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"And so he brought you away, Katie?" inquired Reuben's Sam, who was, of course, present. "Well, I jes reckon he did some! He made dem Stingy Island barbariums stan' roun' now, I tell you, chillun." Katie went on with her lecture. Her version of the fate of Lord Vincent, Mrs. Dugald, and Frisbie was rather a free one.
"But don't you feel sorry to leave your native home, Aunt Katie?" inquired Hannah. "Who, me? No, 'deed! I takes my native home along with me when I takes Miss Claudia and Jim and Sally! For what says the catechism? 'tis home where'er de heart is! And my heart is 'long o' de chillun.
He made good money an' us bought dis very house I lives in now. Us never had no chillun, but I was lef' one by a cousin o' mine what died. I raised her lak she was my own. I sont her to school an' ever'thing. She lives in Chicago now an' wants me to come live wid her. But shucks! What would a old woman lak me do in a place lak dat? "I aint got nothin' lef now 'cept a roof over my head.
"I'se seen many a patrol in my lifetime, but dey dassent come on us place. 'Twas de only way in dem days to keep order. "When I was 'bout twenty-two year old, I married Clara Breaden. I had two chilluns by her, Diana an' Davis. My secon' wife's name was Annie Bet Woods. I had six chillun by her: Mary, Ella, John D., Claud William, an' Prince, Jr.
Slaves like us, what was owned by quality-folks, was sati'fied an' didn' sing none of dem freedom songs. I recollec' one song dat us could sing. It went lak dis: 'Drinkin' o' de wine, drinkin' o' de wine, Ought-a been in heaven three-thousan' yeahs A-drinkin' o' dat wine, a-drinkin' o' dat wine. Us could shout dat one. "I was a grown-up man wid a wife an' two chillun when de War broke out.
De shacks of all de slaves was set at de edge of a wood, an' Lawse, honey, us chillun used to had to go out 'n gatha' all de twigs 'n brush 'n sweep it jes' lak a floor. Den de Massa used to go to de court house in Paris 'n buy sheep an' hogs. Den we use to help drive dem home. In de evenin' our Mammy took de old cloes of Mistress Mary 'n made cloes fo' us to wear.
She would do all she could for her grandchildren. Der wuz no food allowance for chillun that could not work and my grandmother fed us out of her and my mudders allowance. I member my grandmudder giving us pot-licker, bread and red syrup. "De furst work I done to get my food wuz to carry water in de field to de hands dat wuz workin'. De next work after dat, wuz when I wuz large enough to plow.
'member deze chillun in de mornin' Hit's a mighty long ways up de mountain side, En dey ain't no place fer dem sinners fer ter hide, En dey ain't no place whar sin kin abide, W'en de Lord shill come in de mornin'! Look up en look aroun', Fling yo' burden on de groun', Hit's a gittin' mighty close on ter mornin'! Smoove away sin's frown Retch up en git de crown, W'at de Lord will fetch in de mornin'!
I made a-plenty cotton an' I teached my chillun to be good blue stockin' Presbyterians. All 'roun' de country I was knowed an' ever'body b'lieved in me. "Maybe things is better lak dey is today. Mos' folks says so anyway. But if Old Marster were a-livin' I'd be better off. I know dat to be so. "I can hear 'im say to me new, 'Prince Albert, who is you named for?
You tells him things to do in Sunday-school what the chillun like, an' you learns him to laugh and 'joy himself, an' a lot of things what nobody else could a-learned 'im." "You mustn't say 'learned him," Polly corrected; "you must say 'taught him. You can't 'learn' anybody anything. You can only 'teach' them." "Lordy sakes! I didn't know dat."
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