The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-14
IN BLACK and WHITE.
Jennings Barbour Perry.

at any time, but when washing dishes
she was at her best. As she stood at
the sink in her dark-blue cotton apron,
b clouds of steam circling around her
she might have been an African prin-
cess engaged in mysterious rites. Her
hair, its fatal kink loosened by the
steam, lay in soft damp rings on her
head; her black features were outlined
against the frosty window with a fine
cameO-like effect.
~Dish-washing was the one house
wifely art I had beer able to teach
Josephine successfully. Even Aunt
Tilda was obliged to acknowledge her
faultless in it. With the water scald-
ing hot and covered with a soft white
suds, she deity twirled each dish at
Che end of a long mop and lifted it
eteaming n shining without so much
as the tips Of her slender fingers hav-
ing touched the hot water. 1 knew
that it was dangerous to interrupt her,
but the temptation was Irresistible. I
had been keeping house only five
months. ! had not learned that it was
far more important that the house.
work should be done in an orderly
fashion than that I should be enter
tanned by Josephine's remarks.
Besides there was the ever present
sense that Aunt Tilda might at any
moment open the door and find me
hobnobbing with my dusky maid, and,
like any child, / was possessed with
a desire to do the thing 1 knew she
would disapprove of. SO, as l sat at
the table stoning ~raisins, I began.
Josephine, how many brothers and
sisters have yOu?"
Josephine, in the act of dipping hot
water from the boiler, stopped with her
dipper suspended over the edge. Lem
me ee''-said she Observation-Disclosures
Sam, he's dead, and there's Inez, she's
a-living; and there's Dell, she's a-liv-
ing; and there's Jo, my twin, he's
dead: and there's me, I'm a-living; and
there's Moses, he's a-living."
How many are there, then, Joseph
ine?"
That's all; just what I told you,"
she replied briefly.
Never could Josephine be made to
admit that she could not count. Each
day for the last year she nae been
sent to the public school. But as yet
she had brought away only scraps of
knowledge. Although IL years old,
she had been placed in the primary
room and there she seemed likely to
remain until Providence should termi-
nate her academic career.
l was thinking of this and of the
probability that she wOuIu be late to
school" if I interrupted her again,
when suddenly she broke out in a
shrill yell of delight. She lifted the
wet mop and cleared a larger place on
the frosty window pane. oh, Miss
Annie, there's Miss Tilda ~a-chasing
that ar big long-legged rooster. Hi
vi! There he goes!" she exclaimed,
fairly jumping up and down with ex-
element.
Josephine, you will certainly be late
to school if you stop any longer" I
retired hastily to the pantry with my
bowl of raisins. There 1 was at least
able to conceal my interest in the chase
though l could not shut out certain
snorts and EXPLANATIONS from Joseph
inc, who continued her watch at the
window.
Suddenly she appeared at the a
try doc "Golly, she's got him!"
"Josephine!"
"'Scuse me, Miss Annie, I forgot
but Amt that just like herr" she aid
IN q tone Of fatality, retiring to her
dish-washing.
1t was, indeed, lust like her" Aunt
Tilda was Johns aunt. I loved John
30 we'll that I had though nothing Of
IA Wy " wy AoA ~
very ordinary one in a country town,
because John refused to be in any way
dependent on his father-in-law. But
Johns aunt was not John.
John had said to me, II am sorry,
Annie, but Aunt Tilda must make her
home with US for a while. 1 cannot
afford to set her up in housekeeping by
herself, and I don want her to go on
teaching schol any longer" For Johns
sake / would have lived with Kan
tippe. So I acquiesced in the arrange
ment that made Aunt Tilda a member
OF our hOu- ehOld.
Peeping through the blinds, 1 could
see her now as she made her way from
the henhouse. Her long, scant skirts,
twisted about by the wind, emphasize
ed her peculiar walk, which Josephine
had once aptly and irreverently
characterized as "nippy-tippy." Aunt
was tall and spare, with arms and legs
very long in proportion to her body.
AS she habitually carried her hands
clasped one over the other just above
the waist line and her elbows close at
her sides, she vas obliged to raise
the shoulders to make room for the
extra length of upper arm. This COM
bined with a natural inclination to
stoop gave her something of a Uriah
Heep attitude. which was, however,
counteracted by her thin. keen face.
"UeTe conscious TeCllluUe OF purpose
mingled with a look of critical acumen.
Even now, as she battled with the un-
seemly wind. her face retained it's look
OF unimpeachable serenity. Yet there
was an indescribable something in her
air which warned me that trouble was
brewing for somebody.
I began hastily sitting flour, deter
mined to meet the storm we'll fortified
by a previous occupation. The kit
chen door opened and shut with a
click. ANIMAL" The voice was heavy
and ~reproachful. II should like to see
you when you are at liberty"
Yes, Aunt Tilda, as soon as I finish
this cake" I replied briskly, though
my spirit was anything but brisk. Too