The record-union., 1899-07-23

| papers. I read some of 'em over, but
didn't do much of it, cause they
made me feel sleepy. They seemed
to be dead things, an when man is
alone in a strange house he don't like
| to think of dead things.
| Il went back an tried to go to
sleep, but the fire died down, so went
out to get some more wood. While
was out I heard a dawg barkin'. II
| wasn't no little cur, fur the barks was
| like the bellerin' of a bull. The sounds
came nearer and nearer. I got scared
so much I couldn't move. knowed by
| that time it was a bloodhound, an ]
thought the brute was after me. Pret-
| ty soon he came right up to the house
an busted into the big room where
| the fire was. 1 could see him easy
through the open door. Then he went
into the room where the walls was
covered with newspapers an began
sniffin' around
| I'm a minute I heard a crashin' in
| the brush an here come niger, with
out any hat. He was a great, big, raw
| boned feller, an he was yellin' at the
| dawg. He went right into the house,
| past the fire, an into the room that
was papered with them clippin's.
heard him mumblin' to hisself, an the
dawg an him set up the goldarnest
howl you ever heard. All this time
was shakin' like had the reg'lar Ten
| nessee aguer
After a while the niger an the
dawg lit out, an I come back with an
| armful of wood. I tried to go to sleep,
M OF OBJ r n ~
didn't sleep long, though, fur I was
| walked up by the sound of talkin' in
that little room without any windows.
| By gosh! You oughter seen the way
1 jumped when l saw there was five
niggers in there. A light was burnin'
| in there, an somehow or other they
had moved table into the room while
l was asleep. I seen they didn't pay
| no attention to me, an I didn't get up
an leave. But I wiggled off into a
corner by the fireplace an looked at
| 'em
First there was an old niger who
| was tryin to teach the others how TO
read. He wasn't so awful old, though
his hair was beginnin' to get gray. He
| spoke about the good things what ed
| dication did fur man an he put UP
an elegant spiel. Made me wish that
I. hadn't been such fool as to throw
away my chances After a while he
points to the clippin's on the wall an
starts the rest to try to spell 'em out
Then I seen what the object was to
have the room papered that way. The
| other niggers goes to work tryin to
| make out the readin' matter, an the
old feller helps EN- out just as kind
as if their heads want as thick as
| pine boards. Then the old niger starts
an reads somethin' from the Bible,
an he done a beautiful job.
''The old niger then tells the rest
| that they are goin' to be free pretty
| soon.
1t won't be long befo' de shackles
| is struck off, he says. De union a mics
is winnin' cherry day. De good Lawd
amt er gwine ter let his chillun be in
| bondage much mo-
Il want to tell you right now, that
| old niger had me buffaloed so ,tiidn'
| know whether / was afoot or horse
| back when he began to talk about
| slavery an that sort of thing. The
cold chills commenced to run up on
an down my back. Then he went on tC
tell 'em that they needed to know how
| to read an write if they was goin to
| be free. That was more than I could
stand. II
You old fool I hollered, get some
late newspapers, an you'll know you're
free already. 1 amt nothin but hobo
| but know that the war is over
| But do you know them damned rig
| n d,,no OF
looked around. Pretty soon the old
niger got down to pray that the Lord
would set the slaves free. While he
was talkin' in a low tone I seen white
man poke his face up to the window
He had rifle in his hand. Then came
another, an another, till there must
have been a dozen of 'em, all with guns
I could see that they was lookin' into
the room where the niggers was. They
couldn't help seein me. but they never
seemed to mind. Well, I want moth
in but a hobo, an didn't cut no figger
''Then the whole gang tiptoed quiet
ly into the big room. They cooked their
| guns, an l could see there was goin
to be trouble. All of a sudden they
made rush an busted into the room
where the old niger was prayin'. All
| the coOnS throwed up their hands an
| got down and begged for mercy. But
| they didn't have no more show than
a rabbit.
''The white feller at the head hollers
out, We'll show you damned niggers
how to read an write. You can read
Yankee newspapers when you get tc
hell
''Then they all starts to shootin' an
killed every one of the niggers. The
noise the guns made was somethin
awful, an the smoke filled the whole
house. 1 was so scared 1 tainted, yes
| tainted
| when I came to myself it was broad
daylight. I looked into the little room
to see if the dead niggers was all there
| The place was empty. The table was
gone The newspaper clippin's was still
on the wall, but that was the only
thing left that reminded me of what
had happened the night before I lit
out as soon as 1 had made little .cof-
fee, an came to the shanty of the mig
ger down the track. He asked me where
I had been. l told him I had slept
at the house on the side of the noun
tain
"'Fo' de Lawd G'awd man. he says
| dat house is ha'nted. Didn't you see
no ghosts last night?'
81 told him what I had seen, an he
| told me the whole story. He said that
while the war was going on the nigsers
used to meet there to be learned read
in an writin' by an old niger. One
night the white folks came and killed
the whole push. This old nigger's wife
had baby shortly after the shootin'
scrape, an when he grew to be man