The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1895-12-19

the deepening dusk. The negro was In
advance Of us. He turned at the colo
nel's remark. and I saw his white
teeth cleaning. .'Ain' no use'n er man
tryin ter hide his mind frum Mars
Lem, he said, jolting himself with q
laugh. "Not er bit er use, Gaze he gwine
read or mans mind like one deze yere
books wild er luther kiver on it.
$50 ON, you scoundrel!' the colonel
replied.
/ "Yas, sab; dat's whut TIE doin.
Anything been going ON since I
left?'
"No, sab; not much. Sam Purdy an
/ Jim Bates got inter er squabble. an Sam
stabbed him. an de doctor say he ain
gwine lib. -
s'That so?''
"Yas, sab, an Miles Parker wuz flung
be or colt day befo' yistidy, an da say
| dat one o. his laigs got ter come off. I"
"You don't tell mef"
| "Yas, sab, an ole Miss Nancy Lee
trod ON or round stick an fell an broke
her hip, an da low she amt gwine git
well, Gaze she so old. I"
! "What!'
"Yas, sab. an Cap'n Bowles >sont
word ter Mr.. Hicks dat he wuz or bar
face liar, an erbout shutdown seed Mr..
Hicks ridin toward de cap'n's house, an
dar's no tellin whut has happened by
dis time"
"Well, you've all had fine time
since l left Hop up there now and
drive us home. !"
The next day was the day before
Christmas, and how dreamily delight
full did find this old place. I fancied
that in every corner romance was hid
! ing. The loud creak Of the old windlass
at the we'll was cry from the past
There had been killing frosts, but now
| the air was softened with Indian sum-
mer's hazy breath. At early morning
| the colonel took me to see his mint bed.
The carriage driver lowered near us,
grim, sly, half laughing. ''Look like
somebody dun spit tobacker juice on dat
glass, !" he said, and the old colonel
/ turned upon him. "If you don't go on
away and attend to your own affairs,
I'll take stick to you. But wait
minute. You tell the niggers that I'm
| going to give them an old fashioned
| Christmas. Tell them-men, women
and children-to be in front Of the big
house early in the morning. Do you
! hear:"
docs yere?' cried the old negro.
| bowling almost to the ground "Does
yere? Did Moses yere it thunder when
he went up inter de mountains, sab?
| Did Aaron yere de bells dat wuz tied ter
his garments? reckon does yere, AN
thanks de Lawd.
Early the next morning. before the
| winter birds began to twitter, I heard
the negroes assembling in front of the
house. The invitations had not been
| confined to the tenants on the colonel's
place, but had included those who lived
on some of the adjoining farms.
The colonel was early astir. He
brought julep to my room, and hand
| ing it to me remarked: "Under amber
glass. Don't let that point get away
from you. Listen at 'em down there.
| Happiest people on the face of the earth
the only real philosophers. Do you
know what I've got for them: Molasses
candy for the children and eggnog for
the men and women. You know that
| negro has always thought that to have
enough eggnog is to catch glimpse
of heaven. We got up before day and
made wash kettle full of it. Drink
that. Amber glass. I'm afraid that you
are about to let that point get away
| from you.
/ assured him that was not. I told
| him that it was really better than the
mint that grew along the branch, and
this pleased him. tAh.'' said he, 81
see that you have not lived too long in
the north. Well, let us go down and
open up
What day that was! With yoke Of
( steers the negroes drew an enormous
hickory log into the yard, bored anger
holes into it, loaded the holes with
gunpowder and Jared the neighborhood.
They ran foot races; they danced and
sang strange songs. At noon they were
Toasted and at evening they took their
departure, some Of them wabbling as
they walked.
! And now I have come to mystical
| L
lieyed in the mysterious, have mildly
hooted at it-practical owl, striving to
deal alone with plain realities-but I
am impelled, even at the risk of being
charged with untruth, to tell of some
thing that occurred during the night
that followed our noisy merrymaking.
Until late the colonel and I sat in the
/ narlOr a room which once had heen
richly adorned, but which was now
dingy with faded fnery. admit that
we had talked great deal about the
amber glass. I confess that the old man,
as he sat in arocking chair opposite me,
became shadowy and uncertain. ac-
knowledge that lay down upon an old
horsehair sofa. had nothing to say,
but the colonel continued to talk. He
told me that the north, with all it's
wonderful resources, could not set up
that was his term-could not set up
such Christmas as the one we had just
seen. OF course mint could be raised
there under amber glass, eggnog could
be made there, and hickory logs could
be blown asunder with gunpowder, but
no such spirit Of the past could be in
voked. l didn't argue with him. I
couldn't.
! It must have been about midnight
when the old fellow, getting up and
feeling about for something which he
! did not find, turned to me and said:
"I'm going into the other room and lie
down. An idea for the betterment of
i L. \