New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1878-05-15
Sans Birthday,

On the nineteenth day Of last month,
Sam could and would have testified. from
information and belief, that he was
''eight yeahs Of, gwine on nine:' but on
the morning of the twentienth. that inter
esting infant Of color was informed by
his mother that he was mine yeahs OF,
gWlne on ten
"Hoo -ee!''he cried, sswhut pow'ful
while mus ha' slep'! Or else l grows
wus an dat ar Jonuss gourd you tol' me
'bout, whut wuz only a teenchy leetle
.simblin at might, and got big as de hen
house afore mornin' early sun-up. Him!
hey! look heah, nanny, is I skipped
any Christmases?''
[ ''No, chile, replied his mother; ':you
amt skipped muffin. Dis is yo' buf-day:
de fects oh which is, dat it's dies SO many
yeahs sence yon wuz fust borned. Idon't
know how't'll be, Sam, folks is similar
to de cocoa grass, whut grows up mighty
pert, tell long come somebody wild a hoe
to slosh it down,-but ct you Ibis long
enough, an muffin happens, you'll keep
on habbin a buff day ebry yeah wunst a
yeah till you dies. An ebry time you
has one, son, You'll be one yeah Older
"Fine way to git gray-headed," said
Sam.
At this moment mighty crash re-
sounded from the kitchen down stairs
and Aunt Philis descended the steps
with great precipitation. Then Sam
heard her shouting angrily:
1" You, Bose! Oh, you 6ettaA git. you
mean ole no count rascal! I do 'spise a
houn'- dogp
Sam went on with his toilet, musing,
| the while, upon the probability of his
ever getting to be as old as Uncle Z. Afri-
kin Tommy who was the patriarch
of the plantation, and popularity supposed
to3be "cluss onto two hundred years of
age; and who was wont to aver that
when lie arrived in that part Of the coun-
try, when he was boy, the squirrels all
had two tails apiece, and the Mississippi
River was such a small stream the people
/ ,bridged it, on occasion, with a. fence-raiI@
4 Thus meditating upon the glorious pos
sibiities of his future, Sam got ready for
breakfast, and went down. It was not
until he had absorbed an enormous guam
tity fried picked pork and hot corn
cakes, and finally with reluctance ceased
to eat, that his mother told him what
4 had caused the noise a little while before,
how old Bose, the fox hound, had with
felonious intent come into the kitchen,
and surreptitiously "supped upn the
chicken-soup that had been prepared for
Sans birthday breakfast; and further,
hoWsthe said delinquent had added in
4 suit to injury, by contemptously smash
ing the bowl that he had emptiea.
Sam, however, was too true a philosopher
to cry long over split NIL k-or soup. He
] reflected that the breakfast he had lust
taken would prevent his eating any soup,
even if he had it. 81 isn't inv rubber, 9
said he to himself, with which beautiful
and happy thought his froWn was super
seeded by smile, the smile developed
into his normal grin, and he began to
chant an appropriate stanza from one OF
/ his favorite lyrics NJ. 4
"0-o-o-old Uncle John!
A-a-a-aunt Sally Goodin!
When you got enough corn-bread
It's des as good as puddin.''n
The excellent Aunt Phlllis was much
affected by this saint like conduct on the
part of her son. She sighed fearing that
| the boy was to good to live.
Nemmlnd, Sam, said she; s you need
!. Mt tote no wood to-day, or fotch no water,
Tor do muffin. Go, down TO de quarters,
Ian git Pumble to play w,d you"
Pumble was q boy who in age and
| tastes corresponded closely with Sam, as
he did in com lexion His real name. at