West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-08-17
'aDE VALLEY AN. DE sHAD-
DER"
H. s. Edwards.
II.

III. s
Weeks passed. The little brown
baby fell to the care of grandmam,,
my. A spell was upon Mandy.
With her long hair down upon her
shoulders, elbows upon her knees,
and face in her hands, she sat by
the hour under the great black gum.
gazing down into the sadowy depths
of the swamp. With an intuition
and refinement of kindness not un-
common to the race, the elder wO-
man kept silent upon the events of
that dreadful night. Not once did
she refer to the tragedy. not once to
the wild life of the young wife of
which it was the culmination,-
wild, for it had been the same old
story of mismated ages and foolish
playing with fire. Quietly she had
gone on doing the cooking and the
washing, and the little brown baby,
as she toiled, played with its rag
doll and preached to the sleepy cat.
When the baby cried for food she
placed it in its mothers arms,
where, as it lay, Mandy studied the
round face vaguely. But no tear
fell upon the child, and the old
nanny wondered as she watched
the two.
MANDY ain come'roun' w.t." she
said to a neighbor once. DE Lord
es 'fictin' her mighty hebby; but
she'll come bimeby, she'll come
bimeby." Yet the time seemed
long. Ht
One day, as thus they sat, the
Rev. Kesiah Toomer, or "Unc'
'Siah," as he was called, leaned over
the split-oak picket. His aged face,
full of wrinkles, and its white eye
brows, beamed down kindly upon
them. ,l.
"Mornin', Aunt Charlotte" he
said, touching the battered old straw
hat that kept the sun from his bald
head and its kinky fringe of snowy
hair; "how you do des morning."
His was soft, flexible voice, full of
conciliatory curves.
I'm tolerable," replied the wo.
man simply.
"How Mandy ?"
.sShe -'s tolerable." The young g
woman was dreaming into the depths,
and heard nothing.
"Yes m" Unc' 'Siah's face mel
lowed little more, and he shifted
his weight to the other foot.
SLOW you, Unc', 'Siah p
"I'm tolerable, bless God |"
won't yer come en- an res ?"
Unc' 'Siah replied by limping
slowly into the yard, He had leg
that was stiff with rheumatism and
gave him painful-looking gait. He
seated himself in the splint- bottom
chair profered him. For some time
he was silent. Every now and then
his eye rested upon the sleeping
child and the brooding mother
Charlotte knew that he had some
thing to say.
"You seen Benz" she asked qui-
etly. The old man stirred in his
seat.
ayes m" he said; "seen,him yes
tiddy." There was slight change
in the face Of Mandy; no movement
but the eyes seemed to lose their far
away look and fix themselves on
something nearer.
"W'at e say?"
well" replied the old man, n,thrust-
ing out his stiffened limb, she ain
say much. Hits mighty nigh unso
fo' weeks sence he az put en- jail.
an dey es gointer have es trial next
Chuesday." Then presently: You
bin deir, Mandy?' Mandy turned
her hunted eyes upon him.
Yes" she whispered after awhile;
San he druv me way" Silence fell
upon the little group. The old wo-
man was study ing the face of the
man, turned towards the ground.
The other had sunk again into hope
lessness above tho baby. Presently
Unc' 'Siah spoke;
''He do say dat dem lyyers low
dat deir's mighty littl' chance fur
'im less n dat knife er Bills been
picked up by somebody wat uz lean
in ter our side er de case, cause
Bills name uz on hit eff hit uz Bills,
an 'u'd show fur hitse'f. Plenny
Nv 'em seed Mandy snatch hit fun
de groun', an sum ses es how ct uz
Ben's an she uz erfraId ter show
hit, an sum ses es how hit uz Bill's
an she uz er-hidin' hit cause she
liked Bill more n Ben; an so hit
goes. Now, ses l, deir ain nuth'n'
en- dat, an MANDY III sw'ar IN de
| court t-bouse she ifiung hit en- de
swamp fur Ben's 'thout lookin' at
hit,-des like you say, honey,-but
dey low. does dem iyyers, es how