The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-12-26

no ~no-count shift less niegers uhar
hung Off on dey white folks. I sed de
white folks had raise me an stood by
by denl."
Aunt Mittie Ann looked about ber
and her face grew very sober indeed
ohe turned so hat she looked ont of
me open door into the sunshine which
hooded the world, and at the belt of
treeS, half evergreen, which formed a
border to the westward and which
smut Out the world beyond: a big cot
ton mill, roaring trains and other
MODERN things, which seemed out of
pace IN such a world as here; a world
Hnefe everything harmonized; the
great house, the trees. the grass, the
caoin, the very birds that. sang and
H1ued here and there; Knockers, jays
ana Woodpeckers, not emitting the
saucy sparrow, which dashed about
with a desperate air OF business.
AT the foot of a slope to the west
ward ran a tiny stream, flowing
from an old, old spring: the house
winch the spring long
fallen Town and gone, ana only the
foundation. Of stone, in octagon form
remaining. The little rivulet vas Dor
dered all h way with that daintiest
Of flowers. the forgetmenot. and these
bore q message of two worlds, since
they came from the grave of Hannah
Moore. Aunt Mittie Ann looked st
this familiar scene through the corner
OF her eye, and then cast her gaze
around the cabin. On the walls were
Strings OF red ~er lit okra pods
drying, and on one side of the fire.
place hung q turkev-tail fan, hard ~
IT being a homemade hearth-brOom.
while on q table were Infinitely bright
tins She looked at all these things,
within and without. and lovingly her
lips parted, her ace b~roadened nth
a smile, and she seemed like q picture
as she sat there. her head TONED by
her snowy kerchlef, and in her home
spun frOck. Her mine was going
back to h old days, III she mur-
INJURED. "Iley used ter be cabins all
efbout here an niggers every wllar."
And then came another reminiscerC.
4 minds de time young miss got mar
RED here, up in de greet house. We
wuz er cookin' erbout er week, fixin'
things. White folks. big uns too,
come from every whar. Dey WIZ er
Unfair and YOU seed SO many
carrlagcs en- buooieS in yO' life. De
weddin lasted three days, and den dey
couldn't eat and drink half what my
white folks had pervided."
Aunt Mittie AIMS mind was brought
back to the moment by some sounl
among the cooking Utensils in the
fireplace and h said she must get
some water: SO to the spring she went.
just as she had gone for more than
forty years. excusing herself as she
departed. She filled her bucket with
water. it upon her head and
with easy grace, as straight as an az
row and with the walk of a goddess.
returned to the cabin. In our minds
dashed Vision Of ancient days, when
Nile ma1dens walked with jars upon
their shoulders or heads and Of later
years, when burden-carrying upon the
head WAS Dracticed by young women
to give them grace Of motion.
Aunt Nittie Ann resumed her sub
ject rs soon as she returned and said:
MY white folks sholy is good ter me;
mighty good. Dey looks after me all
de time. Dey give me dis duck for
my Thankssivin'- I works evry day
at sunlp'in. I goes to de greet house
every day, cause I loves to do fer lem
old negro heart set out more clearly
than in these simple words Here
hreathed that infinite love for n
whites which made the record OF the
four million negroes in South
during all the years Of the Civil war
so wonderful; so everlastingIy ered1ta-
BILE to them. To look at Aunt Mlttle
Ann was to see that her words came
straight from her heart. No matter
how she might talk about nodsrn
times, her mind reverted like q 1iaSff
to those long gone, n yet there was
only q half-saddened spirit in these
recoliections and "reminiscences. They
were part of her life. Without them
she would be nothing She said this,
showed it and felt it in her heart OF
hearts. To her the time "be1o De
war" when she the slave girl was
likely" the stirring days OF the war
itself: the period afterwards. that
transition time, when the hondnnen
became free, were but as YESTERDAY:
To her the people in the "gret house
were always great themselves, rlch and
snlendid beyond her and
though in the mansion the SILVER
nii~ht be worn and furniture and the
carpets likewise; though paint did not
mark the place by it's glare and shine,
vet TO her it was a palace indeed, the
palace Of the King" and n reVer-
enced the memory of the grand seig-
net,r" who had lived there in years
gone by.
The deft fingers of the old negress