caa'n't

Updated: May 6, 2025

May-be he's all jest 'z he ought to be, I caan't say that he a'n't, but he's aout late nights, 'n' lurkin' raoun' jest 'z ef he wuz spyin' somebody; 'n' somehaow I caan't help mistrustin' them Portagee-lookin' fellahs. I caa'n't keep the run o' this chap all the time; but I've a notion that old black woman daown't the mansion-haouse knows 'z much abaout him 'z anybody."

Various - The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 38, December, 1860