The Entailed Hat; Or, Patty Cannon's Times

ng but culinary peace and savor during

t were a trap of some kind, liable to drop a spring and catch somebody, or to explode like a mortar or torpedo. As hour after ho

ermile, an' drap de lizzer in dat ole hat, an' sprinkle de flo' whar ole Meshach sots

e the family ashamed before him. Miss Vessy is powerful w

hat witches can't hear the Lord's name, and stay, nohow. Maybe Miss Vessy'll say in Meshach's old hat: 'Mat

from a-measurin' of us in. Don't ole Meshach go to church, too, and h

ished camomile and sprinkled the little children, and gave

l take 'em to de woods an' jess git los', an' live on teaberries, slippery-ellum, h

e, or a persimmon custard, an' send it to ole Meshach, he won't sell us to the slave-buyers. He ne

n' back dat Meshach's measured in. For de Judge would say, 'Meshach, ye hain't measured me fair. Wha's yer yard-stick, ole debbil?' Den Meshach he say, 'De hat I tuk it in wid, done gone burnt by d

, and, hanging it on the peg, came with superstitious fear and relief into the colonnade. Aunt Hominy hurried her to the kitchen, strewed her with herb

Aunt Hominy, with her eyes full of

be ashamed of me, an' I picked the thing up an' took it to the rack; an' all I know is, it smelled old, like some of the

with shining eyes, and dived their heads under Aunt Ho

blow what she called "pow-pow"

rgie. "He just wears it to plague people. He was drinking tea just like Miss Vessy, but I thou

Aunt Hominy?" Roxy asked. "

ulous look up and down the large kitchen, where the pale light at the windows was in

Rehoboff ruined churchyard

rnoon, aunty, that the

spade out yonder, whar de dead-house used to be, an' dig among de graves under de myrtle-vines, an' fin' my hat. As long as ye keep de Lord an' de singin' away from dis yer big forsaken church, you may keep

ht to the present day the phantoms which were laid at rest with itsel

re and more superstition in the minds of the girls and children, and the conversation fell off,-the little negroes wandering hither and thither, unable to sleep, yet unable to attract sufficient attention

perior, address, put a new complexion

miny's mind out of their spirits, and then caught the two young girls, and set Roxy on his shoulder, and caught Virgie by the

owing her white teeth, whichever side she revealed. "Go 'long, Jud

rubbing their clean wool into his whiskers, and the two neat servants, brought up like white children in his family, were no

"can you give me a bit of broiled something

hicken, marster! Mebbe I kin git ye a squ

orning milk, and a bunch of fresh celery, will just raise my pulse, and put courage into me. Get it

Anne fust. De man dat cleans ole Meshach M

d fellow will be very influential with our new master, and, Hominy, we're all depe

itticism, and the old cook saw a fil

eve? Mebbe dis night is de las' we'll ever see you in your own warm, nice kitchen, an' never mo', dear ole marster, kin Hominy brile you a bird

se girls, forgetting every contingency to themselves, sobbed also, like his own daughters, to see him unmanned

ote, and in a very little while both a chicken and a bird were broiled and set upon the kitchen-table upon a spotless cloth,

ilent tears streaming down her cheeks to see him eat and suffer, kept up a clatter of epicurean talk, lest he might turn and see her miserable. A

ap

ch

speak wi

less recognition of her service; but not till the door closed be

ver eat no mo' like dat again.