Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1891-07-12

spring mouse.
was a small boy, for it was way back In
the 4O's-and we were called 'little boys
then, not "kids" But even little boys
then were spoken of by the colored people
as "young marster," or "Marse Willie"
''Marse Tommie," "Marse Jimmie" and |
the like. 1t seemed very natural, too, to
be thus addressed by them. We had been
raised" that way, and, although we
"rastled" and raced, fought and frater-
nized with the young darkies of our own
age. all of us white youngsters were
called "Marse" and Miss" by them, as
by well as those who were OLD enough 10
be our grandparents.
Near by the spring | had an old bucket
| filled with water and sitting IN the sun
| in the water, were some horse hairs when
| | watched hopefully, to see them turn 10
snakes, for | had been told that they
| would be thus metamorphosed In Time
| The exact time had not been given, ana IL
NAV be that sufficient time has not elapsed
| vet hut | was exceedingly certain that
saw some of those horse hairs wriggle as
if they were turning to snakes by slow de-
grees. ,,.,.,
startled TO hear Aunt Juleys sudden call !:
| Awe Marse Jeems, Run heah honey!
ran to her. She had stopped scrub
bling and was hunting for the pocket IN
her dress with such energy, earnestness
and apparent fright that ! was not sure
but that a snake had climbed up one OF
her limbs and was biting her. When she
found the pocket, however, and drew fOrth
a stocking considerably charged with
coin, felt relieved.
"Marse Jeems, Use got fo'teen fo'pences,
leben ten -censes, some SIX or elght quart
ers, fl fo'bitses, one shillln ana cut
ni'pence" How much money Is | got
| That was too much money for me 10
count. all in my head, so we took the
dashboard and laid IL across the tuO Ior
a bank counter and | produced pencil,
made of piece Of drawn out lead; theh'
after the money had been laid In separate
niles of respective denominations, the
sum was counted between us and added
up on new shingle. Thus, we arrived
lat the conclusion, after much labor that
Amt Julie was possessed of the immense
sum of six dollars and thirty cents over
and above the shilling and the cut-nlne-
pence, the exact value OF when COINS we
NV uncle. Jack Shelby, the banker In the
village thai stood on hill three miles
away. We could see the tin-clad steeple'
I of the little town cleaning in the sun, anC
4 | [ knew that Uncle Jack, with his worlC
of information, was not far from one par
| tlculafly slenutI SueplVi, 'n"V, VI
J Presbyterian church, easily distinguish
4 able from the others. But to go to hin
? then was impossible. Distances IL
4 the DAYS of childhood arr
much greater than in manhood
a especially after a man has been lou
5 years soldier Of a champian marchinni
o regiment, and has explored the eal Tn II
h many added years. Frequently after
. was grown thought nothing OF gallopin
q over to HaZeltOn after supper, to sit 10
O hours on the front porch, with the sweet
e heart who sits by me now as | write
thousands of miles away from Hazelton
d and whose hair is as white now as Tn
t. china-aster bloom was then.
r knew that couldn't go to see Une
Jack then, but felt very certain that
e would come to see us that evening, an
ID that he and father would talk politics q
" the verandah at our house, aud QUAR-
eI about Wings and Democrats. My faith
nd was Wing, and my mothers BROTH
q was an awful Democrat. When moth
I'd timidy took sides with father in polite
<c Uncle Jack would get meaner than eve
Az and say that mother was Democrat TO
that she was born and raised that wa
IL and would be yet were IL not Tor the Inn
ne ence OF William-meaning my fath'
d. At such times | would inwardly resolve
lick my uncle when | got big enough, ev
II he was banker. But when | contel
plated extracting from my uncle III
night the important information at TO
TT value OF a shilling aud a cut ninepence
intended to conceal, more closely tn
ever. way down in my heart, my int
ent tion to lick Uncle Jack at some ind'
'ay nitely remote period, for saying that
H. mother was clandestinely Democrat.
10Y 1t may be out of the way to ment
the lust here that a cut-ninepence was v
ing rare, even then, and was nothing m
onr nor less-as far as possible than Me
1. nj
hon making N-shaped coin worth TIVE
SER. and one-half cents, which in those d
s a was ninepence.
In | communicated to Aunt July my
AN. tentions regarding the important quest
,rit under consideration, and after some h
owe tatiOn she consented to have me make
van effort, but gave me much advice
q is council as TO the manner in which |
safd | To procped. Diplomacy and hnesse v
,ilv involved, for the was exceedingly so
fol- tous that no one beside myself she
know OF her treasure. She was mi
but II ever human boarded mo
mar for a righteous purpose, that poor
black mother did. She had a
four years old, who by my grandfath
will was to go, when he became ten "
of age, to my grandfather's yOun
daughter, my Aunt Bessie, who i
away down in Alabama at Mobile. @
gill, From Kentucky to the cotton sta
-gh; was down the rivah, b" TO the cOlored
Ia pie, aud they had dreadful ideas OF ID
SEQ; the rivah" They possessed among q
nan, terrible traditions Of slave-drivers, az
yene work "'mOng de cotton an cane,
Ugh they had heard OF the alligators that
len; dotted on small picaninnies for breaki
and even bigger niggahs Tor sup
which was heartier meal. They
also heard that women, children and
worked In the braZen fields in drOves,
81 In that the only feeding they got
uihR "greasing their thrOats.' The me
operandi they had been taught, was
tlp slaves we're ranked in rows and
the .yersccr went along with piece
IA 1ltun fastened to a string, and
ara he would cause a slave to swallow
bacon and would Immediately pull II
with the string and pass il TO the n
who was treated in like manner, q
all the threats we're CREASED. This, ma
ally enough, they considered quite an
satisfactory sort of rejection, and for
and other reasons of like nature
darkies dreaded, down the rivah'
would have willingly submitted to
other punishment they could poss
think Of.
Aunt juicy not only dreaded all
for her little picaninny, but the moth
heart In her yearned to keep her wO
black lamb by her to comfort her old
and she had undertaken the hercu
task OF accommodating, in the next
years, the hundreds of dollars that W,
BE- required TO purchase her own cl
when that dreadful day should come.
'ru So she saved soap-fat continually,
had an ash hopper with a wooden sus
trough under It, and through the ashe
Va and