The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-03-04
Pnetica1.
THE TRIBUTE OF SILENCE.
miseellal1eut1s.

/ Along the shore by which the ocean rolls.
j. Buckham.
miscellaneous.
BRER CLATER'S BERRYIN,.
Philadelphia Times.
"An you gwine femme hab de fus'
Sunday in make mont off SOS | kin
berry me husban'?''
The tone in which these words were
uttered was half interrogatory, half
decisive. They were addressed to
Mrs. Carter Wexford by Calline Clater,
a buXom colored woman of % or more,
and ended the long list of conditions
which must be subscribed to ere re-
luctant consent ''to put in to cook by
the mont could be extorted
Bury your husband p Mrs. Well
ford calculated. "And how long has
he been dead, may I ask 20
"Oh," replied Calline, elongating
her round face into becoming gravity,
The bin dade six mont or SIGH a mat
ter; but l amt gwine feel saterfied
he's berried like he oughter be berried
till de funal bin preached.
will you be gone all day?' Mrs.
Wexford ventured to inquire
''Gone all dayY' Calline repeated,
course l will. We gwine clar down
to Mount Zion Church, whar Brer Isle
Hughes holes meetin'. | knows she
continued, her heightened face broad
ening into a sudden smile, "Clater
gwine had pretty funal, eff Brer Isle
preach de sarmont, Gaze he given over
to be de hes preacher in de conference ;
an he put up de feelin-heartedes pra' S
in time O. DISTRACTED meetin' O. air pus-
son in de house. De zidon elder say
hisse'f he can't beat Brer Isle pray
in when he git in de notion
us you gwine stay?' the young girl in
the kitchen inquired of Calline, as the
latter deposited her bag with a flour
ish on the table.
"Oh, yes" replied Calline conde-
scendingly, binding a blue check
apron about her waist as she spoke.
miss Wellingford bars a mighty
good name 'mongst de colored people
l gwine try her for a mont, en- if her
ways suits me maybe [ mOught stay
de balance O. de year"
There was noticeable failure in the
egg crop after Calline's installment in
hens cackled with all their wonted
sspringtime regularity, but it was
much ado about nothing as Mrs.
Wexford discovered when she went
upon her accustomed rounds to the
nests. Anotherinnovationw which dat
ed from her arrival was the constant
visits of Brer Isle Hughes to the farm,
who had doubtless many preliminary
arrangements to make with the widow
in view of the approaching funeral.
Brer Isle was a tall, lOpSided, what
| the Virginia darkies denominate rus
ty-lookin' niger. Education, how
ever, will reconcile the negro mind to
much in the way of physical deficien-
cies, and everybody "'Iowed dat Brer
Isle could line out de hymns and call
de words out'n de Scripture DIES as
nachel as folks talkin'."
Mrs. Wexford, surprising the couple
| in the kitchen one evening, thought
she detected a dash of coquetry in an
intercepted glance from the very tail
of Calline's eye towards Brer Isle sit
| ting at the corner of the table where
she kneaded her Eight dough- but
this might have been only fancy.
| There was the assured air, too, she
| thought, of one aware of her power in
| her manner of handing him the empty
| bucket to be replenished at the spring
a furlong off, and situated at the foot
of the rocky declivity upon which the
| kitchen stood.
Brer Isles situation, however, was
| not without its reconciling features.
| The fried chickens at dinner during
the interval between Calline's advent
and the solemnization of the funeral
| - L. ln&1 1
| than a single limb apiece, and were
| always minus ivers and gizZards,
| while a savOry odor, rising after tea
like an incense from her cabin, left no
| doubt in Mrs. Wellford's mind as to
the disposition made of these delica-
| cies.
| Then the cabin itself, under her
Transforming touch, had become a
most attractive spot. Highly -colored
prints adorned the white-washed
walls; a snowy bed, as smooth as
| pin-cushion, occupied one corner,
while easy, split bottomed chairs were
| grouped about the broad stone fire
| place, upon which fire blazed and
cracked cheerily, its ruddy glow
stretching far out into the night
| through the red-curtained window,
and dividing the darkness from the
darkness like a. wall of light,
miss Welford,n Calline said one
morning, pausing just outside of the
pantry door and supporting the heavy
tray of flour upon one hip, II lay off
| to make me cakes for de fun'al dis
evenin' aft l gifts meh dinner dishes
clared up, an l wants to asst you eff
you won't give me little resistance
about mixin' 'em up. l done took no.
tice,h she went on, dat colored folks
gets orn mighty well about cooking
twell hit come to maxim cake, den de
white folks halter hab a ham in it :;
don't it gwine hab a niger taste sho
| An POI white folks decisely the same
way. don't know why It's dey amt
| got a good tase about EN-, but dey
cakes don't never tase like nothin'.
An hit cert'ny would go hard wild me
eff Clater's fun al cakes didn't turn out
right, kase look like dis de onlies Ca
sion got to inspect his 'membrance."
There was certainly nothing sugges-
tive of the melancholy occasion refer
red to in the flood of melody which
| burst from the kitchen that afternoon
as Mrs. Wexford, armed with receipt
book, opened the door, or in the bril-
| liant smile with which the widow.
glancing from the delicate operation
of ''vidin' de whites from the yelks,''
greeted her entrance.
Seem like" Calline said, breaking
a silence which followed the reading
of the receipt, 'Clater oughter hab a
nice fun al eff anybody ought, case he
never did had his health good like teh
folks. You see," she continued, ac-
companying her narrative with the
music of the egg beater as it appeared
and disappeared in the foaming mass
of whites, ''his people was all 'fiicted
wild de scorferlo, an he taken cole git
tin over het one time whites dey wus
cu'rn t'backer, an hit p'duced hit out
orn i'm. He was savin' up his corfn
money long time fo' he ceasted.
Dat de reason" she said, scraping
the whites, now of the color and CON
sistency OF the new fallen snow, into
the pan OF yolks ready for their recep-
ton, II don't want to hab no half way
fun'al. | coulder bin had de sarmont
| preached long time aOo hut sickness