Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-10-09
4 True Story.
"MY NAMES CAH'LINE."

VINO she was and where she came from
was always mystery to us. Her coming
was as unexpected as a summer shower,
and turned out to be fully as grateful
The circumstances of her arrival among
us were out of the usual line, and the result
a blessing in disguise.
One languid, sultry day in August, we
were all sitting on the wide, roomy piazza,
eager to catch every futter of breeze that
might arise, when a torn and dusty little
figure opened the gate and came down the
path. Flinging herself wearily before us
she said: MY names Cah'line, an want
to stay wild you :"
1t was child of about twelve years,
small and delicate-looking, black as the
shadow of midnight, but with a bright,
pleasant face, and small features almost
Caucasian in their outlines.
The child was half-starved and evidently
worn out by long and toilsome journey,
and her faculties at first seemed to be in a
! half -benumbed state. All that we could
obtain from her in the way of information
was that her name was Cah'line.
A good bath and a generous meal created
such wonderful transformation in her
that the head of affairs decided to keep her,
and so Cah'line became the chore girl of
our little household She proved to be
very faithful and affectionate, quick and
willing to learn, very clean and neat in per-
son and habits and exceedingly handy in
her small but useful sphere.
With the COWS and calves she early made
friends, giving names of her own invention
to them all, which they readily learned to
recognize, particularly when slice of wa
ter melon was the reward.
Gha 1ypau oil tho Tllaoac WHARF the hons
were accustomed to lay, would crawl under
the barn or other bu ldings, through high
weeds and brambles in shady fence corners
and always with success, meanwhile Groom
ing to herself song, whose burden was:
Get ye ready,
Get ye ready,
You'll have to take little more bread.
For dar amt no clabber herel
Even the wisest old hen knew that it was
waste of time to try and hide her nest
from the sharp, keen eyes of Cah'line.
The family dog, wise, well-bred and gen.
tlemanly terrier, regarded her at first with
grave doubts and dignifed suspicion, bnt
soon became her sworn ally, and the two
mad many happy romp together.
Differing strangely from all others Of her
race whom we had known, the watermelon
in the various stages of it's growth and
beauty had for her no charms; her palate
barely tolerated corn bread and rejected hon.
my altogether. But slice of cake was to
her glimpse of heaven and piece of can
dy symphony of surprising sweetness.
Her love OF finery was strongly developed,
and her pride and satisfaction unbounded
in pair of flaming scarlet garters, although
she did not consider the usual accompani-
ment of stockings at all necessary.
She early learned to sew, and got along
very we'll in that line, with the exception of
an unusual parsimony in regard to stitches.
Her language was replete with rich smiles
and idioms of the most amusing kind.
Her affection for her mistress was gen.
uine and intense. Sometimes she would
steal softly up behind and slip her arms
about her mistress waist, and when the
latter would mildly expostulate at the fa-
miliarity she would say, ooh, Miss Lizzie,
do let me alone; you know l love you so
much.''
Always bright and cheerful and tall1ative,
she gave life and animation to our house
hold-all adults-and was treated more as
one of the family than a servant and of the
despised race.
She was very liberal in regard to the let
ters Of the alphabet and seldom used the
pronoun s'it' without bestowing upon
it the extra letter 'h." For instance, her
mistress would ask the question, "Cah' line,
where is the water pail?" and the answer
would be, "Yonner hit, right by the door,"
In building fires she was an expert and
in her hands a few slivers of pine wonld de-
velop unusual powers of combustion.
She was proficient also in the ruder ele-
ments of cookery, such as frying 'hog
meat and making long collards tender and
succulent
She was handy mixer and seemed to
possess faculty of reasoning and pow
er of seductive persuasion that would bring
the most refractory and impatient COWS to
terms.
To see her carrying watermelons to her
favorite COWS was picture in itself. She
would walk from the lower field of the
plantation to the house with melon under
each arm and one balanced carefully ON her
head
Going to the front gate she would call
the COWS by name and they would run to
meet her, stopping at respectful distance
to receive the delicious morsels thrown to
them.
Her special favorites among the meek
eyed kline were called by the euphonious
names of Freddy and "Slew-foot." The