Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-23
Uncle Bob,
JGnes B. CaJle in "Csyrsat.''

lGfNeS b. Z NDt6 az Z tffcftt
Cane, cane, cane; blue Of stock and
green Of ribbOned leaf, bowling and Hut
tering in the summer breeze like water
fowl in the bath. Overhead a clOudless
azure that seems not altogether over
head, but also br0Oding over the outlying
earth.
In the surrounding forest, swinging on
low-grOwing brush and Garting athWart
the vision hosts of hooking birds bespeak
their guileless JOYS in such medleys of
harmony as mans most tenacious memory
never held obedient to its call.
burrows of the clOse-growing cane
blades part and meet again in quick but
irregular succession, and, as the '.turn-
row. is attained, there steps into view a
little, shaggy. runted Texas mule, a small
plOw, and, guiding both, gray, grizzly,
dr0ll, hearty 'Uncle Bob"
They are pair, that mule and he.
Apparently the fercest of enemies at
times they are the closest Of friends, for,
on the whole plantation, none but Uncle
Bob dare cross that mules ambitious back.
Many a furrOw they have turned together
many time in the quickly told hours OF
the night. those two have Travelled home
ward, when only Rock, the mule, was
| sober
No night so dark nor way so slippery
( but Rocks tiny hOofs would patter uner-
/ Ilu3lE dlDu4 the uDHicWdIQ IodQ, WIFI
never the slightest disObedlence of the
I many-pieced old head gear Bob calls a
! ''briVel."
Others than Bob might hold the plOw
with Rock before the beam, but Bob must
lead him to his place. and with the ham
/ dies grasped by any to whom the inner
( recesscs of mulsh eccealriCitics had never
( been revealed, the stubborn glebe" was
vacillatiOn extreme compared with the
/ ffN-lfinaCG of that rnIIa fhn HVaIa0V1n
Wagging Of the noon bells creakinQ
tongue.
But it is not Rock, but Uncle Bob, whc
is now under consideration, though the
daInty-hOOfed creature Of unstinted ears
pOurs forth his miScrcre leaning his de-
spondent head upon the t0pmOst bar OF
{ the barn-yard gate.
/ The gray Old negro, hObbling YEARLY to
! his cabin when the sun is down, Is a book
7 of many chapters. Tragedy. comedy and
Z farce spread their sentences and para
graphs along the pages Of his life.
In the enactment of LIES counterfeit
ON histriOnic boards / have seen tenderest
pOrtraiture OF love and sympathy greeted
with laughter in the stead Of scaldine
tears.
50, too, there are those to whose shall
low senses the old negro is but a merri.
ment alone. But though woe were plenti-
AAA III AAAo IA HCA1CANEs lLC NOllL lllZUl
laugh at its own imaginings or nope in
dreary quiet; yet, to it, his book Is never
opened by his hand.
seldom, indeed. does he open it at all
Som times when memory brings it and
+ lays it before him, he rests his broad black
/ hand upon its cover; but whether he looks
within or pushes the volume beyond his
/ sight, no reprint of its contents ever APP
+ pears on his wrinkled face.
I His aNanfno r1nnT concluded q
crack in his lOg-cabin's wall he takes his
veteran pipe with its cane-rOOt stem cut
in the swamp behind the cabin. 1t is
already hlled, or partly filled, with the
remains of "a former using: a coal from
the broad hearth relights it, and to him it
becomes the calumet fOrbidding further
combat between him and conquered recOl-
lection.
From under the rickety bed in the cor
nor he draws his old violin, and respond
ing to the old mans dancing elbow, down
to the floor, under the scanty furniture
of the room, swinging from the iOists
overhead among the fishing tackle and
strings of pepper dangling from them, up
and down, round and round, the little
notes spring from the flying bow, and
Joining hands with the dancing shadows,
swing and scamper and frOlic merrily,
while the Negroes big, fiat russell brOgan
urges them on with hearty beat, and his
old wife removes her pipe from her tooth
less mouth, calculating with beaming
face: I'D rudder hyeh d'likes o. dat dan
teat."
such is the life OF Uncle Bob in brief.
ear after year its routine has been as
path between high walls, with no re-
lieYing sweep Of landscape bright where
sight might wander and bring back re-
freshment to the starved intelligence; a
road avoided byrighteOus encouragement;
WhereOn the lofty purpose was as the
bird, alighting but to fly away again at
once alarmed, and freqUented alone by
foot-pads OF evil suggestion and persua-
sion, accompanied by tumbling clowns OF
indiscretlOn and ignorance.
On these surroundings Uncle Bob has
scarce turned his eye because of the be-
numbing drudgery of his daily tasks.
What wonder that in this same Man,
moth Cave Of dark condition sightless
ones like him are cOntented never to be-
hold the sun of uplifted knowledge!
Yet his life is not to HIM one of utter
misery.
The fires Of tragedy once roaring round
him burned themselves out, leaving but
little heap Of cold ashes almost hidden
beneath dead leaves Of circumstances,
and Bob is the favOrite plowman, the most
skilled fiddler, the best fisherman, the
shrewdest hog thief, and the hardest topper
of all the region round.