Dum was putting the finishing touches to Zebedee"s countenance. I did not think he needed paint as his cheeks were rosy enough, but Dum loved to fix up people"s faces and black their eyebrows, and Zebedee liked nothing better than being fixed up.
"It gives you the feeling that you can make as big a monkey of yourself as you want to, if you just are disguised a little," and our Santa Claus bristled his great white moustache and patted his down pillows approvingly.
Mammy Susan and Blanche and bow-legged Bill were called in to see old Santy, and great was their delight and joy.
"Lord!" said Bill. "If"n he don" look jis" lak a picture er Santy I seed one time whin I was on de steamboat on de Mississip."
"Aw, you allus got ter tell "bout dat time you went a trabblin" on a boat. I low you wa"nt nothin" but a low lived roustabout at best," said Mammy Susan, anxious to keep Bill in his place, which, in her estimation, was way in the back.
"You is sho mo" natural than life, Mr. Tucker. The infantry of the area of this vicinity should elevate theyselves and denounce you as blessed.
"As much as you have done the least of my little ones you have kep" my remandments.""
Mammy accepted the effusions of Blanche with perfect composure. Bill looked at her with admiration in his rolling stewed-prune eyes. I would have been glad of Santa Claus" beard to laugh behind. Zebedee took advantage of it, but the rest of us had to keep straight faces until the coloured contingent took their departure.
"Hitch Peg to the cutter!" called Father to Bill. "I am afraid there will be too much hilarity for the colt, Tucker, otherwise I"d give you the pleasure of driving him this brisk morning."
"Drive! Do you think I could drive anything around this protuberance?"
he laughed, patting his make-up. "Why, I can"t reach the b.u.t.tons on my own waistcoat. Page will have to drive me."
"But then they"ll all of them know you are not Santa Claus if they see me."
"Nonsense, daughter! They"ll think he is Santa Claus if you are along.
The only Christmas they have ever had has come through us, and they will just think we have invited Santy here to amuse them. I think we can trust Mr. Tucker to act the part. I am going to beg off and stay home with my book," and the dear man sank back in his chaise longue and buried his nose once more in his four thousand pages of poetry.
So I drove Zebedee, and the girls and Wink went with Jo Winn and the New York cousin in a great old double sleigh that must have been in the Winn family as long as our family coach had been in ours.
Father put down his beloved book long enough to see us off, and then with a great sigh of content, mixed with relief, sank back on his cushions and resumed his search for old favourites.
What a merry crowd we were! Zebedee cracked his whip and
"Whistled and shouted and called them by name.
On, Dasher and Dancer! On, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet and Cupid! On, Dunder and Blitzen!"
Old Peg did not know exactly what to make of all her new names, but like the intelligent beast she was, she divined that it meant to go as fast as she could, so she snow-dusted Jo Winn"s team until they had to drop back a few yards. If it had not been for me, I think Zebedee"s turn out would have fooled any one inclined to believe in St. Nick. Of course Peg did not look much like eight tiny reindeer, but then, he might have left his reindeer team in the Antarctic Circle and picked up a mere horse for the rest of the journey, which would have been a most thoughtful thing for our beloved Saint to have done.
The little pickaninnies were on the lookout for Docallison, and as we neared Aunt Keziah"s cabin a shout went up from the bushes where some of the little boys were hiding, watching the bend in the road. The window was black with expectant faces and Zebedee said he thought their smiles were more beautiful than any Christmas wreaths he had ever seen. You remember that Aunt Keziah was the neighbourhood "Tender," that is, she looked after all the children whose mothers were away in service. She was quite an inst.i.tution and Father said did much to lower the death rate of her race. She raised a healthy crowd of children and as a rule they turned out to be a mannerly lot as well.
"Perliteness is cheap an" a smile don" cos" no mo"n a frown," she would say, "an" you kin sho" buy mo" wif it if you is a tradin" wif white fo"ks."
Certainly there were smiles to spare that Christmas morning and politeness to burn. The children, fourteen in all, came tumbling out of the cabin when the boys in the bushes gave warning of our approach. They thought it was Docallison until we were upon them, and then such a shouting and scrambling as was never seen. One of the strangest things that ever happened was that Aunt Keziah herself believed in Santa Claus and no power on earth could shake her faith in him.
""Cose I b"lieves in him! If"n I ain"t nebber seed him befo" what dat got to do wif it? I ain"t nebber yit laid eyes on Gawd an" de blessed Sabior but I b"lieves; an" now I done seed Santy Claus wif my own eyes.
What"s mo", he done brung me gif"s wif his own han". De preacher ub a Sunday done said dat Gawd would gib me honey an" de honey com", an" I will git gold, yea, fin" gold,--but I ain"t nebber foun" none yit, an"
all de honey dis here ole n.i.g.g.e.r done tas"ed fer yars an" yars is some b.u.m"le bee honey what de chillun foun" in de woods. Cose I ain"t a blamin" uf de Almighty,--I reckon he"ll do fer me someday whin he gits to it, but so fer I done ebby thing fer myse".--But Santy here he done foun" me and is a doin" fer me now," and the old woman munched her chocolate marshmallows, that seemed designed especially for her toothless state, and pulled around her lean old shoulders the nice warm shawl that Santa Claus had drawn from his bursting pack.
The cabin, boasting only two rooms and a low attic where the male "boders" slept, was full to overflowing when all of us piled in, but we were anxious to see how the little darkeys took Santa Claus and if they really believed in him. They did, every last one of them. There was not a doubting Thomas among them. With no incredulity to overcome, Zebedee"s task was a simple one. He told his cheerful and kindly lies with much gusto, to the delight of all his listeners, black and white.
"Well, children, I thought I would never get here! I had so many places to go. I was coming last night down your chimney, which is the proper way to come after you are all asleep at night, but my reindeer got so tired I had to put them in a stable way up at Richmond and get down here just the best I could, and then borrow a horse from Docallison and get Miss Page to drive me over here. By the way, Docallison sent his kindest regards to all of you,--" Here some of the little nigs made bobbing curtseys and the ones who did not got soundly smacked by Aunt Keziah.
"He couldn"t come this morning but he thought you wouldn"t mind since I was coming."
At that, Little Minnie, who was one of the charity orphans Aunt Keziah was raising, began to blubber:
"I ain"t gwine take no castor ile from Santy. Docallison done tell me he gwine gib me a pinny if I tak castor ile."
"Why, if I didn"t almost forget!" exclaimed the ever-ready Zebedee. "I have a whole dime here for a little girl who was to take castor oil,"
and he began a frantic search for his pockets but the down pillows and dressing gown were too much for him and Wink came to his relief with the necessary coin. "Now you must promise to take your medicine right away."
"But I ain"t sick now!" wailed the little girl, clutching her dime. "I means whin I do git sick."
"Now listen to that there lil" orphant Minnie!" exclaimed Aunt Keziah.
"What cause she got to worrit about ile whin she ain"t got ache or pain?"
"But I"se thinkin" "bout what I"se gonter git whin I done gits through a stuffin"," wailed Minnie. "I lows thin I gotter take ile."
"Well, you"ve got your dime now and if you get sick you must take the oil," laughed Zebedee.
"But Docallison gibs me a pinny. I ain"t got no use fer a dime. Aunt Keziah won"t let chilluns spen" nothin" but pinnies!"
So Wink had to go through his pockets for the desired penny before little Orphan Minnie would be comforted. Aunt Keziah stood by with a tolerant smile on her wrinkled old face. It was a well known fact that the old woman spoiled all the little charity children, the ones she took for nothing, while she made the "bo"ders" toe the line and walk chalk.
The twins she was raising, Milly Jourdan"s twins, whom she had so euphoniously named Postle Peter and Pistle Paul, emboldened by the success of Minnie, now set up a whine for pennies, too, but Aunt Keziah knocked their heads together without ceremony.
"You Postle Peter! You Pistle Paul! I"ll learn you some manners, you lim"s er Satan. Ain"t you got sinse ernuf to know Santy Claus didn"t come way down here from North "Merica jis" ter listen ter yo" gabble? As fer gittin" pinnies fer a takin" castor ile,--you know jis" as well as I do that you lick de spoon ev"y chanct you git, you is dat fon" of ile.
De ve"y las" time Docallison was here he done sayed you mak him sick to his stomach a guzzlin" ile de way you done."
The old woman"s tirade caused a general laugh, and Tweedles and I were really uneasy for fear Santy would shake off his bowl full of jelly he roared so loud. Wink found some more pennies which he surrept.i.tiously handed to the crestfallen twins.
"Here, Pistle Peter and Postle Paul! Here"s some pennies for you, to make up for your names," he whispered to the grinning little nigs.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHRISTMAS FOR SALLY WINN.
There were other cabins to visit and we had to tear ourselves away from Aunt Keziah"s. Mr. Kent took many photographs of Santa Claus with the little darkeys crowding around him.
"This will be a gold mine to me," he averred. "I can see myself filling pages of advertising matter with ill.u.s.trations from this morning."
Everywhere we went, Santa Claus was hailed with delight. We left many packages at many cabins and finally ended up at Sally Winn"s. This was at Dee"s instigation. Indeed it was a kindly thought that took us there.
Poor Sally had been exercising unwonted self-control in not sending for Father at midnight on Christmas Eve. Jo said she had felt all kinds of flutterations but had submitted to a dose of the "pink medicine," and that, with the comfort she had derived from a hot water bottle, had tided her through the night. Then she had felt it inc.u.mbent upon her to get up and make waffles for breakfast because of the guest from New York.
We had some gifts for Sally tied up in the Tucker"s best style, with sheets on sheets of tissue paper, yards and yards of red and green ribbon, and dozens and dozens of Christmas seals. Mammy Susan had been growing a citronella slip for her and it had reached quite a pretentious size and begun to branch out like the parent plant.
Sally"s delight was really pathetic to see. She, poor woman, had very little of interest in her life, so little that she had to make a real pleasure and excitement over her "spells." A visit from Santa Claus was almost as much fun to her as a visit from the Angel Gabriel would have been, and the sleigh bells were only next in cheer to the last trump.
Sally, you will remember, was our neighbour at Milton who spent her life trying to die.