The Washington herald., 1913-10-16

man on You am rentin' boxes at dc
postoffice while your chil'en want fur
school-books You am sweilin' about and
talllin' politics while folks am offerin'
good money for whitewashin'!
Il say all right to dis. It's none of my
| funeral II de pace suits you, keep II up.
| 1t hain't for me to butt in and spile your
day-dreams. but when de crash comes,
as come il must, don't come shoutir,
to me for cold taters. pon't come a-sayin'
you didn't dun think il could ever be.
Don't come weepin' kase You has had
good time and lost II. Oars signs in
de heabens and signs all around us on
| airth dat bobbery am gwine to be let
loose befo' many years mo nave passed.
and If you will persist in Closin' your
eyes and ears you must take what's
comm to you.
Il took a leetle walk today and ! saw
lace curtains and heard pianers playin'.
saw grocery wagons and butcher carts
drivin up. 1 saw Guild women goin' out
and comm home in cowpays. saw
Guild chill en- on de street whose clothes
cost mo- dan il used to cost me TO dress
my hull family OF eight. I saw Guild
women in silks and Guild men in Prince
Alberts. 1 saw 'em buyin' rugs and car
pets and statuary- / heard de women
talkin' about DER tailors. 1 saw all dis
anu IluNu anu "hth L BON L
sOt down in my cheer and thunk till my
old head was whirlin' round wild thinkin.
De old woman put my feet to soak and
tied wet towel around my head, but all
night long ! was dreamin' of a long pro-
cession of folks marchin' past my cabin
on de way to de porehouse and de grave
yard beyand.
II sit down and think of these things,
my frens, snd den compare fifty years
ago wild today. 1t Jest makes me ha'r
stand up TO do il. / git so excited some
times dat de old woman has to tell me
to put my cold feet in de oven and drink
hot catnip tea
de two-room cabin of half a century
ago has become de six-room fat OF to-
day. De punchon floah am hidden un-
der tiger skin rugs. De two or three
old cheers and de humble bed have been
replaced by furniture fit fur king. One
of de lookin' glasses hangin' up costs
mo- dan all we had in our cabins.
Fur thirty years 1 hadn't n pane of
glass in de winders of my cabin. didn't
see the need of II, and ag'in 1 sorter felt
dat 1 wanted to gin de Iawd a free
chance to look in at any time O. day or
night Today you couldn't git black
man TO lib in a house widout winders,
and he wants lace curtains to boot He's
willin' to keep de lawd out and de deb
bill in.
"In my time If a black man had walked
into a grocery and ordered de grocer TO
send him up half a pound of tea, two
pounds of butter, a pound of coffee and
a box of bakin' powder dar would have
bin people sayin' dat de Judgment day
was not fur or. Now dar's nuthin'
thought about it In my day, if hus-
band had come home and found his old
woman givin' a high tea he would have
dropped dead. Nowadays husbands help
to wait on de company.
IF had come home from town bring
in a cuckoo clock under my arm de old
woman would have looked at me fur a
mint in Gurus way. Den she would
have felt of my head to find dot soft
spot Den she would have gone out un-
der de plum tree and knelt down ana
axed de Lawd to glib me my senses
back and not leave her in a hole. She
would have taken it dat i was plumb
crazy, and eberybody else fur ten miles
around would have agreed wild her.
Had a peddler come along wild SO
rug and axed me to buy it on de INSTALL
ment rlan, and had wasted five minits
talkin wild him at de gate, / should have
felt whack from a broomstick across
my shoulders. 1t would have been con-
sidered sin in de sight of de Lawd to
buy sich rug. All de crows and buzz
yards and possums and coons for twenty
miles around would have come fiockin'
to look at II and call me a fule.
And furdermo,' IL has come to my
knowledge dat we have among US sartin
members who am sighin' 20 be great at
any price or in any manner. De pore
fools doan' know when dey am well on.
From de mint man gifts rich de book
agents are arter him. Everybody who
has eber bowed to him wants to borry
SO. The grocer beats him, de butcher
swindles him. and the policeman on dat
beat stands in vid his cook and Is fur
nished wild all de lemon pie he kin de-
YOUR.
De rich man am game for all. He has
got to go to church cherry Sunday. no
matter how good de fishin' am, and when
he's dar he's got to sot way up in front
whar eberybody kin see de wrinkles in