The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1888-08-09

The family was composed OF Old Uncle
Dan, the grandfather, Cato, very black
and lusty fellow, his son, with Nutty Cato
wife, and two pickanninnics, on whlcn IL
seemed that charcoal would have lett
light mark, but they had eyes as big as
buckeyes and as white as this paper, exceps
the pupils which were Us black as ink
Unclc Dan, to use his own remark on tne
subject, was "gittin' monstous nlgh oe
stoppin' place" His kinky hair and beard
were as white as that of his old master, VINO
was u bluc-blood from the 3. F. VIZ It Is
strange that an old black man can raise
white beard. Whero does it como fromo
The old man leaned heavily on his big
hickory stick, too. when he walked lndeed
he almost tottcred, for he had t.ckled the
soil of old Virginia with his hoe for more
summers than he could remember and had
seen harvests come and go until, in the eye
of his remembrance they spun around and
blended like the spokes of rapidly-turning
wheel.
Cato and Natty had other children; one
was a girl OF fourteen, who had gone far
South with the family as the waiting maid
of her young mistress, and the other was
Luke, q son of sixteen. Luke had become
the servant OF an officer in the Eleventh
New York Zouaves, then in camp on tho
hill above the shanty at Camp Butler, and
he was as happy as young darkies nearly
ALWAYS are He was smart, bright boy
and was what q negro-trader would nave
called "a likely nigger feller"-and although
he could sing the folk-songs OF his race IN
q rich and melodious tenor, OF minor key
and could ''pat juba" in manner that de-
lighted all who saw him in such per-
formances, he had a yearning for "book-
larnin and absorbed the alphabet quickly
and soon learned to spell, under the teaching
of the Coloneps orderly, a handsome young
fellow from tho metropolis Of the North.
It was balmy spring morning in tho
region about the mouth OF the James when
the great frigates Congress and Cumber-
land lay on the light ripplcs Of Hampton
Roads, lazly swinging to their anchors OF
Newport News. Tho sails were loose and
tapping idly in tho wind and the sailors
lounged about the decks. There was al
most O Sabbath quiet among the camps OF
infantry on the shore, and the thunders OF
the great guns Of the land batteries as well
as those of tho towering mcn-of-war were
all asleep. Suddenly black spot appeared
in the mouth of the Elizabeth river, up
which stream, few miles, lay Norfolk and
the famous navy yard. Tho black spot
emitted volume Of smoke, and as it fioated
seaward it took, for o time, the appearance
of little island which had got loose. As it
came nearer it grew formidable and was
soon outlined as an immense iron-clad,
floating battery. Soon it began to belch
cannon balls and bursting shells, and thus
showed that it carried foil destruction in its
vltals. This fighting monster was the ter
rlble Confederate ram, the Merrimao, and
following her camo o shower of wooden
gun-boats,
The Cumberland and Congress, towering
frigates, which had been autocrats OF tho
seas, now bristled for tho fight, and roaring
broadsidcs burst from their guns, and the
land batteries grumbled in decorating
thunder, but the monster came steadily and
sullenly on, while tho heavy shot bounded
from her iron deck
When all this began Aunt Natty was at
fire beside the shanty, boiling soap, Cato
was mending q sein and Uncle Dan sat
within doors grooming rickety old planta-
tion song.
The first roar of artillery and the nasty
whine of q hot In the air changed the aspect