Rock Island Argus., 1911-07-10


letter to her full OBJ lub talk an pay
some niger to tax it TO her.
We'll, when eberybody was restin'
| Mars Harry he tax me with him to a
house about a mile away an sot down
| in de libin' room befo' a table. an he
wrote an wrote all de mawnin'. But
befo' he sot down to write he tole me
to go down on de Nashville pike, about
mile from whar he war writin'. an
stan on a rise In de groun' whar
could see down de road, an If l see
any bluejackets comm 1 wor TO ride
| back an warn him.
Il rode down to whar I could see
two or three miles an sot on my
! hose, lookin' down de road. Fust
thing l knew sor a niger gal lookin'
frou de rails OBJ de fence. She war
smilin' at me. showin' her teeth lax an
alligator's jaw. An she says. 'Wha'
yo' doin' dar?' An I says, 'Watchin'
70 de Yanks.' An she says. 'Wha' yo'
watchin' TO de Yanks fo'p An ]
says, To wan ma mars If dey come
she talks to me awhile, an bimeby
she says, Come down dar an l glib
yo' some applejack.' 1 war all tired
out ridin' so had an powerful thirsty,
but l say, L don't want no applejack.'
Yes. yo' do she says. I kin see yo'
mouf waterin' To- it Go way an
let me alone l says.
DO yo' know wha' dat gal did?
She p'inted to de house whar de apple
jack war. an she says. Il keep watch
fo yo' while yo' go down an get
drink 1 fell under de temptation an,
lax a fool, left dat gal to watch an
went down to de house an filed ma
canteen with de applejack. Same time
TUX long drink. l war gittin' ready
to go back when 1 hearn q clatter OBJ
critters hoofs on de road above an
saw a lot OBJ bluecoats gallopin' past
toward de house whar Mars Harry war
writin' the lub letter to Missy Della.
II want to kill somebody sartin. !
| got on ma hose an', ridin' back to de
road, saw de gal dot brought de trouble
on me skulkin away. l fired ma re-
volver at her. Den I rode on, follerin'
| de Yanks. hearn shootin' ahead, but
when l got to de house whar Mars
| Harry was writin' he lub letter de
sojers war all gone. But dar beside
de road 1 saw what hants me eber
since"
He put his hand to his eyes as If to
shut out some painful sight. Presently
ne moaned:
Mars Harry layin' dar shot dead"
For that few minutes he had been
/ tempted to relax his watchfulness he
was paying a lifelong penalty. Posi-
| bly, he had dwelt upon his fault so
| long that it had affected his mind.
| l wondered at the love this black man
had for one whom he considered so
far his superior-the daughter of the
man who had owned him and could
| have sold him as horse or a dog.
81 knelt down beside him." he con-
tinued AN called to him: Mars Har-
ry. come to life ag'in an lemme be
daid in yo' place. l CANT live to face
Missy Della nohow. How 1 gwtne
| to go through life with this curse on
me? Come back, Mars Harry; come
back 70 Missy Della. She CANT go
through de worr without yo'.'
But he didn't wake up no mo-. an
when l see it want no use talkin' to
him 1 TUX him up an carried him into
de house. An then l got wagon IN
Griv him to de plantation"
He made an effort to tell me of his
reception there. but failed.
How did your mistress treat you
after the misfortune?" l asked.
Misfortune! Dat want no misfo'
tune: dat war yieldin' to temptation.
rs one OBJ de goats dat Is tooken from
de sho9p. Eff 1 hadn't listened to dat
gal Mars Harry wouldn't "a got kill
ed l didn't hab de courage to go back
to de plantation fo' a long time; den
sneaked in among de udder niggers an
hid in de ban. Some Digger sor me
an tole Missy Della L was come home.
She hearn all about how Mars Harry
got killed, an thar want anything fo'
me to 'fess She sent To- me to come
up to de house. My legs ha'dly car
ried me dar. Missy Della war standin'
by herself in de ball | stood at de do.
When she sor me she put up her ham
chekuff to her eyes an held out her
hand to me. She didn't say a wo'd
but l knowed she fo'gib me.
Dat didn't do me no good" he con-
tinued after a pause, "'cause l didn't
fo'gib maself"
rs your mistress living at the plan
tation house now?" l asked.
81 reckon she is dar or l wouldn't be
hyar. Much as l respec' mars.
wouldn't stay hyar if missy war away.
/ doin' penance. De plantation run
min down since de prockeImat1on De
niggers dat laks to wo'k laks to wo'k
TO thairselves. De udders won't wo'k
nohow. Brmby all go to de debbil;
den / glib my 'arnin's to missy"
At that moment woman dressed in
deep mourning came out of the front
door of the manor house and stood
looking pensively on the landscape.
Dat Missy Della" said julius. look !
ing Mt the lady, the usual melancholy |
Of his eye intensified "She neber git |
ober It. / neber git ober it. She war |
STRICKEN in de heart; 1 war STRICKEN |
in de feelin'. In de day ! see missy |