodduh \u2019e head \u2019bout Hacklus. Den, bimeby \u2019gen, Silus resplain\nde Scriptuh \u2019bout how Noah\u2019 dub fetch tree branch en\u2019 all kinduh t\u2019ing\neen \u2019e mout\u2019 w\u2019en de water high; en\u2019, fus\u2019 t\u2019ing we know, we see one\ndub fly t\u2019ru de swamp, en\u2019 de sun shine on \u2019e breas\u2019 en\u2019 mek\u2019um look\nlike gol\u2019, en\u2019, likewise also, we call to _him_, but \u2019e didn\u2019 hab\nnutt\u2019n\u2019 een \u2019e mout\u2019, en\u2019 _him_ fly \u2019way en\u2019 gone, please Gawd! Den,\nw\u2019en de sun biggin fuh lean \u2019cross de tree top \u2019en staa\u2019t fuh walk down\nde sky fuh go to \u2019e res\u2019, we git mos\u2019 skaytode\u2019t\u2019, en\u2019 we staa\u2019t fuh\nsing sperritual\u2019 en\u2019 praise de Lawd, en\u2019 Silus ketch \u2019e tex\u2019 f\u2019um de\nfo\u2019teen chaptuh een Nickuhdemus, en\u2019 him tell we \u2019bout how de Lawd tu\u2019n\nNickuhdemus eento cow w\u2019en him hongry, so \u2019e could git grass fuh eat,\nbut I tell\u2019um dat tex\u2019 couldn\u2019 specify, \u2019cause how de debble--een de\nfus\u2019 place, man cyan\u2019 eat grass w\u2019en him dey high een de tree top.\n\n\u201cEn\u2019 den de sun gone down, en\u2019 one leetle cat squerril come out \u2019e hole\neen de gum tree en\u2019 tu\u2019n \u2019e tail obuh \u2019e back en\u2019 say \u2018_paak, paak,\npaak_\u2019, en\u2019 one big owl fly close to we en\u2019 seddown een we tree en\u2019 say\n\u2018_whaak, whaak, whaak, whaak, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo!_\u2019 en\u2019 den I know\nde Lawd tek pity on we en\u2019 sen\u2019 we cump\u2019ny, en\u2019 we git mo\u2019 fait\u2019 een de\nLawd, en\u2019 we biggin fuh holluh \u2019gen, en\u2019 dis time, suh, Mistuh Chile\nyeddy we woice en\u2019 sen\u2019 \u2019e boat en\u2019 tek we off, en\u2019 w\u2019en we git back to\nde nigguhhouse yaa\u2019d, eb\u2019rybody on de plantesshun sing praise en\u2019 glad\nwe come back--eb\u2019rybody \u2019scusin\u2019 Silus\u2019 wife, en\u2019, you b\u2019leebe me, suh!\nSilus\u2019 lady him bex \u2019cause \u2019e husbun\u2019 britchiz buss\u2019, en\u2019 \u2019e lick Silus\n\u2019cause \u2019e didn\u2019 drowndid.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nWAITING TILL THE BRIDEGROOMS COME\n\n\nOn a hot June day a year or two ago, a tall, pumpkin-colored negro was\nleisurely plowing an unambitious mule in a cornfield in Lower Carolina.\nMinzacter Singleton was his euphonious name, and he was about 55 years\nof age.\n\nAs he passed up and down the furrows he whistled cheerily, for the\nbrown earth that curled away in long waves from his plowshare was\nmellow and rich, and the bourgeoning corn that bristled around him, a\ngrand industrial army, uniformed in blue green, epauletted with crimson\nsilk and plumed with cream white tassels, was full of promise for the\nautumn. Here and there a convolvolus vine that had escaped the last\nhoeing twined lovingly around a sturdy stalk and, clambering boldly up,\nswung its purple, white-throated cups among the feathery blooms of the\ncorn, where the swift-winged honey bee and the yellow-barred bumblebee\nplied their busy trade.\n\nThese sights, however, affected not Minzacter. He was a materialist,\nnot a poet; and, mindful of his one-third interest in the crop that\nhe was \u201claying by,\u201d he concerned himself far more with the occasional\nbumping of his singletree against the corn stalks, than with the soft\nmusic of the wind harps that crept from among the broad blades as the\nbreeze passed through them.\n\nHigh up in the blue, a crow flew slowly over the field, twisting his\nhead from side to side, while he critically inspected the work in\nprogress; and, finding that it was good, croaked out an occasional\n\u201cckwarrow, ckwarrow.\u201d\n\nAs the friar of the middle ages--the prototype of this black-robed\nfellow--unctuously took from the fields of his flock a tithe of the\ngarnered store, so, when the blades should be stripped away and\nSeptember suns harden the grain, would this \u201csukkus preechuh\u201d claim the\nreward of his interest in, and inspection of, the growing crop. As the\nominous shadow passed between him and the sun, Minzacter, looking up,\nsaid: \u201cN\u2019mine, bredduh! Tek care buzzut don\u2019 dance at yo\u2019 fun\u2019rul dis\nsame berry fall! You smaa\u2019t \u2019nuf fuh know w\u2019en man got gun een \u2019e han\u2019,\nbut yo\u2019 eddycashun cyan\u2019 specify w\u2019en \u2019e come fuh tell w\u2019en shell\u2019 cawn\ngot pizen een um. You fly high een de ellyment teday, tek care you don\u2019\nflew low befo\u2019 Chris\u2019mus come!\u201d\n\nUpon reaching the end of his row, Minzacter found awaiting him the\nburly black constable of a neighboring Trial Justice, accompanied by a\nmiddle-aged brown woman, who, as the plowman came to a halt, accosted\nhim with: \u201cMistuh Singleton, I t\u2019awt you was a juntlemun, but I come\nto fin\u2019 out you cyan\u2019 specify as a juntlemun, \u2019cause you run\u2019way en\u2019\nlef\u2019 me obuh to Goose Crik, en\u2019 gone en\u2019 marry Paul Jenkin\u2019 grumma jes\u2019\n\u2019cause \u2019e got fo\u2019 cow en\u2019 I ent got no cow. You run\u2019way en\u2019 lef\u2019 yo\u2019\nlawfully lady, en\u2019 I come to tek you to de Trial Jestuss fuh t\u2019row you\neen Walterburruh jail.\u201d\n\nWith apparent nonchalance, Minzacter said: \u201cGo \u2019way, gal! Who you\ncall husbun\u2019? I nebbuh see you sence I bawn. I gots no time fuh hol\u2019\ncumposhashun wid eb\u2019ry w\u2019ich en\u2019 w\u2019y \u2019ooman dat come \u2019long de road. Dis\ncawn gots to lay by.\u201d\n\nJulia Singleton, the _ecru_ claimant, left him with the threat that\nshe would go home and fetch the marriage \u201cstuhstiffikit\u201d to prove that\nMinzacter was her lawful husband.\n\nSure enough, on the day set for the preliminary examination, she\nappeared with not only the marriage certificate, but accompanied by her\nbrother and the Rev. Sancho Middleton, the Goose Creek \u201clocus pastuh,\u201d\nwho was alleged to have performed the ceremony.\n\nUpon being arraigned for bigamy, Minzacter denied indignantly any\nknowledge of the woman. The \u201cstuhstiffikit\u201d was put in evidence, but\nas it read simply, \u201cI marry Mistuh Singleton to Missis Singleton,\u201d the\nTrial Justice ruled that it couldn\u2019t \u201cspecify.\u201d The claimant\u2019s brother\nand the preacher had been tampered with by an agent of Minzacter\u2019s and,\nat the last moment, they went back on the prosecuting witness. The\nbrother was put up first, and Julia did the questioning.\n\n\u201cBredduh,\u201d said she, \u201cent you \u2019membuh dat een June munt\u2019 een de same\nyear w\u2019en us cut down dat new groun\u2019 \u2019cross Caw Caw Swamp, en\u2019 de same\ntime w\u2019en Sistuh Frayjuh him had two twin, ent you \u2019membuh dat de\npastuh renite me to dis juntlemun?\u201d\n\n\u201cI yent know nutt\u2019n\u2019 \u2019bout\u2019um,\u201d said the traitor, \u201cnebbuh shum sence\nI bawn, ent know \u2019e name, needuhso \u2019e farruh, needuhso \u2019e murruh. Mo\u2019\nden one punkin-skin nigguh lib een dis wull\u2019. Yalluh nigguh\u2019 t\u2019ick on\nde groun\u2019 same as yalluh-hammuh\u2019 t\u2019ick on de tree, en\u2019, as fuh _dis_\nnigguh--nebbuh shum sence I bawn.\u201d\n\n\u201cMistuh Jestuss,\u201d said Julia, ruefully, \u201cI come to ketch my juntlemun,\nen\u2019 my _juntlemun_ lie. I gone en\u2019 fetch my bredduh Sam, en\u2019 my bredduh\n_Sam_ lie. I gone en\u2019 fetch de stuhstiffikit, en\u2019 de _stuhstiffikit_\nlie. Now, I will \u2019tarrygate my locus pastuh, en\u2019 I know berry well\n_him_ ent gwine lie. Pa Sancho,\u201d said she, turning to the sleek divine,\n\u201cent you \u2019membuh, suh, w\u2019en Sistuh Frayjuh him had two twin?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh yaas, my sistuh, I \u2019membuh dat, \u2019cause dat same time Nickuhdemus\nWineglass\u2019 niece Joe, w\u2019ich \u2019e had by \u2019e fus\u2019 lady, git \u2019e foot ketch\neen de ottuh trap on Mistuh Fishpun\u2019 place, en\u2019 de doctuh haffuh cut\noff \u2019e right han\u2019 feet close to \u2019e knee.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, suh, ent you \u2019membuh w\u2019en you renite me to dis same juntlemun?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy sistuh,\u201d said he, slowly and deliberately, \u201cyou see, dis is a berry\nonrabblin\u2019 t\u2019ing fuh yo\u2019 pastuh fuh \u2019xamin\u2019 \u2019e min\u2019 \u2019bout. You know,\nall dese common eb\u2019ryday kind\u2019uh nigguh\u2019 kin talk all dese gwinin\u2019 en\u2019\ngwinin\u2019, but de preechuh is de Lawd\u2019 _renointed_, en\u2019, w\u2019en him open he\nmout\u2019, e\u2019 gots to quizzit \u2019e min\u2019 berry close, \u2019speshly w\u2019en \u2019e talk\nwid \u2019ooman, \u2019cause \u2019ooman so \u2019ceitful, ef you ent min\u2019, him will fool\nde two eye\u2019 out yo\u2019 head; en\u2019, fuh dictate now \u2019bout dis juntlemun, I\nmos\u2019 kinduh t\u2019ink I \u2019membuh leetle kinduh sump\u2019n\u2019, \u2019bout de time w\u2019en\nI marry you to a kinduh punkin-skin juntlemun, en\u2019 w\u2019en I fus\u2019 see dis\njuntlemun, I mos\u2019 t\u2019ink \u2019e look leetle like yo\u2019 juntlemun, but w\u2019en I\ncome to saa\u2019ch\u2019um close en\u2019 peruse\u2019um puhtickluh, I mos\u2019 kinduh t\u2019ink\nmaybe dis ent yo\u2019 juntlemun.\u201d\n\n\u201cPlease Gawd,\u201d said Julia despairingly, \u201cI gone en try fuh ketch my\njuntlemun en\u2019 I fetch\u2019um yuh, en\u2019 _him_ lie. Den I gone en\u2019 ketch my\nbredduh en\u2019 fetch\u2019um yuh, en\u2019 _him_ lie. Den I gone en\u2019 ketch de\nstuhstuffikit en\u2019 fetch\u2019um yuh, en\u2019 _him_ lie; en\u2019, fin\u2019lly at las\u2019,\nI ketch de locus pastuh en \u2019fetch\u2019um yuh, en\u2019, \u2019fo\u2019 de Lawd, _him_\nlie. Now, I gwine home en\u2019 fetch de six bridegroom\u2019 w\u2019at bin to dis\nwedd\u2019n\u2019 w\u2019en I marry dis juntlemun--w\u2019ich my sistuh Amy bin one uh de\nbridegroom\u2019--en\u2019 I know berry well _dem_ will crucify dat dis is my\njuntlemun.\u201d\n\nAt last accounts, the Justice was still awaiting their coming.\n\n\n\n\nA GULLAH\u2019S TALE OF WOE\n\n\nFrom the clay chimney of a negro cabin in the lower part of Hampton\nCounty the blue smoke curled and floated away in graceful rings.\nWithin, the flames crackled cheerily in the generous fireplace, and a\nwoman, surrounded by half a dozen children, was preparing the evening\nmeal. The building was of logs, with moss and clay plastered into the\ncrevices, and the roof which covered it was of clapboards. An humble\ndwelling it was, but big enough and warm enough to shelter old Scipio\nWineglass and his family, and it represented--together with the few\nacres of land surrounding it--the net earnings of twenty-seven years of\ntoil \u201csence freedum fus\u2019 come een.\u201d\n\nThe crop had been gathered and locked in the little corn crib that\nnestled up under the eaves of the cabin, and among the shucks that lay\naround the door a few pigs were rooting. As the twilight fell on this\ncrisp December evening, the querulous bark of a squirrel came from the\nswamp, and away down the road the sound of a horse\u2019s hoofs in a sharp\ncanter became louder and louder, until, at last, a horseman rode up and\nasked for a drink of water, just as old Scipio came in from the woods\nwith a log on his head and threw it down with a grunt.\n\nBringing a gourd of water out to the gate, he eyed the stranger closely\nas he drank, and as he took back the dipper he asked, \u201cMaussuh, enty\npuhlicituh kin oughtuh able fuh read?\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly, solicitors are able to read. Why do you ask?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, suh, please Gawd, I gots nutt\u2019n\u2019 but trouble all dis yeah done\ngone. Een de fus\u2019 place, jis\u2019 ez soon ez I git de crap plant een de\nt\u2019ree week een las\u2019 Epprull, de waa\u2019ment en\u2019 t\u2019ing biggin fuh onrabble\nen\u2019 distruss me een me min\u2019 \u2019tell, please de Lawd, I yent know Rebus\nfrum Rebelashun! Soon ez I t\u2019row de cawn seed een de groun\u2019, de\nwaa\u2019ment biggin fuh agguhnize me. I didn\u2019t had no coal taar fuh pit\n\u2019pun de cawn, en\u2019 soon ez I pit\u2019um een de groun\u2019, de debble\u2019ub\u2019uh\u2019\ncrow come \u2019long en\u2019 pull up half de cawn, en w\u2019at de crow ent pull\nup, de cut wurrum ketch, en w\u2019at de cut wurrum lef\u2019, de dry drought\n\u2019stroy\u2019d _him_, en\u2019, soon ez de dry drought gone\u2019way, den my ole mare\nSilby, _him_ haffuh gone en\u2019 dead! Yaas\u2019suh, dat old mare done gone\nen\u2019 leddown en\u2019 dead, en\u2019 lef\u2019 me wid de fiel\u2019 full\u2019uh j\u2019int grass,\nen\u2019 nott grass, en\u2019 crab grass en\u2019 t\u2019ing, en\u2019 I yent got a hawss fuh\nride now \u2019cep\u2019n\u2019 \u2019tis dese two foot, but stillyet I praise de Lawd\nen\u2019 glorify\u2019um, \u2019cause, ef dat mare didn\u2019t dead, de debble would\u2019uh\nhad Scipio Wineglass done roas\u2019 en bu\u2019n\u2019up een de fiah \u2019fo\u2019 dis time!\nYaas\u2019suh, one night een las\u2019 Augus\u2019 een de daa\u2019k uh de moon, jis\u2019 ez\nI biggin to drap \u2019sleep, I yerry one rap \u2019pun de do\u2019, en\u2019 w\u2019en I tell\nde somebody fuh come een, one sperrit buss\u2019 op\u2019n de do\u2019, en\u2019 stan\u2019 on\n\u2019e two foot een de middle uh de flo! W\u2019en I shum wid dese two eye\u2019,\nI bin dat skay\u2019to\u2019de\u2019t\u2019 dat I didn\u2019t \u2019membuh fuh ax\u2019um \u2019e name, but\nI mos\u2019 t\u2019ink \u2019e bin eeduh de \u2019Postle Paul, elseso Pollido\u2019. En\u2019 dis\nsperrit \u2019tarrygate me good fashi\u2019n, en\u2019 \u2019e say, sezzee, \u2018Scipio\u2019;\nsezzi, \u2018Suh.\u2019 Sezzee, \u2018Scipio, you got a great load uh sin \u2019puntop yo\u2019\nsoul!\u2019 Sezzi, \u2018Yaas\u2019suh, I know dat, suh.\u2019 Den \u2019e say, \u2018Scipio, ef dat\nload uh sin ent tek off yo\u2019 soul, you cyan\u2019 specify w\u2019en de great day\ncome, en\u2019 you will sho\u2019 to ebbuhlastin\u2019 dead en\u2019 bu\u2019n\u2019up.\u2019 En\u2019 den I\nsay \u2018Yaas, suh, maussuh ainjul.\u2019 En\u2019 den I drap on dese two knee\u2019 en\u2019\npray de Lawd fuh tell de sperrit fuh tek de sin off my soul, en\u2019 den\nde ainjul say \u2019e couldn\u2019 tek de sin off my soul, \u2019cep\u2019n\u2019 \u2019e pit\u2019um\n\u2019puntop somebody else\u2019 own, en\u2019 den I baig\u2019um fuh pit de sin on ole\nUnk\u2019 Hacklus Pinesett\u2019 soul, \u2019cause Unk\u2019 Hacklus lub fuh t\u2019ief fowl en\u2019\nt\u2019ing, en\u2019 him is a nomannus nigguh, en\u2019 de sperrit say \u2018berrywell,\u2019\nen\u2019 \u2019e wawm \u2019e han\u2019 by de fiah en\u2019 gone out de do\u2019, en\u2019, soon ez \u2019e\ngone, I yerry ole Silby duh kick en\u2019 grunt een de stable, but I bin too\ntwis\u2019up in me min\u2019 fuh pay \u2019tenshun to _him_, en\u2019, een de mawnin\u2019 soon,\nw\u2019en I gone out to de stable fuh feed ole Silby, please de Mastuh,\n\u2019e stretch-out, _dead_! En\u2019 stillyet, alldo\u2019 \u2019e dead en\u2019 gone, yet I\nglorify de Lawd en\u2019 praise \u2019e name, \u2019cause I know \u2019e tek de sin off\nme en\u2019 pit\u2019um \u2019puntop ole Silby, en\u2019 all de time I yerry\u2019um binnuh\ngrunt een de stable, dat sin binnuh ride\u2019um roun\u2019 en\u2019 roun\u2019, \u2019tell \u2019e\nkill\u2019um. I wonduh w\u2019ymekso dat sperrit ent tek dat ansuh to de Lawd\nde way I sen\u2019um, \u2019cause I buy dat mare to Mistuh Larrissy\u2019 place fuh\nseb\u2019nty-fibe dollar, en\u2019 Unk\u2019 Hacklus Pinesett ent wut\u2019 a t\u2019ree cent,\nstillyet de Lawd tek ole Silby, en\u2019 lef _him_!\n\n\u201cNow, w\u2019en Silby dead, I tek de hoe een me han\u2019 en\u2019 lay by de crap,\nen\u2019, tengk Gawd, I mek fo\u2019teen bushel\u2019 uh cawn een dis same fiel\u2019.\nWell, suh, w\u2019en de cawn done lay by, I git \u2019long berrywell \u2019tell Mingo\nPuhlite\u2019 son Sambo t\u2019ief\u2019 de fattes\u2019 hog I got. Een Septembuh munt\u2019,\nsoon ez I ketch\u2019um, I tek\u2019um to de Trial Jestuss, en\u2019 him sen\u2019um to\nHamptun jail.\n\n\u201cNow, w\u2019en de trial come in de fall, Sambo git Mistuh Tillin\u2019ass\u2019 to\nrefen\u2019 she, en I gone to Mistuh Muffey, de puhlicituh, en\u2019 tell\u2019um all\n\u2019bout de t\u2019iefin\u2019. Den Mistuh Tillin\u2019ass\u2019 squizzit me en\u2019 ax me all\nkinduh squesehun, en\u2019 Mistuh Muffey squizzit Sambo en\u2019 ax _him_ all\nkinduh squesehun, en den ole Judge Hutsin him put on one black frock\nsame lukkuh \u2019ooman, en\u2019 him ax me all kinduh squeschun, en\u2019 den Mass\nBilly Causey, de Claa\u2019k ub de Co\u2019t, tek de eenditement (dat w\u2019at \u2019e\ncall de papuh) een \u2019e han\u2019, en\u2019 \u2019e tu\u2019n\u2019um upside down en\u2019 \u2019e read\u2019um\nwrong, en\u2019 den Mistuh Tillin\u2019ass\u2019 tek de papuh en\u2019 tu\u2019n\u2019um upside down\nen\u2019 him read\u2019um wrong, en\u2019 den Judge Hutsin tek de papuh en\u2019 tu\u2019n\u2019um\nupside down en\u2019 _him_ read\u2019um wrong, en\u2019 den, please Gawd, Mistuh\nMuffey, de puhlicituh, _Him_ tek de papuh en\u2019 tu\u2019n\u2019um upside down en\u2019\n_Him_ read\u2019um wrong! Yaas\u2019suh, de jury bin all buckruh\u2019, en\u2019 all dem\ncare \u2019bout is fuh sen\u2019 one nigguh to de penetenshus fuh eb\u2019ry hog\nw\u2019at git t\u2019ief, en\u2019 de Claa\u2019k ub de Co\u2019t git my name en\u2019 Sambo\u2019 name\ntanglety\u2019up on de papuh, en\u2019, fus\u2019 t\u2019ing I know--\u2019cep\u2019n\u2019 dat Sambo own\nto t\u2019ief de hog fuh git meat fuh eat to de passobuh preachin\u2019 w\u2019ich was\nhol\u2019 to Sistuh Frajuh\u2019 house--please Gawd, de buckruh\u2019 would\u2019uh sen\u2019\nme to de penetenshus fuh t\u2019ief me _own hog_! En\u2019 dat de reason, suh,\nw\u2019ymekso I ax wedduh puhlicituh kin read, \u2019cause I didn\u2019t bex so much\n\u2019bout Mistuh Tillin\u2019ass\u2019, en\u2019 Mass Billy Causey, en\u2019 ole Judge Hutsin\nwid \u2019e black frock sukkuh \u2019ooman, but I _did_ t\u2019ink dat Mistuh Muffey,\nde puhlicituh, could\u2019uh _read_.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE DOCTOR DIDN\u2019T \u201cEXCEED\u201d\n\n\nDown upon the banks of the turbid Toogoodoo--one of the many creeks\nthat indent the seacoast of Colleton County--lives June Middleton, a\nnegro of the old school. As a body servant, he followed his master\nthrough Virginia \u201ceenjurin\u2019 uh de wah,\u201d and, at its close, he received\nfor his faithful service a few acres of the plantation upon which he\nhad been reared. His little holding was as dear to him as was ever an\nentailed estate to an English noble, for, like all Southern negroes who\nhad formerly belonged to families of culture and refinement, he shared\nthe pride of his quondam owners in their ancestral acres and in their\ndistinguished names.\n\nThe comfortable frame house, in which June had spent the days of his\nslavehood, had long since gone up in smoke, for no habitation of man\nor beast was too lowly to escape the torch of Sherman\u2019s bummers, who,\nin 1865 illumined the \u201cbenighted South.\u201d Upon its site now stands a\nclay-chimneyed log cabin, and by its door ebb and flow the waters of\nthe creek from which June had for years drawn his sustenance. While he\ndid not exactly \u201cgo down to the sea in ships,\u201d he paddled his little\n\u201cdugout\u201d canoe out to the mouth of the stream at nearly every low tide\nduring the winter season, and shared with the raccoons the little\nsharp-shelled bunch oysters that covered the exposed mud banks.\n\nIn the spring, when the yellow jessamine swung its golden cups above\nthe forest undergrowth, and the silver stars of the dogwood gleamed\nfrom the chaparral, he mended his nets and lines in preparation for\nthe summer campaign, and, later, when the woods were odorous with the\nblossoms of the elder and the wild grape, he commenced his nocturnal\nforays against the finny tribes. On dark nights, when the piping of the\nmarsh hens apprised him that the tide was out, he took with him a boy\nto paddle his cranky little craft, and, standing in the bow, threw his\ncast-net with a \u201cswish\u201d far out into the schools of shrimp and \u201cfinger\nmullet.\u201d His catch, together with an occasional string of whiting and\nyellowtail taken with the hook and line, he converted at a distant\nvillage into the necessaries of life.\n\nFor many years there had scarcely been a ripple on this placid life of\nJune\u2019s, save when a \u201cpuppy-shark\u201d would occasionally make away with his\nbait, sending the whiting line whizzing through his fingers and almost\nupsetting the little craft with his impetuous rush, or when, two or\nthree times a year, the itinerant preacher would visit his cabin to\nswap ecclesiastical platitudes for fresh fish.\n\nOn a bright day in early summer, old June sat at his doorstep basking\nin the sun and watching the glistening waters as they hurried by.\nOccasionally, a kingfisher would leave his station on a dead limb and,\nzig-zagging in his flight, would swoop down on some small fish that\nshowed on the surface, and, having swallowed his prey, would leisurely\nreturn to his perch with a harsh note of triumph. The \u201cpreechuh on de\nsukkus\u201d had just arrived to pay his periodical visit, and, scattering\na group of half-naked children who were playing around the door, June\nbrought out another three-legged stool and extended the hospitalities\nof the establishment.\n\n\u201cReb\u2019ren\u2019,\u201d said he, \u201cI berry glad you come teday.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, bredduh, \u2019smattuh mekso?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, suh,\u201d said June, whose philosophical patience and faith might\nput to the blush many who quarrel with their lot, \u201cI yent min\u2019 \u2019bout me\nmyself, suh, \u2019cause I tengk Gawd fuh life en\u2019 de bre\u2019t\u2019 w\u2019at Him lef\u2019\neen dis body. My lady, w\u2019ich dead een las\u2019 Augus\u2019, had de consumpshus\nen\u2019 de remonia alltwo, en\u2019 him en\u2019 me alltwo nyuse to smoke de same\npipe befo\u2019 him dead, en\u2019 I berry \u2019f\u2019aid dat I gwine likeso fuh ketch\nde consumpshus en\u2019 de remonia frum dat same berry pipe, en\u2019, den, I\ngot mis\u2019ry een de back, en\u2019 I sen\u2019 dat leetle gal \u2019Riah--dat is my\ngran\u2019--to de cross road sto\u2019 fuh git fibe cent\u2019 wut\u2019 ub tup\u2019mtime,\nbut de buckruh tek de fibe cent frum de gal en\u2019 t\u2019row water een de\ntup\u2019mtime, en\u2019 w\u2019en I rub de back wid de tup\u2019mtime de tup\u2019mtime couldn\u2019\nspecify, en\u2019 de mis\u2019ry keep on jes\u2019 de same, en\u2019 I git so po\u2019ly now dat\nI kin sca\u2019cely git een de crik fuh ketch swimp en\u2019 t\u2019ing, en\u2019 bittle\ngit berry sca\u2019ceful dese days, suh; but tengk Gawd fuh life, suh, tengk\nGawd fuh life, en\u2019 I berry glad you come, \u2019cause I want\u2019uh ax yo\u2019\n\u2019pinion \u2019bout my gran\u2019, Sooky. You know\u2019um, suh, him is uh \u2019leben yeahs\nole gal chile, en\u2019 \u2019e git sick een de two week een las\u2019 Jinnywerry\ndone gone mek one yeah, en\u2019 Doctuh Baa\u2019nwell t\u2019row one dollar en\u2019\nsebenty-fi\u2019 cent\u2019 wut\u2019 uh med\u2019sin een de gal, but somehow I don\u2019t t\u2019ink\nde Doctuh exceed so well wid de gal, \u2019cause, een de fus\u2019 week een dis\nsame Jinnywerry--befo\u2019 de yeah well out--de gal tek wid mo\u2019 mis\u2019ry\neen \u2019e lef\u2019 han\u2019 foot, en\u2019 w\u2019en I sen\u2019um back to de Doctuh \u2019e want\u2019uh\nchaa\u2019ge anodduh dolluh en\u2019 sebenty-fi\u2019 cent\u2019 fuh t\u2019row mo\u2019 physic\u2019 een\nde gal, en\u2019 dat mek me bex, \u2019cause eb\u2019rybody know \u2019tis too soon fuh\nt\u2019row\u2019way anodduh dolluh en\u2019 sebenty-fi\u2019 cent\u2019, en\u2019 likeso eb\u2019rybody\nknow dat Doctuh Baa\u2019nwell couldn\u2019 be exceed so well wid de gal, en\u2019 \u2019e\nmed\u2019sin couldn\u2019 specify, elseso \u2019e wouldn\u2019 haffuh cyo\u2019 one en\u2019 de same\ngal two time een one en\u2019 de same yeah!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE LADY COULDN\u2019T \u201cSPECIFY\u201d\n\n\nThe Rev. Nepchun Kinlaw, the \u201clocus pastuh\u201d of a Colleton County flock,\nsat in the sunshine at the door of his cabin, drawing from the sights\nand sounds around him inspiration for his next Sunday\u2019s sermon.\n\nAlthough he could not read, an open Bible was on his knee, and his head\nwas bowed reverently over the well-thumbed pages. His only knowledge\nof their contents was acquired from the circuit preacher whose\nquarterly sermons furnished the \u201cclass-leaders\u201d and local preachers\nwith scriptural data wherewith to conduct the campaign against Satan\nuntil his next round. These Bible truths \u201cPa Kinlaw\u201d--as the female\nmembers of his charge delighted to call him--instilled into his flock\nby homely illustrations. Out in the yard before him, a little ridge of\nearth, which gradually increased in length, indicated the presence of a\nground-mole that was burrowing through the hard ground. \u201cDat gru\u2019mole\nhab fait\u2019,\u201d said he. \u201c\u2019E yent gots no eye een \u2019e head, en\u2019 \u2019e cyan\u2019 see\nde wurrum een de eart\u2019, but \u2019e hab fait\u2019, en\u2019 de Lawd lead\u2019um \u2019long to\nweh de wurrum does lib, en\u2019 de gru\u2019mole ketch de wurrum en\u2019 eat\u2019um.\nSame fashi\u2019n, man en\u2019 \u2019ooman gots to hab fait\u2019 een de Lawd, elsehow dem\nent able fuh _specify_ w\u2019en Gabrull blow \u2019e hawn en\u2019 de great day come.\nEf you ent got _fait\u2019_, please Gawd, oonuh nebbuh ketch de wurrum ub\nSalwashun!\u201d\n\nHis reflections were rudely interrupted by the advent of Jim Green,\nthe colored constable of a neighboring trial justice, who, mounted on\na razor-backed rat of a Texas pony, rode up to the door and, in the\nname of the State of South Carolina, demanded from the \u201cReb\u2019ren\u2019\u201d a\ndollar and a quarter, the balance due on a two-dollar marriage ceremony\nperformed in October last by the aforesaid trial justice, \u201cwho did then\nand there, at the time and place aforesaid, unite one Nepchun Kinlaw to\none Minda Manigo.\u201d\n\nNot a red flag flaunted before a bull--nor a rival\u2019s becoming Easter\nbonnet before a society woman--could have been provocative of more\nwrath than was the constable\u2019s demand upon \u201cPa Kinlaw.\u201d Rising from his\nseat, with the natural color of his face deepened by anger until it was\nas dark as the hinges of Hades, he said: \u201cGreen, you kin go back to de\nTrial Jestuss en\u2019 tell\u2019um dat de lady, w\u2019at him renite me to een de two\nChuesday een las\u2019 Octobuh, cyan\u2019 specify. Tell\u2019um dat de only reason\nw\u2019ymekso I hab dis lady is bekasew\u2019y my fus\u2019 wife dead een las\u2019 June.\nDat \u2019ooman w\u2019at dead wuz de fait\u2019fules\u2019 \u2019ooman I ebbuh come \u2019cross een\ndis wull\u2019. I g\u2019em praise fuh _dat_! De only fau\u2019t I had wid\u2019um, is\n\u2019cause \u2019e gone en\u2019 dead een _June_! Ef de \u2019ooman had\u2019uh dead een de\nfall w\u2019en de crop done lay by, I wouldn\u2019 uh min\u2019 summuch, but \u2019e gone\nen\u2019 leddown en\u2019 dead een June, please Gawd, een _June_ munt\u2019, w\u2019en de\ngrass duh grow, en\u2019 w\u2019en de time haa\u2019d, en bittle berry sca\u2019ceful, en\u2019\n\u2019e lef\u2019 seb\u2019n chillun een de house, en\u2019 lef\u2019 de cawn een de fiel\u2019 befo\u2019\n\u2019e gitt\u2019ru hoe\u2019um two time, en\u2019 de jaybu\u2019d flew een de fiel\u2019 en\u2019 nyam\nde cawn, en\u2019 de redbu\u2019d flew een de fiel\u2019 en\u2019 nyam de cawn, en de crow\nen\u2019 de rokkoon en de \u2019possum en\u2019 all de odduh\u2019res\u2019 waa\u2019ment nyam de\ncawn, \u2019cause I yent gots nobody fuh min\u2019um out\u2019n de fiel\u2019, en\u2019 stillyet\ndat \u2019ooman gone en\u2019 dead een _June_! Now, w\u2019en I see all dese chillun,\nwid \u2019e mout\u2019 open same lukkuh chuckwilluh\u2019 mout\u2019, en\u2019 I yent gots no\nbittle fuh pit een \u2019um, I mek up my min\u2019 dat I gots to git anodduh\nlady, en\u2019 sistuh Minda en\u2019 him fus\u2019 husbun\u2019 paa\u2019t, en\u2019 I quizzit de\nfus\u2019 husbun\u2019 \u2019bout\u2019um en\u2019 \u2019e gib de lady uh berry good cyarrictuh, so\nI tek\u2019um to de trial jestuss en\u2019 marri\u2019d\u2019um, but w\u2019en I marri\u2019d\u2019um I\nt\u2019aw\u2019t \u2019e could _specify_, so I pay de jestuss sebenty-fi\u2019 cent\u2019, en\u2019\nowe\u2019um dolluh en\u2019 uh quawtuh on de \u2019ooman, en\u2019 I tek de \u2019ooman home\nen\u2019 t\u2019row\u2019um een de fiel\u2019 fuh done lay by de crap en\u2019 plant peas een\nde cawn, but, please Gawd, soon ez I lef\u2019 de \u2019ooman \u2019e leddown flat\n\u2019puntop \u2019e back en\u2019 gone \u2019sleep een de sunhot, en\u2019 \u2019e \u2019low de crow\nen\u2019 t\u2019ing fuh spile eb\u2019ry Gawd\u2019 crop een de fiel\u2019 eenjurin\u2019 de week\nday, en\u2019, w\u2019en Sunday come, de lady put one high brustle \u2019puntop \u2019e\nback en\u2019 gone chu\u2019ch same lukkuh him duh buckruh! En\u2019 w\u2019en I fin\u2019 all\ndese gwinin\u2019 en\u2019 gwinin\u2019 bout de \u2019ooman, I kinduh git disgus\u2019 wid, de\n\u2019ooman, en\u2019 I yent feel like pay out no mo\u2019 money fuh de \u2019ooman w\u2019en\n\u2019e cyan\u2019 speci_fy_. W\u2019en I \u2019gree fuh pay de jestuss two dolluh\u2019 fuh\nmarri\u2019d dis lady, I t\u2019aw\u2019t \u2019e could speci_fy_, en\u2019 I didn\u2019 min\u2019 \u2019bout\npayin\u2019 two dolluh\u2019 fuh uh smaa\u2019t \u2019ooman, but sence I tek de \u2019ooman home\nen\u2019 try\u2019um, I fin\u2019 dat de \u2019ooman cyan\u2019 speci_fy_, en\u2019 \u2019e yent wut\u2019 mo\u2019\nden de sebenty-fi\u2019 cent\u2019 w\u2019at I done pay on\u2019um; en\u2019, ef de jestuss ent\nsattify wid dat--befo\u2019 I pay de odduh\u2019res\u2019 ub de money--befo\u2019 I pay\u2019um\nde dolluh en\u2019 a quawtuh w\u2019at I still jue on de \u2019ooman--_him kin tek de\nlady back_!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nA QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE\n\n\nThe Republican State Convention was in session in the hall of the\nHouse of Representatives at Columbia. There was a contest between two\nrival delegations from Berkeley County, the one representing the \u201cold\nline\u201d Republicans, the other the younger element which had recently\naffiliated with the conservative Democrats. The fight came up on the\nseating of the delegations, and it was agreed that five minutes should\nbe allotted to the chairman of each delegation for the presentation of\nhis claims to the convention.\n\nA young African, fancifully arrayed in a spotless white flannel suit,\nrose in behalf of the younger delegation and arraigned his opponents in\nan \u201cimpassioned\u201d speech.\n\nBefore his five minutes had expired, Mr. Thompson, the ape-like\nchairman of the elder statesmen, interrupted him with an appeal to the\nchair.\n\n\u201cMistuh Chair,\u201d said he, \u201cI rise to uh squeschun ub priblidge.\u201d\n\nThe Chair--\u201cDoes de juntlemun rise to de priblidge, eeduhso de\nsqueschun?\u201d\n\n\u201cGreat Gawd,\u201d said the thoroughly aroused delegate, \u201cI rise to de\npriblidge en\u2019 de squeschun, alltwo one time, en\u2019 I also rise to uh\nsqueschun ub _inflummashun_, \u2019cause I bin pussonully _attacktid_.\nMistuh Chair, dis ondelicate nyung juntlemun w\u2019ich pusceed me has\nprizzunt to dis augus\u2019 body de credenshul ub de contestuss delegashun\nfrum Bucksley County to Mount Pleasant presinck fuh sen\u2019 one delegashun\nto Cuhlumbia, fuh sen\u2019 anodduh delegashun to Chicagyo fuh nominashun\nde Prezzydent uh dese Newnited State! Mistuh Chair, de \u2019Publikin\npaa\u2019ty een Bucksley County is gots fuh speci_fy_, en\u2019 I will likes\nto quizzit dis immaculate nyung juntlemun frum Bucksley County en\u2019\nax\u2019um a few cumposhashun! I will likes fuh \u2019tarrygate\u2019um en\u2019 ax she\nweh _him_ bin een de yeah sebenty-stree, w\u2019en I bayre my breas\u2019 to\nde bullet uh de Dimmycrack frum de mountain to de sea_boa\u2019d_! I will\nlike, suh, fuh peruse de min\u2019 uh dis ondeestunt nyung juntlemun\nen\u2019 ax\u2019um how de debble him kin specify en\u2019 ruppezunt de \u2019Publikin\npaa\u2019ty een Bucksley County to Mount Pleasant presinck, w\u2019en him\nbinnuh lib een Mistuh Puhshay Smit\u2019 yaa\u2019d, en\u2019 binnuh nyam buckruh\u2019\nbittle ebbuh sence \u2019e farruh gone penetenshus fuh t\u2019iefin\u2019 hog een\nde yeah sebenteen-eighty-stree! I will likes to ax dis ondelicate\n_chillun-nigguh_ how him kin come yuh wid \u2019e jaw teet\u2019 full uh Puhshay\nSmit\u2019 hog meat en\u2019 onduhtek fuh seddown him contestuss delegashun \u2019pun\ndis historicus _flo\u2019_!\n\n\u201cW\u2019en, Mistuh Chair, dis meetin\u2019 wuz hol\u2019 to Bucksley County to\nMount Pleasant presinck, fuh sen\u2019 dis delegashun to Cuhlumbia fuh\nsen\u2019 anodduh delegashun to Chicagyo fuh nominashun de Prezzydent uh\ndese Newnited _State_, dis immaculate juntlemun, Mistuh Dannil T.\nMiddletun, repose heself \u2019gense de conwenshun plan fuh nominashun, en\u2019\nadswocate de primus ward[2] _plan_. Now, w\u2019en de juntlemun fin\u2019 dat\nde conwenshun plan is wictoria obuh de primus ward plan, de juntlemun\ngit disgus\u2019, en\u2019 de juntlemun lef\u2019 de flo\u2019 uh de conwenshun en\u2019 gone\ndown de step, follow\u2019 by he cohort, Mistuh Gibbes! Now, Mistuh Chair, I\npunnounce shish ondeestunt behavior, on de paa\u2019t uh Mistuh Middletun,\nuh disgustuss splotch \u2019pun de \u2019Publikin paa\u2019ty\u2019 cawpsus politicksus,\nen\u2019 ef de juntlemun will contuhdix de wu\u2019d w\u2019ich I nyuse, I will\npunnounce she to be a _lie_! Mistuh Chair, de juntlemun\u2019 mout\u2019 is too\nblack for she to be a Dimmycrack, en\u2019 \u2019e yeye is too red fuh he to\nbe a \u2019Publikin, en\u2019 I punnounce\u2019um, on de flo\u2019 uh dis conwenshun, uh\nmonstrosity politicuss _muffledice_!\u201d[3]\n\n\n\n\nCONDUCTOR SMITH\u2019S DILEMMA\n\n\nIs there one, among the thousands that have traveled on his train, who\ndoes not know and, knowing, does not esteem, Conductor Smith--\u201cBilly\u201d\nSmith of the Blue Ridge Railroad? Surely not, for like his prototype,\nBaines Carew, the sympathetic attorney of the Bab Ballads, who was so\novercome by the recital of his clients\u2019 woes that he \u201chad scarcely\nstrength to take his fee,\u201d Billy, the embodiment of courtesy and\nkindliness, never collected a fare or punched a ticket without a\ndeprecatory smile and look of sympathy, as tho\u2019 it grieved him very\nmuch. This accommodating disposition has made him an easy prey to an\nexacting public. Other trains have passed over his road, but the cream\nof the travel has always been reserved for Billy. His the happiness\nof looking after tow-headed boys sent to visit distant relatives; his\nthe honor of escorting to and from boarding-school, grown girls who\nhave been provided with half-fare tickets by their thrifty mothers;\nhis the privilege of hauling to and fro, ladies who have been blessed\nwith twins by a prodigal Providence, ladies with birdcages, ladies with\nbaby-carriages, ladies with cats in baskets, ladies with geraniums\nin pots, ladies with home-made jams and pickles in jars, ladies with\nbundles and bandboxes, ladies with an overweening desire to pour into\nhis sympathetic ear divers family secrets--the exact number of teeth\nthe last baby but one has cut, the number and variety of fashionable\nailments considerately diagnosed by their family physicians, etc., etc.\nWith these and like confidences the patient conductor\u2019s time is not\ninfrequently whiled away between stations.\n\nThus for years has Billy Smith trod--or rather joggled along--the path\nof duty between Walhalla and Belton. In the spring-time, when rill and\nriver are swollen by heavy rains, and the tawny waters rush down the\nhillsides, gullying the plowed lands and scattering the rich soil \u201cout\namong the neighbors,\u201d when the pale blue wild violet and the waxen\nEaster lily peep from dell and dingle, and the peach and plum trees,\nclustering around the farmsteads, open their pink and white petals to\nthe sunshine and the dew; in the summer, when the golden bees swarm\nover the clover blooms and the ripe grain falls before the sweep of\nthe scythe; in the autumn, when the chestnut burrs lie on the sod and\nthe dead leaves swirl in the blast; in the winter, when the Blue Ridge\nis wrapped in a slumber-robe of snow and the frost crystals, forced\nout of the icy earth, sparkle on the sides of the deep cuts--in all\nseasons and in all weathers--Billy Smith plods on. Time and toil have\nstreaked his beard with gray, and deepened the lines in his face,\nbut his smile is as sweet and his hands and feet as willing as ever\nthey were in his younger days, and, until he shall run his last train\nthrough the golden gates of the new Jerusalem and pass in his manifests\nto be checked up by the Almighty Auditor, he will doubtless be seen at\nthe termini of the Blue Ridge Railroad, loaded to the gunwales, like a\nlighter at a coaling station, with babies, pug dogs, flowering plants\nand all the miscellaneous paraphernalia apparently inseparable from\nitinerant femininity, and will still take a commanding position in the\ncentre of his coach and diurnally sing, alas! \u201cthat old sweet song:\u201d\n\u201cBelton, Belton! Junction Columbia and Greenville Railroad! About\nfifty minutes, fifty minutes, before the train comes for Columbia!\nPassengers going in the direction of Columbia will have to git off now,\nyou\u2019ll have to git off, as this train leaves in about ten minutes,\nten minutes, for Greenville, for Greenville--which is in the opposite\ndirection from Columbia!\u201d\n\nThere are moments in every life when flowers are no longer sweet, and\nwomen no longer fair; when there is no music in the song of birds, no\nmerriment in the laughter of children, and all the world seems dark.\n\nOne of these moments came to Billy Smith the other day, when Conductor\nFielding of the main line unloaded at Belton, Diana Hawlback, an\nelderly black woman from Beaufort County, who, with her grand-daughter\n\u201cLizzybet\u2019,\u201d a spotted pig in a bag, two barnyard roosters and a hen,\ntied by the legs, four quarts of roasted peanuts, a bushel of \u201cCrazy\nJane\u201d sweet potatoes, a large bundle of bedding, and divers and sundry\nother belongings, was on her way to Pendleton to visit relatives. \u201cThe\nfight came up,\u201d as the Congressional reporters say, \u201con the recurrence\nof the previous question,\u201d which was, in this case, an emphatic demand\nfor the payment of full fare for Diana\u2019s \u201cgran\u2019,\u201d \u201cLizzybet\u2019,\u201d a leggy\ngirl of apparently fourteen years of age. \u201cCap\u2019n,\u201d said Diana, \u201cdat gal\nis a \u2019leben yeahs old gal, en\u2019 wehrebbuh I does tek\u2019um on de train,\nde buckruh nebbuh does chaa\u2019ge me mo\u2019 den chillun money fuh de gal.\nEnty you \u2019membuh, suh, de yeah w\u2019en de dry drought come? Well, dat gal\nbawn een dat same berry yeah een de middle paa\u2019t ub de summuh, \u2019cause\nI \u2019membuh berrywell de dry drought dry up all de swamp en\u2019 backwatuh\nen\u2019 t\u2019ing een Augus\u2019, en\u2019 all de man on de plantesshun gone out een\nde swamp en\u2019 ketch de alligettuh out\u2019n \u2019e hole, en\u2019 dis gal Lizzybet\u2019\nma--him name Benus--eat too much alligettuh w\u2019en Lizzybet\u2019 wuz a t\u2019ree\nweeks\u2019 ole gal, en\u2019 de \u2019ooman dead en\u2019 lef\u2019 dis gal on my han\u2019. De\ngal\u2019 pa wuz my nyoungis\u2019 son, Pollydo\u2019, en\u2019 alldo\u2019 de scriptuh say,\n\u2018Paul kin plant en\u2019 Pollydo\u2019 kin water, but Gawd duh de man w\u2019at gib\nde greese,\u2019 stillyet Pollydo\u2019 en\u2019 him bredduh Paul plant de crap en\u2019\nwatuhr\u2019um alltwo \u2019tell de dry drought come, but Gawd nebbuh sen\u2019 de\ngreese \u2019tell Pollydo\u2019 ketch de alligettuh en\u2019 bile\u2019um, en\u2019 stillyet,\nalldo\u2019 \u2019e folluh\u2019 de scriptuh\u2019 wu\u2019d en\u2019 gib \u2019e lady de alligettuh\ngreese w\u2019at de Lawd sen\u2019, yet de lady dead, so I don\u2019t t\u2019ink dat tex\u2019,\nw\u2019at my locus pastuh resplain, could be specify, elseso I don\u2019t t\u2019ink\nPa Kinlaw could be onduhstan\u2019 de scriptuh berry well, or de greese\nnebbuh would\u2019uh \u2019stroy\u2019d de \u2019ooman. Stan\u2019 up gal, en\u2019 \u2019low de buckruh\nfuh look \u2019puntop yo\u2019 foot. Cap\u2019n, you ebbuh see, sence you bawn,\nshishuh feet lukkuh dat on a fo\u2019teen yeahs ole gal? Ent you know,\u201d\nsaid she, as Conductor Smith\u2019s eyes opened at the size of the pedal\nextremities exhibited, \u201cent you know dat a \u2019leben yeahs ole gal gots\nbigguh foot den a fo\u2019teen yeahs ole gal? Dis gal nebbuh had a shoe \u2019pun\n\u2019e foot, en\u2019 \u2019e foot gots nutt\u2019n\u2019 fuh stop\u2019um frum grow. Befo\u2019 you\ntek\u2019way all my money fuh tek dis gal to Pendletun, I wish you, please,\nsuh, kin eeduh go yo\u2019self, elseso sen\u2019 uh ansuh to my sistuhlaw, Miss\nFrajuh, w\u2019at lib to Mistuh Brissle place to Cumbee, en\u2019 ax\u2019um wedduh\ndis gal Lizzybet\u2019, w\u2019ich him is my gran\u2019, is mo\u2019 den \u2019leben yeah ole.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nONE WAS TAKEN--THE OTHER LEFT\n\n\nOn the hot white sand of a cart road that wound along the edge of\na ricefield in lower Carolina, lay the stiffened body of a yellow,\ncrop-eared cur. By his side, a companion in death, was a cottonmouth\nmoccasin, beaten almost to a pulp.\n\nThe road was flanked on either side by a canal half filled with\nstagnant water, dotted here and there with water lilies and shaded by\nthe feathery foliage of the pond willows, while, among the clumps of\nrushes that fringed the edges, blue flags nodded. Over all, the July\nsun glared fiercely, and up on the willow branches, where, here and\nthere, his rays penetrated the dense foliage, lay a water snake basking\nin the golden light. Now and then a blue heron--the \u201cPo\u2019 Joe\u201d of the\nplantation negro--rose lazily from his fishing station out in the\nricefield, and, trailing his long legs after him, moved on to another\n\u201cdrop.\u201d The whole world seemed to be asleep in the warm sunshine--all\nthe world save old Ca\u2019lina Manigo, who sat on a cypress log by the side\nof the road and gazed sorrowfully at the dead dog, and the snake that\nhad caused its death, while he muttered to himself:\n\n\u201cPo\u2019 ole Hol\u2019fas\u2019 dead, yaas, suh, dead en\u2019 gone! Ketch \u2019e de\u2019t\u2019 en\u2019\ngit \u2019structed by uh debble\u2019ub\u2019uh snake! De preechuh say dat w\u2019en de\nLawd tek\u2019way good man en\u2019 good \u2019ooman frum dis wull\u2019 \u2019tis bekasew\u2019y\nHim lub \u2019um en\u2019 gots nyuse fuhr\u2019um, but I wunduh w\u2019y mekso Him tek\u2019way\nHol\u2019fas\u2019? Cyan\u2019 be dem does ketch rokkoon en\u2019 \u2019possum en\u2019 t\u2019ing een\nHeben! I nebbuh yerry \u2019bout no shishuh t\u2019ing, but, my Mastuh! ef\ndem _is_ got\u2019um dey, Hol\u2019fas\u2019 will tree\u2019um befo\u2019 dayclean tomorruh\nmawnin\u2019, \u2019speshly ef \u2019e got sense \u2019nuf fuh fin\u2019 Bredduh Cudjo, my\nclass-leader, w\u2019at de Lawd tek las\u2019 Fibbywerry, \u2019cause B\u2019Cudjo nyuse to\nlub fuh folluh de waa\u2019ment\u2019 track een de swamp same lukkuh \u2019e nyuse to\nlub fuh folluh de \u2019Postle Paul\u2019 en\u2019 Nickuhdemus\u2019 track een de Scriptuh,\nen\u2019, I tell you, suh, w\u2019en B\u2019Cudjo git on a hot trail, wedduh\u2019so \u2019e duh\ntrail \u2019possum or \u2019postle, \u2019e berry haa\u2019d fuh t\u2019row\u2019um off!\n\n\u201cDat mek me \u2019membuh \u2019bout de las\u2019 time me en\u2019 him en\u2019 Hol\u2019fas\u2019 ketch\nde hebby rokkoon een de Cypress swamp close to Beabuh dam. Yaas\u2019suh,\ndat dog couldn\u2019 _tu\u2019ndown_ fuh rokkoon! \u2019E wuz jes\u2019 \u2019bout fus\u2019\nfowlcrow; de mawnin\u2019 staar climb up de sky \u2019tell \u2019e stan\u2019 \u2019puntop de\ntreehead, en\u2019, \u2019way obuh de swamp een de big dribe, we yerry de owl\n\u2018whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo,\u2019 en\u2019 bimeby pres\u2019n\u2019ly, we list\u2019n good en\u2019 we\nyerry Hol\u2019fas\u2019 comin\u2019 \u2019pun one hot trail, en\u2019, bimeby \u2019gen, we know by\n\u2019e baa\u2019k dat \u2019e done tree; so, w\u2019en we come to de dog, \u2019e bin at de\nbiggis\u2019 sweetgum tree een de swamp en\u2019 duh gib \u2019e tongue berry rappit.\nNow, w\u2019en we pit de light\u2019ood junk behin\u2019 we fuh shine \u2019e yeye, we\nsee de rokkoon \u2019puntop de berry top uh de gum tree, en\u2019 we yent gots\nno gun fuh shoot de rokkoon, so B\u2019Cudjo staa\u2019t\u2019 fuh climb de tree fuh\nt\u2019row down de rokkoon, en\u2019 \u2019e git\u2019long berry well \u2019tell \u2019e git mos\u2019 to\nde rokkoon, en\u2019 B\u2019Cudjo so hongry fuh ketch de rokkoon, dat \u2019e nebbuh\nquizzit de limb w\u2019at him binnuh seddown \u2019puntop, en\u2019 w\u2019en \u2019e _graff_\nat de rokkoon, please Gawd, de limb couldn\u2019 specify, en\u2019 de limb bruk,\nen\u2019 w\u2019en B\u2019Cudjo graff de rokkoon by \u2019e tail, him en\u2019 de rokkoon\nalltwo drap out de tree, en\u2019 hit de groun\u2019 \u2018_bim_!\u2019 De rokkoon dead,\nbut B\u2019Cudjo, een Gawd\u2019 mussy, fall \u2019puntop \u2019e head, en\u2019 dat hukkuh \u2019e\ndidn\u2019 bruk \u2019e back!\n\n\u201cWell, praise de Mastuh, Him tek\u2019way Hol\u2019fas\u2019. I yent grudge\u2019um de dog,\nef Him want\u2019um, but I wish \u2019E had uh bin tek my lady Bina en\u2019 lef\u2019 de\ndog, \u2019cause de dog nebbuh lie, en\u2019 de \u2019ooman _fuhrebbuh_ duh lie, en\u2019\nde dog wuz a fait\u2019ful dog, en\u2019 de \u2019ooman is a \u2019ceitful \u2019ooman, en\u2019\nw\u2019en you feed de dog, de dog wag \u2019e tail, but de _\u2019ooman!_ him nebbuh\ntengkful fuh _nutt\u2019n\u2019_. You nebbuh kin sattify _him_!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nEGG-ZACTLY\n\n\n\u201cCome\u2019yuh, gal, en\u2019 lemme look \u2019puntop yo\u2019 foot. W\u2019en I call you, yo\u2019\nfoot hebby ez i\u2019on, en\u2019 w\u2019en I tu\u2019n you loose, \u2019e light ez uh fedduh.\nWuh \u2019smattuh? Yo\u2019 two foot\u2019 mus\u2019 be tie togedduh, enty? Befo\u2019 de Lawd,\nyou stan\u2019 same lukkuh yo\u2019 maamy en\u2019 yo\u2019 gran\u2019maamy alltwo. You is\ntarrypin w\u2019en time come fuh wu\u2019k, en\u2019 bu\u2019d w\u2019en time come fuh play!\u201d\n\nOld Carolina Manigo sat on a three-legged stool at the door of his\ncabin, as he thus addressed his grand-daughter, Lucinda, a scrawny\nnegress of twelve or thirteen years. With reluctant feet, the girl,\na pitiful object, approached him. Her dress and appearance were in\nkeeping with the wretched poverty of her grandfather and all his\nsurroundings, and evidenced the utter incapacity of the average negro,\nthrown by \u201cfreedom\u201d upon his own resources, to care decently for his\nfamily. The frowzy wool on her unkempt head had been plaited weeks\nbefore into little pigtails that bristled all over her crown like\nblack caterpillars. Her face was gray with dirt, around her thick lips\nlingered the encrusted remnants of her sweet-potato dinner of the day\nbefore, while down her cheeks lay, like the rills of resinous gum that\nstreak the bark of the pine tree \u201cboxed\u201d for turpentine, the tracks\nof recent tears. Through the rifts in the ragged cotton dress that\nconstituted her sole attire, her scraggy limbs showed as she walked,\nor limped, rather, toward her grandfather. Around her left foot was\nwrapped a piece of burlap bagging, and, whenever she stepped upon it,\nher pinched face contracted with pain.\n\n\u201c\u2019Smattuh, gal, snake bite you, enty? Dis house mus\u2019be hab sin, \u2019cause\ndis mek de two time Gawd, een \u2019e mussy, sen\u2019 mis\u2019ry en\u2019 water-moccasin\neen dis fambly. Las\u2019 week dem \u2019stroy\u2019d Hol\u2019fas\u2019 (w\u2019ich him wuz de bes\u2019\nrokkoon dog ebbuh git \u2019pun a trail) en\u2019 now, please de Mastuh, de snake\ngone en\u2019 structid dis chillun gal, en\u2019 \u2019e gwine to dead on my han\u2019, en\u2019\n\u2019e know berry well \u2019e ma gone town, en\u2019, ef \u2019e _yiz_ dead befo\u2019 \u2019e ma\ngit back frum town, him will lef\u2019 me bidout a Gawd\u2019 somebody fuh min\u2019\nbu\u2019d out de cawnfiel\u2019, en\u2019 I nebbuh see, sence I bawn, shishuh hebby\ngang uh woodpeckuh\u2019, crow\u2019 en\u2019 all kind\u2019uh annimel lukkuh dis same\nAugus\u2019 munt\u2019. Gal! You ent gots no eye een yo\u2019 head \u2019scusin\u2019 fuh look\nfuh blackberry, enty? You walk duh paat\u2019 en\u2019 tu\u2019n yo\u2019 gaze \u2019puntop de\nsky, \u2019stead\u2019uh quizzit de groun\u2019 weh you duh walk! W\u2019en you dead, who\ngwine keep jaybu\u2019d\u2019 out\u2019n dis fiel\u2019? I good min\u2019 to lick you!\u201d\n\n\u201cGran\u2019puh,\u201d whimpered \u2019Cindy, \u201cI nebbuh step \u2019puntop no snake, suh,\n\u2019tis briah w\u2019at \u2019cratch me foot.\u201d\n\n\u201cBriah!\u201d laughed old Ca\u2019lina, derisively. _\u201cBriah!_ Who\u2019ebbuh yerry\n\u2019bout shishuh t\u2019ing! Briah! I sway to Gawd, gal, you mos\u2019 mek me laugh!\nWeh de debble you ebbuh know briah kin \u2019cratch nigguh\u2019 foot? You mus\u2019\nbe t\u2019ink you is buckruh, enty? You binnuh walk een briah en\u2019 t\u2019ing\nebbuh sence you bawn, \u2019tell de bottom uh yo\u2019 foot haa\u2019d same lukkuh\nalligettuh\u2019 back, en\u2019 you gots de impedin\u2019 to come\u2019yuh en\u2019 tell yo\u2019\ngran\u2019puh dat briah \u2019cratch yo\u2019 foot! Step fas\u2019, gal. Slow walkin\u2019 mek\nquick lickin\u2019, en\u2019 fus t\u2019ing you know briah will \u2019cratch you \u2019puntop\nyo\u2019 back \u2019stead\u2019uh \u2019pun yo\u2019 lef\u2019 han\u2019 feet. Mek\u2019ace, gal, en\u2019 come\u2019yuh.\nEnt you \u2019membuh dat, een de \u2019Postle Paul\u2019 \u2019Pistle to de \u2019Feeshun\u2019, him\nresplain de wu\u2019d dat \u2019long talk ketch run\u2019way nigguh?\u2019 Ent you know dat\ndey ent uh Chryce\u2019 hom\u2019ny een de house fuh eat? De las\u2019 fr\u2019en\u2019 I got\neen dis wull\u2019 wuz ole Hol\u2019fas\u2019, en\u2019 snake gone en\u2019 structid dat dog\nen\u2019 kill\u2019um, en\u2019 ebbuh sence \u2019e dead, de waa\u2019ment en\u2019 t\u2019ing come en\u2019\n\u2019stroy\u2019d eb\u2019ry Gawd\u2019 fowl on de place, en\u2019 las\u2019 night wil\u2019cat come en\u2019\nketch de frizzle hen wat binnuh set onduhneet\u2019 de cedar bush een de\nfench cawnuh, en\u2019 de hen \u2019low de cat fuh ketch\u2019um, en\u2019 t\u2019ree uh de aig\u2019\nis duck aig\u2019 en\u2019 two uh de odduh\u2019res\u2019 is tuckrey aig\u2019, en\u2019 you bettuh\ntek de aig\u2019 to Mistuh Ram\u2019 sto\u2019 to de Cross Road\u2019, en\u2019 chaa\u2019ge\u2019um\nseb\u2019npunce fuh de aig\u2019, \u2019cause I don\u2019t t\u2019ink de aig\u2019 kin specify berry\nwell, \u2019cause de hen w\u2019at bin seddown \u2019puntop de aig\u2019 git ketch by de\nwil\u2019cat en\u2019 de aig\u2019 binnuh seddown een de jew en\u2019 t\u2019ing, but ef de\nbuckruh \u2019tarrygate you en\u2019 quizzit you too ondeestunt \u2019bout de aig\u2019,\nyou kin tell\u2019um dat de aig\u2019 kin specify, \u2019cause de frizzle hen w\u2019at de\nwil\u2019cat ketch ent binnuh seddown \u2019puntop dem aig\u2019 mo\u2019n t\u2019ree week, en\u2019\nyou kin tell\u2019um dat wehreas de hen aig\u2019 oughtuh hatch\u2019out een t\u2019ree\nweek\u2019 de duck aig\u2019 en\u2019 de tuckrey aig\u2019 ent jue fuh hatch\u2019out \u2019tell de\nfo\u2019 week done out, en\u2019 tell\u2019um dat wehreas de hen aig\u2019 en\u2019 de duck aig\u2019\nen\u2019 de tuckrey aig\u2019 all binnuh keep one\u2019nudduh cump\u2019ny, de hen aig\u2019 is\ntoo mannusubble fuh hatch\u2019out befo\u2019 de odduh\u2019res\u2019 aig\u2019, so de hen aig\u2019\nkeep \u2019e cyarrictuh f\u2019um spile, \u2019tell all \u2019e cump\u2019ny done hatch\u2019out.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nAN INTERRUPTED OFFERTORY\n\n\nOut at the edge of the woods that fringed a sea-island cotton field\nin the lower part of Colleton County, stood a little bush church--a\nprimitive affair, constructed by setting four ten-foot stakes at the\ncorners of a square, laying ridgepoles in their forked tops, and\ncovering the whole with green boughs of the sweetgum. Humble as it was,\nthis summer sanctuary of the Rev. Nepchun Kinlaw\u2019s congregation was\nas dear to them as was ever minareted mosque to Moslem, or cloister\nto Monk. Here, during the warm weather, when the more pretentious\nclapboard church became unbearably hot, they assembled two or three\ntimes a week to receive the pearls of theological thought that, clothed\nin the Gullah dialect of the Carolina coast, fell from the thick\nlips of their beloved \u201clocus pastuh.\u201d Here, sheltered from sunshine\nand shower, they sat, like roosting chickens, on pine poles that,\nupholstered only with the bark that covered them, rested upon upright\nstakes sawed square at the top and driven into the ground. When these\n\u201cpews\u201d were filled to the ends, the overflow found lodgment on the\nstumps and logs that lay within sound of the preacher\u2019s voice in the\nenvironing forest.\n\nOn a night in the early summer, an unusually large congregation had\ngathered at this trysting place of the faithful, for the news had\nspread that \u201cPa Kinlaw\u201d was going to say something sensational on\nthe subject of pastoral ways and means. The night was dark, the sky\novercast, and now and then the low rumble of distant thunder and a\nfitful gust of wind from the south-east, that soughed through the\ntops of the pines for a moment and then died away, betokened the\ncoming storm. Around the place of worship, two or three pine-knot\nfires blazed brightly, furnishing, at once, light for the comfort of\nthe congregation, and smoke for the discomfiture of the gnats and\nsandflies that swarmed about the church. Around and between the fires,\nthe negroes, men and women, moved, avoiding the smoke and sparks that\nthe wind, from time to time, sent among them, the firelight falling\non their dark faces recalling the \u201chot-pot\u201d scene in Rider Haggard\u2019s\n\u201cShe.\u201d While they awaited the advent of their preacher, they discussed\ntheir daily pleasures, trials, hopes and fears--the reduced cost of\nbacon or calico at the country store, the demand for labor, and the\nincreased price therefor, at the rice plantations along the river, the\ndestruction of the early corn by the cutworms and the crows, etc.\n\n\u201cI yerry,\u201d said one old woman to another, \u201cI yerry dat Mistuh\nFitzSimmun done tek de sprout flow off \u2019e rice, en\u2019 \u2019e gwine hoe\u2019um\nnex\u2019 week, T\u2019ursday.\u201d\n\n\u201cDat so?\u201d said her companion. \u201cDen, I gwine dey sho\u2019 ez Gawd lemme go.\nEf my juntlemun kin git uh hawss, eeduhso uh oxin, fuh knock de middle\nout\u2019n \u2019e crap, I will mek she go \u2019long too, alldo\u2019 \u2019e gots de mis\u2019ry\neen \u2019e back \u2019tell \u2019e cyan\u2019 specify wid \u2019e hoe lukkuh \u2019e nyuse to do.\u201d\n\n\u201cI \u2019spec\u2019,\u201d said old Ca\u2019lina Manigo, \u201cI \u2019spec\u2019, I mos\u2019 sho\u2019, rokkoon\nduh walk duh paat\u2019 dis berry night! Please Gawd, ef Him didn\u2019 mek\ndat snake \u2019stroy\u2019d Hol\u2019fas\u2019 las\u2019 yeah, I could\u2019uh ketch one tenight,\ntenight, duh de night!\u201d\n\n\u201cEf you so hongry fuh rokkoon meat, w\u2019en de praise done gitt\u2019ru, we\nkin tek my dog Ring en\u2019 tek a leetle dribe,\u201d said Monday Parker, a\nstalwart black fellow.\n\n\u201c_Ring!_\u201d said Ca\u2019lina, scornfully. \u201c_Ring!_ Boy, ef you talk Ring\u2019\nname een de same bre\u2019t\u2019 wid Hol\u2019fas\u2019 name, you will mek me hab sin\nright yuh tenight! I kin tek ole Hol\u2019fas\u2019 jawbone out\u2019n de du\u2019t weh de\nbuzzut done lef\u2019um, en\u2019 I kin pit dat jawbone \u2019puntop uh rokkoon track,\nen\u2019 him will mek de rokkoon git een de tree top, befo\u2019 Ring kin ketch a\nfleas out\u2019n \u2019e own tail! Go\u2019way, Paa\u2019kuh, man, you know berry well yo\u2019\ndog cyan\u2019 specify!\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019Nuf t\u2019ing, \u2019scusin\u2019 dog, dey een dis wull\u2019 w\u2019at cyan\u2019 specify,\u201d said\na deep voice from the darkness without, and, in a moment more, the\nlong-looked-for pastor, mounted on a raw-boned brindled ox, rode into\nthe broad disk of firelight that filled the glade. A grain sack stuffed\nwith corn shucks was his saddle, and a long grapevine wound around and\naround the unhappy ox, together with martingales and crupper of the\nsame, held it in place. A bridle and stirrups of frayed cotton rope\ncompleted the extraordinary equestrian equipment.\n\n\u201cCow iz shishuh \u2019ceitful t\u2019ing fuh ride, dat I mos\u2019 didn\u2019 mek me\n\u2019p\u2019int,\u201d said the preacher, as he dismounted and hitched his animal to\na bush.\n\n\u201cPaul Jinkin\u2019 got some shinny peas plant close by de road aige, en\u2019\ndis cow bin so hongry dat, w\u2019en I git to weh de fench bruk down, \u2019e\ntek \u2019eself en\u2019 me en\u2019 all, en\u2019 gone een de fiel\u2019 en\u2019 staa\u2019t fuh nyam\nde peas, en\u2019 I try fuh git\u2019um out de fiel\u2019, \u2019cause Paul ent b\u2019long to\nwe chu\u2019ch, but de cow haa\u2019d-head ez a \u2019ooman, en\u2019 I couldn\u2019 git\u2019um\nfuh lef\u2019 de fiel\u2019, ontel we yerry Paul call to \u2019e lady fuh git up en\u2019\nhe\u2019p\u2019um ketch de somebody w\u2019at dey een de fiel\u2019, en\u2019 w\u2019en I yerry\n_dat_, I yent want\u2019uh git de cow\u2019 cyarrictuh spile, so I mek\u2019um come\nout\u2019n\u2019 de fiel\u2019--en\u2019 dat how I git yuh late.\u201d\n\nTaking his stand in the tall box of rough pine boards that served for\na pulpit, he looked askance at the contributions to his support that\nvarious members of his congregation brought to the altar and laid on\nthe ground beside him. A quart of grist, a dozen eggs, a chicken, a\npint of \u201cclean\u201d rice, a nickle--ostentatiously brought forth from a\nknot in the corner of an apron and placed by the proud donor \u201ceen de\nReb\u2019ren\u2019 han\u2019\u201d--such were the offerings of this simple people, but,\nalthough representing more than a tithe of their possessions, they\nfound little favor in the pastor\u2019s eyes.\n\n\u201cSistuh Wineglass,\u201d said he, as a bustling middle-aged woman smilingly\npresented a chicken. \u201cSistuh Wineglass, chickin\u2019 seems to sca\u2019ceful een\ndis congregashun ez debble sca\u2019ceful een heab\u2019n! Dis mek only de t\u2019ree\nchickin\u2019 w\u2019at bin contri_butes_ to dis chu\u2019ch sence de las\u2019 quawt\u2019ly\npreachin\u2019, en\u2019 I done tell oonuh one time \u2019ready dat dis pulpit cyan\u2019\nfilfill\u2019 bidout _bittle_. Ent de Scriptuh say een de fo\u2019teen chaptuh\neen Nickuhdemus, dat de lab\u2019ruh wut\u2019 \u2019e hire? I gots to lef\u2019 my crap\nkibbuh wid grass, en\u2019 come yuh fuh \u2019rassle en\u2019 agguhnize wid oonuh\nsinful soul en\u2019 t\u2019ing, en\u2019 you gots de nomannus to come een de Lawd\u2019\nhouse wid t\u2019ree aig\u2019 en\u2019 one leetle fo\u2019punce chickin een yo\u2019 han\u2019, en\u2019\n\u2019spec\u2019 fuh ketch salwashun, enty? Ef you saa\u2019ch Nickuhdemus\u2019 wu\u2019d you\nwill fin\u2019 dat \u2019e say \u2019sponsubble dat a fo\u2019punce chickin cyan\u2019 specify\nfuh seb\u2019npunce\u2019 wut\u2019 uh salwashun! You tell me week befo\u2019 las\u2019 dat you\ncouldn\u2019 git no chickin\u2019 \u2019scusin\u2019 you git aig\u2019, en\u2019 you cyan\u2019 gots no\naig\u2019 \u2019cep\u2019n\u2019 de hen lay\u2019um, but de Lawd\u2019 wu\u2019d say, ef yo\u2019 right han\u2019,\needuhso yo\u2019 right han\u2019 feet, refen\u2019 you, you mus\u2019 cut\u2019um off, en\u2019 ef de\nhen cyan\u2019 specify, you mus\u2019 cut off him head same fashi\u2019n en\u2019\u201d--\n\nThe pastor\u2019s prelude was brought to a sudden close by a deafening peal\nof thunder that echoed and re-echoed through the forest. A gust of\nwind lifted the sweetgum thatch from the rafters of the little church\nand scattered the boughs to leeward, and, as the big raindrops began\nto fall upon the assembled worshipers, Pa Kinlaw gathered together his\nprog, mounted his ox, and trotted off in the darkness, calling to his\nflock as he went, \u201cde Lawd en\u2019 me alltwo cyan\u2019 talk one time! De nex\u2019\npreachin\u2019 will be to Sistuh Rab\u2019nel\u2019 house \u2019bout fus\u2019 daa\u2019k Chuesday\nnight!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nA FLAW IN THE \u201cEENDITEMENT\u201d\n\n\nShe came into the office of a Walterboro lawyer and engaged his\nservices to reverse, upset and \u201cspile\u201d the decision of a trial\njustice who had just fined her \u201cnine dolluh\u2019 en\u2019 de cawss\u2019, suh,\u201d for\nobstructing a public highway.\n\nGrace Rivers was her \u201ceentitlement.\u201d The color of her skin was so\ndeep that a piece of charcoal drawn across her face would have left a\npallid mark. Although literally on the \u201cshady side\u201d of seventy, she was\nnot regardless of the advantages of dress, and her costume was, like\nKatisha\u2019s left elbow, worth \u201ccoming miles to see.\u201d The gray wool that\ncovered her head was snarled and tangled like a burry merino pelt, but\na man\u2019s black straw hat, battered and weather-stained, was set upon\nit as jauntily as was ever worn the rakish cap of Fra Diavolo! When a\nfashion-plate had last been seen in her habitat near Ion\u2019s Cross Roads,\nbustles were \u201cthe thing.\u201d Although these protuberances on the human\nform divine had long since been called in and relegated to the rear\n(?) they were still \u201cthe thing\u201d for Grace. The balloon bustle of the\nsociety actress, the oscillating bustle, the coiled-spring variety that\nrebelled at being sat upon, and, when \u201ccrushed to earth,\u201d like truth,\nwould \u201crise again,\u201d having passed away, were not now obtainable at the\ncountry stores; so the ingenuity of this dusky devotee of fashion was\ncalled into play, and she had constructed as unique a \u201cdress improver\u201d\nas was ever worn under the sun--or under a homespun skirt, either, for\nthat matter. A rift in the rear of her gown disclosed the mechanism of\nthis work of art, which was merely a piece of an iron barrel hoop, bent\ninto a half-elipse, and wound with two or three thicknesses of cotton\nbagging. Primitive as it was, it sufficed to elevate the hind part of\nher skirt several inches above the level of the lower periphery of\nthe front breadth, which was hidden by an apron made of a rough-dried\nguano sack, on which appeared in bold stenciled letters, \u201cAshepoo Acid\nPhosphate, 200 pounds--privilege tax paid.\u201d\n\nTaking a seat in the counsellor\u2019s office, she said: \u201cMajuh, I come fuh\ngit jestuss yuh teday, teday! W\u2019en my juntlemun, Mistuh Ribbuhs, dead\nyeah befo\u2019 las\u2019, een Augus\u2019 munt\u2019 (en\u2019 \u2019e dead \u2019cause snake structid\u2019um\non \u2019e lef\u2019 han\u2019 feet w\u2019en \u2019e binnuh gwine to praise meetin\u2019 to Sistuh\nGibbes\u2019 house on Hawss Shoe causeway) w\u2019en him dead, \u2019e lef\u2019 me t\u2019irty\nacre\u2019 lan\u2019 w\u2019ich \u2019e buy frum Cap\u2019n Gracy befo\u2019 \u2019e dead. Now, w\u2019en\nmy juntlemun binnuh lib, Cudjo Singletun en\u2019 \u2019e fambly buy a piece\nuh groun\u2019 close to weh we lib, en\u2019 likeso Sambo Hawlback buy groun\u2019\neenjinin\u2019 de same lan\u2019. \u2019Long ez my juntlemun binnuh _lib_, dem berry\nwell sattify fuh trabble \u2019longside de aige uh my groun\u2019 w\u2019en dem duh\ngwine chu\u2019ch, eeduhso to de sto\u2019, but soon ez my juntlemun _dead_, de\neegnunt nigguh\u2019 git so swell\u2019up en\u2019 \u2019laagin\u2019, dem come en\u2019 cut paat\u2019\nt\u2019ru my pinelan\u2019, en\u2019 call\u2019um pulblic road. W\u2019en I see de \u2019ceitfulness\u2019\nen\u2019 de ondeestunt gwinin\u2019 en\u2019 gwinin\u2019 uh dese nomannus nigguh\u2019, I git\ndisgus\u2019 wid de nigguh\u2019, en\u2019 I mek a fench \u2019cross de road, \u2019tell de road\ncouldn\u2019 specify. Now, w\u2019en Sunday night come, Sambo tek \u2019e lady een \u2019e\noxin cyaa\u2019t, en\u2019 staa\u2019t lukkuh him duh gwine chu\u2019ch, but \u2019e nebbuh git\nto chu\u2019ch, suh, \u2019cause \u2019e oxin ent gots good eye duh night time, en\u2019\nde oxin git tanglety\u2019up een de fench, befo\u2019 Sambo ruckuhnize weh \u2019e\nduh gwine, en\u2019 de oxin t\u2019row Sambo\u2019 lady out\u2019n de cyaa\u2019t, en\u2019 de lady\nfuhgit de \u2019lij\u2019un w\u2019at \u2019e staa\u2019t fuh tek to chu\u2019ch, en\u2019 \u2019e git bex,\nen\u2019 Sambo git bex, en, fin\u2019lly at las\u2019, dem didn\u2019 gone chu\u2019ch, but dem\ntu\u2019n back home, en\u2019 nex\u2019 mawnin\u2019 Sambo gone to de Trial Jestuss en\u2019\nswayre out warrant fuh \u2019res\u2019 me en\u2019 my groun\u2019 fuh twis\u2019up en\u2019 obstruck\nde pulblic highway, en\u2019 de Jestuss sen\u2019 a mufflejaw\u2019 nigguh counstubble\nto my house, en\u2019 him tek me off befo\u2019 I gitt\u2019uh chance eb\u2019nso fuh pit\non me shoesh, en\u2019 I tell\u2019um dat \u2019e yent deestunt, no, suh, fuh \u2019res\u2019\na lady en\u2019 tek\u2019um to co\u2019t, bidout \u2019e shoesh \u2019puntop \u2019e foot, but dat\ncounstubble raise\u2019 by po\u2019 buckruh en\u2019 \u2019e yent gots uh Chryce\u2019 mannus to\n\u2019e name!\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the attorney, when he had stemmed this torrent of speech,\n\u201cdid you tell him that you were not ready for trial; that you wished\ntime to secure counsel and to summon witnesses to testify in your\nbehalf?\u201d\n\n\u201cI _baig\u2019um_, I tell\u2019um, \u2018Mistuh Awkuhmun, I want to quizzit you on\ndis p\u2019int, how de debble you kin \u2019res\u2019 a lady fuh obstruck uh highway,\nw\u2019en you know berrywell de road w\u2019ich de nigguh\u2019 mek t\u2019ru my lan\u2019, run\nt\u2019ru _low groun\u2019_! How, een de name uh Gawd, kin I eentuhfayre wid de\npulblic _highway_ w\u2019en de road so _low_ dat \u2019e full uh watuh \u2019tell\nlimus cootuh en\u2019 t\u2019ing duh swim een\u2019um! No, suh! \u2019scusin\u2019 you kin ansuh\nme dat parable, yo\u2019 eenditement cyan\u2019 specify\u2019.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat was his reply,\u201d asked the lawyer.\n\n\u201c\u2019E didn\u2019 reply _nutt\u2019n\u2019_, suh. \u2019E jis\u2019 tell me I gots fuh specify wid\nnine dolluh\u2019 en\u2019 de cawss\u2019, \u2019scusin\u2019 I want\u2019uh leddown een Walterburruh\njail ontell de t\u2019ree Sat\u2019d\u2019y een June. I didn\u2019 gots no money fuh g\u2019em,\nso I g\u2019em mawgidge on my cow en\u2019 t\u2019ing \u2019tell I kin come yuh to you,\nsuh, en\u2019 git you fuh see me t\u2019ru, \u2019cause dis ondelicate buckruh \u2019res\u2019\nme\u2019, en\u2019 try me en\u2019 all, een one en\u2019 de same day. \u2019E wouldn\u2019 eb\u2019n gimme\ntime fuh go home en\u2019 reconstruck meself, en\u2019, please suh, Majuh, w\u2019en\nmy juntlemun dead, \u2019e tell me fuh fin\u2019 out w\u2019at you will chaa\u2019ge me fuh\ntek care uh me en\u2019 my cow en\u2019 my groun\u2019 en\u2019 t\u2019ing by de yeah--eb\u2019n so\nef I duh sleep--I want you fuh see how much you will chaa\u2019ge fuh keep\nnigguh, en\u2019 counstubble, en\u2019 po\u2019buckruh en\u2019 all kind\u2019uh waa\u2019ment en\u2019\nt\u2019ing off my groun\u2019, \u2019tell I _dead_, suh.\u201d\n\nThe lawyer told her he would consider the matter, and, Ashepoo\u2019s \u201cNada,\nthe Lily,\u201d with a curtsy to the stranger within the attorney\u2019s gate,\ndrifted out into the brilliant sunlight that lay like a golden mantle\non field and woodland.\n\n\n\n\nOLD WINE--NEW BOTTLES\n\n\nHe lived in Spartanburg, and was the proud valet (pronounced \u201cvalley\u201d\nin the up-country) of a young physician. Whether the charcoal hue of\nhis face, or his employer\u2019s profession, prompted a clever woman to\nbestow upon him the appellation of \u201cthe valley of the shadow of death,\u201d\nI do not know, but it certainly seemed, to every one acquainted with\nhim, a peculiarly appropriate \u201ceentitle_ment_.\u201d\n\nWhence he came was a mystery. He tramped into the town one day, with\nhis kinky wool full of the red dust of the up-country roads and his\nmouth full of the Gullah dialect of the coast, and asked for work.\nAlthough not more than thirteen years of age, his hardened muscles and\npinched face indicated that he had known both toil and starvation.\n\u201cGran\u2019puh lick me en\u2019 I run\u2019way en\u2019 lef\u2019um,\u201d was all he said, and,\nas he proved industrious and reasonably honest, there was no further\ninquiry into his antecedents.\n\nOne day, soon after he had established himself in his Spartanburg\nsanctuary, I chanced, while on a visit to the low-country, to learn\nsomething of his history. Passing through a plantation, formerly the\nhome of a distinguished South Carolina family, but now abandoned to the\noccupancy of a few negro squatters, whose slovenly agricultural methods\nextracted but a scanty subsistence from the naturally fertile soil, I\ncame to a miserable cabin, half a mile away from the main settlement.\nOn its site had once stood a comfortable frame house of the type in\ngeneral use on Southern plantations for ante-bellum negro quarters,\nbut the woodwork had long since been destroyed by fire, and the brick\nchimney alone remained. Among the negroes of the coast, where brick are\nscarce and the cabin chimneys are generally made of clay or mud, the\npossession of a brick \u201cchimbly\u201d is a sort of badge of aristocracy and a\npassport to high position in colored society, and old Scipio Smashum,\nhaving been a house servant before the war, and, retaining through all\nthe hardships that had come to him with freedom, a profound contempt\nfor the coarser-fibred \u201cfield hands,\u201d preferred to live apart from\nthem, and had reared around the isolated brick chimney a habitation\nwhich, even when new, was never weatherproof, and was now in a pitiable\nstate of dilapidation.\n\nFrom the pine saplings, of which the walls were constructed, the\nrotting bark had fallen away, disclosing the perforations of the wood\nborers or \u201csawyers,\u201d whose industry had almost honey-combed the sappy\nlogs. The clapboards which covered the house were falling to pieces\nwith decay, and here and there on the weather-worn roof lay, like oases\nin a desert of gray, patches of green mould.\n\nThe surroundings of the cabin were as unkempt and unattractive as the\nbuilding itself. Dogfennel and \u201cJimpson\u201d weed grew almost up to the\nthreshold. A few rows of corn and beans in a garden nearby were choked\nwith grass and had been abandoned soon after the plants were up. The\n\u201cwattled\u201d fence of clapboards surrounding it was tumbling down, and\nthrough the fallen panels the neighbors\u2019 cows and pigs roamed at will.\nOn the top of a little log chicken coop, a young Dominique rooster\ncackled loudly while he awaited the coming of his partner, who was, at\nthe moment, busied with domestic duties within.\n\nOn a bench near the door sat old Scipio. The wool which covered his\nhead was as white as the back of a Cotswold sheep, and the face, in\nwhich his bleared and jaundiced eyes were deeply set, was seamed with\ncare.\n\nAs I approached, he was upbraiding the boastful rooster. \u201cYou so\n\u2019laagin\u2019. Soon ez yo\u2019 lady git on \u2019e nes\u2019 you biggin fuh cackle same\nlukkuh _you_ duh specify, \u2019stead\u2019uh _him_. You stan\u2019 dey wid yo\u2019 back\nspeckle\u2019 lukkuh one dese red-head\u2019 woodpeckuh\u2019, en\u2019 t\u2019ink you gots mo\u2019\neentruss\u2019 een dat aig den de hen \u2019eself.--Mawnin\u2019, maussuh, t\u2019engk\n_Gawd_ I see you teday. De time so berry haa\u2019d, maussuh; ef you didn\u2019\nbin come soon, I \u2019spec\u2019 you wouldn\u2019 uh fine\u2019 yo\u2019 ole nigguh yuh teday.\nI mos\u2019 t\u2019ink de big Maussuh gwine to call me putty soon, \u2019cause de\nmis\u2019ry een de back git mo\u2019 wuss den \u2019e nyuse to be, en\u2019 bittle git so\nsca\u2019ceful dese day\u2019, en\u2019 I cyan\u2019 hol\u2019 de hoe like I could\u2019uh do one\ntime, en\u2019 I cyan\u2019 git no cow, needuhso no mule, fuh plow de groun\u2019,\n\u2019tell I cyan\u2019 raise no crop, en\u2019 eb\u2019nso w\u2019en de crop done plant, I yent\ngots no chillun en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019 fuh keep de waa\u2019_ment_ out\u2019n\u2019um, en\u2019 I mos\u2019\nt\u2019ink ef you didn\u2019 come teday, _Stepney_ would\u2019uh git dis po\u2019 ole body.\nTrouble come sence you bin yuh las\u2019, sho\u2019 ez Gawd! Dat boy Joe run\u2019way\nen\u2019 gone to de up-country jis\u2019 \u2019cause I lick\u2019um, en\u2019 soon as _him_\ngone, old Sancho Haywu\u2019d\u2019 lady dead, en\u2019 Sancho come en\u2019 tek\u2019way my\ngran\u2019daa\u2019tuh \u2019Riah, en\u2019 tek\u2019um home fuh wife. I t\u2019aw\u2019t dat ole nigguh\nhad mo\u2019 sense, but w\u2019en I peruse \u2019e cyarrictuh close, I see \u2019e cyan\u2019\nspecify ez uh sensubble man.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen did his wife die?\u201d I asked.\n\n\u201c\u2019E dead een Fibbywerry, suh. \u2019E binnuh cook supper, en\u2019 \u2019e gone to\nde shelf fuh git salt fuh pit een de hom\u2019ny, en\u2019 ebbuh sence \u2019e gots\ncatt\u2019rack\u2019 een \u2019e yeye \u2019e cyan\u2019 see berry well, en\u2019 \u2019stead\u2019uh tek de\ncan wid de salt, \u2019e tek de can wid de consecrate\u2019 lye, en\u2019 \u2019e pit de\nconsecrate\u2019 lye een de hom\u2019ny, en\u2019 fus\u2019 t\u2019ing \u2019e know, \u2019e yent know\n_nutt\u2019n\u2019_ \u2019cause \u2019e dead! Oh yaas\u2019suh, \u2019e git relij\u2019un jis\u2019 befo\u2019 \u2019e\ndead, en\u2019 \u2019e dead beautiful, yaas\u2019 suh, en\u2019 \u2019e had de biggis\u2019 fun\u2019rul\nyou ebbuh see, en\u2019 ole Pa Sancho pit \u2019e lady een de groun\u2019 lukkuh\nteday, en\u2019, please Gawd, ez \u2019e gwine home frum de fun\u2019rul dat same\nberry day, \u2019e come by my house en\u2019 tek my gran\u2019 \u2019Riah en\u2019 tek she home\nfuh wife! Ef I had\u2019uh bin home, I wouldn\u2019uh let\u2019um tek de gal befo\u2019 de\nmunt\u2019 done out, \u2019e would\u2019uh look mo\u2019 _deestunt_, yaas\u2019suh. But I don\u2019\nmin\u2019 \u2019bout Sancho, \u2019cause dat gal gwine to mek\u2019um t\u2019ink t\u2019unduhsnake\ngot\u2019um befo\u2019 dis yeah gone, yaas\u2019suh. I tell\u2019um, \u2018Sancho, you better\nmin\u2019! Tek care bettuh mo\u2019nuh baig paa\u2019d\u2019n[4], en\u2019 Paul\u2019 wu\u2019d to\nBuhrabbus een de Scriptuh specify puhtickluh dat you cyan\u2019 pit uh nyung\ngrapewine een uh ole killybash, en\u2019 you cyan\u2019 pit a nyung \u2019ooman een uh\nole \u2019ooman\u2019 frock, \u2019cause dem alltwo will buss\u2019. Sancho, you know berry\nwell you cyan\u2019 specify, en\u2019 you ent gots de strengk fuh lick dat nyung\n\u2019ooman, en\u2019 likeso Buhrabbus say dat ef you don\u2019 lick yo\u2019 lady you will\nspile \u2019e chile,\u2019 but I sway-to-Gawd, suh, dat gal tu\u2019n Pa Sancho staa\u2019t\nfool, en\u2019 \u2019e nebbuh had my exwice een de back\u2019uh \u2019e head! En\u2019 now,\nmaussuh, sence de gal gone, I ent gots nobody fuh do nutt\u2019n\u2019 fuh me.\nDese nigguh\u2019 w\u2019at grow up sence freedom come een ent gots no mannus,\nen\u2019 dey would\u2019uh lemme dead een dis house, ef de w\u2019ite people didn\u2019\nsee me t\u2019ru. W\u2019en ole Missis binnuh lib, bress Gawd, \u2019e always \u2019membuh\nde ole nigguh, but now, sence him dead en\u2019 de grass duh grow obuh \u2019e\ngrabe out yonduh onduhneet\u2019 de libe-oak tree, en\u2019 all de w\u2019ite people\nw\u2019at I raise lef\u2019 de ole plantesshun en\u2019 scattuh all obuh de wull\u2019,\nen\u2019 all kind\u2019uh low-down buckruh, w\u2019at couldn\u2019 \u2019sociate wid we w\u2019ite\npeople\u2019 fambly een ole time\u2019, come fuh lib on de place, please Gawd, I\nyent gots nutt\u2019n\u2019 much fuh lib fuh now, dese days. T\u2019engk you, nyung\nmaussuh, t\u2019engk you, suh, Gawd bress you!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nA GULLAH GLOSSARY\n\n\nThe Glossary included in this volume, while making no pretense to\nabsolute accuracy, is offered as a workable list of the words in\ncommon use by the Negroes of the South Carolina coast. It is doubtful,\nhowever, if the vocabulary of any single individual comprises more\nthan half the list, for many words in everyday use about Georgetown\nor Charleston occur rarely at Beaufort, or on the Combahee. Then,\ntoo, many terms and expressions have only a local significance.\nOn the seacoast and along the lower reaches of the tidal rivers,\n\u201ctrus\u2019-me-Gawd\u201d (I trust my God) is the common name for the cranky,\nunseaworthy dugout canoe, the hazard of whose use on the rough waters\nof the coast implies faith in the watchful care of a divine Providence.\nHigher up the same river, however, where smoother waters exact smaller\nfaith, the coffin-like craft is merely a \u201ccoo-noo,\u201d a \u201ccun-noo,\u201d or a\n\u201ccon-noo.\u201d\n\nHe who adventures into Gullah and would \u201cmake head or tail\u201d of its\nqueer phonetics, must keep in mind the sounds \u201cuh,\u201d \u201ce,\u201d \u201cran,\u201d and\n\u201ca.\u201d In no other tongue, perhaps, can so much be expressed with so\nlittle strain upon brain or lips or glottis as by the Gullah\u2019s laconic\nuse of these grunting jungle-sounds.\n\nTo the Gullah, the naked \u201ca\u201d at the top of the first column of the\ndictionary is \u201cuh,\u201d the dominant note upon which his speech is pitched.\nWith \u201cuh\u201d he boastfully proclaims the personal pronoun \u201cI.\u201d As\n\u201cbubbuh,\u201d or \u201cbudduh,\u201d or \u201cbuh,\u201d he greets his brethren; as \u201csistuh,\u201d\nor \u201ctittuh,\u201d his sisters. Sweet potatoes he roasts and eats as\n\u201ctettuh.\u201d His father, mother, daughter, are \u201cfarruh, murruh, daa\u2019tuh;\u201d\nhis ever is \u201cebbuh,\u201d his never is \u201cnebbuh;\u201d forever, \u201cfuhrebbuh.\u201d His\nanswer is \u201cansuh,\u201d his master is \u201cmastuh,\u201d his pastor is \u201cpastuh\u201d (and\nso is his pasture); his either is \u201ceeduh,\u201d his neither is \u201cneeduh,\u201d\nhis fever is \u201cfebuh,\u201d his river is \u201cribbuh,\u201d his cooter is \u201ccootuh,\u201d\nhis silver is \u201csilbuh.\u201d If in daylight he falls asleep in an open\nplace, the vulture\u2019s wing that hovers over him will cast a \u201cshadduh.\u201d\nHis neighbor is \u201cnavuh,\u201d his favor is \u201cfabuh,\u201d his labor is \u201clavuh,\u201d\nhis Savior is \u201cSabeyuh.\u201d His bother is \u201cbodduh,\u201d his other is \u201codduh,\u201d\nhis t\u2019other is \u201ctodduh;\u201d another, \u201canodduh.\u201d Otter is \u201cottuh,\u201d and\n\u2019gator is \u201c\u2019gatuh;\u201d better, \u201cmo\u2019bettuh,\u201d and alligator, \u201calligettuh.\u201d\nBarrow is \u201cbarruh,\u201d burrow is \u201cburruh,\u201d furrow is \u201cfurruh,\u201d harrow is\n\u201charruh,\u201d borrow is \u201cborruh;\u201d tomorrow, \u201ctomorruh.\u201d His mourner is\n\u201cmo\u2019nuh,\u201d and so is his more than (more nor) and corner is \u201ccawnuh,\u201d\n\u201cmauma\u201d is \u201cmaumuh,\u201d \u201cmaussa\u201d is \u201cmaussuh,\u201d cover is \u201ckibbuh;\u201d uncover,\n\u201conkibbuh,\u201d the white man is \u201cbuckruh,\u201d the Negro is \u201cNigguh.\u201d And\nfinger is \u201cfinguh,\u201d as ginger is \u201cginjuh.\u201d Pshaw is \u201cshuh,\u201d and sir is\n\u201csuh.\u201d His feather is \u201cfedduh,\u201d his weather is \u201cwedduh,\u201d his measure is\n\u201cmedjuh,\u201d his pleasure is \u201cpledjuh.\u201d And if, in pleasantry or wrath,\nhe cries out upon a compatriot, he scornfully apostrophizes him as \u201cuh\nGulluh nigguh!\u201d\n\nFollowing \u201cuh\u201d in frequency of occurrence comes \u201c\u2019e,\u201d a contraction\nof he, she (but used also for it)--usually pronounced as \u201cee\u201d in see,\nbut sometimes approaching \u201ce\u201d in set and \u201ci\u201d in sit; but, without the\nuse of diacritical marks, the exact shading cannot be expressed. This\n\u201c\u2019e\u201d is ever in the Gullah mouth. If a man has shuffled off this mortal\ncoil, \u201c\u2019e dead;\u201d if a fruitful woman has blessed the earth, \u201c\u2019e hab\nchile;\u201d if the dusky infant cries out upon the world, \u201c\u2019e cry;\u201d if a\nmule be too free with her hindlegs, \u201c\u2019e kick.\u201d If winter comes, \u201c\u2019e\nfreeze,\u201d and in summer weather \u201c\u2019e hot.\u201d If a storm approaches, \u201c\u2019e\ngwine to wedduh;\u201d when it breaks, \u201c\u2019e t\u2019unduh, \u2019e lightnin\u2019, \u2019e blow\nwin\u2019, \u2019e rain.\u201d\n\nIn \u201cMyths of the Georgia Coast,\u201d Colonel Jones\u2019s Gullahs pronounce this\ncontraction \u201ceh,\u201d but with this a clearer phonetic apprehension of the\nGullah does not permit agreement. \u201cEh\u201d is a good English word which the\nGullah pronounces correctly and frequently utters in the ejaculation\n\u201ceh, eh!\u201d to express surprise or bewilderment.\n\nAlmost the twin of \u201c\u2019e\u201d is \u201cum,\u201d expressing him, her, it and them. Did\nthat man steal your pig? \u201c\u2019E t\u2019ief\u2019um.\u201d Did the woman whip the boy? \u201c\u2019E\nlick\u2019um.\u201d Did the fire burn your house? \u201c\u2019E bu\u2019n\u2019um.\u201d Have you finished\nyour task? \u201cUh done\u2019um.\u201d Did you shoot those crows? \u201cUh shoot\u2019um.\u201d And\n\u201cum\u201d added to see or saw becomes \u201cshum.\u201d See that woman? \u201cUh shum.\u201d\nDid you see her yesterday? \u201cUh shum.\u201d Will you see her tomorrow? \u201cUh\ngwine shum.\u201d \u201cShum\u201d expresses see, seeing, or saw him, her, it, or them.\n\nIf the Gullah Negro, in \u201cfuh him\u201d and \u201cfuh she,\u201d changes the pronoun to\n\u201cum,\u201d he adds an \u201cr\u201d for euphony and utters a rolling \u201cfuhr\u2019um;\u201d and,\nsimilarly, \u201ctuh him,\u201d \u201ctuh she\u201d are changed to \u201ctuhr\u2019um.\u201d\n\nThe Gullah\u2019s favorite pronunciation of our first vowel is that of\n\u201ca\u201d in at, hat, bat--words that, like all others having the same \u201ca\u201d\nsound, he invariably pronounces correctly. Drawled to the double \u201ca\u201d\nas in \u201cbaa,\u201d it does yeoman service in \u201cpaat\u2019,\u201d path; \u201cpaa\u2019t,\u201d part;\n\u201csmaa\u2019t,\u201d smart; \u201ccyaa\u2019t,\u201d cart; \u201ch\u2019aa\u2019t,\u201d heart; \u201cshaa\u2019p,\u201d sharp;\n\u201cbaa\u2019n,\u201d barn; \u201cyaa\u2019d,\u201d yard; \u201cmaamy,\u201d mother; \u201cmaa\u2019k,\u201d mark; \u201cstaa\u2019t,\u201d\nstart; and so in many other words.\n\nIn the Gullah there are many contradictions, the Negro sometimes taking\nsurprisingly short-cuts, expressing himself succinctly and saying a\ngreat deal with but a mouthful of words; while at others he rambles\ninterminably and wanders so far afield in his verbal intoxication that\nhe can hardly come soberly again to his starting point.\n\nIn this tongue one word or combination of words frequently does duty\nfor singular and plural numbers, past and present tenses, and for\nmasculine, feminine, and neuter genders. Thus \u201cUh shum\u201d may mean I\nsaw him, I see him, I saw her, I see her, I saw it, I see it, I saw\nthem, I see them. So \u201cUh tell\u2019um\u201d means I told or I tell him, her, or\nthem. Oxen and bulls, as well as cows, are generally classified and\ndenominated as \u201ccow,\u201d oxen as \u201cox,\u201d \u201ctwo ox,\u201d \u201cten ox,\u201d etc., while a\nsingle ox, if not called a \u201ccow,\u201d is invariably \u201cone oxin.\u201d \u201c\u2019Ooman\u201d\nis both woman and women; \u201cman\u201d stands also for men, although \u201cmens\u201d is\nsometimes used for the plural, as \u201ct\u2019ree man,\u201d or \u201cfo\u2019 mens.\u201d\n\nMany words the Gullahs pronounce correctly. These are here spelled\nin the normal way, as to respell them would result only in a useless\nmutilation of the text.\n\nVery often the Gullah usage consists in new and peculiar applications\nof words, twisted to meet its own needs, and making a single vocable\nserve the purpose of many.\n\nWith a single \u201cknock,\u201d the Gullah knocks, has knocked, is knocking.\n\nWith but a \u201crock,\u201d he rocks, has rocked, is rocking.\n\nWith \u201cfight,\u201d he fights, has fought, is fighting.\n\nWith \u201crun,\u201d he runs, has run, is running; and so on with many other\nwords, used to express singular and plural numbers, or all the simple\ntenses of the verb.\n\nWhile the Gullah usually holds fast to his favorite pronunciation,\nhe sometimes permits himself a grotesque variation. For example, his\nusual pronunciation of car is \u201ccyaa\u2019,\u201d which he utters as flatly as a\nCharlestonian of the Battery; but should he permit himself a \u201ccyaar,\u201d\nhe will roll you an \u201cr\u201d as raucously as any Ohioan.\n\nOf course, all Gullah Negroes pronounce certain English words\ncorrectly, while others approximate, in varying degrees, the speech\nof their former masters. This fact accounts for the slight variations\nthat will be noticed in the speech of different individuals in these\nstories, and in the several pronunciations sometimes occurring\nin the Glossary. For example, the Gullah word for you, ye, your,\nyours, is variously pronounced \u201cona, oona, oonuh, unnuh,\u201d and,\namong dyed-in-the-wool dialecticians, \u201cyunnuh\u201d and \u201cwunnuh.\u201d So,\nthe Orang-utan is called by some \u201c\u2019Rangatang\u201d and by the extremists\n\u201c\u2019Ranguhtang.\u201d\n\nWarm is \u201cwawm;\u201d form or inform, \u201cfawm,\u201d \u201ceenfawm;\u201d morning is\n\u201cmawnin\u2019;\u201d corn, \u201ccawn;\u201d horse or horses, \u201chawss;\u201d horn, \u201chawn;\u201d\nborn, \u201cbawn;\u201d cow is correctly pronounced, and calf is near enough\nto the Charleston usage to pass. Tore, torn, tears, and tearing are\nnever used, tear taking the place of all. As: the girl tore her\npetticoat--\u201cDe gal tayre \u2019e \u2019coat.\u201d That man\u2019s shirt is torn--\u201cDa\u2019 man\u2019\nshu\u2019t tayre.\u201d This cloth tears badly--\u201cDis clawt\u2019 tayre bad.\u201d They are\ntearing off the boards--\u201cDem duh (does) tayre off de boa\u2019d\u2019.\u201d\n\nThem (\u201cdem\u201d) is universally used for they and their. They took off\ntheir shoes--\u201cDem tek off dem shoesh.\u201d Dog and hog, while sometimes\ndrawled, are very rarely lengthened to \u201cdawg\u201d and \u201chawg,\u201d tho\u2019 God is\nalmost invariably \u201cGawd.\u201d The contraction of your is \u201cyo\u2019;\u201d and yet,\nfor yours, instead of \u201cyo\u2019n\u201d--the mountaineers\u2019 \u201cyourn\u201d--they prefer\n\u201cyou\u2019own,\u201d as theirs or their own is always \u201cdem\u2019own.\u201d\n\nUnlike Mr. Weller, the Gullah does not affect the letter V, which\nhe always changes to W or B--Violet modestly shrinking to Wi\u2019let or\nBi\u2019let, while, as Benus, the amorous Aphrodite doubtless loves quite as\nardently in her humble way. And the soft and teasing vex suggests, as\n\u201cbex,\u201d anger swift and passionate!\n\n\u201cLukkuh,\u201d or \u201csame lukkuh,\u201d a corruption of like unto or same like\nunto--\u201csame lukkuh\u201d occasionally shortened into \u201csukkuh\u201d by an excited\nor rapid talker--express likeness, resemblance.\n\n\u201cHukkuh\u201d is, of course, how come, or how came.\n\n\u201c\u2019E fat\u201d means that the man, the woman, the pig, or the lightwood, is\nor was fat. \u201c\u2019E fat fuh true\u201d (in truth) adds emphasis, while \u201c\u2019E fat\nfuh sowl\u201d brooks no contradiction.\n\n\u201c\u2019Puntop,\u201d sometimes \u201c\u2019puntap,\u201d or \u201c\u2019pantap,\u201d on or near Edisto Island,\nmeans not only on top and on, but at. As: \u201cDe squinch owl light \u2019puntop\nde chimbly;\u201d \u201cHim plant\u2019 \u2019puntop Cumbee ribbuh;\u201d \u201cW\u2019en uh look \u2019puntop\nde \u2019ooman en\u2019 see \u2019e yeye red, uh know him bex.\u201d \u201cBiggin\u201d is equivalent\nto begin, began, begun, or beginning.\n\n\u201cHaffuh\u201d is both have to and had to. \u201cW\u2019en de strain leff\u2019um to John\u2019\nIlun\u2019, him haffuh tek him foot en\u2019 gone _spang_ town,\u201d meaning when she\nmissed the train at John\u2019s Island station she had to walk all the way\nto Charleston.\n\n\u201cSame fashi\u2019n,\u201d expressing likeness, has no sartorial significance.\n\n\u201cAlltwo\u201d may mean both or each; as: \u201calligettuh en\u2019 cootuh alltwo stan\u2019\nsame fashi\u2019n, alltwo hab fo\u2019 foot en\u2019 one tail, en\u2019 alltwo trabble\n\u2019puntop dem belly.\u201d So \u201cstan\u2019 lukkuh\u201d and \u201cstan\u2019 sukkuh\u201d mean look\nalike or bear a close resemblance, whether standing, sitting, crawling,\nlying, flying, or swimming.\n\n\u201cWuffuh,\u201d or \u201cwoffuh,\u201d means why, or what for.\n\nAt times, \u201cduh\u201d and \u201csuh\u201d (not the \u201csuh\u201d for sir) have peculiar usage.\n\u201cWuffuh you duh do dat?\u201d What for, or why are you doing that? \u201cHim gone\nduh ribbuh,\u201d he has gone to the river. \u201cHim walk duh paat\u2019,\u201d he walks\nin the path (or the road). So, too, \u201c\u2019e duh sleep\u201d for he does sleep,\nor he sleeps; and \u201cduh wintuh time\u201d for in the winter or during the\nwinter. \u201cNuh\u201d is another oddity, \u201cme nuh him\u201d being he and I.\n\nMany years ago, the Reverend Kinlaw, upon hearing an educated darkey\nreading aloud one of the Kinlaw sermons from a newspaper, exclaimed:\n\u201cUh \u2019cla\u2019 to Gawd da\u2019 buckruh do me too bad! Dem t\u2019ing suh him suh suh\nme susso, me nubbuh susso. Me t\u2019ink\u2019um, aw, but uh nubbuh susso, en\u2019\nhow de debble him know suh me t\u2019ink\u2019um, w\u2019en uh nubbuh susso?\u201d Which,\ninterpreted, means: \u201cI declare that buckra did me too bad. Those things\nthat he said I said, I never said so. I thought them, it is true, but I\nnever said them, and how did he know that I thought them, when I never\nsaid them?\u201d Kinlaw was an extremely uncouth creature and his Gullah was\nof the rankest, spoken with the hot-potato-in-the-mouth effect of the\nlow-comedy stage Irishman, hence his use of \u201csuh\u201d for that as well as\nfor said, and of \u201cnubbuh\u201d for never, instead of the usual \u201cnebbuh.\u201d\n\n\u201cAw,\u201d for true, or to be sure, is seldom used.\n\n\u201cKi,\u201d rarely \u201ckwi,\u201d or \u201ckwoy,\u201d is an exclamation.\n\n\u201cNyam,\u201d or \u201cnyam-nyam,\u201d means to eat.\n\n\u201cBittle,\u201d is, of course, victuals--food.\n\n\u201cBlan,\u201d pronounced with the nasal resonance of the French \u201cblanc,\u201d but\nwithout the broad \u201ca\u201d sound, or as the French would pronounce \u201cblin,\u201d\nis probably a corruption of belong, and means used to or accustomed to.\n\n\u201cStudy\u201d means to think, ponder, plan.\n\nThe Gullah, like the Queen of Spain, has no legs, \u201cfoot\u201d serving for\nthe lower limbs as well as for their extremities. \u201cDeer hab long foot,\nhim run fas\u2019;\u201d \u201cCootuh hab shawt foot, him trabble slow.\u201d\n\n\u201cYez\u201d is ear or ears, and \u201cyeddy,\u201d sometimes \u201cyerry,\u201d is hear, or\nhearing, heard; while \u201chaa\u2019kee\u201d (hark ye) is also hear, and so on,\nwhether addressed to one or to more persons, and is used not only in\nadmonition, as \u201chaa\u2019kee at me good fashi\u2019n,\u201d but is sometimes spoken\nlightly, as certain modern flappers and their bifurcated companions\nsay \u201clisten!\u201d \u201cHaa\u2019kee\u201d also does duty interchangeably for \u201cyeddy,\u201d\nas \u201chaa\u2019kee att\u2019um,\u201d \u201cyeddy\u2019um\u201d--hearken to him! hear him! And one\nwho holds a warning as of small account, will often say in response\nto an admonitory \u201chaa\u2019kee!\u201d \u201cYaas, bubbuh, uh haa\u2019kee, but uh yent\nyeddy\u201d--literally, I hearken but I don\u2019t hear, while actually meaning I\nhear but I don\u2019t heed, going in one ear and coming out of the other.\n\n\u201c\u2019Nuf\u201d means not only enough, sufficiency, but more often abundance.\nThus \u201cyou hab enny mint?\u201d \u201cYaas, suh, we hab \u2019nuf,\u201d carries assurance\nof not merely enough for a few juleps, but a patch of fragrant greenery\nthat could cover the graves of a score of old-school Virginians!\n\n\u201cSpecify,\u201d one of the most characteristic Gullah words, from the\nEnglish \u201cspecify,\u201d serves for most of the varied meanings of\n\u201cspecifications\u201d--\u201cmaking good.\u201d If a woman proves an unsuitable mate,\nshe \u201ccyan\u2019 specify.\u201d If trousers are frail, and \u201cde britchiz buss\u2019,\u201d\n\u201c\u2019e yent specify.\u201d If a \u201ccunnoo\u201d proves unseaworthy--\u201chim cyan\u2019\nspecify.\u201d And even of a Bible text, the fulfilment of whose promise\nseems inadequate, the Gullah says: \u201cBuhrabbus\u2019 wu\u2019d, him ent specify\nberry well.\u201d\n\n\u201cEnty,\u201d \u201cent,\u201d \u201cyent,\u201d sometimes \u201cain\u2019,\u201d serve for isn\u2019t, aren\u2019t,\ndidn\u2019t, don\u2019t, doesn\u2019t. \u201cEnt you shum?\u201d \u201centy you shum?\u201d may mean\ndidn\u2019t you see? or don\u2019t you see? him, her, it, or them.\n\nPreceded by a soft vowel sound, \u201ciz\u201d and \u201cent\u201d are changed to \u201cyiz\u201d and\n\u201cyent;\u201d as: \u201chim iz,\u201d \u201chim ent,\u201d become, by the substitution of \u201c\u2019e\u201d\nfor him, \u201c\u2019e yiz,\u201d \u201c\u2019e yent.\n\n\u201c\u2019Cep\u2019n\u2019\u201d is except or excepting, and so is \u201c\u2019scusin\u2019\u201d or \u201cexcusin\u2019.\u201d\n\nThere is no nephew in the Gullah vocabulary, \u201cniece\u201d being used instead.\n\n\u201cWunnuh,\u201d \u201cyunnuh,\u201d \u201coonuh,\u201d \u201cunnuh,\u201d occasionally \u201choonuh,\u201d probably\nfrom one and another, is used for you and ye, usually in addressing\nmore than one, though sometimes also in the singular.\n\nExcept along the Georgia and Carolina seacoast and the outlying\nislands, the older Negroes are almost invariably addressed as \u201cuncle\u201d\nand \u201cauntie\u201d by the whites of all ages, and by the younger Negroes,\nbut, wherever the Gullah dialect predominates, \u201cdaddy\u201d and \u201cmauma\u201d\ntake their places. For that reason, perhaps, white children in the\nlow-country never call their fathers \u201cdaddy,\u201d pa or papa frequently\ntaking the place of the more formal \u201cfather.\u201d\n\nWhere the name of the person addressed or spoken of is used, \u201cmauma\u201d is\nchanged to \u201cmaum,\u201d as \u201cMaum Kate.\u201d\n\nThe simple name of the month is seldom sufficient, but must be\nfortified by the addition of \u201cmunt\u2019,\u201d as: \u201cUh hab da\u2019 gal een June\nmunt\u2019.\u201d\n\nSecond, third, etc., are seldom used, the preferred forms being\n\u201ctwo-time,\u201d \u201ct\u2019ree-time,\u201d etc. \u201cUh done tell oonuh fuh de two-time fuh\nlef\u2019 da\u2019 gal \u2019lone\u201d--I\u2019ve told you for the second time to leave that\ngirl alone; and \u201ctwo-time\u201d is invariably used for twice. \u201cUh done call\nyou two-time\u201d--I\u2019ve called you twice. The third Tuesday in August would\nbe \u201cDe t\u2019ree Chuesday een Augus\u2019.\u201d\n\n\u201cOnrabble \u2019e mout\u2019\u201d--unravel her mouth, for it\u2019s always a feminine\nskein that\u2019s to be unwound--is as comprehensive as it is picturesque.\nAt times the verbal tide flows on unchecked from a full ball of yarn;\nagain, the ravelings are pulled angrily, jerkily, from the warp of a\nthreadbare subject. \u201cOnrabble \u2019e mout\u2019!\u201d\n\n\u201cLef\u2019\u201d--left--is given not only its own proper meaning, but serves for\nleave, leaving, as \u201closs\u201d does extra duty for lose, losing, lost.\n\n\u201cShe-she talk\u201d--a contemptuous characterization by Gullah bucks of\nfeminine gossip--is suggestive of the whispering _frou-frou_ of silken\npetticoats.\n\n\u201cEn\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019\u201d--and things--is a verbal grab-bag comprehensive enough\nto hold every etcetera, animate or inanimate, that one may lay tongue\nto. A woman\u2019s \u201cchillun en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019\u201d may cover her chickens as well as\nher children; her \u201chusbun\u2019 en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019\u201d may include also her gentlemen\nfriends, while reference to King Solomon\u2019s \u201cwife en\u2019 t\u2019ing\u2019\u201d would\nassuredly have lumped in with his wives every petticoat on the\n\u201cProverbial\u201d premises!\n\nThe Gullah contraction of defend, is \u201c\u2019fen\u2019,\u201d yet, if that defense be\ninadequate, he will invariably \u201crefen\u2019\u201d himself. If he anoint, \u2019tis\n\u201c\u2019n\u2019int,\u201d yet his pastor is the Lord\u2019s \u201crenointed.\u201d\n\nAs the Gullah\u2019s tongue has no trouble with \u201ceart\u2019\u201d--his correctly\npronounced contraction of \u201cearth\u201d--he should have no difficulty with\ndirt or shirt, but these are invariably pronounced \u201cdu\u2019t\u201d and \u201cshu\u2019t;\u201d\nand, although the \u201cuh\u201d sound is so easily uttered, he always \u201cshets\u201d a\ndoor, and tries to \u201cshet,\u201d but never shuts, his lady\u2019s mouth.\n\nAmong the Negroes on Pon Pon, Stepney--a man\u2019s name--is commonly used\nas a synonym for hunger, want. He who hoped to keep the wolf away would\n\u201chaffuh wu\u2019k haa\u2019d fuh keep Stepney frum de do\u2019,\u201d while the fabled ant\nwould admonish _La Cigale_, the grasshopper, \u201ctek care, gal, you duh\nsing duh summuhtime, tek care Stepney don\u2019 come een yo\u2019 house \u2019fo\u2019\nwintuhtime!\u201d\n\nThere are, of course, many variations, some Negroes using only a few\nGullah words, while practically all the house servants spoke without\na taint. During the Confederate War, Phyllis, a highly trained young\nmaid who had been taught deportment under Maum Bella, a fine old family\nservant in Charleston, once \u201cimpeached\u201d the language of the five-year\nold boy under her charge. \u201cMass----, you shouldn\u2019t say path, you should\nsay parth.\u201d How a broad \u201ca\u201d got loose in Charleston one can\u2019t imagine,\nunless it came in with the buxom Virginia girls who periodically\ndescended upon \u201cthe City\u201d to marry her most eligible young men.\n\nThe Gullah grabs his prophets, his kings, and his apostles out of the\nOld and New Testaments, haphazard, and uses them as they come, \u201cto\npoint a moral or adorn a tale\u201d--and he believes in elaborate adornment.\n\nHimself unlettered, he catches the names as they come to his ears from\nthe lips of the whites, or of educated Negroes, and frequently gets\nhis personnel inextricably mixed, the mouth-filling \u201cNickuhdemus\u201d\nbeing quite as frequently turned out to graze, \u201cbite grass,\u201d as the\nesteemed \u201cNebuhkuhnezzuh.\u201d The Apostle Paul is most often quoted by\nthe class-leaders and local preachers, but they love to mouth over\n\u201cBuhrabbus,\u201d while entirely ignorant of the character.\n\nWhat Old Testament book can it be that the Gullah calls \u201cRebus?\u201d\nPerhaps some Bible student will hazard a guess. It may be a far-fetched\ncorruption of Genesis, for, in giving assurance of his having pursued\na subject or an investigation from beginning to end, he will often say:\n\u201cUh bin t\u2019ru da\u2019 t\u2019ing frum Rebus _spang_ to Rebelashun!\u201d\n\nEdisto Island was, before the war, through the fine Sea Island cotton\nproduced there, one of the garden spots of the earth, and has been for\nmany generations noted for the hospitality, culture, and refinement\nof its families; but in old times it was also noted for an unusual\nprovincialism and for the habitual use of Gullah dialect by many of the\nplanters\u2019 young sons. These were in constant association with their\nslaves on hunting and fishing parties, and unconsciously adopted the\nhighly picturesque and expressive speech of their black servitors. They\nwere accordingly subjected to many hard stories by their neighbors on\nthe main land, who declared that, when the tardy news of Napoleon\u2019s\nexile to St. Helena, one hundred years ago, reached Edisto, the young\nislanders, believing their neighboring island of St. Helena to be the\nplace of safekeeping, were apprehensive of another \u201creturn from Elba,\u201d\nand, fearing the great Corsican as a potential liberator of their\nprecious slaves, held an indignation meeting and resolved that: \u201cEf dem\nbuckruh\u2019 \u2019pantap Sa\u2019leenuh choose fuh hab \u2019Poleon come \u2019pantap _dem_\nilun\u2019, berry well, but, uh sway-to-Gawd, him cyan\u2019 come \u2019pantap _dis_\nilun\u2019, \u2019cause dat duh dainjus buckruh, en\u2019, fus\u2019 t\u2019ing wunnuh know, him\nset we Nigguh\u2019 free.\u201d\n\nThe Edisto marshes abounded in wild donkeys, and a favorite Sunday\namusement used to be the chevying of these unhappy animals out of the\nmarshes by the white and black boys who, using sections of jackvine\nfor whips, chased them over the plantations. A story is told of a\nyoung Edisto Islander who, a few days after matriculation at the\nUniversity of Virginia, was requested by his fellow students to tell\nthem something about the favorite sports and amusements of the South\nCarolina coast. He enlightened them as follows: \u201cGreat King wunnuh boy!\nMe nuh Cudjo blan hab fun duh Sunday. Cudjo him ketch long tail\u2019 hawss,\nme ketch shawt tail\u2019 hawss; we tek dem jack-wine, run dem jackass\nout\u2019uh maa\u2019sh, run\u2019um all obuh plantesshun; den we blan go duh crik,\nketch dem _big_ pap-eye mullet!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nVOCABULARY\n\nThe following list contains some seventeen hundred words. About this\nvocabulary two things are to be noted:\n\nFirst, the Gullah is entirely a spoken, never a written, language;\n\nSecond, these 1,700 and odd words are so extended and applied according\nto Gullah usage as to serve the purpose and scope of at least 5,000\nEnglish words.\n\n\n    A\n\n    AA\u2019GYFY--argue, argues, argued, arguing.\n\n    AA\u2019GYMENT--argument, arguments.\n\n    AA\u2019M--arm, arms.\n\n    AA\u2019MY--army, armies.\n\n    ABBUHTIZE--advertise, advertises, advertised, advertising.\n\n    AB\u2019NUE--avenue, avenues.\n\n    ACKSIDENT--accident, accidents.\n\n    ACQUAINTUN--acquainted. (See \u201c\u2019quaintun\u201d).\n\n    ADSWOCATE--advocate, advocates, advocated, advocating.\n\n    AFF\u2019IKIN--African, Africans.\n\n    AFF\u2019IKY--Africa.\n\n    AFO\u2019SED--aforesaid.\n\n    AGGUHNIZE--agonize, agonizes, agonized, agonizing.\n\n    AIG--(n. and v.) egg, eggs, egged, egging; as \u201chim aig\u2019um on.\u201d\n\n    AIGE--(n. and v.) edge, edges, edged, edging.\n\n    AIN\u2019--(ain\u2019t) is not, isn\u2019t. (See \u201cent\u201d and \u201cyent\u201d).\n\n    AINJUL--angel, angels.\n\n    ALLDO\u2019--although. (See \u201c\u2019do\u2019\u201d).\n\n    ALLIGETTUH--alligator, alligators. (See \u201c\u2019gatuh\u201d).\n\n    ALLIMUNNY--alimony.\n\n    ALLTIME--all the time, always.\n\n    ALLTWO--both, also each.\n\n    ALL UB UH SUDD\u2019N/ALL UB UH SUDD\u2019NT/ALL UB UH\n    SUTT\u2019N--all of a sudden, suddenly.\n\n    AMBRELLUH--umbrella, umbrellas.\n\n    ANNIMEL--animal, animals.\n\n    ANODDUH/ANUDDUH--another.\n\n    ANSUH--answer, answers, answered, answering. Also used\n    for message, especially for one requiring an answer;\n    as: \u201cUh sen\u2019 uh ansuh to de gal fuh tell\u2019um uh\n    wan\u2019 hab\u2019um fuh wife\u201d--I sent a message to the\n    girl to tell her that I wanted to marry her.\n\n    AP\u2019UN--apron, aprons.\n\n    AREY/ARUH--each, either.\n\n    ASHISH--ashes.\n\n    ATTACKTID--attacked. (See \u201c\u2019tack\u2019\u201d and \u201c\u2019tacktid\u201d).\n\n    ATTUH--after.\n\n    ATTUHR\u2019UM--after him, her, it, them.\n\n    ATTUHW\u2019ILE--after a while.\n\n    AUGUS\u2019--August.\n\n    AW--a queer word, sometimes used instead of \u201cfuh true;\u201d\n    meaning, it is true, in truth.\n\n    AWKUHMUN--Ackerman--name of a white family.\n\n    AX--ask, asks, asked, asking.\n\n    AXIL--axle, axles.\n\n    AX\u2019ME--ask, asks, asked, asking me.\n\n    AX\u2019UM--ask or asked him, her, it, them.\n\n\n    B\n\n    BAA\u2019BUH--barber, barbers.\n\n    BAA\u2019K--(n. and v.) bark, barks, barked, barking.\n\n    BAA\u2019NWELL--Barnwell. A low-country family name.\n\n    BAA\u2019NYAA\u2019D/BA\u2019NYAA\u2019D--barnyard, barnyards.\n\n    BACTIZE--baptize, baptizes, baptized, baptizing.\n\n    BAD MOUT\u2019--bad mouth--a spell, a form of curse.\n\n    BAID--beard, beards.\n\n    BAIG--beg, begs, begged, begging.\n\n    BAIG\u2019UM--beg, begs, begged, begging him, her, it, them.\n\n    BAIT\u2019UM--bait, baits, baited, baiting him, her, it, them.\n\n    BAKIN--bacon.\n\n    BALMUHRAL SKU\u2019T--Balmoral skirt--a dark worsted underskirt\n    with red stripes above the hem, of the time of\n    Queen Victoria and named for her castle at Balmoral.\n\n    \u2019BANDUN--abandon, abandons, abandoned, abandoning.\n\n    BAPTIS\u2019--Baptist, Baptists.\n\n    BARRIL--barrel, barrels.\n\n    BARRUH--barrow, a bacon hog.\n\n    BAWN--born.\n\n    BAYRE--bare, bares, bared, baring.\n\n    BEABUH--beaver, beavers.\n\n    BEAGLE--fox hound, fox hounds.\n\n    BEDOUT/BIDOUT--without, unless, except.\n\n    BEEBU\u2019D--bee-martin, king bird or Tyrannus Tyrannus.\n\n    BEEFU\u2019T--Beaufort.\n\n    BEEHIBE--beehive, beehives.\n\n    BEFO\u2019--before; as: \u201cBefo\u2019 de wah.\u201d (See \u201c\u2019fo\u2019\u201d).\n\n    BEFO\u2019 DAY--before day. (See \u201ccrack-uh-day,\u201d and \u201c\u2019fo\u2019 day\u201d).\n\n    BEHABE--behave, behaves, behaved, behaving.\n\n    BEHIME/BEHIN\u2019/BEHINE--behind.\n\n    BEKASE/BEKASEW\u2019Y--because, because why.\n\n    BEHOL\u2019--behold, beholds, beheld, beholding.\n\n    BELLUH--bellow, bellows, bellowed, bellowing.\n\n    BELLUS--bellows (blacksmith\u2019s).\n\n    BEMEAN--to be mean to any one, to slander, abuse.\n\n    BEN\u2019--bend, bends, bent, bending.\n\n    BENUS--(sometimes \u201cWenus\u201d)--Venus.\n\n    BERRY--(sometimes \u201cwerry\u201d)--very.\n\n    BERRYWELL--very well.\n\n    BERRYWELLDEN--very well then.\n\n    BES\u2019--best.\n\n    BETTUH--better.\n\n    BEX--vex, vexes, vexing; angry, anger, angers, angered,\n    angering.\n\n    BIDNESS--business.\n\n    BIGGIN--begin, begins, begun, began.\n\n    BIGGUH--bigger.\n\n    BIGHOUSE--the Master\u2019s house.\n\n    BILE--boil, boils, boiled, boiling.\n\n    BILIN\u2019--boiling.\n\n    BILLIGE/BILLAGE--village, villages.\n\n    BIMEBYE/BUMBYE--bye and bye.\n\n    BIN--been, was.\n\n    BINNUH--been, was, was a; as: \u201cW\u2019en uh binnuh boy\u201d--when\n    I was a boy.\n\n    BITTLE--victuals, food.\n\n    BLACKBU\u2019D--blackbird, blackbirds.\n\n    BLAN--belong, belongs, belonged, belonging; used redundantly;\n    as: \u201cDa\u2019 gal him blan blonx to my Maussuh\u201d--That\n    girl she belonged to belong, or used to\n    belong, to my Master.\n\n    B\u2019LEEBE--believe, believes, believed, believing.\n\n    \u2019BLEEGE--oblige, obliges, obliged, obliging.\n\n    BLINE--(n. and v.) blind, blinds, blinded, blinding.\n\n    BLINE GAWD--blind God--personal idol or fetish of African\n    suggestiveness whose aid is invoked to further the\n    desires of its owner.\n\n    B\u2019LONG/BLONX--belong, belongs, belonged, belonging.\n\n    BLOODYNOUN--the great bullfrog of the swamps.\n\n    BOA\u2019D--(n. and v.) board, boards, boarded, boarding.\n\n    BODDUH--bother, bothers, bothered, bothering; worry, worries,\n    worried, worrying.\n\n    BODDUHR\u2019UM--bother, bothers, bothered, or bothering him,\n    her, it, them.\n\n    BOFE--both. (See \u201calltwo\u201d).\n\n    BOL\u2019--bold.\n\n    BORRUH--borrow, borrows, borrowed, borrowing.\n\n    BOUN\u2019--bound, resolved upon.\n\n    \u2019BOUT--about.\n\n    BOWRE--bore, bores, bored, boring.\n\n    BRAWTUS--broadus, lagniappe.\n\n    BREAS\u2019--breast, breasts.\n\n    BREDDUH--(also brudduh) brother, brethren (formal).\n\n    BREKWUS\u2019/BRUKWUS\u2019--breakfast, breakfasts.\n\n    BRESH--brush, brushwood; brush, brushes, brushed, brushing.\n\n    BRESS--bless, blesses, blessed, blessing.\n\n    BRE\u2019T\u2019--breath.\n\n    BRIAH--briar, briars.\n\n    BRINLY--brindled.\n\n    BRITCHIN\u2019--breeching (harness).\n\n    BRITCHIS/BRITCHIZ--breeches, trousers.\n\n    BRUK--break, breaks, broke, breaking, broken; \u201cbruk-foot\n    man\u201d--a broken-legged man.\n\n    BRUK-AA\u2019M--broken-arm.\n\n    BRUK-FOOT--broken-foot, or leg.\n\n    BRUK\u2019UP--break up, broke up, broken up: \u201cDe meetin\u2019 done\n    bruk\u2019up.\u201d\n\n    BRURO--bureau, as \u201cFreedmun\u2019 bruro.\u201d\n\n    BRUSTLE--bustle, bustles.\n\n    BUBBUH/BUDDUH--(familiar) brother.\n\n    BUCKRUH--a white person or persons; the white people.\n\n    BUCKRUH-BITTLE--white man\u2019s food.\n\n    BUCKRUH-NIGGUH--white man\u2019s Negro, used contemptuously.\n\n    BUCKSLEY--Berkeley (county).\n\n    BUD--bud, buds, budded, budding.\n\n    BU\u2019D--bird, birds.\n\n    BU\u2019DCAGE--birdcage, birdcages.\n\n    BUH--brother, as \u201cBuh Rabbit.\u201d\n\n    BUHHIME/BUHHINE--behind.\n\n    BUHR--burr, burrs.\n\n    BULL-YELLIN\u2019--bull-yearling, or yearlings.\n\n    BU\u2019N--burn, burns, burned, burning.\n\n    BURRUH--burrow, burrows, burrowed, burrowing.\n\n    BUSS\u2019/BUS\u2019--burst, bursts, bursting.\n\n    BUTT\u2019N--button, buttons, buttoned, buttoning.\n\n    BUZZUM--bosom, bosoms.\n\n    BUZZUT--buzzard, buzzards; vulture, vultures.\n\n\n    C\n\n    \u2019CAJUN--occasion, occasions.\n\n    CALLICRO--calico.\n\n    CANNIBEL--cannibal, cannibals.\n\n    CANTUH--canter, canters, cantered, cantering.\n\n    CATT\u2019RACK--cataract, cataracts (eye).\n\n    \u2019CAUSE--because. (See \u201cbekase\u201d).\n\n    CAW CAW SWAMP--a great low-country savanna.\n\n    \u2019CAWCH--scorch, scorches, scorched, scorching.\n\n    CAWN--corn.\n\n    CAWNFIEL\u2019--corn field, corn fields.\n\n    CAWNSTALK--corn stalk, corn stalks.\n\n    CAWNUH--(n. and v.) corner, corners, cornered, cornering.\n\n    CAWPRUL--corporal, corporals.\n\n    CAWPSE--corpse, corpses; coffin, coffins.\n\n    CAWPSUS--\u201ccorpus;\u201d as: \u201ccawpsus politicksus\u201d--body politic.\n\n    CAWSETT--corset, corsets.\n\n    CAWSS\u2019--(n. and v.) cost, costs, costing.\n\n    \u2019CEEBE/\u2019CEIBE--deceive, deceives, deceived.\n\n    \u2019CEEBIN\u2019/\u2019CEIBIN\u2019--deceiving.\n\n    \u2019CEITFUL--deceitful.\n\n    \u2019CEP\u2019/\u2019CEP\u2019M/\u2019CEP\u2019N--except, excepts, excepted, excepting; accept,\n    accepts, accepted, accepting; unless.\n\n    CHAA\u2019GE--charge, charges, charged, charging.\n\n    CHAA\u2019STUN--Charleston, S. C. (See \u201cTown\u201d).\n\n    CHANY--china, chinaware.\n\n    CHANYBERRY--Chinaberry, or Pride of India tree.\n\n    CHAW--chew, chews, chewed, chewing; also noun, as of\n    tobacco.\n\n    CHEEP--cheep, cheeps, cheeped, cheeping.\n\n    CHEER--chair, chairs.\n\n    CHICAGYO--Chicago.\n\n    CHICKIN--chicken, chickens.\n\n    CHILE--child, children.\n\n    CHILLUN--child, children.\n\n    CHIMBLY--chimney, chimneys.\n\n    CHINKYPEN--chinquapin, chinquapins.\n\n    CHIZZUM--Chisolm--a low country family name.\n\n    CHOP\u2019TONGUE--hounds with short yelp; the cry of the modern\n    English fox-hound, as distinguished from the long\n    bell-like notes of the Carolina deer-hounds.\n\n    CHRIS\u2019MUS--Christmas.\n\n    CHRYCE--Christ.\n\n    CHU\u2019CH--church, churches.\n\n    CHU\u2019CHYAA\u2019D--churchyard, churchyards.\n\n    CHUCKWILLUH--Chuck-Will\u2019s Widow, used to indicate the\n    wide-open mouth of a hungry child.\n\n    CHUESDAY--Tuesday.\n\n    CHUNE--(n. and v.) tune, tunes; tune, tunes, tuned, tuning\n    (up).\n\n    CHUNK--(n. and v.) chunk, chunks, chunked, chunking.\n\n    CHUPID/CHUPIT--stupid.\n\n    CLAWT\u2019--cloth.\n\n    \u2019CLA\u2019 TO GAWD--declare to God--a mild oath.\n\n    CLIMB--climb, climbs, climbed, climbing.\n\n    COA\u2019SE--coarse.\n\n    \u2019COAT--petticoat, petticoats (man\u2019s \u201ccoat\u201d is always \u201cjacket\u201d).\n\n    COAX--coax, coaxes, coaxed, coaxing.\n\n    COCKSPUHR--cockspur, cockspurs.\n\n    COHOOT--cahoot, agreement, association with, as: \u201cMe en\u2019\n    Joe gone een uh cohoot fuh kill de buckruh\u2019 cow.\u201d\n\n    COHORT--colleague, colleagues.\n\n    COL\u2019--cold.\n\n    COLLUH--collar, collars, collared, collaring.\n\n    COLLUH--color, colors (\u201cwe colluh,\u201d our color, or Negroes).\n\n    COME--come, comes, came, coming.\n\n    COME\u2019YUH--come here.\n\n    COMMIKIL--comical, peculiar.\n\n    CONKYWINE--concubine, concubines; used for masculine as\n    well as for feminine affiliations.\n\n    CONNOO/COONOO/CUNNOO--canoe, canoes.\n\n    CONSAA\u2019N/CUNSAA\u2019N--(n. and v.) concern, concerns,\n    concerned, concerning.\n\n    CONSECRATE LYE--concentrated lye.\n\n    CONSUMPSHUS/CUNSUMPSHUS--consumption.\n\n    CONTESTUSS--contested, contesting.\n\n    CONTUHDIX--contradict, contradicts, contradicted, contradicting.\n\n    COOK--cook, cooks, cooked, cooking.\n\n    COOTUH--cooter, cooters; terrapin, terrapins.\n\n    CO\u2019SE--course, courses, as of a stream.\n\n    \u2019CO\u2019SE--course, of course.\n\n    CO\u2019T--(n. and v.) court, courts; court, courts, courted, courting.\n\n    COULDN\u2019--could not.\n\n    COULD\u2019UH--could have.\n\n    COUNSTUBBLE--constable, constables.\n\n    COW--cow, cows; bull, bulls; ox, oxen; cattle.\n\n    COW-PAAT\u2019--cow-path.\n\n    CRACK \u2019E BRE\u2019T\u2019--crack his or her breath; same as \u201ccrack \u2019e\n    teet\u2019.\u201d\n\n    CRACK \u2019E TEET\u2019--crack, cracks, cracked, cracking his, her or\n    their teeth, meaning opened her or his mouth to\n    speak; as: \u201c\u2019E yent crack \u2019e teet\u2019\u201d--She never\n    opened her mouth.\n\n    CRACK-UH-DAY--crack or break of day.\n\n    CRAP--(n. and v.) crop, crops; crops, cropped, cropping.\n\n    \u2019CRAPE--(n. and v.) scrape, scrapes, scraped, scraping.\n\n    \u2019CRATCH--(n. and v.) scratch, scratches, scratched, scratching.\n\n    CREDENSHUL--credential, credentials.\n\n    CREDIK--(n. and v.) credit, credits, credited, crediting.\n\n    CREETUH--creature, creatures. Commonly applied to a beast\n    of burden.\n\n    CRIK--creek, creeks.\n\n    CROOKETY--crooked; also tricky, unreliable.\n\n    CROSS-ROAD--the cross roads.\n\n    CRUCIFY--crucify, crucifies, crucified, crucifying; also improperly\n    used for testify, testifies, testified, testifying.\n\n    CUCKLEBUHR--cockleburr, cockleburrs.\n\n    CUHLUMBIA--Columbia.\n\n    CUHLUMBUS--Columbus.\n\n    CULLOO--curlew, curlews.\n\n    CULLUD--colored, colored people, the dark race\n\n    CUMBEE--the Combahee river, also the lands lying along the\n    stream. This is, by the way, the correct pronunciation.\n\n    CUMPLAIN--(n. and v.) complain, complains, complained,\n    complaining; complaint, complaints.\n\n    CUMP\u2019NY--company, companies.\n\n    CUMPOSHASHUN/CUMPUHSHASHUN/COMPUHSHASHUN--conversation,\n    talk, parley, interrogatories, argument.\n\n    CUNDEMN/CONDEMN--condemn, condemns, condemned, condemning;\n    but more frequently used to denote guilt or the\n    appearance of guilt; as: \u201cW\u2019en uh ketch Joe\n    wid de hog, \u2019e look so cundemn.\u201d\n\n    CUNFUSHUN--confusion.\n\n    CUMPLAIN--(n. and v.) complain, complains, complained.\n\n    CUNTRADY--contrary, provoking.\n\n    CUNWEENYUNT--convenient, conveniently, convenience.\n\n    CUNWEENYUNTLY--conveniently.\n\n    CUNWENSHUN--convention, conventions.\n\n    CUSS--(n. and v.) curse, curses, cursed, cursing.\n\n    CUT\u2019DOWN, or TEK\u2019DOWN--dejected, chagrined.\n\n    CUZ/CUZ\u2019N--cousin, cousins. (Shakespeare\u2019s \u201ccoz\u201d).\n\n    CYA\u2019--carry, carries, carried, carrying.\n\n    CYAA\u2019/CYAAR--car, cars.\n\n    CYAAF--(n. and v.) calf, calves; to calve, etc.\n\n    CYAAM--calm, calms; \u201cuh cyaam sea.\u201d\n\n    CYAA\u2019PENTUH/CYAA\u2019P\u2019NTUH--carpenter, carpenters.\n\n    CYAARIDGE--carriage, carriages.\n\n    CYAA\u2019T--cart, carts.\n\n    CYACKLY/CACKLE--cackle, cackles, cackled, cackling.\n\n    CYAN\u2019--can\u2019t.\n\n    CYAS\u2019--cast, casts, casting.\n\n    CYAS\u2019NET--cast-net used for taking shrimp and mullet from\n    tidal creeks.\n\n    CYA\u2019UM--carry, carried, etc., him, her, it, them.\n\n    CYO\u2019--cure, cures, cured, curing.\n\n\n    D\n\n    DA\u2019/DAT--that.\n\n    DAA\u2019K--dark.\n\n    DAA\u2019KY--darken, darkens, darkened, darkening.\n\n    DAA\u2019TUH--daughter, daughters.\n\n    DA\u2019 DEY--that there.\n\n    DAINJUS--dangerous.\n\n    DAMIDGE--(n. and v.) damage, damages, damaged, damaging.\n\n    DAY-BRUK--day-break, day has broken.\n\n    DAYCLEAN--broad daylight.\n\n    DEAD--dead; die, dies, died, dying.\n\n    DEBBLE\u2019UB\u2019UH--devil of a.\n\n    DECEMBUH--December.\n\n    DEEF--deaf.\n\n    DEEPO\u2019--depot, railway station.\n\n    DEESTRUSS--distress. (See \u201cdistruss\u201d).\n\n    DEESTUNT--decent, respectable.\n\n    DEM--them, they, those, their, theirs. Also used for \u201cand\n    them,\u201d as \u201cSancho dem,\u201d meaning Sancho and his\n    companions.\n\n    DEM\u2019OWN--theirs, their own.\n\n    DEMSELF--them, they, themselves.\n\n    DEN--then, than.\n\n    DEN--(v.) to den, stay in a den.\n\n    \u2019DENTICUL--identical.\n\n    DE ROCK--the \u201cRock,\u201d or phosphate mines near Charleston.\n\n    DES\u2019--just, as \u201cdes\u2019 so,\u201d just so. (See also \u201cjis\u2019\u201d).\n\n    DESE--these.\n\n    DESEYUH--these here.\n\n    DESSO/DISSO--just so. (See \u201cjesso\u201d).\n\n    DE\u2019T\u2019--death.\n\n    DEY--they.\n\n    DEY--there.\n\n    DEY DEY--there, there; right there; a repetition for greater\n    emphasis.\n\n    DEYFO\u2019--therefore.\n\n    DIBE--dive, dives, dived, dove, diving.\n\n    DICTATE--dictate, dictates, dictated, dictating; giving orders,\n    overseeing; sometimes for explaining.\n\n    DIFFUH/DIFFUNCE--differ, difference.\n\n    DIMMYCRACK--Democrat, Democrats, Democratic.\n\n    DINNUH--dinner, dinners.\n\n    DIS\u2019--this; just. (See \u201cjis\u2019\u201d).\n\n    DISAPP\u2019INT--(n. and v.) disappoint, disappoints, disappointed,\n    disappointing, disappointment, disappointments.\n\n    DISGUS\u2019--disgust, disgusts, disgusted, disgusting.\n\n    DISGUSTUSS--disgusting.\n\n    DISHYUH--this, this here.\n\n    DISTRUS\u2019--distrust, distrusts, distrusted, distrusting.\n\n    DISTRUSS--distress. (See \u201cdeestruss\u201d).\n\n    DISTUNT--distant, distance.\n\n    DO--do, does, did, doing.\n\n    DO\u2019--door, doors.\n\n    \u2019DO\u2019--though, although. (See \u201calldo\u2019\u201d).\n\n    DOCTUH--doctor, doctors.\n\n    DOG--(n. and v.) dog, dogs, dogged, dogging.\n\n    DON\u2019--don\u2019t, doesn\u2019t.\n\n    DONE--done, did, already, has, finish, finished, as: \u201cW\u2019en\n    you gwine done da\u2019 t\u2019ing?\u201d--when are you going\n    to finish that thing? \u201cUh done\u2019um,\u201d or \u201cUh done-done\u2019um\u201d--I\n    have done or finished it.\n\n    DONE FUH--done for--meaning excessively, as: \u201cDa\u2019 \u2019ooman\n    done fuh fat\u201d--that woman is excessively or very\n    fat.\n\n    DONE DONE\u2019UM/DONE DO\u2019UM--did it, finished the job.\n\n    DONE\u2019UM--did it.\n\n    DO\u2019STEP--doorstep, doorsteps.\n\n    DO\u2019UM--do it, does it, did it, doing it.\n\n    DRAP--(n. and v.) drop, drops, dropped, dropping.\n\n    DREEN--(n. and v.) drain, drains, drained, draining.\n\n    DRIBE--drive, drives, drove, driven, driving.\n\n    DRIBE--(n.) a run, cover, or section of woods where certain\n    game is found or hunted.\n\n    DROBE--(n.) drove, droves, as of animals.\n\n    DROUGHT--drought, droughts; \u201cdry drought,\u201d protracted\n    drought.\n\n    DROWNDID--drown, drowns, drowned, drowning.\n\n    DRY-BONE--dry-boned--thin, lean, often applied to dusky\n    ladies who do not incline to _embonpoint_.\n\n    DRY SO--just so.\n\n    DUB--dove, doves.\n\n    DUH--do, does; in, to, toward. Thus \u201cduh paat\u2019,\u201d means\n    going in the path, walking in the path; \u201cduh ribbuh,\u201d\n    going to the river, going on the river; \u201cduh fiah,\u201d\n    going to the fire; \u201cduh \u2019ood,\u201d going to the woods,\n    going in or through the woods; \u201cduh Sunday,\u201d on\n    Sunday; \u201cduh weekyday,\u201d on a week day, week days;\n    \u201cduh summuh,\u201d summer, or in the summer; \u201cduh\n    wintuh,\u201d winter, or in the winter.\n\n    DUNKYUH--don\u2019t care, doesn\u2019t care, didn\u2019t care.\n\n    DUNNO--don\u2019t know, doesn\u2019t know, didn\u2019t know.\n\n    DU\u2019T--dirt, earth.\n\n    DU\u2019TTY--dirty, soiled.\n\n\n    E\n\n    \u2019E--he, she, it.\n\n    EART\u2019--earth, world, or soil, ground. (See \u201cye\u2019t\u201d and \u201cyu\u2019t\u201d).\n\n    EBBRUM--Abraham, Abram.\n\n    EBBUH--ever.\n\n    EBBUHLASTIN\u2019--everlasting.\n\n    EBE--Eve, woman\u2019s name; also eaves.\n\n    EBENIN\u2019--evening, evenings; \u201cgood evening,\u201d a salutation.\n\n    EB\u2019N--even.\n\n    EB\u2019NSO--even so.\n\n    EB\u2019RY--every.\n\n    EB\u2019RYT\u2019ING--everything.\n\n    EB\u2019RYWEH--everywhere.\n\n    ECKNOWLEDGE--knowledge, ability, understanding.\n\n    EDDYCASHUN--education.\n\n    EEDUH--either.\n\n    EEDUHSO--either so, either, else, or.\n\n    EEGNUNT--ignorant.\n\n    EEN--in.\n\n    EENBITE--(also eenwite) invite, invites, invited, inviting.\n\n    EENFAWM--inform, informs, informed, informing.\n\n    EENHABIT--inhabit, inhabits, inhabited, inhabiting.\n\n    EENJINE--engine, engines. (See \u201cinjine\u201d).\n\n    EENJININ\u2019--adjoining.\n\n    EENJURIN\u2019/ENJURIN\u2019--enduring, during.\n\n    EENJY--enjoy, enjoys, enjoyed, enjoying; experience; as:\n    \u201cUh eenjy uh berry oncomfuhtubble night\u2019 res\u2019\u201d--I\n    had or experienced a very uncomfortable night\u2019s\n    rest.\n\n    EENSIDE--inside.\n\n    EENSULT--(n. and v.) insult, insults, insulted, insulting.\n\n    EENTITLE--entitle, entitles, entitled, entitling.\n\n    EENTITLEMENT--entitlement, \u201ctitle;\u201d as \u201cMr. Chizzum,\u201d \u201cMis\u2019\n    Wineglass.\u201d\n\n    EENTRUSS--interest.\n\n    EENTUHFAYRE--interfere, interferes, interfered, interfering.\n\n    EF--if.\n\n    EH, EH!--an exclamation.\n\n    ELSESO--else, unless; either.\n\n    ELLYFUNT--elephant, elephants.\n\n    ELLYMENT--element, air, sky.\n\n    EN\u2019--end, ends, and.\n\n    ENNY--any.\n\n    ENT--(also yent) ain\u2019t, are not, is not, isn\u2019t.\n\n    EN\u2019 T\u2019ING\u2019--and things, and everything.\n\n    ENTY--ain\u2019t it, isn\u2019t it, are they not, etc.\n\n    ENT WUT\u2019--isn\u2019t worth, meaning totally worthless, of no\n    account.\n\n    EPPRULL--April.\n\n    \u2019ESE\u2019F--himself, herself, itself.\n\n    \u2019E STAN\u2019 SO--it, he or she, stands so, it is so, it looks so, etc.\n\n    EXCEED--succeed, succeeds, succeeded, succeeding.\n\n    EXCUSIN\u2019--excusing, except, excepting. (See \u201c\u2019scusin\u2019\u201d).\n\n    EXWANCE--advance, advances, advanced, advancing.\n\n    EXWANTIDGE--advantage, advantages.\n\n    EXWICE--advice.\n\n    EXWISE--advise, advises, advised, advising.\n\n    EZ--as.\n\n\n    F\n\n    FABUH--(n. and v.) favor, favors, favored, favoring.\n\n    \u2019F\u2019AID--afraid, afraid of.\n\n    FAIT\u2019--faith.\n\n    FAIT\u2019FUL--faithful, earnest.\n\n    FAITFULES\u2019--faithfulest.\n\n    FAMBLY--family, families; family\u2019s, families\u2019.\n\n    FANNUH--a wide, shallow basket used for winnowing beaten\n    rice or separating the corn husks from grist after\n    grinding.\n\n    FARRUH--father, fathers.\n\n    FARRUHLAW--father-in-law, fathers-in-law.\n\n    FAS\u2019--fast.\n\n    FASHI\u2019N--fashion, like, resemblance.\n\n    FAST\u2019N--fasten, fastens, fastened, fastening.\n\n    FAU\u2019T--fault, faults.\n\n    FAWK--(n. and v.) fork, forks, forked, forking.\n\n    FAWM--(n. and v.) form, forms, formed, forming.\n\n    FAWTY--forty.\n\n    FAWWU\u2019D--forward.\n\n    FEBUH--fever, fevers.\n\n    FEBBYWERRY/FIBBYWERRY--February.\n\n    FEDDUH--feather, feathers.\n\n    FEED\u2019UM--feed, feeds, fed, feeding him, her, it, them.\n\n    \u2019FEESHUN\u2019--Ephesians--Paul\u2019s Epistle to.\n\n    FEET--frequently used for foot; as: \u201cSnake bite da\u2019 gal \u2019pun\n    \u2019e lef han\u2019 feet\u201d--The snake bit that girl on her left\n    foot.\n\n    FELLUH--fellow, fellows.\n\n    \u2019FEN\u2019--fend, defend. (See \u201crefen\u2019\u201d).\n\n    FENCH--(n. and v.) fence, fences, fenced, fencing.\n\n    FIAH--(n. and v.) fire, fires, fired, firing.\n\n    FIBE/FI\u2019--five; \u201cfibe dolluh en\u2019 seb\u2019nty-fi\u2019 cent\u2019.\u201d\n\n    FIDDLUH--fiddler, fiddlers; violinists and fiddler crabs.\n\n    FIEL\u2019--field, fields.\n\n    FIEL\u2019HAN\u2019--field hand, field hands.\n\n    FIEL\u2019NIGGUH--a laborer in the fields--the \u201cpeasant\u201d of the\n    plantation.\n\n    FIGHT--fight, fights, fought, fighting.\n\n    FILFIL--fulfill, fulfills, fulfilled, fulfilling; also fill, as\n    to fill a pulpit.\n\n    FIN\u2019--find, finds, found, finding; also to find, found, in the\n    sense of furnishing or supplying rations.\n\n    FIN\u2019LLY AT LAS\u2019--meaning at last, finally.\n\n    FIN\u2019UM--find, finds, found, finding him, her, it, them.\n\n    FISHPON\u2019--fishpond, fishponds.\n\n    FISHPUN--Fishburne--name of a low country family.\n\n    FITZSIMMUN--FitzSimons--a low-country family name.\n\n    FLABUH--(n. and v.) flavor, flavors, flavored, flavoring; as:\n    \u201cDa\u2019 buckruh\u2019 hogmeat flabuh me mout\u2019 \u2019tell uh done\n    fuhgit uh hab sin fuh kill\u2019um\u201d--That white man\u2019s\n    pork flavored my mouth so that I forgot the sin I\n    committed in killing the hog.\n\n    FLATFAWM--platform, platforms.\n\n    FLEW--fly, flies, flew, flying.\n\n    FLO\u2019--floor, floors, floored, flooring.\n\n    FLY--flies, flew, flying.\n\n    FO\u2019--four.\n\n    \u2019FO\u2019--before. (See \u201cbefo\u2019\u201d).\n\n    FO\u2019CE--force, forces, forced, forcing.\n\n    FODDUH--fodder, used only for cured corn-blades.\n\n    FOLLUH--follow, follows, followed, following.\n\n    FOOT--foot, almost universally used for feet; also for leg.\n\n    FO\u2019PUNCE--four pence. Used universally to indicate size of\n    chickens sold for four pence before the Revolution,\n    when British money was the currency of the Colonies.\n    See, also, \u201cseb\u2019npunce,\u201d which was used in a\n    similar way.\n\n    FORRUD--forehead, foreheads.\n\n    FO\u2019TEEN--fourteen.\n\n    FOWL--fowl, fowls; chicken, chickens.\n\n    FRAIL--to whip or lash.\n\n    FRAJUH--Fraser, Frazier--a low-country family name.\n\n    FRAZZLE--(n. and v.) frazzle, fray, etc.\n\n    FREEDMUN--freedman, freedmen.\n\n    FREEDMUN\u2019 BRURO--Freedman\u2019s Bureau.\n\n    FREEDUM--freedom.\n\n    FREEHAN\u2019--freehanded, generous, liberal.\n\n    FREEMALE--female, females.\n\n    FR\u2019EN\u2019--friend, friends.\n\n    FRIZZLE--frizzle, frizzles, frizzled, frizzling.\n\n    FROS\u2019--frost.\n\n    FRUM/F\u2019UM--from.\n\n    FRY-BAKIN--fried bacon.\n\n    FRY-BAKIN FROG--the small pond frogs, whose constant cry\n    is interpreted by the Negroes as \u201cfry-bacon, tea-table;\n    fry-bacon, tea-table.\u201d\n\n    FUDDUH--far, farther, farthest; further.\n\n    FUH--for, for to.\n\n    FUHGIT--forget, forgets, forgot, forgetting, forgotten.\n\n    FUH HAB--for have: \u201cOne dance bin fuh hab deepo\u2019 las\u2019\n    night\u201d--a dance was to have been had at the depot\n    last night.\n\n    FUHR\u2019EBBUH--forever, always, all the time.\n\n    FUHR\u2019UM--for him, her, it, them.\n\n    FUH SOWL--for truth, truly, used as emphasis; as: \u201c\u2019E fat\n    fuh sowl\u201d--He, she, it or they is, was, were or are\n    very fat. \u201cSowl\u201d is perhaps from the Irish pronunciation\n    of soul; as in \u201cupon me sowl!\u201d\n\n    FUH SUTT\u2019N--for certain, sure.\n\n    FUH TRUE--in truth, for truth, it is so.\n\n    FU\u2019LHAWK--fowlhawk, fowlhawks.\n\n    FU\u2019LHUS\u2019--fowl-house, fowl-houses.\n\n    FULL--fill, fills, filled, filling.\n\n    FULL\u2019UP--filled up, as a hive with honey, or a lady with\n    wrath.\n\n    FUN\u2019RUL--funeral, funerals.\n\n    FUS\u2019--first.\n\n    FUS\u2019 DAA\u2019K/FUS\u2019 DUS\u2019--first dark, dusk, twilight in the evening.\n\n    FUS\u2019 FOWL CROW--first fowl crow--midnight, or soon thereafter.\n\n    FUS\u2019 GWININ\u2019 OFF--first going off, at the beginning.\n\n\n    G\n\n    GABRULL--Angel Gabriel--he of the horn.\n\n    \u2019GAGE--engage, engages, engaged, engaging; hire, hired, etc.\n\n    GAL--girl, girls; girl\u2019s, girls\u2019. Also used familiarly in\n    addressing women.\n\n    \u2019GATUH--alligator, alligators. (See \u201calligettuh\u201d).\n\n    GAWD--God, Gods, God\u2019s.\n\n    GEDDUH--gather, gathers, gathered, gathering.\n\n    GELT/GIRT\u2019--girth, girths.\n\n    G\u2019EM--give, gives, gave, giving him, her, it, them.\n\n    \u2019GEN--again.\n\n    \u2019GENSE--against.\n\n    GI\u2019/GIB\u2019--give, gives, gave, giving.\n\n    GIMME--give me, gives me, gave me, giving me.\n\n    GINJUH--ginger.\n\n    GIN\u2019NLLY--generally, in general.\n\n    GIN\u2019UL--general.\n\n    GIT--get, gets, getting, got.\n\n    GITTA--get a (See \u201cgittuh\u201d).\n\n    GITT\u2019RU--get through, got through; finish, finished.\n\n    GITTUH--get a (See \u201cgitta\u201d).\n\n    GIT\u2019WAY--get, gets, getting, got away.\n\n    GI\u2019WE--give us, gives us, gave us, giving us.\n\n    \u2019GLEC\u2019--neglect, neglects, neglected, neglecting.\n\n    GLUB--glove, gloves.\n\n    GO--go, goes, going, gone, went.\n\n    GOL\u2019--gold, golden.\n\n    GONE--go, goes, going, gone; \u201ctime fuh gone\u201d--time for me\n    to go.\n\n    GONE\u2019WAY--go away, goes away, gone away, went away.\n\n    GONNIL--gunwale, gunwales.\n\n    GOOD-FASHI\u2019N--good fashion--well, thoroughly; as: \u201cUh lick\n    da\u2019 gal good-fashi\u2019n\u201d--I gave that girl a thorough\n    whipping.\n\n    GOT/GOTS--get, gets, have, had; also, has got to.\n\n    GO\u2019WAY--go away! get out!\n\n    GRABBLE--(n. and v.) gravel, gravels, graveled, graveling.\n\n    GRABE--grave, graves.\n\n    GRAFF--grab, grabs, grabbed, grabbing; grasp, seize, seized.\n\n    GRAMMA--grandmother. (See \u201cgrumma\u201d).\n\n    GRAN\u2019--grand--grandchild, grandson, or anyone in such\n    relationships of \u201cgrand\u201d.\n\n    GRAN\u2019MAAMY--grandmother.\n\n    GRANNY--grandmother, but used for any old Negro woman,\n    whether related or not.\n\n    GRANO--guano, phosphate, commercial fertilizers.\n\n    GRAN\u2019PUH--grandfather. (See \u201cgrumpa,\u201d \u201cgrumpuh\u201d).\n\n    \u2019GREE--agree, agrees, agreed, agreeing.\n\n    \u2019GREEMENT--agreement, agreements.\n\n    GREESE--(n. and v.) grease: \u201cgreese \u2019e mout\u2019,\u201d to feed with\n    fatness, as with bacon.\n\n    GREESY--greasy.\n\n    GRIN\u2019SALT--\u201cgrinding salt,\u201d said of a hawk or vulture circling\n    aloft.\n\n    GRITCH--grist, grits.\n\n    GROUN\u2019--ground, land, piece of land.\n\n    GRUMMA--grandma.\n\n    GRUMMOLE/GRU\u2019MOLE--ground-mole, ground-moles.\n\n    GRUM\u2019PA/GRUM\u2019PUH--grandpa, grandfather.\n\n    GRUNNOT/GRUNNUT--groundnut, groundnuts, peanuts. (See\n    \u201cpinduh\u201d).\n\n    GUBNUH--governor, governors.\n\n    GUNJUH--the scalloped molasses cakes sold in Southern\n    country stores and commissaries.\n\n    GWI\u2019/GWINE--going, going to.\n\n    GWININ\u2019 EN\u2019 GWININ\u2019--goings and goings on. Usually characterizing\n    the light conduct of idle or irresponsible\n    persons.\n\n    GYAA\u2019D--(n. and v.) guard, guards, guarded, guarding.\n\n    GYAA\u2019D\u2019N--garden, gardens.\n\n    GYAP--gap, gaps, as in a fence or hedge.\n\n    GYAP--gape, gapes, gaped, gaping; also for speech, as: \u201c\u2019E\n    nebbuh gyap\u201d--she never opened her mouth.\n\n\n    H\n\n    HAA\u2019BIS\u2019--harvest.\n\n    HAA\u2019BIS\u2019-FLOW--harvest-flow, or last irrigation of the ricefields\n    preceding the harvest.\n\n    HAA\u2019D--hard.\n\n    HAA\u2019D-HEAD--hard-head, hard-headed.\n\n    HAA\u2019KEE--hark you or ye, hear.\n\n    HAA\u2019NESS--(n. and v.) harness, harnesses, harnessed, harnessing.\n\n    HAANT--haunt, haunts; apparition; ghost, ghosts.\n\n    H\u2019AA\u2019T--heart, hearts.\n\n    H\u2019AA\u2019T\u2019--hearth, hearths.\n\n    HAB--have, has, had, having.\n\n    HACK\u2019LUS--Hercules.\n\n    HAFFUH--have to, had to.\n\n    HAIR RIZ\u2019--hair rose (with fright). An expression adopted\n    from the whites, as upon the kinky heads of the\n    coast Negroes there is nothing that even fright\n    could cause to rise.\n\n    HALF-ACRE--half acre--210 feet square--a measure of distance\n    or area.\n\n    HAN\u2019--(n. and v.) hand, hands, handed, handing.\n\n    HANCH--haunch, haunches, hind quarters.\n\n    HANKUH--hanker, long, longs, longed, longing for; desire,\n    desired, desiring.\n\n    HAPP\u2019N--happen, happens, happened, happening.\n\n    HARRICANE--hurricane, hurricanes; \u201charricane tree,\u201d one\n    thrown down by storm.\n\n    HARRUH--(n. and v.) harrow, harrows, harrowed, harrowing.\n\n    HATCHITCH--hatchet, hatchets.\n\n    HAWN--horn, horns.\n\n    HAWN\u2019OWL--the great horned owl.\n\n    HAWSS--horse, horses.\n\n    HEAD--(n. and v.) head, heads; head, heads, headed, heading\n    off.\n\n    HEAD\u2019UM--get, gets, got, getting ahead of him, her, it, them.\n\n    HEBBY--heavy, great; as: \u201cuh hebby cumplain\u2019\u201d--a great\n    outcry.\n\n    HE\u2019LT\u2019--health.\n\n    HE\u2019LT\u2019Y--healthy.\n\n    HENDUH--hinder, hinders, hindered, hindering.\n\n    HENG--hang, hangs, hanged, hung, hanging.\n\n    HENGKITCHUH--handkerchief, handkerchiefs.\n\n    HICE--hoist, hoists, hoisted, hoisting.\n\n    HICE DE CHUNE--hoist or raise the tune.\n\n    HIGGUHRI-HEE--the great horned owl. (See \u201chawn-owl\u201d).\n\n    HIM--he, she, it, his, her\u2019s, its.\n\n    HIM\u2019OWN--his, her\u2019s, his own, her own, its own.\n\n    HIN\u2019/HINE--hind, behind; as, \u201chine foot\u201d--hind feet.\n\n    HISTORICUSS--historic, historical.\n\n    HITCH--hitch, hitches, hitched, hitching; also for marry,\n    marrying.\n\n    HOL\u2019--(n. and v.) hold, holds, held, holding.\n\n    HOL\u2019FAS\u2019--Hold Fast--a favorite dog name.\n\n    HOLLUH--(n. and v.) hollow, hollows, hollowed, hollowing.\n\n    HOLLUH--halloo, halloos, hallooed, hallooing.\n\n    HOM\u2019NY--hominy.\n\n    HONGRY--hungry, hunger.\n\n    HOONUH--you, ye. (See \u201coonuh\u201d and \u201cwunnuh\u201d).\n\n    HOT--heat, heats, heated, heating.\n\n    HUCCOME/HUKKUH--how come, how came; how does or did it\n    come; how came it?\n\n    HUDDY--howdy, how do you do?--\u201ctell\u2019um heap\u2019uh huddy.\u201d\n\n    HUMMUCH--how much, or how many.\n\n    HUND\u2019UD--hundred, hundreds.\n\n    HU\u2019T/HO\u2019T--(n. and v.) hurt, hurts, hurting.\n\n\n    I\n\n    IMPEDIN\u2019--impudence, impudent.\n\n    INFLUMMASHUN--information.\n\n    INGINE--engine, engines. (See \u201ceenjine\u201d).\n\n    INJUN--Indian, Indians.\n\n    INTUHCEDE--intercede, intercedes, interceded, interceding.\n\n    I\u2019ON/I\u2019UN--(n. and v.) iron, irons, ironed, ironing.\n\n\n    IZ/YIZ--is.\n\n\n    IZICK--Isaac.\n\n\n    J\n\n    JACK--(n. and v.) jack, jacks, jacked, jacking.\n\n    JACKSINBURRUH--Jacksonboro.\n\n    JACKSTAN\u2019--jack-stand--stands on which fires are kept at\n    night in summer settlements for protection against\n    mosquitoes and other insects.\n\n    JACKY-LANTU\u2019N--Jack-o\u2019-lantern--will-o\u2019-the-wisp.\n\n    JALLUS--jealous, jealousy.\n\n    JAYBU\u2019D--jaybird, jaybirds.\n\n    \u2019JECK\u2019--reject, rejects; object, objects, objected, objecting;\n    objection.\n\n    \u2019JECKSHUN--objection, objections.\n\n    \u2019JECK\u2019UM--reject or rejected him, as an undesirable juror.\n\n    JEDGE--(n. and v.) judge, judges, judged, judging.\n\n    JEDUS--Jesus.\n\n    JESTUSS--justice.\n\n    JEW--Jew, Jews.\n\n    JEW--dew.\n\n    JIMPSIN-WEED/JIMSIN-WEED--Jimpson or Jamestown-weed.\n\n    JINE--join, joins, joined, joining.\n\n    JININ\u2019--joining; adjoining. (See \u201ceenjinin\u2019\u201d).\n\n    JINNYWERRY--January.\n\n    JIS\u2019--just. (See \u201cdis\u2019\u201d).\n\n    JISSO/JESSO--just so. (See \u201cdisso\u201d).\n\n    JOHOSSEE--Jehossee--a rice-growing island of the South\n    Carolina Coast.\n\n    JOKOK--Jaycocks--the name of former Governor Heyward\u2019s\n    overseer on the Combahee.\n\n    JOOK--jab, jabs, jabbed, jabbing.\n\n    JOOKASS--jackass, jackasses.\n\n    JUDUS CAESAR--Julius Caesar.\n\n    JUE--due, dues.\n\n    JUHRUZELUM--Jerusalem.\n\n    JU\u2019K--jerk, jerks, jerked, jerking.\n\n    JULIP--the vanished mint julep.\n\n    JULLY--July.\n\n    JUNK--chunk, chunks, as of lightwood.\n\n    JUNTLEMUN--gentleman, gentlemen; also a woman\u2019s \u201cman\u201d\n    or husband; as, \u201chim juntlemun,\u201d meaning her husband.\n\n    JUNTLEMUN\u2019 NIGGUH--gentleman\u2019s Negro, meaning one who\n    as a slave had belonged to people of position--the\n    \u201cquality.\u201d\n\n\n    K\n\n    \u2019KACE--scarce. (See \u201csca\u2019ce\u201d).\n\n    \u2019KACELY--scarcely, hardly. (See \u201csca\u2019cely\u201d).\n\n    KETCH--catch, catches, caught, catching; took, take; as: \u201c\u2019E\n    ketch \u2019e tex f\u2019um de fus\u2019 chaptuh een Nickuhdemus\u201d--He\n    took his text from the first chapter of Nicodemus.\n    Also for reach, reached; as: \u201cTime uh ketch de ribbuh\n    bank, de dog done gone.\u201d\n\n    KETCH\u2019UM--catch, catches, caught, catching him, her, it,\n    them.\n\n    KI--an exclamation. (Sometimes \u201ckwi\u201d or \u201ckwoy\u201d).\n\n    KIBBUH--(n. and v.) cover, covers, covered, covering.\n\n    KIBBUHR\u2019UM--cover, covers, covered, covering him, her, it,\n    them.\n\n    KILLYBASH--calabash, calabashes; gourd, gourds.\n\n    KIN--can.\n\n    KIN--kin, kindred.\n\n    KIN\u2019--kind, kinds; sort, sorts.\n\n    KIND\u2019UH--kind of, sort of.\n\n    KNOCK--knock, knocks, knocked, knocking.\n\n    \u2019KNOWLEDGE--acknowledge, acknowledges, acknowledged, acknowledging;\n    admit, etc.\n\n    KNOW\u2019UM--know, knows, knew him, her, it, them.\n\n    KYAG--keg, kegs.\n\n    KYARRYSENE--kerosene.\n\n\n    L\n\n    LAA\u2019CENY--larceny.\n\n    LAA\u2019D--lard.\n\n    LAA\u2019GIN\u2019--enlarging, swaggering, boastful.\n\n    LAA\u2019N--learn, learns, learned, learning.\n\n    LAB\u2019RUH--laborer, laborers.\n\n    LAM\u2019QUAWTUH--lamb\u2019s-quarter--an edible wild herb of which,\n    like the tender leaves of the pokeberry, the Negroes\n    are very fond, using it for boiling.\n\n    LANGWIDGE--language, talk.\n\n    LAS\u2019--last, lasts, lasted, lasting; last (adverb); shoemaker\u2019s\n    last.\n\n    LAS\u2019YEAH--last year, last year\u2019s.\n\n    LAUGH--(n. and v.) laugh, laughs, laughed, laughing.\n\n    LAVUH--(n. and v.) labor, labors, labored, laboring.\n\n    LAWFULLY LADY--a Negro\u2019s legally married wife.\n\n    LEABE--leaf, leaves.\n\n    LEABE--(n. and v.) leave, leaves, left, leaving (see \u201clef\u2019\u201d);\n    permit, permission.\n\n    LEAN FUH--lean for--set out for with haste and speed.\n\n    \u2019LEBEN/\u2019LEB\u2019N--eleven.\n\n    LEDDOWN--lay, lays, laid or lie, lies, lay, lying down.\n\n    LEEK--lick, licks, licked, licking--with the tongue.\n\n    LEELY/LILLY--little, in size or quantity.\n\n    LEETLE--little, in size or quantity.\n\n    LEF\u2019--leave, leaves, left, leaving. (See \u201cleabe\u201d).\n\n    LEF\u2019 HAN\u2019--left hand or left handed, \u201clef han\u2019 foot,\u201d or \u201clef\n    han\u2019 feet\u201d--left foot or left leg.\n\n    LEF\u2019UM--leave, leaves, left or leaving him, her, it, them.\n\n    LEGGO--let go, lets go, letting go.\n\n    LEH--let, lets, letting.\n\n    LEH WE--let us.\n\n    LE\u2019M--let them.\n\n    LEM\u2019LONE--let, lets him, her, it, them alone.\n\n    LEMME--let me.\n\n    LEN\u2019--(v.) lend, lends, loaned, lending.\n\n    LENGK--length, lengths.\n\n    \u2019LESS--(or onless) unless.\n\n    LIAH/LIE--liar, liars.\n\n    LIB--live, lives, lived, living.\n\n    LIBBIN\u2019--living.\n\n    \u2019LIBE--alive.\n\n    LIBBUH--liver, livers.\n\n    \u2019LIBBUH--deliver, delivers, delivered, delivering.\n\n    LICK--(n. and v.) a blow; to whip, whips, whipped.\n\n    LICK BACK--turn, turns, turned, turning back, while moving\n    rapidly.\n\n    LICKIN\u2019--(n. and v.) a licking, lickings, whipping, etc.\n\n    LIGHT ON--light on--mount, mounts, mounted, mounting.\n\n    LIGHT\u2019OOD--lightwood--resinous pine-wood.\n\n    LIGHT OUT--to start, start off, or away.\n\n    \u2019LIJAH/\u2019LIJUH--Elijah, the prophet.\n\n\n    \u2019LIJUN--religion.\n\n    LIKESO/LIKEWISE ALSO--likewise, also.\n\n\n    LIMUS-COOTUH--a small, malodorous black terrapin, held in\n    contempt by both races.\n\n    LINNIMENT--liniment.\n\n    LISS\u2019N--listen, listens, listened, listening.\n\n    LOBLOLLY-PINE--the great short-leaf pine growing in low\n    ground.\n\n    LOCUS PASTUH--local pastor, or preacher.\n\n    \u2019LONG--along, along with.\n\n    LONGIS\u2019--longest.\n\n    LONGMOUT\u2019--long mouth--descriptive of the surly or contemptuous\n    pushing out of the lips of an angry or\n    discontented Negro.\n\n    \u2019LONGSIDE--alongside.\n\n    LONG TALK KETCH RUN\u2019WAY NIGGUH--meaning long talk or\n    conversation by the roadside often causes or caused\n    runaway slaves to be caught by the \u201cpatrol.\u201d\n\n    LONGUH--longer.\n\n    \u2019LONG\u2019UM--along with, or with him, her, it, them.\n\n    LOSS--lose, loses, lost, losing.\n\n    \u2019LOW\u2019UM--allow, allows, allowed, allowing him, her, it, them.\n\n    LUB--(n. and v.) love, loves, loved, loving; like, likes, liked,\n    liking.\n\n    LUK--like, alike.\n\n    LUKKUH--like, like unto, resembling.\n\n    LUK\u2019UM--like or resembling him, her, it, them.\n\n\n    M\n\n    MAA\u2019CH--March; march, marches, marched, marching.\n\n    MAA\u2019K--(n. and v.) mark, marks, marked, marking.\n\n    MAA\u2019L--the marl or phosphate mines. (See \u201cde Rock\u201d).\n\n    MA\u2019AM--madam.\n\n    MAAMY--mother, mothers.\n\n    MAA\u2019SH--marsh, marshes.\n\n    MACFUSS\u2019NBIL--McPhersonville--a summer village.\n\n    MAN--man, man\u2019s; men, men\u2019s.\n\n    MANGE--mane.\n\n    MANNUS--manners, politeness, courtesy.\n\n    MANNUSSUBBLE--well-mannered, polite.\n\n    MARRI\u2019D--married, marry, marries, marrying.\n\n    MASS/MAS\u2019--master when used with a name: as, \u201cMass Clinch,\u201d\n    \u201cMas\u2019 Rafe.\u201d\n\n    MASTUH--Master--used only for God.\n\n    MATCH--(n. and v.) match, matches, matched, matching. Yet\n    \u201cmatches\u201d is sometimes used for the singular; as,\n    \u201cGimme uh matches\u201d--give me a match.\n\n    MAUM--same as \u201cmaumuh,\u201d when used with the name of the\n    person spoken to or of, as \u201cMaum Kate.\u201d\n\n    MAUMUH--mauma, the equivalent of the up-country\n    \u201cmammy.\u201d\n\n    MAUSSUH--master, masters. NOTE: See above \u201cMastuh.\u201d\n    While the Gullah can pronounce \u201cmastuh,\u201d he reserves\n    this for God, even saying \u201cMaussuh Jedus\u201d--Master Jesus.\n\n    MAWGIDGE--(n. and v.) mortgage, mortgages, mortgaged,\n    mortgaging.\n\n    MAWNIN\u2019--morning, mornings; also \u201cgood morning!\u201d\n\n    ME--I, my.\n\n    MEAN--mean, meanness.\n\n    MEDDISIN/MED\u2019SIN--medicine, medicines, physic\n\n    MEDJUH--(n. and v.) measure, measures, measured, measuring.\n\n    MEDJUHR\u2019UM--measure, measures, measured, measuring him,\n    her, it, them.\n\n    MEK--make, makes, made, making.\n\n    MEK\u2019ACE--make haste.\n\n    MEK ANSUH--make, makes, making, made reply.\n\n    MEK FUH--make for; to go to, goes to, went to, going to.\n\n    MEK OUT--make, makes, made, making out; a makeshift.\n\n    MEK YO MANNUS--make your manners, your obeisance.\n\n    MEMBUH--member, members as of a church or society.\n\n    \u2019MEMBUH--remember, remembers, remembered, remembering;\n    remind, etc.\n\n    \u2019MEMB\u2019UNCE--remembrance, remembrances.\n\n    MEN\u2019 \u2019E PACE--mend his, her, its, their pace; hurry, hurry up,\n    etc.\n\n    MENS--men.\n\n    MESELF/MUHSELF--myself.\n\n    MET\u2019DIS\u2019--Methodist, Methodists.\n\n    METSIDGE--message, messages.\n\n    MIDDLEBLOUSE--middy-blouse, middy-blouses.\n\n    MIDDLEDAY--midday, noon.\n\n    MIDDLENIGHT--midnight.\n\n    MIN\u2019--mind, minds, minded, minding; heed, etc.; take care of,\n    protect, cherish, guard.\n\n    \u2019MIRATION--admiration, wonder, astonishment.\n\n    MIS\u2019/MISS--Miss, Mrs., Mistress, when accompanied by a\n    name, as Miss Anne, \u201cMis\u2019 Chizzum.\u201d\n\n    MISSIS--mistress, mistresses.\n\n    MISTUH--Mr.\n\n    MO\u2019--more.\n\n    MOAN--moan, moans, moaned, moaning.\n\n    MO\u2019 BETTUH--more better, better.\n\n    MOCCASIN--water-moccasin, a venomous snake.\n\n    MO\u2019 LONGUH--more longer, longer.\n\n    MO\u2019N--mourn, mourns, mourned, mourning.\n\n    MO\u2019NFUL--mournful.\n\n    \u2019MONG/\u2019MOUNG--among, amid.\n\n    MONGK\u2019Y/MONK\u2019Y--monkey, monkeys.\n\n    MONSTROSITY--monstrous.\n\n    MO\u2019NUH--mourner, mourners.\n\n    MO\u2019NUH--more than.\n\n    MO\u2019NUH DA\u2019--more than that.\n\n    MOOBE--move, moves, moved, moving.\n\n    MO\u2019OBUH--moreover.\n\n    MO\u2019RIS\u2019/MO\u2019RES\u2019--most.\n\n    MOUT\u2019--mouth, mouths.\n\n    MUFFEY--Murphy.\n\n    MUFFLEDICE--hermaphrodite.\n\n    MUFFLEJAW--muffle-jawed--a strain of barnyard fowl, heavily\n    feathered about the cheeks.\n\n    MUHLASSIS--molasses.\n\n    MUKKLE--myrtle, myrtles; myrtle thickets.\n\n    MUNT\u2019--month, months.\n\n    MURRUH--mother, mothers.\n\n    MURRUHLAW--mother-in-law.\n\n    MUS\u2019BE--must be, must have, must have been.\n\n    MUSCOBY--Muscovy--a breed of domestic ducks much affected\n    by low-country Negroes.\n\n    MUSKICK--musket, muskets.\n\n    MUSKITTUH--mosquito, mosquitoes.\n\n    MUSSIFUL--merciful.\n\n    MUSSY--mercy, mercies.\n\n    MUSTU\u2019D--mustard.\n\n    MUSTUH--muster, musters, mustered, mustering.\n\n    MY\u2019OWN--mine, my.\n\n\n    N\n\n    NAKID/NAKIT--naked.\n\n    NAKITY--naked, nakedness.\n\n    \u2019NARRUH--another. (See \u201c\u2019nodduh\u201d and \u201c\u2019norruh\u201d).\n\n    NAVUH--neighbor, neighbors.\n\n    NEBBUH--never. (See \u201cnubbuh\u201d).\n\n    NEEDUH--neither.\n\n    NEEDUHSO--neither so, neither, nor.\n\n    N\u2019MIN\u2019/N\u2019MINE/NEMMIN\u2019/NEMMINE/NUMMINE--never mind.\n\n    NEPCHUNE--Neptune.\n\n    NES\u2019--(n. and v.) nest, nests, nested, nesting.\n\n    NEWFANGLETY--newfangled.\n\n    NEWNITED STATES--United States.\n\n    NICKYNACK--\u201cnic-nac\u201d crackers, biscuit.\n\n    NIGGUHHOUSE--Negro house or houses, cabin or cabins.\n\n    NIGGUHHOUSE YAA\u2019D--Negro house yard, the main street running\n    through the plantation Negro quarters.\n\n    NIGH--near, also draw near to; as: \u201cW\u2019en de bull biggin fuh\n    nigh\u2019um de gal tek \u2019e foot een \u2019e han\u2019 en\u2019 run \u2019way.\u201d\n\n    NIGHT--night, night-time, at night.\n\n    NIGH\u2019UM--near, or nearing him, her, it, them.\n\n    \u2019N\u2019INT--anoint, anoints, anointed, anointing. (See \u201crenoint\u201d).\n\n    NO--any.\n\n    NO\u2019COUNT--no account, worthless.\n\n    \u2019NODDUH--another. (See \u201c\u2019narruh\u201d and \u201c\u2019norruh\u201d).\n\n    NOMANNUS/NOMANNUSSUBBLE--impolite, without manners, rude.\n\n    NOMINASHUN--nominate, nominates, nominated, nominating;\n    also nomination, nominations.\n\n    \u2019NORRUH--another. (See \u201c\u2019narruh\u201d and \u201c\u2019nodduh\u201d).\n\n    NOTT--nut, nuts; as \u201cnott-grass,\u201d nut grass.\n\n    NOTUS--(n. and v.) notice, notices, noticed, noticing.\n\n    NOWEMBUH--November.\n\n    NUBBUH--never. (See \u201cnebbuh\u201d).\n\n    \u2019NUF--enough, abundance.\n\n    NUH--nor; also for and.\n\n    \u2019NURRUH--another.\n\n    NUSS--(n. and v.) nurse, nurses, nursed, nursing.\n\n    NUSSUH/NUSSO--not so.\n\n    NUTT\u2019N\u2019--nothing.\n\n    NYAM--eat, eats, eating, ate; sometimes \u201cnyam-nyam,\u201d a\n    repetition for emphasis.\n\n    NYANKEE--Yankee, Yankees.\n\n    NYOUNG/NYUNG--young.\n\n    NYOUNGIS\u2019--youngest.\n\n    NYUSE/USE--(n. and v.) use, uses, used, using. (See \u201cuz\u2019n\u201d).\n\n    NYUZE/NYUZ\u2019N--(v.) used, using.\n\n\n    O\n\n    OAGLY--ugly.\n\n    OBJECK\u2019--object. (See \u201c\u2019jeck\u2019\u201d).\n\n    OBSERB\u2019--observe, observes, observed, observing.\n\n    OB\u2019SHAY--overseer, overseers.\n\n    OBUH--over, above.\n\n    OBUHTEK--overtake, overtakes, overtook, overtaking.\n\n    OBUHT\u2019ROW--overthrow, overthrows, overthrew, overthrowing;\n    overthrown.\n\n    OCTOBUH--October.\n\n    ODDUH--other, others.\n\n    ODDUHRES\u2019--the other rest, the rest, remainder.\n\n    OFF\u2019UH--off, off of.\n\n    OFFUH--offer, offers, offered, offering.\n\n    OFF\u2019UM--off, or off of him, her, it, them.\n\n    OLE--old.\n\n    ONBUTT\u2019N--unbutton, unbuttons, unbuttoned, unbuttoning.\n\n    ONCOMMUN--uncommon.\n\n    ONDEESTUNT--indecent, indecency.\n\n    ONDELICATE--indelicate, presumptuous.\n\n    ONDUH--under.\n\n    ONDUHNEET\u2019--underneath.\n\n    ONDUHSTAN\u2019--understand, understands, understood, understanding.\n    Also, as an understanding.\n\n    ONDUHTEK--undertake, undertakes, undertook, undertaking.\n\n    ONE--only; \u201cme one,\u201d I only.\n\n    ONE\u2019NARRUH/ONE\u2019NODDUH/ONE\u2019NUDDUH/ONE\u2019NURRUH--one another.\n\n    ONETIME--once, once upon a time.\n\n    ONHITCH--unhitch, unhitches, unhitched, unhitching; also\n    marital separation.\n\n    ONKIBBUH--uncover, uncovers, uncovered, uncovering.\n\n    ONLOCK--unlock, unlocks, unlocked, unlocking.\n\n    ONMANNUSSUBBLE--unmannerly, impolite, rude. (See \u201cnomannussubble\u201d).\n\n    ONNUH--(n. and v.) honor, honors, honored, honoring.\n\n    ONNUHRUBBLE--honorable.\n\n    ONRABBLE--unravel, unravels, unraveled, unraveling; untangle.\n\n    ONREASUNNUBBLE--unreasonable.\n\n    ONSAA\u2019T\u2019N--uncertain.\n\n    ONSATTIFY--unsatisfied, unsatisfying.\n\n    ONTEL--until.\n\n    ONTIE--untie, unties, untied, untying.\n\n    \u2019OOD--wood, woods.\n\n    \u2019OOMAN--woman, woman\u2019s; women, women\u2019s. \u201c\u2019Ooman iz uh\n    sometime t\u2019ing\u201d--Woman is a fickle, uncertain\n    creature, sometimes one thing, sometimes another.\n\n    OONUH--ye, sometimes you. (See \u201cwunnuh,\u201d etc.).\n\n    OSHTUH--oyster, oysters.\n\n    OSHTUH RAKE--long-handled rake or tongs for gathering\n    oysters.\n\n    OUGHTUH--ought, ought to, ought to be; as: \u201cMan oughtuh\n    t\u2019engkful\u201d--man ought to be thankful.\n\n    OUT/OUT\u2019N--to go out, put out, extinguish; as: \u201cUh out de fiah\u201d--\n    I put out the fire. \u201cUh out\u2019n\u2019um\u201d--I put it out.\n\n    OUT\u2019UH--out of, out.\n\n    OX--oxen.\n\n    OXIDIZE--to turn into an ox.\n\n    OXIN--ox.\n\n\n    P\n\n    PAA\u2019D\u2019N--(n. and v.) pardon, pardons, pardoned, pardoning.\n\n    PAA\u2019DNUH--partner, partners.\n\n    PAA\u2019KUH--Parker--a low-country family name.\n\n    PAA\u2019LUH--parlor, parlors.\n\n    PAA\u2019SIMONY--parsimony, also avarice or rapacity.\n\n    PAA\u2019S\u2019N--parson, parsons.\n\n    PAAT\u2019--path, paths.\n\n    PAA\u2019T--(n. and v.) part, parts, parted, parting.\n\n    PAA\u2019TY--party.\n\n    PALABUHRIN\u2019--palavering--soft talk of a philanderer with\n    the gentler sex.\n\n    PAPUH--(n. and v.) paper, papers, papered, papering; also a\n    written instrument, a note or letter.\n\n    PARRYSAWL--parasol, parasols.\n\n    PASHUN/PASHUNT--patience; patient, forbearing.\n\n    PASSOBUH--Passover.\n\n    PASS\u2019UM--pass, passes, passed, passing him, her, it, them.\n\n    PASTUH--pastor, pastors; pasture, pastures.\n\n    PATTY-AUGUH/PETTY-AUGUH--piragua, pirogue.\n\n    PAWPUS--porpoise, porpoises.\n\n    \u2019PAWTUN\u2019/\u2019PORTUN\u2019--important.\n\n    \u2019PAWTUNCE/\u2019PORTUNCE--importance.\n\n    PEACEUBBLE--peaceable, peaceful.\n\n    PEAWINE--peavine, peavines.\n\n    PENITENSHUS--penitentiary.\n\n    \u2019PEN\u2019PUN--depend, depends, depended, depending upon.\n\n    PERUSE--to saunter, walk in a leisurely manner, as: \u201cDa\u2019 gal\n    him bin peruse \u2019long de road en\u2019 \u2019e nebbuh study\n    \u2019bout nutt\u2019n\u2019;\u201d also investigate, examine, consider.\n\n    PESSLE--pestle, pestles; a double-headed wooden implement\n    for beating rice.\n\n    PHOSKIT/PHUSKIT--phosphate, commercial fertilizer; also \u201cde\n    Phoskit\u201d the phosphate mines.\n\n    PIGGIN--a small cedar pail in universal use among Negroes\n    of the coast.\n\n    PINCH\u2019UM--pinch, pinches, pinched, pinching him, her, it,\n    them; sometimes gripping, as of pain.\n\n    \u2019PIN--spin, spins, spun, spinning.\n\n    PINDUH--pindar, peanut, peanuts. (See \u201cgrunnot\u201d).\n\n    PINELAN\u2019--pineland, pinelands.\n\n    \u2019PINION--opinion, opinions.\n\n    P\u2019INT--(n. and v.) point, points, pointed, pointing; direct,\n    etc.\n\n    \u2019P\u2019INT--appoint, appoints, appointed, appointing.\n\n    \u2019P\u2019INTMENT--appointment, appointments.\n\n    \u2019PISKUBBLE--Episcopal, Episcopalian.\n\n    \u2019PISTLE--Epistle, Epistles (Bible).\n\n    PITCHUH--pitcher, pitchers.\n\n    PIT--put, puts, put, putting.\n\n    PIT\u2019UM--put him, her, it, them.\n\n    PIZEN--poison, poisons, poisoned, poisoning.\n\n    PIZEN-OAK--poison-oak, or poison ivy.\n\n    \u2019PLASH--(n. and v.) splash; to splash, splashes, splashed,\n    splashing.\n\n    PLAT-EYE--a ghostly apparition, common to the Georgetown\n    section of the coast.\n\n    PLAY \u2019POSSUM--to make believe, to fool, deceive.\n\n    PLEASE KIN--please can--a redundancy; as: \u201cplease kin\n    gimme\u201d--please give me.\n\n    PLEDJUH--pleasure, pleasures.\n\n    PLEDJUHR\u2019UM--please, give pleasure to him, her, it, them.\n\n    PO\u2019--poor, also thin, lean, low in flesh.\n\n    PO\u2019BUCKRUH--a poor white man, the poor whites.\n\n    PO\u2019BUCKRUH-NIGGUH--a Negro who had formerly belonged\n    to the poorer whites, or those not of the \u201cquality.\u201d\n\n    PO\u2019CH--porch, porches.\n\n    POLITICKSUS/POLITICUSS--political. (See \u201ccawpsus politicksus\u201d).\n\n    POLLYDO\u2019--Polydore--a favorite man\u2019s name among the\n    Negroes; used also for Apollos.\n\n    PO\u2019LY--poorly, describing health.\n\n    PON PON--the lower Edisto and the region south of the A.\n    C. L. Ry., opposite Jacksonboro.\n\n    POOTY/PUTTY--pretty.\n\n    PO\u2019R--pour, pours, poured, pouring.\n\n    PO\u2019R\u2019UM--pour, pours, poured, pouring it, that.\n\n    POS\u2019--(n. and v.) post, posts, posted, posting.\n\n    POSITUBBLE--positive, positively.\n\n    POSSIMMUN--persimmon, persimmons; the tree and fruit.\n\n    PO\u2019TRIAL--Port Royal.\n\n    PRAISE-MEETIN\u2019--prayer-meeting.\n\n    PRAY--(n. and v.) prayer, prayers; prays, prayed, praying.\n\n    \u2019PREAD--spread, spreads, spreading.\n\n    PREECHUH--preacher, preachers; minister, ministers.\n\n    PREECHUH ON DE SUKKUS--the circuit or traveling preacher.\n\n    PREMUSSIZ--premises.\n\n    PRESINCK--precinct.\n\n    PRES\u2019N\u2019LY--presently.\n\n    PREZZYDENT--president.\n\n    PRIBLIDGE--(n. and v.) privilege, privileges, privileged.\n\n    PRIMUS WARD--ward primary.\n\n    PRIZZUNT--present, presents, presented, presenting.\n\n    PRIZZUNT AA\u2019M--present arms.\n\n    PROJIC\u2019--to \u201cmonkey with,\u201d to hazard.\n\n    PROMMUS--(n. and v.) promise, promises, promised, promising.\n\n    PROOBE--prove, proves, proved, proving.\n\n    PROPUTTY--property, wealth.\n\n    \u2019PUBLIKIN--Republican.\n\n    PUHCEED/PUSCEED--proceed, proceeds, proceeded, proceeding.\n\n    PUHHAPS--perhaps.\n\n    P\u2019UHJEC\u2019--project, projected, as: \u201cW\u2019en da\u2019 \u2019ooman bex, him\n    p\u2019uh\u2019jec\u2019 him mout\u2019 at me\u201d--When that woman was\n    angry she stuck out her mouth at me.\n\n    PUHJUH--perjure, perjures, perjured, perjuring.\n\n    PUHLICITUH--solicitor, solicitors; the dreaded prosecuting attorney\n    of the Criminal Court, held in awe by all\n    low-country Negroes.\n\n    PUHLITE--polite, politely. Also a popular Negro name, as\n    \u201cMingo Puhlite.\u201d\n\n    PUHSHAY--Porcher--name of a low-country family.\n\n    PUHTEK--protect, protects, protected, protecting.\n\n    PUHTEKSHUN--protection.\n\n    PUHTETTUH--potato, potatoes--usually sweet. (See \u201ctettuh\u201d).\n\n    PUHTICKLUH--particular, particularly.\n\n    PUHWIDE--provide, provides, provided, providing.\n\n    PUHWID\u2019N--providing, also provided.\n\n    PUHWIDUH--provider, providers.\n\n    PUHWISHUN--provision, provisions; ration, ration.\n\n    PUHWOKE--provoke, provokes, provoked, provoking.\n\n    PUHWOKIN\u2019--provoking.\n\n    PUHZAC\u2019LY--exactly, precisely.\n\n    PUHZISHUN--position, positions.\n\n    PULBLIC--public, the public.\n\n    PULL WOOL--to pull the kinky forelock in salutation to \u201cde\n    Buckruh.\u201d\n\n    PUNKIN--pumpkin, pumpkins.\n\n    PUNKIN-SKIN--pumpkin colored or mulatto Negro.\n\n    PUNNOUNCE--pronounce, pronounces, pronounced, pronouncing.\n\n    \u2019PUNTOP/\u2019PUNTAP/\u2019PANTAP--upon, on, on top of.\n\n    \u2019PUNTOP\u2019UH--upon top of, on top of, at.\n\n    PUPPUS--purpose, on purpose.\n\n    PUSS\u2019N/PUSSON/PUSSUN--person, persons.\n\n    PUSS\u2019NULLY/PUSSONULLY/PUSSUNULLY--personally.\n\n\n    Q\n\n    \u2019QUAINTUN\u2019--acquainted, acquainted with.\n\n    \u2019QUAINTUNCE--acquaintance, acquaintances. (See \u201cacquaintun\u2019\u201d).\n\n    QUARRIL/QUAWL--quarrel, quarrels.\n\n    QUARRILMENT/QUAWLMENT--quarrel, quarrels, quarreled, quarrelling.\n\n    QUAWT--quart, quarts.\n\n    QUAWT\u2019LY--quarterly.\n\n    QUAWTUH--(n. and v.) quarter, quarters, quartered, quartering.\n\n    \u2019QUEEZE--squeeze, squeezes, squeezed, squeezing.\n\n    QUESCHUN/SQUESCHUN--(n. and v.) question, questions, questioned,\n    questioning. Rarely used, \u201cquizzit\u201d taking its\n    place.\n\n    QUILE--(n. and v.) coil, coils, coiled, coiling.\n\n    \u2019QUIRE--require, requires, required, requiring.\n\n    \u2019QUIRE--inquire, inquires, inquired, inquiring.\n\n    QUIZZIT--(quiz) ask, asks, asked, asking; to question, questions,\n    questioned, questioning. (See \u201csquizzit,\u201d a\n    rarely used variant).\n\n\n    R\n\n    RABBISH--ravish, ravishes, ravished, ravishing.\n\n    RAB\u2019N--raven, ravens; vulture, vultures; buzzard, buzzards.\n\n    RAB\u2019NEL--Ravenel, Ravenels--a family name, also a station\n    on Atlantic Coast Line Railway.\n\n    RACKTIFY--to break, breaks, broke, broken, breaking. Confuse\n    in mind: \u201cDa\u2019 buggy racktify\u201d--that buggy is dilapidated.\n    \u201cDa\u2019 \u2019ooman racktify een \u2019e min\u2019\u201d--that\n    woman\u2019s mind is distracted.\n\n    RAIN--(n. and v.) rain, rains, rained, raining.\n\n    RALE--real, very, truly.\n\n    RAMIFY--to act like a ram.\n\n    RANGE--range, ranges, ranged, ranging.\n\n    \u2019RANGUHTANG--Orang-Utan, Orang-Utans.\n\n    RAPPIT--rapid, rapidly.\n\n    RASHI\u2019N--(n. and v.) ration, rations, rationed, rationing.\n\n    RAYRE--rear, rears, reared, rearing.\n\n    \u2019READY--already.\n\n    REBEL TIME--rebel times--the freedmen\u2019s offensive characterization\n    of the period before freedom when their\n    former masters controlled the government of their\n    own states.\n\n    REB\u2019REN\u2019--reverend--used also as a noun, as \u201cde reb\u2019ren\u2019.\u201d\n\n    RECISHUN--decision, decisions.\n\n    REDDUH--rather. (See \u201crudduh\u201d).\n\n    REFEN\u2019--defend, defends, defended, defending. (See \u201c\u2019fen\u2019\u201d).\n\n    REINGE--reins.\n\n    REMONIA--pneumonia.\n\n    RENITE--unite, unites, united, uniting.\n\n    RENOINT--anoint, anoints, anointed, anointing. (See \u201c\u2019n\u2019int\u201d).\n\n    RENOINTED--anointed.\n\n    REPEAH--appear, appears, appeared, appearing.\n\n    REPLOY--(rare) reply, replies, replied, replying.\n\n    REPOSE--oppose, opposes, opposed, opposing.\n\n    RESPLAIN--explain, explains, explained, explaining; elucidate,\n    etc.\n\n    RETCH--reach, reaches, reached, reaching.\n\n    \u2019RIAH--Maria.\n\n    RIBBUH--river, rivers.\n\n    RICEBU\u2019D--ricebird, ricebirds.\n\n    RIDICK\u2019LUS--ridiculous, also outrageous, scandalous. (Often\n    so used by illiterate whites).\n\n    ROAS\u2019--roast, roasts, roasted, roasting.\n\n    ROCK--rock, rocks, rocked, rocking. Also for phosphate rock.\n    (See \u201cde Rock\u201d).\n\n    ROKKOON--raccoon, raccoons.\n\n    ROLL--roll, rolls, rolled, rolling.\n\n    ROOS\u2019--(n. and v.) roost, roosts, roosted, roosting.\n\n    ROOSTUH--rooster, roosters.\n\n    ROZZUM--(n. and v.) rosin, rosins, rosined, rosining.\n\n    RUBBIDGE--rubbish.\n\n    RUCKUHNIZE--recognize, recognizes, recognized, recognizing.\n\n    RUDDUH--rather. (See \u201credduh\u201d).\n\n    RUDDUH--rudder, rudders.\n\n    RUMPLETAIL--(rumpless) a tailless fowl.\n\n    RUN--run, runs, ran, running.\n\n    RUPPEZUNT--represent, represents, represented, representing.\n\n\n    S\n\n    SAA\u2019B--serve, serves, served, serving.\n\n    SAA\u2019BINT--(also \u201csaa\u2019bunt\u201d) servant, servants.\n\n    SAA\u2019BINT DAY--servants\u2019 day--perhaps originally a corruption\n    of Sabbath day.\n\n    SAA\u2019BIS--(also sarbis) service, services, use.\n\n    SAA\u2019CH--search, searches, searched, searching; also examine,\n    examined, etc.\n\n    SAA\u2019F--soft.\n\n    SAA\u2019F\u2019LY--softly.\n\n    SAA\u2019PINT/SAA\u2019PUNT--serpent (Biblical).\n\n    SAA\u2019T\u2019N/SUTT\u2019N--certain.\n\n    SABANNUH/SAWANNUH--Savannah; savanna, savannas.\n\n    SABBIDGE--savage, savages.\n\n    SABE--save, saves, saved, saving.\n\n    SABEYUH--the Savior.\n\n    SA\u2019LEENUH--St. Helena Island, on the South Carolina coast.\n\n    SAME LUKKUH--(also sukkuh) same like, like, resembling.\n\n    SAN\u2019--sand.\n\n    SAT\u2019D\u2019Y/SATTYDAY--Saturday.\n\n    SATTIFACKSHUN--satisfaction.\n\n    SATTIFY--satisfy, satisfies, satisfied, satisfying.\n\n    SAWLKETCHUH--Salkehatchie--upper reaches of the Combahee\n    above the A. C. L. Ry.\n\n    SAWT--(n. and v.) sort, sorts, sorted, sorting.\n\n    SAWTUH--sort of--after a fashion.\n\n    SAY--say, says, said, saying.\n\n    SCA\u2019CE/SCA\u2019CEFUL--scarce.\n\n    SCA\u2019CELY--scarcely, hardly. (See \u201ckacely\u201d).\n\n    SCATTUH--scatter, scatters, scattered, scattering.\n\n    SCHEMY--scheming, tricky.\n\n    SCOLE--scold, scolds, scolded, scolding.\n\n    SCRIPTUH--Scripture--the Bible.\n\n    \u2019SCUSE--(noun) excuse, excuses.\n\n    \u2019SCUSIN\u2019--excusing, except.\n\n    \u2019SCUSSHUN--excursion, excursions.\n\n    \u2019SCUZE--(verb) excuse, excuses, excused, excusing.\n\n    SEAZ\u2019NIN\u2019--seasoning.\n\n    SEB\u2019N--seven.\n\n    SEB\u2019NPUNCE--seven pence. (See \u201cfo\u2019punce\u201d).\n\n    SEB\u2019NTEEN--seventeen.\n\n    SEB\u2019NTY--seventy.\n\n    SECKRITERRY--secretary, secretaries.\n\n    SECTEMBUH--September.\n\n    SECUN\u2019--second.\n\n    SEDATE--sedately, quietly, in a leisurely manner: \u201cDe mule\n    walk so sedate uh couldn\u2019 plow fas\u2019.\u201d\n\n    SEDDOWN--sit or set down, sits or sets down, sat or set down,\n    sitting or setting down.\n\n    SEE--see, sees, saw, seen, seeing.\n\n    SEEGYAA\u2019--cigar, cigars.\n\n    SEEM--seem, seems, seemed, seeming.\n\n    \u2019SELF--himself, herself, itself, themselves; as: \u201cHim maussuh\n    \u2019self haffuh wu\u2019k\u201d--his master himself has to\n    work.\n\n    SELFISH--selfish--glum, dour.\n\n    SENCE--since.\n\n    SEN\u2019UM--send, sends, sent, sending him, her, it, them.\n\n    SESSO--say so, says so, said so, saying so. (See \u201csusso\u201d).\n\n    SET--sit, sits, sat, sitting. (See \u201cseddown\u201d).\n\n    SETTLE\u2019--settled, as: \u201csettle\u2019 \u2019ooman,\u201d a settled woman, a\n    Negro woman of a certain age, not a flapper.\n\n    SETT\u2019N\u2019--sitting.\n\n    SETT\u2019N\u2019UP--sitting up--a Negro wake; a small religious meeting.\n\n    SEZZEE--says he, said he.\n\n    SEZZI--says I, said I.\n\n    SHAA\u2019K--shark, sharks.\n\n    SHAA\u2019P--sharp.\n\n    SHAA\u2019P\u2019N--sharpen, sharpens, sharpened, sharpening.\n\n    SHABE--shave, shaves, shaved, shaving.\n\n    SHADDUH--(n. and v.) shadow, shadows, shadowed, shadowing.\n\n    SHAME--(n. and v.) shame, shames, shamed, shaming;\n    ashamed.\n\n    SHAWT--short--\u201cshawt-pashunt,\u201d short patience or irritable,\n    irritability.\n\n    SHAYRE--share, shares, shared, sharing.\n\n    SHAYRE\u2019UM--share, shares, shared, sharing him, her, it, them.\n    Also for shear, shears, sheared, shearing him, her,\n    it, them.\n\n    SHEEPBUHR--sheepburr, sheepburrs.\n\n    SHE\u2019OWN--her own.\n\n    SHEPU\u2019D--shepherd, shepherds.\n\n    SHE-SHE TALK--woman\u2019s talk, gabble.\n\n    SHET--shut, shuts, shut, shutting.\n\n    SHIMMY--chemise, chemises.\n\n    SHISH--such.\n\n    SHISHUH--such a.\n\n    SHO\u2019--sure, surely.\n\n    SHOE--(n. and v.) shoe, shoes, shod, shoeing.\n\n    SHOESH--shoes.\n\n    SHO\u2019LY--surely.\n\n    SHOOT\u2019UM--shoot, shoots, shot, shooting him, her, it, them.\n\n    SHOULDUH--shoulder, shoulders, shouldered, shouldering.\n\n    SHOULD\u2019UH--should have.\n\n    SHOUT--(n. and v.) shout, shouts; shout, shouts, shouted,\n    shouting; frenzied outcries of a religious devotee. A\n    plantation dancing festival, frequently accompanied\n    by beating sticks on the floor.\n\n    SHOW--show, shows, showed, showing.\n\n    SHOW\u2019UM--show, shows, showed, showing him, her, it, them.\n\n    SHROUD--shroud, shrouds; also surplice, surplices, as: \u201cDe\n    \u2019Piskubble preechuh pit on \u2019e shroud.\u201d\n\n    SHUB--shove, shoves, shoved, shoving.\n\n    SHUH--pshaw!\n\n    SHUM--see, sees, saw, seeing him, her, it, them.\n\n    SHU\u2019T--shirt, shirts.\n\n    SIDE\u2019UH--on the side of, alongside.\n\n    SILBUH--silver--\u201csilbuhfish,\u201d silver fish.\n\n    SILBY--Silvia.\n\n    SILUNT--silent, silence, as \u201csilunt een co\u2019t!\u201d--silence in court!\n\n    SILUS--Silas.\n\n    SISTUH--(formal) sister, sisters.\n\n    SKAY\u2019D--scared.\n\n    SKAYRE--scare, scares, scared, scaring.\n\n    SKAY-TO-DE\u2019T\u2019--scare or scared to death.\n\n    SKOLLUP--escallop, escallops, escalloped, escalloping.\n\n    SKU\u2019T--skirt, skirts.\n\n    SLABE--slave, slaves.\n\n    SLABERY--slavery.\n\n    SLABERY TIME--slavery times--before freedom.\n\n    SLAM--a synonym for \u201cspang,\u201d expressing distance, all the\n    way.\n\n    SLANN\u2019 ILUN\u2019--Slann\u2019s Island, a tract lying along the North\n    Edisto inlet and Toogoodoo creek.\n\n    SLEEBE--sleeve, sleeves.\n\n    \u2019SLEEP--asleep; sleep, sleeps, slept, sleeping.\n\n    SLIP\u2019RY--slippery.\n\n    SMAA\u2019T--smart.\n\n    \u2019SMATTUH--what is the matter?\n\n    SNAWT--snort, snorts, snorted, snorting.\n\n    SNOW\u2019RE--snore, snores, snored, snoring.\n\n    SOAD--sword, swords.\n\n    SOBUH--sober.\n\n    SOBUHR\u2019UM--sober, sobers, sobered, sobering him, her, them.\n\n    SODJUH--(n. and v.) soldier, soldiers; soldiering, etc. To loaf\n    on the job.\n\n    SOF\u2019--soft.\n\n    SOMEBODY--somebody\u2019s, some one, some one\u2019s.\n\n    SOMEBODY\u2019OWN--somebody\u2019s own.\n\n    SONNYLAW--son-in-law, sons-in-law.\n\n    SOON-MAN--a smart, alert, wide-awake man.\n\n    SOOPLY--supple.\n\n    SPAA\u2019K--spark, sparks.\n\n    SPANG--all the way, expressive of distance.\n\n    SPARRUH--sparrow, sparrows.\n\n    SPARRUH-GRASS--asparagus.\n\n    SPARRUHHAWK--sparrow-hawk or hawks.\n\n    \u2019SPEC\u2019--expect, expects, expected, expecting; suspect, suspects,\n    suspected, suspecting.\n\n    SPECIE\u2019--species.\n\n    SPECIFY--from specify, but greatly extended to include almost\n    all meanings of \u201cspecifications\u201d--proving inadequate,\n    not coming up to expectations, etc. (See\n    Introduction to this Glossary).\n\n    SPECKLY--speckled.\n\n    SPEN\u2019--spend, spends, spent, spending.\n\n    SPERRITUAL--spiritual, spirituals, the Negro religious songs.\n\n    \u2019SPERIUNCE--experience, experiences, experienced, experiencing.\n\n    SPESHLY--specially, especially.\n\n    SPIDUH--spider, spiders; also a cooking utensil in universal\n    use among the Coast Negroes.\n\n    SPILE--spoil, spoils, spoiled, spoiling.\n\n    \u2019SPISHUN--suspicion, suspicions.\n\n    \u2019SPISHUS--suspicious, suspiciously.\n\n    \u2019SPIZE--despise, despises, despised, despising.\n\n    \u2019SPLAIN--explain, explains, explained, explaining.\n\n    SPLOTCH--blot, blots; stain, stains.\n\n    \u2019SPON\u2019--respond, responds, responded, responding.\n\n    \u2019SPONSUBBLE--responsible, also used emphatically or specifically;\n    as: \u201cTell\u2019um \u2019sponsubble fuh do da\u2019 t\u2019ing.\u201d\n\n    \u2019SPOSE--expose, exposes, exposed, exposing.\n\n    S\u2019POSE--suppose, supposes, supposed, supposing.\n\n    SPO\u2019T--sport, sports; also sporting man.\n\n    SPO\u2019TIN\u2019/SPOT\u2019N\u2019--(n. and v.) sport, sports, sported, sporting.\n\n    SPO\u2019TY--sporty.\n\n    S\u2019PREME--(n.) supreme--only in \u201cs\u2019preme co\u2019t.\u201d\n\n    SPUHR--(n. and v.) spur, spurs, spurred, spurring.\n\n    \u2019SPUTE--(n. and v.) dispute, disputes, disputed, disputing;\n    contest with.\n\n    \u2019SPUTE\u2019N--disputing.\n\n    SQUAYRE--(also squay) square--also a parallelogram in a\n    ricefield divided from other squares by irrigation\n    ditches.\n\n    SQUESCHUN--question--sometimes used for the more common\n    \u201cquizzit,\u201d which see. (Also see \u201cqueschun\u201d).\n\n    SQUIZZIT--a rarely used variant of \u201cquizzit,\u201d which see.\n\n    STAA\u2019CH--(n. and v.) starch, starches, starched, starching.\n\n    STAAR--star, stars.\n\n    STAA\u2019T--start, starts, started, starting.\n\n    STAA\u2019T NAKID--stark naked.\n\n    \u2019STABLISH--establish, establishes, established, establishing.\n\n    STAN\u2019--stand, stands, stood, standing; look, looks, looked,\n    looking.\n\n    STAN\u2019--a stand, stands; deer stands, etc.\n\n    STAN\u2019LUKKUH--stand, stands, stood, standing like; to look\n    like, etc.\n\n    STAN\u2019SUKKUH--stand same like unto, same meaning as \u201cstan\u2019lukkuh.\u201d\n\n    \u2019STEAD\u2019UH--(also \u2019stidduh) instead of.\n\n    STEAL--steal, steals, stole, stealing.\n\n    STO\u2019--store, stores; shop, shops.\n\n    \u2019STONISH--astonish, astonishes, astonished, astonishing.\n\n    \u2019STRACTID--protracted, as a \u201c\u2019stractid meet\u2019n\u2019,\u201d a protracted\n    meeting.\n\n    STRAIGHT\u2019N FUH--make for, made for, making for; run\n    quickly or swiftly.\n\n    STRANCE--trance, trances.\n\n    STREE--three; as in \u201cseb\u2019nty-stree.\u201d Rarely used. (See \u201ct\u2019ree\u201d).\n\n    STRENGK--strength.\n\n    STRETCH-OUT--stretch out--extend. (See \u201c\u2019tretch-out\u201d).\n\n    STRIKE--strike, strikes, struck, striking. (See \u201c\u2019trike\u201d).\n\n    \u2019STROY\u2019D--destroy, destroys, destroyed, destroying.\n\n    \u2019STRUCKSHUN--destruction.\n\n    \u2019STRUCKSHUN--construction.\n\n    \u2019STRUCKSHUN STRAIN--construction train.\n\n    STRUCTID--struck, striking.\n\n    STUBB\u2019N--(also stubbunt) stubborn.\n\n    STUDY--think, plan, ponder.\n\n    STUHR--stir, stirs, stirred, stirring.\n\n    STUHSTIFFIKIT--certificate.\n\n    STYLISH--stylish, meaning also appropriate, dignified, suitable,\n    as: \u201cuh stylish grabe,\u201d being a grave ornately\n    decorated with broken china or glass.\n\n    \u2019SUADE--persuade, persuades, persuaded, persuading.\n\n    SUCK--suck, sucks, sucked, sucking.\n\n    SUCK-AIG--suck-egg--as: \u201cuh suck-aig dog.\u201d\n\n    SUCK ME TEET\u2019--and \u201csuck \u2019e teet\u2019\u201d--a contemptuous gesture,\n    frequently indulged in by the fair sex.\n\n    SUDD\u2019NT--sudden, suddenly.\n\n    SUFFUHRATE--separate, separates, separated, separating; also\n    divorce, divorcing, etc.\n\n    SUH--sir.\n\n    SUH--that, say. (See \u201csusso\u201d and \u201csesso\u201d).\n\n    SUHCIETY--society, societies.\n\n    SUKKLE--(n. and v.) circle, circles, circled, circling.\n\n    SUKKUH--(a contraction of \u201csame lukkuh\u201d used by rapid\n    speakers) same, same like, resembling.\n\n    SUKKUHR\u2019UM--same like, or like him, her, it, them.\n\n    SUKKUS--circus, circuses.\n\n    SUKKUS--circuit, circuits.\n\n    SUKKUS-PREECHUH--circuit preacher.\n\n    SUMMUCH--so much, so many.\n\n    SUMMUH/SUMMUHTIME--summer, summers, summer-time.\n\n    SUMP\u2019N\u2019--something.\n\n    SUMP\u2019N\u2019NURRUH--something or other.\n\n    SUNDOWN--sunset.\n\n    SUNHIGH--late morning, about the middle of the forenoon.\n\n    SUNHOT--sunshine, heat of sun.\n\n    SUN-LEAN--period of the day when the sun begins to decline,\n    and its declining: \u201csun-lean fuh down.\u201d\n\n    SUN\u2019UP--sunrise.\n\n    SUPPLOY--supply, supplies, supplied, supplying.\n\n    SUPPUH--supper.\n\n    SUPSHUN--substance, sustenance, strength of food, as of\n    a juicy roast: \u201cDa\u2019 meat hab supshun een\u2019um\u201d--that\n    meat has much nourishment.\n\n    SUSSO/SUH-SO--say so, says so, said so, saying so. (See \u201csesso\u201d).\n\n    SUTT\u2019N--certain, certainly.\n\n    SUTT\u2019NLY--certainly.\n\n    SWALLUH--(n. and v.) swallow, swallows, swallowed, swallowing.\n\n    SWALLUHR\u2019UM--swallow, swallows, swallowed, swallowing\n    him, her, it, them.\n\n    SWAWM--(n. and v.) swarm, swarms, swarmed, swarming.\n\n    SWAY\u2019/SWAYRE--swear, swears, swore, swearing.\n\n    SWAYTOGAWD--swear to God.\n\n    SWEETH\u2019AA\u2019T--sweetheart, sweethearts.\n\n    SWEETMOUT\u2019--sweetmouth--blarney, flattery.\n\n    SWEETMOUT\u2019 TALK--soft talk of a philanderer with the\n    gentler sex.\n\n    SWELL--swell, swells, swelled, swelling; swollen.\n\n    SWELL-UP--swelled, swollen up, puffed up with anger, importance\n    or authority.\n\n    SWEET\u2019N--sweeten, sweetens, sweetened, sweetening.\n\n    SWEET\u2019NIN\u2019--\u201csweetening.\u201d\n\n    SWIF\u2019--swift, fast.\n\n    SWIMP--shrimp, shrimps.\n\n    SWINGE--singe, singes, singed, singeing.\n\n    SWINK--shrink, shrinks, shrunk, shrinking.\n\n    SWONGUH--\u201cswank,\u201d swagger, swaggering, boastful.\n\n\n    T\n\n    TAAR--(n. and v.) tar, tars, tarred, tarring.\n\n    \u2019TACK--(n. and v.) attack, attacks, attacked, attacking.\n\n    \u2019TACKTID--attacked. (See \u201cattacktid\u201d).\n\n    TACKLE--(n. and v.) tackle, tackles, tackled, tackling; arraign,\n    hold accountable.\n\n    \u2019TAGUHNIZE--antagonize, antagonizes, antagonized, antagonizing;\n    arraign, arraigned, etc.\n\n    \u2019TAIL--(n. and v.) entail, entails, entailed, entailing.\n\n    \u2019TAKE--(n. and v.) stake, stakes, staked, staking.\n\n    TALK\u2019UM--talk, talks, talked, talking; talking it, speak out,\n    etc.\n\n    TALLUH--tallow.\n\n    TALLYGRAF--(n. and v.) telegraph, telegraphs, telegraphed,\n    telegraphing; telegram, telegrams.\n\n    \u2019TAN\u2019--stand, stands, stood, standing.\n\n    \u2019TAN\u2019UP--stand, stands, stood, standing up.\n\n    \u2019TARRYGATE--interrogate, interrogates, interrogated, interrogating;\n    question, questioned, etc.\n\n    TARRYPIN--terrapin, terrapins.\n\n    TARRIFY--terrify, terrifies, terrified, terrifying.\n\n    TARRUH--t\u2019other, the other. (See \u201ctorruh,\u201d \u201ctodduh\u201d).\n\n    TAS\u2019--task--a measure of distance as well as of area: 105\n    feet or 105 feet square. A \u201ctas\u2019,\u201d or one-fourth of an\n    acre, being the daily task during slavery on a sea-island\n    cotton plantation, in \u201clisting,\u201d \u201chauling,\u201d or\n    hoeing sea-island cotton, a task being frequently\n    completed before noon, when the slave was free for\n    the rest of the day. Used as meaning distance of a\n    shot; as: \u201cMy gun kin shoot two tas\u2019\u201d--My gun can\n    kill at 210 feet (70 yards).\n\n    TAS\u2019E--taste, tastes, tasted, tasting.\n\n    TAS\u2019E \u2019E MOUT\u2019--put a taste in his, her or their mouth or\n    mouths; meaning something appetizing to eat.\n\n    T\u2019AW\u2019T--(n. and v.) thought, thoughts. (See also \u201ct\u2019ink\u201d).\n\n    \u2019TAY--stay, stays, stayed, staying.\n\n    TAYRE--tear, tears, tore, tearing.\n\n    TAYRE\u2019UM--tear, tears, tore, tearing him, her, it, them.\n\n    TEDAY--today.\n\n    TEET\u2019--tooth, teeth.\n\n    TEET\u2019ACHE--toothache.\n\n    TEK--take, takes, took, taken, taking.\n\n    TEK\u2019CARE--take-care--as: \u201cTek\u2019care bettuh mo\u2019nuh baig\n    paa\u2019d\u2019n\u201d--Take care is better more than beg pardon;\n    meaning an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of\n    cure.\n\n    TEK\u2019ESELF--take, takes, took, taking himself, herself, itself,\n    themselves.\n\n    TEK ME FOOT EEN ME HAN\u2019--\u201ctek him foot een \u2019e han\u2019\u201d--Took\n    my foot in my hand, took his or her foot or their\n    feet in his, her, or their hand or hands--meaning\n    hastened, hurried, speeded up.\n\n    TEK\u2019UM--take, took, taken him, it, them; as: \u201ctek\u2019um en\u2019\n    t\u2019engky.\u201d\n\n    TEK\u2019WAY--take, takes, took, taking away.\n\n    TEK WID\u2019UM--taken with, pleased with him, her, it, them.\n\n    \u2019TELL--till, until.\n\n    TELL\u2019UM--tell, tells, telling, told him, her, it, them. \u201cTell\u2019um\n    huddy fuh me\u201d--tell him howdy for me.\n\n    \u2019TEN\u2019--attend, attends, attended, attending; intend, intends,\n    etc.\n\n    TENDDUH--tender.\n\n    T\u2019ENGKFUL--thankful.\n\n    T\u2019ENGK\u2019GAWD--thank God!--thank, thanks, thanked, thanking\n    God.\n\n    T\u2019ENGKY--thanks, thank you.\n\n    TENIGHT--tonight.\n\n    \u2019TENSHUN--attention.\n\n    \u2019TENSHUN--intention; as: \u201cUh \u2019tenshun fuh go\u201d it is my intention\n    to go.\n\n    \u2019TEP--(n. and v.) step, steps, stepped, stepping.\n\n    TETCH--(n. and v.) touch, touches, touched, touching. Also\n    a remnant, as: \u201cT\u2019engk Gawd, \u2019e lef\u2019 uh leetle tetch\n    een de bottle.\u201d\n\n    TETCH\u2019UM--touch, touches, touched, touching him, her, it,\n    them.\n\n    \u2019TETTUH--potato, potatoes--usually sweet. (See \u201cpuhtettuh\u201d).\n\n    T\u2019ICK--thick.\n\n    \u2019TICK--(n. and v.) stick, sticks, stuck, slicking.\n\n    T\u2019ICKIT--thicket, thickets.\n\n    \u2019TICKLUH--(n. and v.) particular, particulars. (See \u201cpuhtickluh\u201d).\n\n    T\u2019ICKNESS--thickness, thicknesses.\n\n    \u2019TICKY--sticky.\n\n    T\u2019IEF--(n. and v.) thief, thieves; steal, steals, stole, stolen,\n    stealing. \u201cT\u2019ief iz bad, but t\u2019ief en\u2019 ketch iz de\n    debble\u201d--It is bad to steal, but to steal and be\n    caught is worse.\n\n    T\u2019IEFIN\u2019--thieving.\n\n    TIE\u2019UM--tie, ties, tied, tying him, her, it, them.\n\n    TIE UP \u2019E MOUT\u2019--tie, ties, tied, tying up his, her, or their\n    mouth or mouths; meaning held his, her, or their\n    speech.\n\n    TILLIN\u2019ASS\u2019--Tillinghast--a low-country family name.\n\n    T\u2019ING--thing, things.\n\n    \u2019TING--sting, stings, stung, stinging.\n\n    T\u2019INK--think, thinks, thought, thinking.\n\n    T\u2019IRTEEN--thirteen.\n\n    T\u2019IRTY--thirty.\n\n    T\u2019ISTLE--thistle, thistles.\n\n    TITTIE/TITTUH--sister, sisters (informal).\n\n    TOAD--a young female dog (old English).\n\n    TOAD-FROG--toad, toads.\n\n    TODDUH/TUDDUH--the other, t\u2019other, the others. (See \u201ctarruh,\u201d\n    and \u201ctorruh\u201d).\n\n    TOL\u2019--rare, for told. (See \u201ctell\u2019um\u201d).\n\n    TONGUE/TOUNG--tongue, tongues.\n\n    TOOGOODOO--a short tidal creek or river in former Colleton,\n    now Charleston, County.\n\n    \u2019TOOP--stoop, stoops, stooped, stooping.\n\n    TOOT\u2019--tooth, teeth.\n\n    \u2019TOP--stop, stops, stopped, stopping.\n\n    TOP--(n. and v.) top, tops; top, tops, topped, topping.\n\n    \u2019TOPPUH--on, on top of.\n\n    TORRUH--(also tarruh and todduh) t\u2019other; the other, the\n    others; as: \u201cDem todduh one\u201d--those other ones.\n\n    \u2019T\u2019ORUHTY--authority.\n\n    TOTE--\u201ctote\u201d--carry, carries, carried, carrying.\n\n    T\u2019OUS\u2019N/T\u2019OUZ\u2019N--thousand.\n\n    TOWN--Charleston, \u201cthe City.\u201d (See \u201cChaa\u2019stun\u201d).\n\n    TRABBLE--travel, travels, traveled, traveling.\n\n    \u2019TRAIGHT--straight.\n\n    \u2019TRAIGHT\u2019N--straighten, straightens, straightened, straightening.\n    \u201c\u2019Traight\u2019n fuh\u201d--straighten for, to hurry or\n    extend oneself for a certain point.\n\n    \u2019TRANGLE--strangle, strangles, strangled, strangling.\n\n    T\u2019RASH--thrash, thrashes, thrashed, thrashing; thresh,\n    threshed, etc.\n\n    T\u2019RASHUH--thrasher, thrashers; thresher, threshers.\n\n    TREDJUH--treasure, treasures.\n\n    TREDJURUH--treasurer, treasurers.\n\n    TREE--(v.) tree, trees, treed, treeing.\n\n    T\u2019REE--rarely \u201cstree\u201d--three.\n\n    T\u2019REE-TIME--three times.\n\n    \u2019TRETCH--stretch, stretches, stretched, stretching.\n\n    \u2019TRETCH-OUT--stretch out. (See \u201cstretch-out\u201d).\n\n    TRIGGUH--trigger, triggers.\n\n    \u2019TRIKE--strike, strikes, struck, striking.\n\n    TRIMBLE--tremble, trembles, trembled, trembling.\n\n    \u2019TRING--string, strings, strung, stringing; \u201c\u2019tringbean\u201d--string\n    or snap-beans.\n\n    T\u2019ROAT--throat, throats.\n\n    T\u2019ROW--throw, throws, threw, thrown, throwing.\n\n    T\u2019ROWBONE--throw \u201cbones\u201d (dice) play craps.\n\n    T\u2019ROW\u2019D--threw, thrown.\n\n    T\u2019ROW\u2019WAY/T\u2019RUH\u2019WAY--throw, throws, threw, throwing, thrown away.\n\n    T\u2019RU--through.\n\n    TRUBBLE--(n. and v.) trouble, troubles, troubled, troubling.\n\n    TRUS\u2019--(n. and v.) trust, trusts, trusted, trusting.\n\n    TRUS\u2019-ME-GAWD--a narrow dugout canoe, so cranky that one\n    who ventures forth upon the waters must have faith\n    in God to bring him through.\n\n    TRUTE--truth.\n\n    TRUTE-MOUT\u2019--truth-mouth--one who will not lie.\n\n    TRYBUNUL--tribunal, tribunals.\n\n    TUCKREY--turkey, turkeys.\n\n    TUH--to.\n\n    TUHBACKUH--tobacco.\n\n    TUH DAT--to that--as: \u201c\u2019E chupid tuh dat\u201d--he is stupid\n    to that extent; he is that stupid. \u201cEf him maussuh\n    lub\u2019um tuh dat\u201d--if his master loves him so greatly.\n\n    TUHGEDDUH--together.\n\n    TUHRECKLY--directly.\n\n    TUHR\u2019UM--to him, her, it, them.\n\n    TUK--took. (See \u201ctek\u201d).\n\n    TUMMUCH--too much, intensely, ardently, fervently.\n\n    \u2019TUMP--(n. and v.) stump, stumps; stump, stumps, stumped,\n    stumping.\n\n    \u2019TUMP--stub, stubs, stubbed, stubbing.\n\n    \u2019TUMPSUCKUH--stump-sucker, a crib-sucking horse or mule.\n\n    TU\u2019N--(n. and v.) turn, turns, turned, turning.\n\n    T\u2019UNDUH--(n. and v.) thunder, thunders, thundered, thundering.\n\n    T\u2019UNDUHSNAKE--thundersnake, thundersnakes.\n\n    TU\u2019NFLOUR--turned flour, scalded corn meal, mush or porridge;\n    same as Italian polenta.\n\n    TU\u2019NUP--turnip, turnips.\n\n    TU\u2019N UP--turn, turns, turned, turning up.\n\n    TUP\u2019MTIME/TUP\u2019NTINE--turpentine.\n\n    T\u2019URSD\u2019Y--Thursday.\n\n    TWELB\u2019--twelve.\n\n    TWIS\u2019--(n. and v.) twist, twists, twisted, twisting.\n\n    TWIS\u2019-MOUT\u2019--twist mouth--twist-mouthed.\n\n    TWIS\u2019UP--twist or twisted up.\n\n    TWO CHUESDAY, TWO T\u2019URSDAY, etc.--the second Tuesday or\n    the second Thursday in the month.\n\n    TWO PLACE--second place, in the second place. NOTE: Other\n    numbers used similarly.\n\n    TWO TIME--two times, twice.\n\n    TWO-T\u2019REE--two or three.\n\n\n    U\n\n    UB--of. (See \u201cuh\u201d).\n\n    UBTAIN--obtain, obtains, obtained, obtaining.\n\n    UB UH--of a--\u201cUh debble ub uh mule\u201d--a devil of a mule.\n\n    UH--I; a, an. Also of. (See \u201cub\u201d).\n\n    UHHEAD--ahead.\n\n    UHHEAD\u2019UH--ahead of.\n\n    UHLLY/YUHLLY--early.\n\n    UM--him, her, it, them.\n\n    UP TUH DE NOTCH--up to the notch--to the Queen\u2019s taste,\n    perfect.\n\n    US--we, our.\n\n    USE--use, uses, used, using; also for game or cattle frequenting\n    certain feeding grounds. (See \u201cnyuse\u201d).\n\n    USE\u2019N/UZE\u2019N--used to be, in the habit of.\n\n    USE-TUH--used to, accustomed to.\n\n\n    W\n\n    WAAGIN--wagon, wagons.\n\n    WAA\u2019MENT--\u201cvarmint, varmints,\u201d destructive animals or birds.\n\n    WADMUHLAW--Wadmalaw--an island of the Carolina coast.\n\n    WAH--war.\n\n    WAIS\u2019--waist, waists.\n\n    WANJUE-RANGE--sometimes \u201cBanjue-Range\u201d--Vendue Range,\n    the old Charleston slave market.\n\n    WANTUH--want to, wants to, wanted to, wanting to.\n\n    WARRUH/WADDUH--what, what is that.\n\n    W\u2019ARY--weary.\n\n    WAS\u2019E--waste, wastes, wasted, wasting.\n\n    WASH-UP/WUSH-UP--worship (religious).\n\n    WATUHMILYUN--watermelon, watermelons.\n\n    WAWM--(n. and v.) warm, warms, warmed, warming.\n\n    WAWN--(n. and v.) warn, warns, warned, warning.\n\n    WAWSS\u2019--wasp, wasps.\n\n    WAWSS\u2019NES\u2019--wasp\u2019s nest.\n\n    WE--our, us.\n\n    W\u2019EAT--wheat.\n\n    W\u2019EAT-FLOUR--flour, wheat-flour.\n\n    WEDDUH--weather, weather; to rain or storm, in such phrases\n    as: \u201c\u2019E gwine tuh wedduh\u201d--it is going to or looks\n    like rain or storm.\n\n    WEDD\u2019N\u2019--wedding, weddings.\n\n    WEEKY-DAY--a week day.\n\n    W\u2019EEL--(n. and v.) wheel, wheels, wheeled, wheeling.\n\n    W\u2019EELBARRUH--wheelbarrow, wheelbarrows.\n\n    WEGITUBBLE--vegetable, vegetables.\n\n    WEH--where.\n\n    WEHR\u2019AS--whereas.\n\n    WEHREBBUH--wherever.\n\n    W\u2019ENEBBUH--whenever.\n\n    W\u2019ENSD\u2019Y--Wednesday.\n\n    WE\u2019OWN--our own, ours.\n\n    WERRY--very. (See \u201cberry\u201d).\n\n    WE\u2019SELF--ourselves.\n\n    WESKIT--waistcoat, waistcoats.\n\n    WESTIBLUE--vestibuled--the fast \u201climited\u201d or tourist train.\n\n    WHOEBBUH--whoever.\n\n    WICTORIA--Victoria--also victorious.\n\n    \u2019WICE--(also \u201cexwice\u201d) advice, advices.\n\n    W\u2019ICH/W\u2019ICH\u2019N--which.\n\n    W\u2019ICH EN\u2019 W\u2019Y--which and why--as: \u201cW\u2019ich en\u2019 w\u2019y talk\u201d--contradictory\n    talk.\n\n    WICKITY/WICKIT--wicked, wickedness.\n\n    WID--with.\n\n    WIDDUH--widow, widows.\n\n    WIDT\u2019--width, widths.\n\n    W\u2019ILE--while, awhile.\n\n    WIL\u2019CAT--wild cat, the bay-lynx of the Southern swamps.\n\n    WILLUH--willow, willows.\n\n    WIN\u2019--(n. and v.) wind, winds; wind, winded.\n\n    WIN\u2019--(n. and v.) wind, winds, wound, winded, winding.\n\n    WINDUH--window, windows.\n\n    WINE--vine.\n\n    WINEGUH--vinegar.\n\n    WINNUH--winnow, winnows, winnowed, winnowing.\n\n    WINNUHHOUSE--winnowhouse, winnowhouses, where in the\n    old days rice was winnowed.\n\n    WINTUHTIME--winter, in the winter season.\n\n    \u2019WISE--(also \u201cexwise\u201d) advise, advises, advised, advising.\n\n    WISH DE TIME UH DAY--\u201cpass de time uh day\u201d--a salutation,\n    greeting.\n\n    WISIT--(n. and v.) visit, visits, visited, visiting.\n\n    W\u2019ISKEY--whiskey; formerly used, now an obsolete vocable\n    among the Gullah.\n\n    WITCH--witch, witches.\n\n    \u2019WITCH--bewitch, bewitches, bewitched, bewitching.\n\n    W\u2019ITE--white.\n\n    WOICE--voice, voices.\n\n    WOODPECKUH--woodpecker, woodpeckers.\n\n    WOODPECKUH LAA\u2019K--woodpecker lark--the flicker.\n\n    WROP--wrap, wraps, wrapped, wrapping.\n\n    WU\u2019D--word, words.\n\n    WUDDUH DA\u2019--what is that.\n\n    WUFFUH--what for, why.\n\n    WUH--what, that.\n\n    WUHEBBUH--whatever.\n\n    WU\u2019K--(n. and v.) work, works, worked, working.\n\n    WU\u2019LL\u2019--world, worlds.\n\n    WUNDUH--(n. and v.) wonder, wonders, wondered, wondering.\n\n    WUNT--won\u2019t, will not.\n\n    WURRUM--worm, worms.\n\n    WUS\u2019DEN\u2019EBBUH--worse than ever.\n\n    WUSS/WUS\u2019--worse, worst.\n\n    WUSSUH--worse.\n\n    WUT\u2019--worth, is worth, was worth, etc. \u201cEnt wut\u2019\u201d--a disparaging\n    characterization.\n\n    WUZ--was.\n\n    W\u2019YMEKSO--what makes it so, why.\n\n\n    Y\n\n    YAA\u2019D--yard, yards.\n\n    YAA\u2019N--yarn, yarns.\n\n    YAAS--yes.\n\n    YAAS\u2019SUH--yes-sir.\n\n    YALLUH--yellow.\n\n    YALLUHHAMMUH--yellowhammer--the flicker or golden-winged\n    woodpecker.\n\n    YALLUH YAM--yellow yam--a variety of sweet potato.\n\n    YANDUH--yonder.\n\n    YEAH--ear, ears (corn or other grain); also year, years.\n\n    YEARIN\u2019--hearing.\n\n    YEDDY/YERRY--hear, hears, heard, hearing.\n\n    YEDDY\u2019UM--hear, hears, heard, or hearing him, her, it, them.\n\n    YELLIN\u2019--yearling, yearlings.\n\n    YENT--(ent) ain\u2019t, is not, are not; so pronounced when preceded\n    by a soft vowel sound.\n\n    YE\u2019T/YU\u2019T--earth. (See \u201ceart\u2019\u201d).\n\n    YEYE--eye, eyes; so pronounced when preceded by a soft\n    vowel sound. \u201c\u2019E yeye red\u201d--his or her eyes are\n    bloodshot with anger.\n\n    YEZ--ear, ears (human or animal).\n\n    YISTIDDY--yesterday.\n\n    YIZ--is; so pronounced when preceded by a soft vowel sound.\n\n    YO\u2019/YOU--your, yours.\n\n    YOU\u2019OWN--your own, yours.\n\n    YOWE--ewe. (\u201cYowe\u201d is in use in Early English).\n\n    YUH--here.\n\n    YUH HIM--here he, she, it is, or they are.\n\n\n    Z\n\n    \u2019ZACKLY--exactly. (See \u201cpuhzackly\u201d).\n\n    \u2019ZAMMIN\u2019--examine, examines, examined, examining; question,\n    questioned, etc.\n\n    \u2019ZYD\u2019N\u2019--presiding; as: \u201c\u2019Zyd\u2019n\u2019 elduh\u201d--presiding elder.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TAR BABY STORY\n\nAS TOLD BY COL. C. C. JONES AND JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS\n\n\n\n\nBUH WOLF, BUH RABBIT, AND DE TAR BABY\n\nJONES\u2019S VERSION\n\n\nBuh Wolf and Buh Rabbit, dem bin lib nabur. De dry drout come. Ebry\nting stew up. Water scace. Buh Wolf dig one spring fuh him fuh git\nwater. Buh Rabbit, him too lazy an too scheemy fuh wuk fuh isself. Eh\npen pon lib off tarruh people. Ebry day, wen Buh Wolf yent duh watch\num, eh slip to Buh Wolf spring, an eh full him calabash long water an\ncah um to eh house fuh cook long and fuh drink. Buh Wolf see Buh Rabbit\ntrack, but eh couldnt ketch um duh tief de water.\n\nOne day eh meet Buh Rabbit in de big road, an eh ax um how eh make out\nfur water. Buh Rabbit say him no casion fuh hunt water: him lib off\nde jew on de grass. Buh Wolf quire: \u201cEnty you blan tek water outer me\nspring?\u201d Buh Rabbit say: \u201cMe yent.\u201d Buh Wolf say: \u201cYou yis, enty me see\nyou track?\u201d Buh Rabbit mek answer: \u201cYent me gone to you spring. Must\nbe some edder rabbit. Me nebber bin nigh you spring. Me dunno way you\nspring day.\u201d Buh Wolf no question um no mo: but eh know say eh bin Buh\nRabbit fuh true, an eh fix plan fuh ketch um.\n\nDe same ebenin eh mek Tar Baby, an eh gone an set um right in de middle\ner de trail wuh lead to de spring, and dist in front er de spring.\n\nSoon a mornin Buh Rabbit rise an tun in fuh cook eh bittle. Eh pot\nbiggin fuh bun. Buh Rabbit say: \u201cHey! me pot duh bun. Lemme slip to Buh\nWolf spring an git some water fuh cool um.\u201d So eh tek eh calabash an\nhop off fuh de spring. Wen eh ketch de spring, eh see de Tar Baby duh\ntan dist een front er de spring. Eh stonish. Eh stop. Eh come close.\nEh look at um. Eh wait fur um fuh mobe. De Tar Baby yent notice um. Eh\nyent wink eh yeye. Eh yent say nuttne. Eh yent mobe. Buh Rabbit, him\nsay: \u201cHey titter, enty you guine tan one side an lemme git some water?\u201d\nDe Tar Baby no answer. Den Buh Rabbit say: \u201cLeely Gal, mobe, me tell\nyou, so me kin dip some water outer de spring long me calabash.\u201d De\nTar Baby wunt mobe. Buh Babbit say: \u201cEnty you know me pot duh bun?\nEnty you know me hurry? Enty you yeddy me tell you fuh mobe? You see\ndis han? Ef you dont go long and lemme git some water, me guine slap\nyon ober.\u201d De Tar Baby stan day. Buh Rabbit haul off an slap um side\nde head. Eh han fastne. Buh Rabbit try fuh pull eh hand back, en eh\nsay: \u201cWuh you hole me han fuh? Lemme go. Ef you dont loose me, me guine\nbox de life outer you wid dis tarruh han.\u201d De Tar Baby yent crack eh\nteet. Buh Rabbit hit um, bim, wid eh tarruh han. Dat han fastne too\nsame luk tudder. Buh Babbit say: \u201cWuh you up teh? Tun me loose. Ef you\ndont leggo me right off, me guine knee you.\u201d De Tar Baby hole um fas.\nBuh Rabbit skade an bex too. Eh faid Buh Wolf come ketch um. Wen eh\nfine eh cant loosne eh han, eh kick de Tar Baby wid eh knee. Eh knee\nfastne. Yuh de big trouble now. Buh Rabbit skade den wus den nebber. Eh\ntry fuh skade de Tar Baby. Eh say: \u201cLeely Gal, you better mine who you\nduh fool long. Me tell you, fuh de las time, tun me loose. Ef you dont\nloosne me han an me knee right off, me guine bus you wide open wid dis\nhead.\u201d De Tar Baby hole um fas. Eh yent say one wud. Den Buh Rabbit but\nde Tar Baby een eh face. Eh head fastne same fashion luk eh han an eh\nknee. Yuh de ting now. Po Buh Rabbit done fuh. Eh fastne all side. Eh\ncant pull loose. Eh gib up. Eh bague. Eh cry. Eh holler. Buh Wolf yeddy\num. Eh run day. Eh hail Buh Rabbit: \u201cHey Budder; wuh de trouble? Enty\nyou tell me you no blan wisit me spring fuh git water? Who calabash\ndis? Wuh you duh do yuh anyhow?\u201d Buh Rabbit so condemn eh yent hab one\nwud fuh talk. Buh Wolf, him say: \u201cNummine, I done ketch you dis day.\nI guine lick you now.\u201d Buh Rabbit bague. Eh bague. Eh prommus nebber\nfuh trouble Buh Wolf spring no mo. Buh Wolf laugh at um. Den eh tek an\nloose Buh Rabbit from de Tar Baby, an eh tie um teh one spakleberry\nbush, an eh git switch an eh lick um tel eh tired. All de time Buh\nRabbit bin a bague an a holler. Buh Wolf yent duh listne ter um, but\neh keep on duh pit de lick ter um. At las Buh Rabbit tell Buh Wolf:\n\u201cDont lick me no mo. Kill me one time. Mek fire an bun me up. Knock me\nbrains out gin de tree.\u201d Buh Wolf mek answer: \u201cEf I bun you up, ef I\nknock you brains out, you guine dead too quick. Me guine trow you in de\nbrier-patch, so de brier kin scratch you life out.\u201d Buh Rabbit say: \u201cDo\nBuh Wolf, bun me: broke me neck, but dont trow me in de brier patch.\nLemme dead one time. Dont tarrify me no mo.\u201d Buh Wolf yent bin know wuh\nBuh Rabbit up teh. Eh tink eh bin guine tare Buh Rabbit hide off. So,\nwuh eh do? Eh loose Buh Rabbit from de spakleberry bush, an eh tek um\nby de hine leg, an eh swing um roun, an eh trow um way in de tick brier\npatch fuh tare eh hide an cratch eh yeye out. De minnit Buh Rabbit drap\nin de brier patch, eh cock up eh tail, eh jump, an holler back to Buh\nWolf: \u201cGood bye, Budder! Dis de place me mammy fotch me up,--dis de\nplace me mammy fotch me up.\u201d An eh gone befo Buh Wolf kin ketch um. Buh\nRabbit too scheemy.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WONDERFUL TAR-BABY STORY\n\nHARRIS\u2019S VERSION\n\n\n\u201cDidn\u2019t the fox _never_ catch the rabbit, Uncle Remus?\u201d asked the\nlittle boy the next evening.\n\n\u201cHe come mighty nigh it, honey, sho\u2019s you born--Brer Fox did. One day\natter Brer Rabbit fool \u2019im wid dat calamus root, Brer Fox went ter\nwuk en got \u2019im some tar, en mix it wid some turkentime, en fix up a\ncontrapshun wat he call a Tar-Baby, en he tuck dish yer Tar-Baby en he\nsot \u2019er in de big road, en den he lay off in de bushes for to see wat\nde news wuz gwineter be. En he didn\u2019t hatter wait long, nudder, kaze\nbimeby here come Brer Rabbit pacin\u2019 down de road--lippity-clippity,\nclippity-lippity--dez ez sassy ez a Jay-bird. Brer Fox he lay low. Brer\nRabbit come prancin\u2019 \u2019long twel he spy de Tar-Baby, en den he fotch up\non his behime legs like he wuz \u2019stonished. De Tar-Baby, she sot dar,\nshe did, en Brer Fox, he lay low.\n\n\u201c\u2018Mawnin\u2019!\u2019 sez Brer Rabbit, sezee--\u2019nice wedder dis mawnin\u2019,\u2019 sezee.\n\n\u201cTar-Baby ain\u2019t sayin\u2019 nothin\u2019, en Brer Fox, he lay low.\n\n\u201c\u2018How duz yo\u2019 sym\u2019tums seem ter segashuate?\u2019 sez Brer Rabbit, sezee.\n\n\u201cBrer Fox, he wink his eye slow, en lay low, en de Tar-Baby she ain\u2019t\nsayin\u2019 nothin\u2019.\n\n\u201c\u2018How you come on, den? Is you deaf?\u2019 sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. \u2018Kaze if\nyou is, I kin holler louder,\u2019 sezee.\n\n\u201cTar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox he lay low.\n\n\u201c\u2018Youer stuck up, dat\u2019s w\u2019at you is,\u2019 says Brer Rabbit, sezee, \u2018en I\u2019m\ngwineter kyore you, dat\u2019s w\u2019at I\u2019m a gwineter do,\u2019 sezee.\n\n\u201cBrer Fox, he sorter chuckle in his stummuck, he did, but Tar-Baby\nain\u2019t sayin\u2019 nothin\u2019.\n\n\u201c\u2018I\u2019m gwineter larn you howter talk ter \u2019spectubble fokes ef hit\u2019s de\nlas\u2019 ack,\u2019 sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. \u2018Ef you don\u2019t take off dat hat en\ntell me howdy, I\u2019m gwineter bus\u2019 you wide open,\u2019 sezee.\n\n\u201cTar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.\n\n\u201cBrer Rabbit keep on axin \u2019im, en de Tar-Baby, she keep on sayin\u2019\nnothin\u2019, twel present\u2019y Brer Rabbit draw back wid his fis\u2019, he did,\nen blip he tuck \u2019er side er de head. Right dar\u2019s whar he broke his\nmerlasses jug. His fis\u2019 stuck, en he can\u2019t pull loose. De tar hilt \u2019im.\nBut Tar-Baby, she stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.\n\n\u201c\u2018Ef you don\u2019t lemme loose, I\u2019ll knock you agin,\u2019 Brer Rabbit, sezee,\nen wid dat he fotch \u2019er a wipe wid de udder han\u2019, en dat stuck.\nTar-Baby, she ain\u2019t sayin\u2019 nothin\u2019, en Brer Fox, he lay low.\n\n\u201c\u2018Tu\u2019n me loose, fo\u2019 I kick de natal stuffin\u2019 outen you,\u2019 sez Brer\nRabbit, sezee, but de Tar-Baby, she ain\u2019t sayin\u2019 nothin.\u2019 She des hilt\non, en den Brer Rabbit lose de use er his feet in de same way. Brer\nFox, he lay low. Den Brer Rabbit squall out dat ef de Tar-Baby don\u2019t\ntu\u2019n \u2019im loose he butt \u2019er cranksided. En den he butted, en his head\ngot stuck. Den Brer Fox, he sa\u2019ntered fort\u2019, lookin\u2019 des ez innercent\nez one er yo\u2019 mamy\u2019s mockin\u2019-birds.\n\n\u201c\u2018Howdy, Brer Rabbit,\u2019 sez Brer Fox, sezee. \u2018You look sorter stuck\nup dis mawnin\u2019,\u2019 sezee, en den he rolled on de groun\u2019, en laughed en\nlaughed twel he couldn\u2019t laugh no mo\u2019. \u2018I speck you\u2019ll take dinner wid\nme dis time, Brer Rabbit. I done laid in some calamus root, en I ain\u2019t\ngwineter take no skuse,\u2019 sez Brer Fox, sezee.\u201d\n\nHere Uncle Remus paused, and drew a two-pound yam out of the ashes.\n\n\u201cDid the fox eat the rabbit\u201d? asked the little boy to whom the story\nhad been told.\n\n\u201cW\u2019en Brer Fox fine Brer Rabbit mixt up wid de Tar-Baby, he feel mighty\ngood, en he roll on de groun\u2019 en laff. Bimeby he up\u2019n say, sezee:\n\n\u201c\u2018Well, I speck I got you dis time, Brer Rabbit,\u2019 sezee: \u2018maybe I\nain\u2019t, but I speck I is. You been runnin\u2019 roun\u2019 here sassin\u2019 atter me\na mighty long time, but I speck you done come ter de een\u2019 er de row.\nYou bin cuttin\u2019 up yo\u2019 capers en bouncin\u2019 roun\u2019 in dis neighberhood\nontwel you come ter b\u2019leeve yo\u2019se\u2019f de boss er de whole gang. En den\nyouer allers some\u2019rs whar you got no bizness,\u2019 sez Brer Fox sezee. \u2018Who\nax you fer ter come en strike up a \u2019quaintance wid dish yer Tar-Baby?\nEn who stuck you up dar whar you iz? Nobody in de roun worril. You des\ntuck en jam yo\u2019se\u2019f on dat Tar-Baby widout waitin\u2019 fer enny invite,\u2019\nsez Brer Fox, sezee, \u2018en dar you is, en dar you\u2019ll stay twel I fixes up\na bresh-pile and fires her up, kaze I\u2019m gwineter bobbycue you dis day,\nsho,\u2019 sez Brer Fox, sezee.\n\n\u201cDen Brer Rabbit talk mighty \u2019umble.\n\n\u201c\u2018I don\u2019t keer w\u2019at you do wid me, Brer Fox,\u2019 sezee, \u2018so you don\u2019t\nfling me in dat brier-patch. Roas\u2019 me, Brer Fox,\u2019 sezee, \u2018but don\u2019t\nfling me in dat brier-patch,\u2019 sezee.\n\n\u201c\u2018Hit\u2019s so much trouble fer ter kindle a fier,\u2019 sez Brer Fox, sezee,\n\u2018dat I speck I\u2019ll hatter hang you,\u2019 sezee.\n\n\u201c\u2018Hang me des ez high as you please, Brer Fox,\u2019 sez Brer Rabbit, sezee,\n\u2018but do fer de Lord\u2019s sake don\u2019t fling me in dat brier-patch,\u2019 sezee.\n\n\u201c\u2018I ain\u2019t got no string,\u2019 sez Brer Fox, sezee, \u2018en now I speck I\u2019ll\nhatter drown you,\u2019 sezee.\n\n\u201c\u2018Drown me des ez deep ez you please, Brer Fox,\u2019 sez Brer Rabbit,\nsezee, \u2018but do don\u2019t fling me in dat brier-patch,\u2019 sezee.\n\n\u201c\u2018Dey ain\u2019t no water nigh,\u2019 sez Brer Fox, sezee, \u2018en now I speck I\u2019ll\nhatter skin you,\u2019 sezee.\n\n\u201c\u2018Skin me, Brer Fox,\u2019 sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, \u2018snatch out my eyeballs,\nt\u2019ar out my years by de roots, en cut off my legs,\u2019 sezee, \u2018but do\nplease, Brer Fox, don\u2019t fling me in dat brier-patch,\u2019 sezee.\n\n\u201cCo\u2019se Brer Fox wanter hurt Brer Rabbit bad ez he kin, so he cotch \u2019im\nby de behime legs en slung \u2019im right in de middle er de brier-patch.\nDar wuz a considerbul flutter whar Brer Rabbit struck de bushes, en\nBrer Fox sorter hang \u2019roun\u2019 fer ter see w\u2019at wus gwineter happen.\nBimeby he hear somebody call \u2019im, en way up de hill he see Brer Rabbit\nsettin\u2019 cross-legged on a chinkapin log koamin\u2019 de pitch outer his har\nwid a chip. Den Brer Fox know dat he bin swop off mighty bad. Brer\nRabbit wuz bleedzed fer ter fling back some er his sass, en he holler\nout:\n\n\u201c\u2018Bred en bawn in a brier-patch, Brer Fox--bred en bawn in a\nbrier-patch!\u2019 en wid dat he skip out des ez lively ez a cricket in de\nembers.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] A Gullah synonym for hunger.\n\n[2] Ward primary.\n\n[3] Hermaphrodite.\n\n[4] \u201cTake care\u201d is better than \u201cbeg pardon.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Notes\n\nObvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations\nin hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other\nspelling and punctuation remains unchanged.\n\nItalics are represented thus _italic_.","title":"The black border : $b Gullah stories of the Carolina coast (with a glossary)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":87320}