The Wife of his Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line, and Selected Essays

ence that separated the cor

t ovuh dat fence, chil

nny," said Cicely;

ends of the rails that formed one of the angles. This done, the old woman easily stepped across the remaining two or three ra

sked the girl anxiously

skin beneath. It was fairer there, but yet of a decided brown. She raised his hand, p

boy's in a bad fix, w'ateber he is, an' I 'spec's we bettah do w'at we kin fer 'im, an' w'en he comes to he 'll tell us w'at he is-er w'at he cal

eeth. He swallowed it readily enough. In a few minutes he opened his eyes and stared blankly

n', suh?" aske

was no

eelin' be

ly he essayed to put his hand to his head, gave

re. W'ite folks would n't want ter fool wid a nigger man, an' we doan know who his folks is. He 's outer

n was pitifully emaciated; how much, the two women had not suspected until they raised him. They had no difficulty whatever,

artment of the cabin. The old woman sent Cicely to cook the dinner, while she gave her own attention

he 's be'n eatin' nuff to feed a sparrer

lint,-the art was well known in the sixties,-an

ttle lower, an' you would n' 'a' be'n yere ter tell de tale. Dem clo's," she argued, lifting the tattered garments she had removed from her patient, "don'

but when Dinah thought he had enough of the gruel, and stopped feeding him, he closed his eyes again and rela

anxiously awaiting his return, told him in a few words th

or in his day, and was known far and wide for his knowledge of simple remedies. The negroes all ar

er dem bright mulatters, f'om Robeson County-some of 'em call deyse'ves Croatan Injins-w'at's been conscripted an' sent ter wu'k on de fo'tifications down at Wimbleton er some'er's er nuther, an' done 'scaped, and got mos' killed gittin' erway, an' wuz n'

stening with

h trembling voice, "don' let 'e

d fer ten miles 'roun', an' dis yere boy don' b'long in dis neighborhood. W'en 'e gits so 'e kin he'p 'isse'f we 'll put 'im up in de lof an' hide 'im till de Yankees come. Fer dey 're comin', sho'. I drem

lew up the buildings, destroyed the ordnance and stores, and retreated across the Cape Fear River, burning the river bridge behind them,-tw

rapidly, and in a week he had been able with some help to climb up the ladder into the loft. In all this time, however, t

d and water and medicine to his lips. When it was safe for him to come down from the loft and sit in a chair under a spreading oak, Cicely supported him until he was stro

ave no reply, but looked at his questioner with the blank unconsciousness of an infant. By and by he began to recognize Cicely, and to smile at her approach. The next step in

him. To any inquiry as to his name he a

erman," said Needham,

de Lawd. I reckon we

arning things. She taught him to speak her own negro English, which he pronounced with absolute fidelit

ds side by side,-plucked the corn, pulled the fodder, and gathered the dried peas from the yellow pea-vines. Cicely was a phenomenal cotton-picker, and John accompanied her to the fields and

first, but after a while she kept him to herself simply because she was happier so. He was hers-hers alone. She had found him, as Pharaoh's daughter had found Moses in the bulrushes; she had taught him to speak, to think, to love. She had not taught him to remember; she would not have wished him to; she would have been jealous of any past to which he might have proved