Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-08-19

'BREss DE GOOD LoI.' discovered it to come from a cabin. Howard, whose feet were not so sore as mino, left me standing near n tumbled- down fence, and coming back after a few minutes he said:
 The only people in the house arc an old black man and his wife. Come on, old fellow"
 l took his arm, and we advanced bold ly and into the cabin.
 "Blcss de good Lor'!" called the old man and his wife, as with raised hands and open mouths they stood watch ing us.
 I've are Yankees, uncle; we are cs- caping from Libby prison. and you must help us, said Howard, aS he closed the door behind him.
 Good LOT, honey. yeh's in heap sight ov danjah!" said the old woman, "foh de Confed sojCrs hcZ been a slrim- agin' round har all day foh ych."
 But you can givo us something to eat and let Us rest for awhilr?"
 Well do de bcs' we kin. mars. but dar ain't much left atw,an de t vo sides But praise de LOT, my olo mans a skrimagcr hissef, an he has de knack of flndin' out if Gar's any thing lcf' round about" said the old woman. as she stirred up the fire and brought out her pans.
 'Mc an my olc woman. we ain't q gwino to starvc so longs dar's any thing lef' to confunscatr 'tw"cn har an Mars Davis house in Richmond." chuckled tho old man, and he at once hnCo mo h,,C1- bo1,,;,,r h ;,,
 In proof of his success ;.s ''sl rimaCCr' we were soon sitting down to such a feast of poncs and bacon as would have delighted the heart of Nitcllus himself that is. if he had been blessed with our appotites. Since that day, at home and abroad, l have partaltrn of banuuets where all oarth's luXurics, prepared by artistic cooks. were spread before mo in profusion: but never enjoyed them as l did that delicious meal provided by the kind-heartcd negroes in that hum- ble hut.
 We ate till we were ashamed of our selves, and frankly said so, our tin plate were kept piled up till we were satisfied, till, for tho first time, the hunger, that had been gnawing at our vitals for months, was appcased. But this did not exhaust the hospitality of these good people, for supply was cooked 'foh to tote Otf' with us when we left.
 It did not take much urging on the old mans part to induce us to sleep for few hours on the bed he had prepared in the sooty loft of the cabin.
 My ole woman, she'll dry yer clothes, an I'll fix yer boots cz we'll ez kin, an ef dar's any danjah, wich ain't a-loolzin foh at dis time ob night, I'll let yeh know" said the old man.
 With this assurance, we took off our boots and outer clothing and climbed into the loft, where we were soon fast asleep.
 ''I reckon, gemmen, oz how yeh'd bettah be gittin' up. It's nigh onto bout half past three," called up the old man.
 Howard and were out of the loft at once, though 1t seemed to me that had not been asleep ten minutes. We found the soles of our boots fastened on and our clothes comfortable and dry. We dressed, and when told the old ward them, both declared that they were ready to do "ten times noah foh de Yankees" if they could
 AhS OAu NOIlau SdNt us u DuSkpC con- taining cooked food, and then offered up fervent prayer for our dcliverance: and when we were ready to go the old man volunteered to guide us "twile bout daylight"
 The rest and food and our implicit confidence in our guide made us feel like new men, and as we started of again we felt that we could march with out fatigue for a month-that is, if our course lay in the direction of liberty and Gods land"
 The necessity for ''skrimagin" must have developed our guides walking powers, for he led us on at a pace that was surprising in man of his years.
 Just as the day was breaking he knocked at the door of log-cabin on the edge of dense wood, and in re- sponse to a ''who's dar?" in woman's voice from within, he replied:
 Uncle Jake, an he hcz two Yanks wid him."
 Good Lori" from within.
 "Yes, an wants Tom to keep 'em all day, an see 'em on tonight"
 Tom aint har."
 "Whar's heP"
 "He's done gone off skrimagin."
 ''Wa'al, Liz, can't you hide 'em till dark an give 'em place to sleep, foh