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On a certain occasion we were in the company of four planters, and among other topics this subject was much spoken of. They all accorded perfectly in the sentiment that the negroes were peculiarly sensible to the influence of local attachments. One of the gentlemen observed that it was a very common saying with them "Me nebber leave my bornin' ground," i.e., birth-place. An aged gentleman in St.
Facts clearly prove, that the negroes, instead of being indifferent to local attachments, are peculiarly alive to them. That nothing short of cruelty can drive them from their homes that they will endure even that, as long as it can be borne, rather than leave; and that as soon as the instrument of cruelty is removed, they will hasten back to their "bornin' ground."
They says the devil was abroad the night of his bornin'; but I'm thinkin' that Jagger o' Wayfarer's Tickle had more t' do with the life he lived than ever the devil could manage. 'Twas Jagger that owned the Sink or Swim; 'twas he that laid the courses ay, that laid this last one, too.
He was in the dead man's house, after being forbidden to shadow its threshold. "Hell!" cried Thornton aloud. "Ef I stayed she'd hev ter come inter C'ote an' sw'ar either fer me or ergin me an' like es not, she'd break down an' confess. Anyhow, ef they put her in ther jail-house I reckon ther child would hev hits bornin' thar. Hell no!"
If we'd a been twinses I wouldn't er blamed him for getting' kinder mixed up an' bornin' me curly an' you straight, 'cause I reckon twinses are right confusin', but th'ain't no 'souse when there was plenty of time with nobody hurryin' 'em a bit. I don't see what anybody wants their hair all kinked up like water spaniels for. I wisht mine was as straight, as straight.
"Ye stands ternight fer ther same things ye've always stud fer," she said, "ye stands fer home an' decency fer ther restin' place of dead foreparents an' ther bornin' of new gin'rations fer green leaves an' happiness an' ther only death ye gives countenance to is thet of folks thet goes straight ter God, an' not them thet's destined fer torment."
"Honey," said the man, gravely, as he slipped his arm about Dorothy's waist on that first cold morning, when they were standing together by the grave of her grandfather, "I hain't talked much erbout hit but I reckon my sister's baby hes done hed hits bornin' afore now."
Whin the childher wasn't bornin', they was dying; for, av our childher die like sheep in these days, they died like flies thin, I lost me own little Shadd but no matther. 'Tis long ago, and Mrs. Mulvaney niver had another. "I'm digresshin. Wan divil's hot summer, there come an order from some mad ijjit, whose name I misremember, for the rigimint to go up-country.
"Long enough ter leave him lay an' ferget about him, I reckon," drily observed the parson. "Anyhow atter a spell Old Man McGivins had another bornin' at his dwellin-house an' thet time hit proved out to be a boy. His woman sought ter rechristen ther gal Lizzie or Lake Erie or somethin' else befittin petticoats.
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