The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-10-08

others believed that the had only skill
fully injected it into the melons after
they were pulled. However that may
aaeeteehOmeruaoye
have been, the result was as satisfao-
tory as the milk punch from the Irish
mans cow
Maj. Gilmore had Il warm affection
for Uncle Abram and a high opinion of
his intelligence, being wont to say
that he had more sense and more OF
a gentleman under his black skin thar
a great many white people for the
cOurtly old bachelor was cynical now
and then. I do not know whether the
slave studiediy initiated his master
or not, but it was amusing to no
! tice how he walked like him, tried to
get off that elegant bow and even talk
ed like him-for Uncle Abram was
! choice in his speech no given to ne
&c lingo.
Some remarkable conversations must
have taken place between this strange
pair, for Major Gilmore was a man of
speculative mind and caustic humor,
who was fond of putting all sorts OF
questions of his man
Why, in ~wallowing, a horse found
it necessary to turn over on his right
side then on his left; why a COW got
I'D on her hind feet, and a horse got
I'D on his fore feet; why a swamp spar
row whistled early in the morning and
late in the afternoon, and not IN the
middle of the day; why in the fall Q
blue bird liked to perch On the top OF
a dry corn stalk; why thunder turned
milk sour.
Abe is intelligent, the major would
say. with a humorous twinkle in the
eve, but he has his limits and If You
knock too hard on his Uranium you
run the risk Of losing your grip on
him. 7 attempted to explain that milk
turned sour during a thunder storm
on account of a change in the cll1llcal
combination of it's atoms, and cou'o
see that he thought that was talking
rot. Marse John, he said, Win d solC
of pitying smile, you got that "hole
thing wrong. The reason why MIX
turns sour when it thunders is because
that is the time witches always charm.
Major Gilmore lived until after
the civil War, but the evening OF life
had it's sordid, seamy side for the
good old man. The close of terrible
struggle found him poor, like nearl!
everybody else with much land, but
no money to stock or cultivate it. He
lost heavily too by the payment OF Sc
| curity debts. He was an extensive en-
| dOrser. though not because he was too
weak to refuse an applicant, for he
was not weak at all, could say no
very decidedly in a matter OF prlh-
chile. I have heard him speak of
this in his old age. Il have lost mucn
he said. with no trace Of bitterness
in tone, "by standing for friends,
and it comes right hard just now; but
I do not see why, if [ was willing to
lend money | should lend my name.
Having no family dependent upon
him, Maj. Gilmore suffered no actual
want up to the day of his death.
From such a big wreck there was
bound to be a great dea of salvage,
| and he was left better Off than most
of his neighbors. But what were
+, easy circumstances to ordinary peo-
pie were hard circumstances to him.
He was by no means selfish, but he
! was something of a Sybarite and with
his high strung nature he shrank
from the petty discomforts the ways
of poverty. There was something
pathetic about the we'll brushed broad
cloth suit, now showing white ABOUT
the seams and the dear old negros
modified consciousness Of it, with his
stiff upper lip through it ell, and
the old time courtly bow, though
here and there were little holes ON
the fingers of the glove on the hand
waved in sa%lutatiOn.
"Freedom' did not please Uncle
Abram. The collapse of the southern
cause availed naught to shake MS
fidelity. The sudden e~nfranchise-
ment and decentralization of his race
PASSED him by unharmed; and he
worked along about the old place as
Ct yore until his master passed away,
cld he followed him soon after.
The whimsical conversations,
.raught with grotesque conjectures
and outlandish q~uestionings still went
on between the two old men, the ma
jor sitting in his rocking chair on the
piazza, and Uncle Abram seated on
the steps below. Maybe there was
a minor note of sadness in their spec
ulations now; maybe their dim eyes
looked through the gathering dark
ness Of evening to the light beyond, |
while they tackled knotty problems, |
whose solutions they were to find on
the other side of time: Wouldn't God
give to poor mortals a staff and a |
light through the Valley Of the Shad
ow;" wouldn't friends live together, |
eat together, and walk togetehr in the |
better world; wouldn't Saint Peter |
let old time, before the war negroes
into heaven with the white folks, as
a special favor and send the new |
issue freedmen where they belong.
There are more things in heaven
and earth than are dreamnt of In
your philosophy" and God is good.
The kindly master and his faithful
slave see clearly now and all things |