Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1888-09-14
A Willy Alligator.

by the darkey, and taken home to the
cabin as a playfellow for the picka-
ninnies. The little darkies took kindly
to the young reptile, and, after it had
recovered from its first disposition to
nip hungrily at small black legs and
arms, it became one OF the greatest
pets possible, waddling about the
cabin and yard in vain pursuit of the
chickens, and ridden as sooE as it was
big enough by two naked youngsters
at q time. The wife of the darby
who owned the cabin was one of the
! class of colored ladies with heart
! full of goodwill toward the census
man, and there were no less than
eleven of the little fifteenth amend
ments, as nearly OF the same age as
possible in the natural order of things,
several pairs of twins making the age
of the youngsters more closely approx
mated. They were jolly brood,
these eleven little darkies, and the
Young alligator, basking in the sun,
rolling about in the mud and playing
high jinks generally Months passed
by, the proprietor of the cabin laid in
abundant meal for hoecake, and from
| hen-roosts and smoke-houses i'll the
region provided all dainties of the
modest larder abundantly, the picka-
ninnies waxing sleek and fat, and
| playmate, the alligator, attaining
length and breadth at a tremendous
rate. The alligator, however, grew
much faster than the little darkies
and after a time familiaritieS with the
intelligent reptile became less fire.
quent. The family cat was not to be
found one day, and subsequently
the family dog also mysteriously dis
appeared while, though wildcats
| from the swamps were supposed to
have been the invaders, one of the
little darkies had occasion to remark,
after each disappearance of a domes-
tic animal: Pears like dat ar gator
looks nifty brite bout de eyes and
smilin' round de mouf terday, some
how" Dogs and cats can be replaced
and the old father of the family paid
| little attention to the mysterious dis
appearance until one night at hoecake
time only ten little darkies put in an
appearance. "'Whah's yer brudder?
Whah's Wendell Phillips Henry Wat
terson Sniff demanded the alarmed
! colored parent very anNiously-
Dunno; he was pokin' sticks at the
gator last we seed him" piped the
pickaninnies in chorus "Oh, de
Lawd OBJ hevins!' yelled the old dar-
ky. "Mebbe de gators gobbled i'm, y
and he dashed out of doors, drove the
reptile into the yard with a rail, pried
his mouth open with the same instru-
ment and examined the two rows of
sharp teeth for wool There was no
wool there. de chile's drowned in
| the slough for sartin',' mourned the
father, and so accepted the burden,
though a search of the slough revealed
nothing.
\ few days later another little darby
went There was the same search of
| the alligator's teeth and of the slough
but the mystery was not solved, and
the old darky and his wife began to
turn gray Then, of the nine little
darkies left, one after another went
rapidly. Horace Greeley Stephens
Smith, Sarcophagus Alexander Smith,
| Whitelaw Dickinson Reid Smith, and
so on, they disappeared until but one
solitary little amendment remained to
roll about the cabin and bask chuck
ingly in the sunlight The hearts of
the old darby and his wife were nearly
broken, and they went about listlessly
humming no longer the cheerful old
plantation airs, but grooming only
| the familiar but melancholy song of
the race beginning, "Isea mournin."
One evening the darby and his wife
We're sitting watching the antics of
| the remaining child, and rejecting
upon the mysterious fate of the ten
who had disappeared, when the
youngster ran around behind the
cabin for something. The sound of
brief scuflling Immediately after led
the father and mother to rush upon
the scene The child was gone! The
negro darted around to the back side
of an old cypress stump in the search,
and there in a moment the whole sad
mystery was solved. Propped up,
with its back against the stump, in
order to give freedom to its forelegs,
the alligator sat, clutching between
his fore claws rusty table fork with
but a single tine and picking its teeth
hastily. The desperate darby seized
an axe, and after fierce struggle slew
the monster. Between the alligator's
teeth were tufts of kinky wool which
it had not time to remove, and an I'M
scientific but thorough dissection
with the axe made it clearly evident
where the last of the eleven little dar-
kies had gone. The alligator had de-
voured all the brood, but the intelli-
gence of the reptile was such that it
had in each case after eating up
pickaninny promptly removed all evil
dence of the crime by picking the
wool from its teeth.