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"Dem wuz good ole times, marster-de bes' Sam ever see! Dey wuz, in fac'! Niggers didn' hed nothin' 't all to do-jes' hed to 'ten' to de feedin' an' cleanin' de hosses, an' doin' what de marster tell 'em to do; an' when dey wuz sick, dey had things sont 'em out de house, an' de same doctor come to see 'em whar 'ten' to de white folks when dey wuz po'ly. Dyar warn' no trouble nor nothin'.
It was only to say something to which the old darky could reply to to keep in touch with him to know that he was speaking to this same old Malachi whom he had so dearly loved. "Middlin' po'ly, yas middlin' po'ly, suh." Malachi had not the slightest idea what he was talking about. He had not been sick a minute since Oliver left.
De jailah was too po'ly to enjoy wu'kkin' vehy hahd, so I tuk de keys, an' when dey didn't need me at nights, ovah at his house, I allus locked myse'f in reg'lar every night, so's to feel I wuz doin' right, you know. In de mawnin', right early, I made breakfast foh dem, an' fix dem up like.
He was just past and no more when a familiar voice hailed him. "Morning, Bre'r Rabbit," said the voice. "What's yo' hurry?" Peter stopped abruptly and looked up in that tree. There, peering down at him from a hole high up in the trunk, was a sharp, whitish-gray face, with a pair of twinkling black eyes. "Hello, Unc' Billy," cried Peter. "How are you and Ol' Mrs. Possum?" "Po'ly, Peter, Po'ly.
Polly has laid a bit of clean homespun upon the table; his bowl of coffee, his fried meat, and his hoe-cake stand ready; but, instead of falling to, as his custom is, he sits silent and despondent, with his face buried in his hands, until Polly asks: "What de matter; is you po'ly?"
Harvest began, but the customary barrel of whisky was not purchased, and the song of the scythemen in the wheatfield languished. In lieu of whisky, there was a beverage most innocuous, unstimulating and unpalatable to the army of dusky laborers. The following morning, Mr. Madison called in his head-man to make the usual inquiry, "Nelson, how comes on the crop?" "Po'ly, Mars' Jeems monsus po'ly."
"Now, honey, you jes' took de words out'n my mouth 'bout you. You'se lookin' po'ly, an' I'se dreffle 'feared you'se gwine ter get beat ont. You want help mo'n me, an' I'se had it on my min' ter talk wid you." "Oh, Aun' Sheba, I'm very well," protested Mara, yet glad to think that her paleness and languor were ascribed to fatigue.
It was Peter, and alone, who met her at the station with the wagonette. The high ecstasy of her shrinking fell like collapsing walls beneath her. Life was grey, level, flat. "Mrs. Garnier's po'ly this mornin'," Pete told her as they drove homeward. "Mis' Cha'lotte wouldn't leave her to come, and Mr. Willy, he's been gone for a week now, down to the grasswater with a pahty of gen'l'men, as guide."
"I dunno as I 'se, to say, po'ly," Wat replies, "but dat boy's been a-pesterin' me dis livelong day, a-callin' 'Daddy, Daddy! jes' like I talkin' now, till seem like I 'se most beat out along o' him." "Dat mighty curous," Polly answered, "'cause Ole Keep, he's been a-howlin' dis blessed day. I 'lowed dat Ung Silas were gwine be tuck." "'T ain't dat," the miller interrupted.
I got up toreckly, though, an' I cotch him, and when I done got through, Mistah Billy-goat feel po'ly moah'n a week. He sut'n'y did." Walker grinned, for he had witnessed the scene. Just then Maria put her head in at the door to say, "May Lilly, yo' mammy's callin' you." Lloyd and Fritz followed her noisily down-stairs. Then for nearly an hour it was very quiet in the great house.
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