The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-02-02
CHAPTER I.
rnrLANerAeE OF rnE ANIMALs.

Sweetest Susan, and Drusilla, their
negro nurse, found their way into Mr..
Thjmblefinger's queer country has been
set forth. and many of the tales they
heard there have been told. All OF
this matter has been put into book,
where the curious may now find It,
This being so, it is not necessary TO
90 over it again. Imitation is BAD
enough. but repetition is worse. 1t is
enough to say, therefore, that these
children whose names have been men
toned live on large plantation IN
middle Georgia, in that part of the
country where cotton grows, where the
mocking birds sing in orchards, and
where the roses bloom in the open ar
from April to November.
There is nothing tropical or even
semi-tropical in middle Georgla' ne
trees and shrubs and all OF the via
flowers are the same as those tha1
grow in New England. The summers
are not so hot nor the winters SO long
and cold in middle Georgia as they
are further to the north; but warm
weather lasts longer, and that is the
reason that cotton and sugar cane ana
watermelons can be raised IN middle
Georgia in the open air.
The plantation on which the chll-
dren lived was just like all the other
plantations round about, but the
Youngsters had already found out
that it was entirely different from the
rest in some respects. So far as they
knew, and they had made careful m
ouiries. there was no Mr.. Thimble-
finger on any of the neighboring plan
tations, and there was no road leading
from any other plantation TO Mr..
Thimblefnger's queer country.
On SUNDAYS when there was big
meeting going on at Mt. Zion church,
and the congregation carried dinner
in hamper baskets, Buster John and
Sweetest Susan and Drusilla ttheir
negro nurse and playmate) took pans
TO inquire among the children they
met there if any of them had ever
seen Mr. Thimblefinger. The reply
was that they had not only never seen
him, but had never even heard of him
before. This made Buster John feel
more important than ever, While
Sweetest Susan said she was surprised
and sorry that the other children
should have failed to see Mr.. Thimble-
finger. and they so near his queer coun-
try. too. As for Drusilla, she declared
that it made no difference, anyhow,
ssKase eff dey wuz ter see i'm wild der
naked eyes dey wouldn't b'iieye dey
seed i'm But the neighbor children
said nothing; they simply stared at
one another and concluded that Bus
ter John and Sweetest Susan and
DrnsiIla were trying to make fun of
them.
If the neighbor children had been
wise they would have asked some ques-
tions about Mr.. Thimblefnger, and
then they would have found out that
the Abercrombie place, as it was called,
was different from all the other plan
tations they had ever heard of, being
the scene of some of Mr.. Thimblefin-
gers performances, and containing
within its boundaries the gateway to
Mr.. Thimblefnger's queer country,
which lies next door to the world.
Those who have taken the trouble to
read the book in which the stories
told by Mr.. ThimbIefinger and his
friends are partly set forth, viii re-
member that when Buster John,
Sweetest Susan, and Drusilla were on
the point Of returning home, they were
dShEd IL Ailtf hit0 a man Daihf@i
Aaron. To which Buster John replied
that lie ought to know Aaron, since
he was foreman of his field hands.
Whereupon Buster John was told that
Aaron was the son of Ben Ali, and
knew the language of animals. IF you
want to learn this language" said Mr..
Rabbit, "go to Aaron, son of Ben Ali,
take him by his left hand, bend the
thumb back, and with your right fore
finger make cross mark on IT, Should
Aaron pay no attention to it, repeat
the sign. The third time he will know
it,
But the minds of the children were
so busy thinking of what they had
seen and heard that they forgot all
about the matter. Once he had been
told, Aaron happened to be i'll in bed.
Another time, when the children de-
terlnined to find out something about
the language Of the animals they
found that Aaron was away from
home. lie had gone with the wagons
TO Augusta, 100 miles away, TO sell the
years crop of cotton. Thus, IN one
way and another, Buster John, Sweet
est Susan, and Drusilla were many
long months older when they sought
and found Aaron in his cabin than
they were when they made their last
visit TO Mr.. Thimblefinger's queer
country.
Now Aaron was the most remarka-
BILE slave in all the country round, not
because he was tall and finely formed,
nor because he carried himself as
proudly as military officer, but be-
cause he had well-shaped head, a
sharp black eye, thin lips, and a nose
prominent, but not fat. Another re-
markable feature was his hair, which,
instead of being coarse and kinl<y, was
fine, thick, wavy, glossy, and as black
as jet.
The negroes on the place seemed TO
he very much afraid of him.This would
not have been strange If Aaron had
been an old man; negroes always stand
in awe of those who are very old; but
he was not above forty, and seemed
TO be even younger. There were
many stories current about Aaron.
which the negroes told to each other