The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1882-07-20
MARTYS CABBAGE SHOP.
BY MRS. REBECCA HARDING DAVIS.

Bugby was hungry.
Being boy he was always hungry;
but there were especial reasons, this
cold, nipping morning, why his stomach
should gnaw SO savagely under his tight
little jacket. In the first place, the
breakfasts and dinners which his moth
er had given him lately had been grow
ing thinner and smaller until yesterday
they dwindled down to one bit of corn
bread in the morning and nothing at all
through the day.
In the second place, it was holiday
week, and whenever Bugby went through
the village the smell of roasting turkey,
mince pies, or spice cake came to him
from the kitchens.
The stars were still in the sky when
he scrambled up and began to dress.
''Whah yer gwine, sonny?n said Mar
ty, his mother, following him down the
ladder into the little Kitchen Marty
was young mulatto woman with a
low voice and gentle face which Bug
by thought the prettiest in the world
She shivered and coughed and he put
her cloak around her and picked up the
slaked fire.
"Yoh 90 back to bed, nanny. Whah
10 you get up? Dab AIM muffin to cook,
and had haint q spec o dust in de
house to clean. No use scrubbin' no
more. Longs yoh stay in bed yoh won't t
be hungry. I'm gwine take de cabbaees
toh de stoh, and III bring back a pock-
etful of monev.n
He went off chuckling and whistling
to the Clubhouse where the cabbaoes
were stored, while Marty washed and
put on her gown, and tried to tidy ~eiit
more the spOtlessly ne"t Kitchen. AS
Bug had said, there was nothing to cook.
She wished there had been, for she felt
weak and mad to sit down now and
then But the money for the cabbages
would come soon, so she began to sing,
too. q lit about ''marchin' to de mawn-
in'.''
Marty and Bug had shrill voices and
took q good deal of fun out of their
singing. They had been slaves in Vir-
ginia. Five years ago Marty husband,
Cassius. had gone with his young master
into the Southern army. Marty never
had heard of him again. Her mistress
died and the plantation was sold, and
when all the slaves were freed, there was
nothing left for her to do but to take
Bug and follow the great drove of ne
groes coming North. She had saved a
| little money, with which she rented this
cabin and lot in the little country town
Of Fayette, took in washing, raised vcge
tables to sell, and so kept them alive.
B,it the hard times made the womer
| of Fayette economical; they would no
give out their washings any longer, and
in December thevegetables were all SOLD
except the cabbages. Marty and Bug
after much consultation, had concluded
to hold them back until now, when they
would bring high price.
Bug came in presently, gray with The
cold. but in high good humor.
"Dah's eighty ob 'em, nanny. Mr.
Frisby's buyin' 'em by de wagon loaC
at ten cents apiece. Dey's skase di:
year, an de folks hyaris mighty fond oil
cabbages. He says to me yes day, Fotcl
'em along, bub; I'll take all you've go
OF dat price"
Marty, meanwhile, was puzzling Owe
sum-
Eighty times ten," she said st last
Pears to me dat's eighty dollars, Bug
Dat'll kerry us purity well in de spring,
tell YOU"
1--WE kin afford fried chicken for tn,
holiday, mammy?
Course we kin. Come, git along
sonny. De days broke and fyou've
good mile to GO
Bug had borrowed Sam Coles big
pushing cart over night. Any of tn,
neighbors would lend Marty or Bug
whatever they asked, they were know
to be such kindly, honest folks.
Marty went out and helped pile III
some of the cabbages in the cart; solid
big, pale-green balls. Never they had seel
prettier sight How many days of hart
work and aching bones had gone int
them, And they were going to repa,
her now.
..We'nli like king an queen, Bug
she said. "rll GRIT bit OBJ bacon an
make YOU chicken pie''-for Marty ha'
been a famous cook in Virginia "Dal
was muffin you pap like SO much a
chicken pie
Muffin | like so much eytherr' sal,
Bug. promptly. for he always mad
himself after the pattern of this unknowl
lost father. "Whah dye s'pose he j
mammy?n
Marty did not answer. She was sur
he was dead or he would have come I
her: he would know somehow hoy
much she wanted him. She was an al
| feetionate, faithful soul, and she neve
had any one else to care for but her hus
band and Bug. Il Il.
II reckon III he off now" said Bug
by. an bring some meal and 'lasse
I !, + 49,, . f< 81
dem" He pushed the cart in tn
smooth, icy road, and Mary went int
the kitchen, -
She looked out OF the window at tn
BOY pushing The caftdown the hih' III
was more than all the rest of the worl
TO her; But, oh, what great world
was! What could she do for her boy il
II? She wanted him to have schoolin!