"If _you_ only could, what a bride you would make!" exclaimed Mary.
Mary had determined to dress as a bride and now began the work of finding suitable duds. Miss Maria came in to a.s.sist just when we were beginning to despair. None of us was blessed with enough clothes to be willing to spare any of them for such a hazardous undertaking, none save Jessie Wilc.o.x and she had them to spare, but we would not have asked her for any to save her. That superior young lady had been quite scornful of us while we were working and then afterwards on the walk to the quarters. Now she had gone off for a row on the river with Wink, who seemed to think that when I was so enthusiastic over the arrival of the father of my best friends he had a personal grievance. He liked Zebedee a great deal himself but seemed to think I did not have the same right.
I am sure Jessie was a brave girl to go rowing with a man who had such a one-sided way of looking at things. Anyone with such a biased judgment could not be trusted to trim a boat, I felt.
When Miss Maria found out our trouble, she had Harvie bring from the attic a little old haircloth trunk, and throwing it open, told us to help ourselves. It was filled with all kinds of old-fashioned gowns, some of them of rich brocade and some of flowered chintz. At the very bottom we unearthed a wedding dress which had belonged to some dead and gone Price, Miss Maria did not even know to whom. It was yellow with age but had not a break in it. It was some squeeze to get the bunchy Mary in it, but with much pulling in and holding of the breath we finally got it hooked.
"And here"s a veil!" cried Dum, who had been standing on her head in the trunk hunting for treasures.
It was nothing but a piece of white mosquito netting that had been put in this trunk by mistake evidently, but it was quite a find to us, and with a few dexterous twists we had Mary standing before us a blushing bride.
"How about your shoes, Mary?" I asked. "Last night you said you had to have bare toes to dig in the wall."
"So I have! Gee, what are we to do about it? It would never do to have a barefoot bride; but I simply could not climb down in shoes."
"I have it!" cried Dum. "Let"s have a cavalier down on the ground, your "beau lover," you know, like the Elizabeth of long ago, and you take off your slippers and throw them down to him."
"Good! Page, please go tell Shorty I need him."
Shorty was game and in a twinkling of an eye we had him rigged out as a very presentable if rather youthful "beau lover."
The darkies had come and were seated on the ground about twenty feet from the house. News of a free show had spread like wildfire and I am sure at least fifteen were gathered there. It seemed hard that we must amuse fifteen to get five.
The show opened with a boxing match between the young men from Kentucky, Jack Bennett and Billy Somers. This was most exciting and nothing but the presence of General Price kept the darkies from putting up bets on the fight.
Next on the program was the Tuckers" stunt: Dum and Dee, back to back, were b.u.t.toned up in two sweaters which they put on hind part before and then fastened on the side, Dum"s to Dee"s and Dee"s to Dum"s.
"This, Ladies and Gentlemen," said Zebedee, who was doing the part of showmaster, "is Milly Christine, the two-headed woman. She is the most remarkable freak of nature in the world to-day. She has two heads, four legs, four arms, but only one body. She is very well educated and can speak several languages at the same time. She also can sing a duet with herself (at least she thinks she can). Fortunately she is in love with herself, otherwise she would get very bored with herself. There is only one difficulty about being this kind of a twin: if you don"t like what your twin likes you have to lump it. Now Milly, here, sometimes eats onions and poor Christine has to go around with the odor on her breath; and Christine got her feet wet and poor Milly has caught a bad cold from it." With this Dee sneezed violently, a regular Tucker sneeze which was as good as a show any time. "Milly is always getting sleepy and wanting to go to bed when Christine feels like dancing." Dee put her head on her breast and gave forth stertorous snores while Dum gaily waltzed around dragging the sleeping twin. There were roars of applause.
Next Harvie came around the house walking on his hands and Jim Hart doing cartwheels. Rags had the stunt known as "Come on, Eph!" It is a strange thing, where the performer wiggles and shakes himself until his clothes seem to be slipping off. All the time he emits sounds from which one gathers that he wants Eph to come on. This brought down the house and Rags had an encore.
I had to dance "going to church" while the twins patted for me. I never did have any little parlor tricks but they would not let me off. The darkies treated it quite seriously and when I went around shaking hands, which is part of the dance, they arose and joined the dance. This broke the ice and warmed them up for the ghost scene soon to follow.
The circus was proving a great success. The rows of happy black faces gave evidence of that. We had decided to have some music next, but made the great mistake of putting Annie on the program ahead of Jessie. It was taken as an insult and that spoiled piece refused to sing at all.
Annie sang charmingly, however. She accompanied herself on a banjo, and if my dance had started the darkies, her song got them all going. She sang, "Clar de Kitchen." I wonder if my readers know that old song. It was famous once on every plantation but in this day of rag time and imitation darky songs one hardly ever hears it.
CLAR DE KITCHEN
In ol" Kentuck, in de arternoon, We sweep de flo" wid a bran new broom, And arter dat we form a ring, And dis de song dat we do sing:
_Chorus_--
O, clar de kitchen, ol" folks, young folks, Clar de kitchen, ol" folks, young folks, Ol" Virginy never, never tire.
I went to de creek, I couldn"t get across, I"d n.o.body wid me but a ol" blin" horse; But ol" Jim Crow come a-ridin" by, Says he, "Ol" fellow, yo" horse will die."
It"s clar de kitchen, etc.
My horse fell down upon de spot.
Says he, "Don"t you see his eyes is sot?"
So I took out my knife, and off wid his skin, When he comes to life I"ll ride him agin.
So clar de kitchen, etc.
A jay-bird sat on a hickory limb-- He winked at me and I winked at him; I picked up a stone and I hit his shin, Says he, "You"d better not do dat agin."
So clar de kitchen, etc.
A bull-frog, dressed in soger"s clothes, Went in de field to shoot some crows; De crows smell powder and fly away-- De bull-frog mighty mad dat day.
So clar de kitchen, etc.
I hab a sweetheart in dis town, She wears a yaller striped gown; And when she walks de streets around, De hollow of her foot makes a hole in de ground.
Now clar de kitchen, etc.
Dis love is a ticklish ting, you know, It makes a body feel all over so; I put de question to Coal-Black Rose, She"s as black as ten of spades, and got a lubly flat nose.
Now clar de kitchen, etc.
"Go away," says she, "wid your cowc.u.mber shin, If you come here agin I stick you wid a pin."
So I turn on my heel, and I bid her good-bye, And arter I was gone she began for to cry.
So clar de kitchen, etc.
So now I"se up and off you see, To take a julep sangaree; I"ll sit upon a tater hill And eat a little whip-poor-will.
So clar de kitchen, etc.
I wish I was back in ol" Kentuck, For since I lef" it I had no luck-- De gals so proud dey won"t eat mush; And when you go to court "em dey say, "O, hush!"
Now clar de kitchen, etc.
Of course before Annie got through, everybody was joining in the chorus, and the darkies were patting and some of them dancing. There wasn"t the ghost of a ghost in their minds now and really we might have dispensed with the grand finale as far as they were concerned. Maxton was no longer a place to be shunned; but Mary was to go through with her act before lunch and I for one knew that that gumbo was stewing down mighty thick. I stole off once and stirred it and put it back a little.
CHAPTER X
THE GHOST OF A GHOST
THE last patter occasioned by Annie"s spirited tune had died away and a sudden hush fell upon the seated throng. It was time for the great act.
We thought the impressiveness of the scene would be heightened if someone would tell the story. General Price suggested Lady John as the best raconteur of the neighborhood. Of course Lady John was more than pleased to comply. He loved to be in the lime light and to show off.
This was his opportunity.
"Ladies, gemmen an" n.i.g.g.e.rs, what ain"t neither, some er you," he declaimed, standing up on an ivy-covered stump and making his inimitable curtsey, "I is a-makin" this speechifying at the inquest of the white folks an" if respec" is not handed to me it is also infused to them."
That rather silenced the t.i.ttering that Lady John"s elevation had caused.
"Gen"l Price is inquested me to lay befo" de meetin" de gospel of de ghoses what is thought by some to hant these here abode of plenty.
Without more pilaverin" I"ll lay holt the shank of the tale.--Mos" about a thousan" years ago whin my gran"mammy warn"t mo"n a baby an" Gen"l Price here, savin" his presence, warn"t even so much as thought about although his amcestroms were abidin" here, the tale runs they war a young miss of the family by name Lizzy Betty. Miss Lizzy Betty war that sweet an" that putty that all the young gemmen war mos" ready to eat her up. Ev"y steamboat that come a-sailin" up de ribber brought beaux for Miss Lizzy Betty. One young man come all dressed in gold an" wid a long feather in his hat an" a sword as long as a hoe han"le. He had no land an" he had no boat but he come on his hoss a-ridin" ober de hills, an"
Miss Lizzy Betty she done tol" him she would be his"n through sickness an" through healthfulness.--But, ladies an" gemmen an" you n.i.g.g.e.rs what is "havin" better"n I ever seed you "have befo", ol" Ma.r.s.e Price he got yuther notions in his haid. He see no reason why Miss Lizzy Betty shouldn"t marry to suit him stid er herse"f. They was a rich ol" man what didn"t carry all his b"longin"s on his back, an" ol" Ma.r.s.e Price he go to de sto" an" come back with a dress an" veil for Miss Lizzy Betty an" he say fer her to go put it on an" he"d fotch the preacher. An"
"twas all the po" young thing could do to git word to her beau lover.
All the comp"ny was dissembled an" de bride had comb out her har an" put on de dress an" veil, whin she say to her frien"s an" de n.i.g.g.e.r maid fer them to lef her alone fer a moment so she could wrastle in prayer. So so soon as they got out her room, she locked de do" an" thin she peeped out"n de winder, an" thar, kind an" true, was de beau lover."
At this point Mary poked her head out of the window and Shorty appeared below brave in all his finery, although it was not of pure gold as in Lady John"s version. This was some astonishment to the old tale teller and he stopped in his narrative.