Bricks Without Straw

ody but ole Marse Potem an' de Lor', an' p'raps de Debble beside, know 'zackly how long it mout hev been-an' didn't hev but one name in all dat yer time. An' I didn't hev no use for no mo'

an' cullud folks, men an' wimmen, dar wouldn't ha' been no two on 'em hevin' de same name. Dat's what folks used ter say 'bout him, ennyhow. Dey sed he used ter say ez how he wasn't gwine ter hey his niggers mixed up wid nobody else's namin', an' he wouldn't no mo' 'low ob one black feller callin' ob anudder by enny nickname ner nothin' ub dat kine, on one o' his plantations, dan he would ob his takin' a mule, nary bit. Dey du say dat when he used ter buy a boy er gal

y ob names, shore. Some on 'em wuz right quare, but den agin mos' all on 'em wuz right good, an' it war powerful handy hevin' no two on 'em alike. I've heard tell dat a heap o' folks wuz a takin'

vin' bed it so long an' nebber knowin' myself by any udder, so't I didn't like ter change. 'Sides dat, I couldn't see no use. I'd allers got 'long well '

enin' to do some sort ob arrant for him. When I was a comin' home, jes about an hour ob sun, I rides up wid a sort o' hard-favored man in a gig, an' he looks at me an' at de hoss, whe

'long to, e

e Marse Potem Desmi

Who's a obers

'Marse Si

n's on Knapp-o Reeds git 'long wid

ts 'long tol'able well

ow yer likes ol

l like, 'We don't l

e sez,

ez, 'Dun

ez, 'Don'

, 'Tol'abl

sez, 'Wh

'Mighty li

sez, 'Wo

erate, sah.' "An' he

'Not ez I kn

at for don't yer

on'y jes' kase he's

dat's so, boy.' Den he take out his pencil an'

ter Marse Si War', soon ez

h,' an' comes on home

t it he say, 'Whar you

ou know who dat is? D

to him, you

it ter kill. All de same he gib me twenty licks 'cordin' ter de orders on

dey 'jes fo'ce em on me like, an' what'll I do'bout it, I dunno. H'yer I'se got-lemme see-one-two-tree! Fo' God, I don' know how many names I hez got! I'm dod-dinged now e

dat all de pore white folks hez got some two tree names, but I allus thought dat wuz 'coz dey hedn't nuffin' else ter call dere can. Must be a free feller need

examining a paper which was sealed and stamped with official formality, and which had started him upon the train of thought he had pursued. The question he