"You"re mighty welcome, Brother Brannum," said Brother Roach from the door, as cheerful under his covering of meal dust as the clown in the pantomime; "you"re mighty welcome. I had as lief talk to my hopper as to most folks; but the hopper knows me by heart, and I da.s.sent take too many liberties wi" it. Come in, Brother Brannum; there"s no great head of water on, and the gear is running soberly. Sat"days, when all the rocks are moving, my mill is a female woman; the clatter is turrible.
I"ll not deny it. I hope you"re well, Brother Brannum. And Sister Brannum. I"ll never forgit the savour of her Sunday dumplings, not if I live a thousand year."
"We"re well as common, Brother Roach, well as common. Yit a twitch here and a twinge there tells us we"re moving along to"rds eternity. It"s age that"s a-feeling of us, Brother Roach; and when we"re ripe it"ll pluck us."
"It"s age rutherthan the dumplings, that I"ll take the stand on,"
exclaimed Brother Roach. "Yit, when it comes to that, look at Mizzers Denham; that woman kin look age out of countenance any day. Then there"s Giner"l Bledser; who more nimble at a muster than the Giner"l?
I see "era both this last gone Sat"day, and though I was in-about up to my eyes in the toll-bin, I relished the seeing and the hearing of "em.
But I reckon you"ve heard the news, Brother Brannum," said Brother Roach, modestly deprecating his own sources of information.
"Bless you! Not me, Brother Roach," said Brother Brannum; "I"ve heard no news. Down in my settlement I"m cut off from the world. Let them caper as they may, we"re not pestered wi" misinformation."
"No, nor me nuther, Brother Brannum," said Brother Roach, "bekaze it"s as much as I can do for to listen at the racket of my mill. Yit there are some sights meal dust won"t begin to hide, and some talk the clatter of the hopper won"t nigh drown."
"What might they be, Brother Roach?" Brother Brannum brushed the dust off a box with his coat-tails, and sat down.
"Well, sir," said Brother Roach, pushing his hat back, and placing his thumbs behind his suspenders, "last Sat"day gone I was a-hurrying to and fro, when who should pop in at the door but Giner"l Bledser?
""h.e.l.lo, Johnny!" says he, free and familiar.
""Howdy, Giner"l," says I. "You look holp up, speaking off-hand," says I.
""That I am, Johnny, that I am," says he; "I"ve made a trade that makes me particular proud," says he.
""How"s that, Giner"l?" says I.
""Why, I"ve sold Blue Dave," says he; "eight year ago, I bought him for five hundred dollars, and now I"ve sold him to Mizzerg Denham for a thousand," says he. "I"ve got the cold cash in my pocket, and now let "em ketch the n.i.g.g.e.r," says he.
""Well, Giner"l," says I, "it"ll be time for to marvel arter you seethe outcome, bekaze," says I, "when there"s business in the wind, Mizzers Denham is as long-headed and as cle"r-sighted as a Philedelphia lawyer," says I.
"And (would you believe it, Brother Brannum?) the outcome happened then and there right before our very face and eyes."
"In what regards, Brother Roach?" said Brother Brannum, rubbing his bony hands together.
"Well, sir, I glanced my eye out of the door, and I see the Denham carriage coming down yan hill. I p"inted it out to the Giner"l, and he ups and says, says he--
""Davy, though she may be a-going to town for to sue me for damages, yit, if Mizzers Denham"s in that carriage, I"ll salute her now," says he; and then he took his stand in the door, as frisky as a colt and as smiling as a basket of chips. As they come up, I tetch"d the Giner"l on the shoulder.
""Giner"l," says I, "look clost at that n.i.g.g.e.r on the carriage,--look clost at him," says I.
""Why, what the thunderation!" says he.
""To be certain!" says I; "that"s your Blue Dave, and he looks mighty slick," says I.
"The Giner"l forgot for to say howdy," continued Brother Roach, laughing until he began to wheeze; "but Mizaers Denham, she leant out of the carriage window, and said, says she--
""Good morning, Giner"l, good morning I David is a most excellent driver," says she.
"The Giner"l managed for to take off his hat, but he was in-about the worst-whipped-out white man I ever see. And arter the carriage got out of hearing, sir, he stood in that there door there and cussed plump tell he couldn"t cuss. When a man"s been to Congress and back, he"s liable for to know how to take the name of the Lord in vain. But don"t tell me about the wimmen, Brother Brannum. Don"t!"
Blue Dave was happy at last. He became a great favourite with everybody. His voice was the loudest at the corn-shucking, his foot was the nimblest at the plantation frolics, his row was the straightest and the cleanest in the cotton-patch, his hand was the firmest on the carriage-seat, his arm was the strongest at the log-rolling. When his old mistress came to die, her wandering mind dwelt upon the negro who had served her so faithfully. She fancied she was making a journey.
"The carriage goes smoothly along here," she said. Then, after a little pause, she asked, "Is David driving?" and the weeping negro cried out from a corner of the room--
""Tain"t po" Dave, Mistiss! De good Lord done tuck holt er de lines."
And so, dreaming as a little child would dream, the old lady slipped from life into the beat.i.tudes, if the smiles of the dead mean anything.
THE END