The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1879-09-09


"'And how often do you mean to
beat your wifeY'
"' Lordy mussy, Mars Otl wouldn'
krek dat gal, not fer nothin' in de wurl',
lessen she 'zarved It,
CO Well, see that you don't. You may
cut out now. And, Lucinda, see that
you don't deserve 1t, for It's my opinion
that you'll catch 1t If you do. Come,
Hawthorne, the horses are at the door,
Gas we rode through the magnificent
old woods I could not but he struck by
the wonderful animal spirits, the exu-
berant life of my companion. Life
life life Every tone of his voice,
every look of his blue black eyes, every
motion of his fine athletic figure, gave
you the idea of life and the enjoyment
of life. He whistled and sang and joked
and laughed, till saw that he appreci-
ated the fact of his having nothing to
do but to enjoy himself.
He presently stopped at bend in
the creek along the banks of which we
were riding.
"' Halo, Uncle Jack looking for
YARDS y This to the funniest looking
old negro you ever saw, who seemed
to be stealthily peering about among
the dead leaves and dry bushes. He
appeared to be at least hundred and
fifty years old, was as black as ink, and
wore natural skull-cap of gray wool.
The rest of him was made up of wrin-
kles and two little restless black eyes,
set very close together for negro, CIV
ing them an expression of extreme cum
ming. / was not surprised to learn that
he was supreme among the negroes, es-
pecially as a 'trick-doctor,' conducting
his rites with great ceremony and taking
advantage of every opportunity to per-
form his outlandish tricks.
"' Yes, sab, said he in reply to OF.
Pm arter YARDS fer de feber, which it
will hit de plantashun naix dark o. de
moon.'
That's the Christmas-log, L sup
pose p said OF, pointing with his whip
to dark object bobbing up and down
in the water. Turning to me, he ex-
planned: 'The negroes have holiday as
long as they can keep the Christmas-log
burning, so the rascals usually get the
biggest specimen of black gum they can
find-you know what fine grain it
has ?-and soak it in the creek about ten
days; and, by George there's no telling
how long the thing will last
&C An eff Death comes ter de planta-
shun while de logs a-burnin', all de Mig
gers helps to squinch it, an der amt no
mo- holiday, no mo- COINS on, said IN
Gle Jake impressively, COMPRISING his
lips.
:" Is dot sho p inquired OF.
"' a amt nebber seed de squinchin' ;
o. de log but onct, and dat were in
Loozyanny more'n forty years ago.
Dey calls it the "death- rain" down
dar.'
{" wonder if you'd all "squinch :"
the log and give up your holidays if
Death should take me for Christmas
gift to old master some fine morning p
"' In cert'ny, in cert'ny, Mars OF;
but hope you amt gwine try us, sab. ,
"Ot laughed, and we rode on.
"' wonder, Ot,' said L, that you
allow that old fellow to put such notions
in the negroes heads. Ten to one from
what I've seen of them), they will all
fall i'll when the moon wanes.'
"'Like as not, said he carelessly {;
but their faith in him as a prophet,
which makes them fancy themselves i'll
is counterbalanced by their faith in him
as doctor, which will make them all
well again so you see it's as broad as
it's long. Now, Hawthorne, if you will
turn to the right and follow that road,
you will have several capital views and
a smooth gallop. am going over to
Hensley's to look at that mare, but 1
am going by the DEVILS Path, and you
might not fancy it,
Ct assented, and we parted, OF turn
ing in his saddle when he had gone
about twenty yards to ask me to tell
Herndon the overseer to meet him al
the foot of the mountain at three
O'Clock.
" l delivered the message to Herndon.
and at the proper time he set out, but
the true word that is spoken in jest seem
ed in this instance verified, for he die
not return till night ; and when he came
young Hensley came with him.
"They sent for me to come on the por
tico. We stood talking while: then