The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-04-21
'MAUMA SANGUA
PRINCESS CHILD.

E Is u !. !
INTERESTING STORY OF AN OLD
SOUTH CAROLINA NEGREss.
The wife Of Governor Pickens' Coach
man who HAS Reached the Great Age
Of 100 Years-Ider- Career Has Been
one Of steadfast Activity and Indus
try.
Charleston Is. c. News and Courier.
The most unique character among the
negroes Of Edgefeld county is old San
qua Henderson, properly known as
q Mauma.' Years may come and years
may go, but the tall gaunt form Of the
old woman may be seen striding over
the cotton fields or looming up IN some
wooded path on her Journey to h ana
ket or bundle Is on her head and carried
with unconscious ease while she swings
her long bony arms or places her talon
like hands akimbo on her hips: Her
career has been one Of steadfast actlv-
ity and industry. Many are the COM
forts she has around her which have
been earned by the sweat OF her brow.
and when visiting wears purple calico
frock and bandana handkerchief OF
such lofty proportions that she resem-
bles q walking church steeple. One
hundred and five years will make q
mummy Of the human face, whether it
has been handled in death by the an
Gent Egyptian method or In life by the
- n q q
visage is verifcation Of the fact. The
black chin is crumpled and drawn into
thousands of criss-cross lines, the jaws
| are sunken, the toothless mouth caves
! in, her black bright eyes alone seem to
have been left by the disintegrating I'm
ger of time, for they shine and twinkle
with supernatural luster as if they knew
George Washington down to the heller
Mauma still drops sskerchy' with
the same old-time dip that she dropped
it 9 century ago: She clings with ten
der Pertinacity to the low-cqpntry lin
60 Of her youthful days. Her great
grandchildren, graduates Of the village
able to comprehend her dialect, so that
Of eighty summers, has to be called
forth to serve as interpreter.
"My Ed lard" is white headed now
and toddles with a stick, but his, his flial
doubt, is owing to the 'Fold-time'
manner in which he was thoroly dis
ciplined. .y
At sundry times since freedom
Mauma has experimented in the deli
cate details Of domestic science in the
to an extreme sensitiveness Of nature,
and pride inherent from her long de-
scent, has never tarried long. It is not
uncommon in the best regulated fami-
lies for the mistress of the mansion to
tremblingly ask her domestic to be, SO
kind as to look around for silver
spoon or a pair Of scissors that is miss
ing. The .mistresses who have unsus-
piciously made the appeal to Mauma
soon found that they had lighted a
fuse that meant explosion, for soon a
general crashing would be heard in the
lower regions and Mauma, drawn up
to such 9 height of dignity that her
air, exhibiting pair Of hickory stick
shanks below, would stand in the cen
ter Of the house and, in a voice quiv-
ering with righteous wrath, call on the
Almighty to witness her honesty: -
"Tank God, me hands clean, y she
Pickens family fifty years and none Oh
DO, rs ole, my massa done dead! Desc
hans, waving them over her head,
els all de cha-rick-ta rs got to mex
a, hbbinl I nebba stay nowhar if peo-
The entire family would humble
themselves by. asking pardon and as
surfing. Mauma that no reflection was
cast on her honesty, and that her char
acter had long been regarded as i'm
maculate; that only an innocent ques-
ton, such as mi ght have been made to
any member Of the household, had been
PREPARATIONS, would shake the dust from
her heels and disappear as if shot from
a. cannon. - .a-..> ..,.s.--. ,,s. :-@- -s..-..t
Such scenes as these give some little
idea of the natural pride Of the old
= woman. It is when Sangua Henderson
visits that she shows her affability ano
friendliness Of disposition. It is the1
hour With interesting incidents in he1
long and varied career. - .-ss.:-
= Mauma is firm believer in hants
and witches. On one occasion, wher
. the Edgewood house was crowded will
= guests, she was making up great four
= post bed in the west room, and as sh,
= turned down the coverlid she discovered
the celluloid leg of Confederate of
ficer whoywas a guest in the house, and
finding the leg uncomfortable, was us
ing clutches that morning and had for
gotten to replace it in its box. Mau
ma g idea was that the house was be
Z witched and that this was real fesJ
and blood leg which the officer coult
take off and On at will. Her exclama
tex off he leg and left him in bed.
leah my miss house. rs gwine, - ant
she departed, and was not seen agai1
u for a week.
X Her mother was an African princes
\ and became the property of a Jane
island planter. Even in her civilize,
surroundings she wore rings in her ear
and rings in her nose, and was as prou
= of; her blue bead necklace as she sat o.
her bullrush mat at her front door a
i is Mrs. John Jacob Astor of her dia
mond necklace when she sits in her bo
at the Metropolitan operahouse.
Mauma's recollections Of childhoo
are all associated with James islano
where she first saw the light Of day
and where she sported in the cotto
fields until Governor Pickens, in tn
year 1880, bought her from the Mackle
benny estate.
It was then that she babe farewell t
the low country and the stbig water,
to which she has never returned, fo
Edgefeld has been her home eve
since. Her first step in ife's advance