The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-17

afternoon. I. Jane westmoreland. aseo years. sat alone upon the broad ve' raSlda of my grandmother's plantation house. I was homesick and lonely There was not white child In Anve miles of me.
 Every summer I came to spend 2
 month with my grandmother; and a, the time of which I am going to speak the month wanted but a few days of being ended
 Many things were done for my pleas ure pony with bridle and saddle and a groom to lead it. were subject to m, orders. Ned. who had so chcerfuily and so often walked before my pony, was a jet-black. white-eyed. moon faced fellow. about 14 years of age. ex- pert at throwing stones. and killing time.
 Another member of the household brigade of blacks. whose services con tributed to my pleasure. was girl about the age, but no kin. to Ned. equally as black and far more pacific in her nature. The two often, went with basket in hand to walk behind me. among the vines and fig trees and orchards. to bring in the fruit for the day.
 II was not allowed to make com panfon of Lettie. but in many ways she was very valuable to me. She brought her pallet into my room every night. and slept upon the floor by the side of my bed. The lonely room. away up- stairs. was far too distant from my Erandmother's below staifss to admit of my going alone to sleep. and Lettie was my faithful attendant at such times.
 On leaving home, at the time of the yearly visits, there was always strong and positive admonition from my mother not to seek the companion shin of the negroes. hut to stay near my grandmother: or, if she slept in the day as her custom was. to go to the library and find a book.
 Alas! for the dearth of children's g books. in those days. 'Pilgrim's Progress. Children of the Abbey" .C,larissa Harlowe," were what found, when I searched among the collection of books which my grandfather had made years before. The library was not always where might have been found. when my grandmother slept
 This particular August afternoon sat upon the veranda in despair Of loneliness.
 A long line of oaks. aged and wide spread, marked the carriageway to the public road. lying half mile or more beyond the house. The cotton helds stretched toward the river. where many bands were making their first nickinss of the season. A blue smoky 1ina far beyond the river, showed the heginning of some neighbor's posses sion.
 Such stiffness everywhere. and un- bearable heat. Suddenly. across the lawn. I espfeH g group or negro wo- men, numbering ten or twelve. HakIns what they called nigh cut rom the fields to the quarters.
 They were taking their usual course to nurse their babies. .
 As the women drew near to me. reconeized Penny, a good humoreo girl. the sister of a maid in the mousse among the mothers. I called out 10 her a cheery greeting, and added, have heard of your new baby. ana l am going right now to see It.
 knew that at the particular mo- nent. could venture to do as pleas cd. My grandmother was asleep; Ciar- isse. the house keeper. second in an- fhoritv to her mistress, and who might have restrained me, had gone to her own cabin; and if others. responsible for my protection, had thought of me at all, they would have concluoed that was in the library where some times sat-.
 Nv fate cried out that afternoon. and had gone forfth to meet 1t, none interfering.
 A hundred cabins. scattered over half as many acres, upon an eminence similar to that upon which was situ- ated the White House" as the negroes called the masters dwelling, constt- tuted the quarters. Around each cabin was space for garden, and plenty or shade trees. everywhere. Big gnarled mulberry trees mock oranges, cedars, intermixed with the abundant foliage of the wide Iimbed oaks, gave pleas- ant cooIness to the hot days
 When the women whom I had fol- lowed, reached the enclosure of the quarters, they directed their steps to- wards the central cabin. larger than the rest, we'll shaded with huge trees. whither they had carried their chil- dren in the early morning.
 This assemblage of babies was in charge of trustworthy woman. whose only business with several half grown girls to help her. was to secure the health and comfort of these chill dren.
 Penny singled out her baby from a group of cradles under the trees, and unlike the other women, who upturn- cd the wooden berths and sat upon them, while they took the babies in their laps. she continued her way to the outside limit of the premises where was a cabin a little more neg lected than the rest, with wilder growth about 1t, half hidden in weeds and briars.
 had been \very careful to keep close to Penny's heels in fear of get ting sight of what Lettie had assured me was the "skeeriest thing on earth" in the shape of an idiotic negro man. who defied all restraint. and roved at will half-naked or wholly so, and making a believing sound as he went along. He was considered perfectly harmless, although his strength was lionlike.
 ",Red Toby" as his name was, from the color of his hair burnt from ex- posture to the sun, had been a bugbeaT to children long before my day. to frighten them away from the quar- ters. He was forty years old
 But this time he was wading In the swamps for whortleberries about the bluff springs, at the foot of the hills, and I was spared the sigEt of him foT that afternoon.
 I had sense of relief when Penny pressed away the bushes and tangled vines to reach the door of old Rhody's cabin. To me old Rhody was a grea' mystery. How anybody could sit in g chair fin one place year after yeal carding and cardlng cotton from till night, was a demonstra- ton beyond my comprehension.
 had visited the cabin, on another occasion with my grandmother. who very often made the circuit of the quarters in her carriage; stopping among the children. the aged. the sick, and the house-ridden, of which latter there were several besides