The Monitor., 1885-07-03
MA'AM HEPSY.S MELONS.
BY j. J.. HARBOUR.

optli Jo uioul dS Ill Dtub TuHllln oii 10 tlt
city an bein bawbah. I'll git dem stuck
up, ristocratic notions ont q yo' er my
name amt Hepsy Winterbottom. Nice boy
yo' is ter want ter leab yo' ole nanny,
watts done worked 70 20 70 fifteen yeals,
an go off ter town an be a big bug. No,
sali. chile; yo'll stick right to dis ia m till
yo's ebbery minnit oh twenty-one yeahs
old, deed yo' will Now go tote me two
tubs o watah from de spring, an den
march yo' self off an watch dat watahmi-
lion-patch good all day. Step spry. ehilet'
Stoncwall jackson Winterbottom did
step spry. having good reason for fearing
that the keen .'hick'ry'' behind his mann
mys chair would be used in accelerating
his speed if his footsteps dragged.
But Stonewall was in detected, rebel
lious mood, and he was no sooner out of
sight of the house than he threw his water
pals savagely down on the grass and
stretched himself out under maple-tree by
the path.
'T'lI see if stay much longgah roun' dis
place, where dey's no s'iety but dat o low
down, common people wat amt got no
style bout 'em. Lincoln Greenfield he lef
dis country only yeah ago, an now he
'so'shates wild gemmen o quality, a-dustin'
of dar clo'es in de finest bawbah shop in
Cine 'natty. He is learnn' ter be bawbah
and a gemmen, wild brass-pin as big as a
bird-egg. Kotch me a-buggin' taters an
a-bein nobody much longgah. Ole nanny
can jess-Oh, Lordy! Lordy.'
Ma'am Hepsy had grown impatient wait
ing for her wash water, and, armed with
the ''hick'ry,' had started off in quest of
her son. His roars gave proof that she had
found him.
ooh, yo' sinnah! yo' sarpint's tooth
Dis is how yo' honah yo' pa watts dead an
yo' ma at S libn'! An dis is how spar
de rod =
And down came the rod until Stonew all
vowed that his back was ''elean broke
Then he went moumfully, but wrathfully,
out to the watermelon patch, planning how
he could raise the ten dollars necessary to
take him to 'Cinc natty
His back was smarting; but his spirit was
not conquered.
Ma am Winterbottom melons were the
finest in the county as they lay on the sandy
sol-great. fat ones, ripenipg in the Au-
gust sun.
She would find ready sale for them in the
town two miles distant, and they would fur
nish the means for providing clothes that
winter for herself and six fatherless chill
dren.
She had worked hard in her melon patch,
pressing her unwilling eldest born into ser
vice when she could; but Stonewall hated
the melon patch and everything else that
suggested hard work.
OF late, however, he had conceived a ten
der regard for the melon patch. for the
melons were fast ripening. Three or four
great plump ones were now ready for mar
ket, and Ma am Hepsy had planned to take
them to town the next morning. But when
she and Stonewall went out at the early
dawn to get the melons. they Were gone;
san neithah hide nor ha'r to tell who tux
'em, as Ma'am Hepsy said.
Oars at leas' a dollah an six bits
gone moaned Hepsy. $50 dem fouah
melons, bein' de fust of de season an such
whoppers, was wuf fifty cents apiece; an
fouah times fifty is"
"a dolah an sixty-five cents said
Stonewall.
''Hush up retorted Hepsy. ''Yo' neb-
bah acW larn how ter figgah. When yo' ole
nanny, what's oldah an smahtah 'nyo' Isl
says fouah times fifty is a dollah an seven
ty-five cents, yo' can pend on it dat she's
figgahed it out keerful, an knows"
Stonewall was silenced by this superior
desecrated melon vines
However, six choice ones were to be
pulled on the morrow, and Stonewall was
sent to guard the patch until midnight.
'Dem mean town boys won't shuahly be
sneakin' 'roun' latah dan dat, said Hepsy.
But they or some one else had been
s'sneakin' 'roun','' for when Hepsy and
Stonewal went out on the second morning
the six ripe melons were gone.
'Dat's mos mSghty sing Ter" said Hepsy.
'Dat's what it am acqniesced Stone
wall.
''Now, look heah, boy said Ma'am
Hepsy, "yer's got to stay in dis yer million
patch all night ter night, an sleep daytimes
vile watch. I'll make yo' a green-apple
pie, an fry yo' some chicken fo' lunch;
an I'll load yo'. poah, dead ole pappy' S
shotgun wild beans, an yo' jist crack away
at de fust noise yo' heah, whethah it be
man, woman or chile. Peppah 'em, sez. '
Two or three times that night Ma'am
Hepsy heard the old shotgun go off, and
once wild howl of pain filled the air.
Hepsy enveloped herself in bed-quilt and
hurried forth to the melon patch.
"Yo' Stonewall. Jackson y she cried,
'sdon' yo' kill 'em quite ~
Stonewall had not quite killed the ma
rauders, for no trace of them was found.
81 tell yo', nanny cried stonewall,
excitedly, II chased em clean to de woods
'foah | got crack at 'em. Did yo' heall
'em yawp out? bet hit i'm =
''But did dey get dem millions -
eyes, reckon. Yo' see, | was kind o
4: l.