Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-03

| trapped deZe hcah black rab6its.
with thi: she lifted into view four little black
| children. starting them up the steps before her,
| while she followed, actually groaaling aloud.
"Why'nt yer talk, chilen?" she continued,
advancing to the group, still keeping the chill
dren ahead Of her. "Why'n't yer az me is see
'issef doubie2" And throwing herself into .
chair Aunt Delphi fell to actual weeping
| The little girls absurdiy alike even ~ to size,
| though their ages we're about four and Ave
years respectively, stood in a row, each sucking
her thumb, and in no wise embarrassed by the
presence OF strangers; and vet IN a moment one
| Of them began slowly to back from the COM
pany. when they all followed, until, touching
the wall, they sat down in q row.
| Are these Washs children?' asks her mis-
| tress, Is soon as she can command her voice.
"Yas, Lord" she means. swaying her body
| to and fro.
"And SO be brought them all Where is her
When did they Gomez
''Hol on mistus," she exclaims, waving her
hand to command silence. "Hor on an femme
| start straight. In de searchin' hour O. mid
| night las night, when ev'y homes pusson was
buried in Christian sleep, deah come 'a-rap-s-
| tap-tapfon my kyabin do. des easy LAX an sof ,
| lax some'h'n' sperityal; an I retched up an
stricken a match, an open de do an listen, an
l amt heerd no SCUM, but 'cep' one O. deze
heah oDsleepless morkin' birds chantin' out
| secon hand music, an commenced ter won
der Is q pecker- wood done riz me out'n my
bald ter listen to free music: an all de time my
/ eyes was turned high, an / nuver spicioned
| nothin tell right onder my foots deze heah To-
pintedly matched babies come a-walkin' in,
| ds'."
But where did they come from? Did Wash
bring them?"
What ails you, chillen, dat you don't heah
me what say. don't know no mon dey say,
an dey amt showed speech w.t."
And you haven't seen Wash?''
| Amt talkin' straight. baby? say amt
seed nothln, neither heerd nothin'. Tell de
trufe, 'cep'n fur de con brade dey done ct, I'd
look fur dem babies ter vanige ort'n my sight
des lax dey come. Co'se ] done set 'em down
ter Wash, bein' as he done 'nounced 'isse'f in
de twins trade. But eh Lord. What gwine
90 rid emp An, de las one o 'em cryin' sizesw
| The ladies call the children to them, and bv
| dlnt OF coaxing learn that they "comed wild
daddy-to find NANNY" and that they an
swered to the endearing names Of Shug Pud,
Hun and Babe. The conventional list of names
had apparently not been taxed for their desig
! nation.
1t is evidently deeply laid scheme. wash's
| letter was only ruse to ascertain whether the
| old woman Delphi still lived or not, and he had
cast his children upon her.
Poor old Delphi, chatting under the imposi-
| ton and overcome with the weight of SO heavy
responsibility, sat softly weeping, while the
ladies assured her that she should be relieved.
Wash, the poltroon. had covered his tracks
we'll No one on the place had seen or heard
| him and the wheels whose track approached
| the fence near Delphi's cabin soon returned to
the old rits and left no trace of their course.
| Delphis cabin was the same in which Wash
| had lived as a child. This fact Mrs Stanley
had unwlttngly betrayed in her letter, in which
| she pleaded its single room added excuse for
| her not taking more than one child
| During the two weeks following this letters
of inquiry concerning his lordship. the deect-
able sire George Washington Brown, were sent
| to leading persons in the town from whence his
| letter had been posted, but though several citi-
Gems Of color bore this identical distinguished
| if not distinguishing name, no trace of the
| father of the twins was found.
| party OF negroes en- route for Kansas had
| recently passed within five miles Of Honevfied
plantation. Presumably Wash had been Of this
| number. Starting out to begin life afresh he
| had no doubt made good his proposal to his
stepmother to let by-gones be by-gones
| month passed and no news had come of the
recreant father neither had the sensation
caused by Aunt Delphi's sudden acquisition Of
family begun to abate. The children, through
| whom she had been an object of interest Gar
and near, and whose presence had brought
generous gifts from all directions to the little
| cabin, were still there awaiting DEVELOPMENTS
! and pending decision as to the best DISPOSE
| ton TO be made Of them.
| Feeling that the matter had better be ar
ranged and the old woman relieved Mrs STAN
ley decided one morning to call at the little
| cabin to talk the matter over She had found
good homes ready to WELCOME two of the chill
dren and would take a third herself until she
could be permanently provided for.
She found Aunt Delphi sitting on the door
step, holding one of the four on either knee.
while the other two sat on the ground at her
| feet. All were munching huge chunks of corn
bread and chattering like magpies At sight of
her mistress the old woman slipped the chill
| dren to the ground and with elaborate apolo-
| via For ha int pf harn -h,ol
deed strewn with trash improvised rag babies
and pallets, she proceeded to wipe off chair
with her apron before presenting it.
'Have you decided which one Of the little
girls you are going to keep Mrs Stanley
asked, after the usual interchange Of ciyilities
The old woman had seated herself opposite
| her mistress and at the question she rolled her
| eyes mysteriously a moment before answering,
Finally she said, II b lieve you's q min reader
mistus, sho does, Gaze you done read out de
subjec' dats been on my min all dav: but yer
ain read 1t straight. ole missile, yer amt -
Turning, she looked fondly upon the children
and chuckied. ''Des look how happy dew is. ~
she said Dey des as happy as a mes O. kittens,
dat dey is! Why, mistus. been overrun wild
cats all my life, des Gaze l couldn't SAY de
drowndin 'ur pizenin' word ter air kitten what
| look ter me in weakness l done let chicken
devourin' rat out'n a trap DIES Gaze ketched a
prayerin is eye. De way cockroach run fur is
life meek me draw back my brogan an let i'm 90.
How is l gwine part wild any O. dem human
| babies?'
what do You mean. Delphi? You surely
| cannot wish to keep four children to bring up
at your time of life. 1t would be absurd.
| "Hor on, mistus, hor on. Don't go so fas,,
| Dem chillen done preached heap O. sermons
ter me, an dey all got de same tex; an dat
| tex hit splains out new set O. argimints ey'y
| time. How yer reckon l feels, mistus, when I
| looks at dem babies an see how p'intedly dew
favors dey grandper? Lookin' at 'em ev'y day
tecks my min way back ter my CO ting DAYS,
| when love SCUM in my ears lax a music chune
picked on a banter. An when looks back on
| my life see how loved de endurin' SCUM so
much amt keer who play de music. So de
| by-gone pictur's come back ter me, one by one;
but de one dat stay wild me is de one wha show
me my fus' husban'. Dan: an see how done
trifed wild i'm, an de quarl we had when
sassed back an 60 one better'n him evy time
| Ccaze we was bofe high temprate) An den I
member de fight he fit wild Album Saunders,
Gaze Albums love chune please my hearin'
Den come back yether pictur'-ole Dan de
way my min zee i'm now, 'cripit an gray
maybe, an lonesome, an failin', an me his
lawful welded wife, an all o deze heah peart
| little gran babies O. his'n right heah-next do
| ter i'm, de way Cord reckon space. OATS do
| way de sermon read, an deze unconscious in
fans dey breaches it at me, unbeknowinst, ter
meek up wild dey grandper an 1 amt gwine
'zist de spirit no mo-. fgwine meek de move
mint ter be cancelled wild Dan; an il he's
sick, gwine nuss i'm; an eff he's cranky an
| fuasy / Qwiue shet m mont po,b;r,.