"Good-mawnin", suh! I did n" think you"d come to-day, bein" a Sunday,"
she said, with a slight bend of her knees. "I"ll jes" sweep up a lil mite; doan" ye move, I won"t "sturb ye."
Aunt Chloe had first opened my door a year before with a note from Marny, a brother brush, which began with "Here is an old Southern mammy who has seen better days; paint her if you can," and ended with, "Any way, give her a job."
The bearer of the note was indeed the ideal mammy, even to the bandanna handkerchief bound about her head, and the capacious waist and ample bosom--the lullaby resting-place for many a child, white and black. I had never seen a real one in the flesh before. I had heard about them in my earlier days. Daddy Billy, my father"s body servant and my father"s slave, who lived to be ninety-four, had told me of his own Aunt Mirey, who had died in the old days, but too far back for me to remember. And I had listened, when a boy, to the traditions connected with the plantations of my ancestors,--of the Keziahs and Mammy Crouches and Mammy Janes,--but I had never looked into the eyes of one of the old school until I saw Aunt Chloe, nor had I ever fully realized how quaintly courteous and gentle one of them could be until, with an old-time manner, born of a training seldom found outside of the old Southern homes, she bent forward, spread her ap.r.o.n with both hands, and with a little backward dip had said as she left me that first day: "Thank ye, suh! I"ll come eve"y Sunday mawnin". I"ll do my best to please ye, an" I specs I kin."
I do not often work on Sunday, but my picture had been too long delayed waiting for a faded wedding dress worn once by the original when she was a bride, and which had only been found when two of her descendants had ransacked their respective garrets.
"Mus" be mighty driv, suh," she said, "a-workin" on de Sabbath day.
Golly, but dat"s a purty lady!" and she put down her pail. "I see it las" Sunday when I come in, but she didn"t had dem ruffles "round her neck den dat you done gib her. "Clar" to goodness, dat chile look like she was jes" a-gwine to speak."
[Ill.u.s.tration: AUNT CHLOE]
Aunt Chloe was leaning on her broom, her eyes scrutinizing the portrait.
"Well, if dat doan" beat de lan". I ain"t never seen none o" dem frocks since de ole times. An" dem lil low shoes wid de ribbons crossed on de ankles! She"s de livin" pussonecation--she is so, for a fac". Uhm! Uhm!" (It is difficult to convey this peculiar sound of complete approval in so many letters.)
"Did you ever know anybody like her?" I asked.
The old woman straightened her back, and for a moment her eyes looked into mine. I had often tried to draw from her something of her earlier life, but she had always evaded my questions. Marny had told me that his attempts had at first been equally disappointing.
"Body as ole"s me, suh, seen a plenty o" people." Then her eyes sought the canvas again.
After a moment"s pause she said, as if to herself: "You"s de real quality, chile, dat you is; eve"y spec an" spinch o" ye."
I tried again.
"Does it look like anybody you ever saw, Aunt Chloe?"
"It do an" it don"t," she answered critically. "De feet is like hern, but de eyes ain"t."
"Who?"
"Oh, Miss Nannie." And she leaned again on her broom and looked down on the floor.
I heaped up a little pile of pigments on one corner of my palette and flattened them for a high light on a fold in the satin gown.
"Who was Miss Nannie?" I asked carelessly. I was afraid the thread would break if I pulled too hard.
"One o" my chillen, honey." A peculiar softness came into her voice.
"Tell me about her. It will help me get her eyes right, so you can remember her better. They don"t look human enough to me anyhow" (this last to myself). "Where did she live?"
"Where dey all live--down in de big house. She warn"t Ma.r.s.e Henry"s real chile, but she come o" de blood. She didn"t hab dem kind o" shoes on her footses when I fust see her, but she wore "em when she lef" me.
Dat she did." Her voice rose suddenly and her eyes brightened. "An"
dem ain"t nothin" to de way dey shined. I ain"t never seen no satin slippers shine like dem slippers; dey was jes" ablaze!"
I worked on in silence. Marny had cautioned me not to be too curious.
Some day she might open her heart and tell me wonderful stories of her earlier life, but I must not appear too anxious. She had become rather suspicious of strangers since she had moved North and lost track of her own people, Marny had said.
Aunt Chloe picked up her pail and began moving some easels into a far corner of my studio and piling the chairs in a heap. This done, she stopped again and stood behind me, looking intently at the canvas over my shoulder.
"My! My! ain"t dat de ve"y image of dat frock? I kin see it now jes"
as Miss Nannie come down de stairs. But you got to put dat gold chain on it "fore it gits to be de ve"y "spress image. I had it roun" my own neck once; I know jes" how it looked."
I laid down my palette, and picking up a piece of chalk asked her to describe it so that I could make an outline.
"It was long an" heavy, an" it woun" roun" de neck twice an" hung down to de wais". An" dat watch on de end of it! Well, I ain"t seen none like dat one sence. I "clar" to ye it was jes" "s teeny as one o" dem lil biscuits I used to make for "er when she come in de kitchen--an"
she was dere most of de time. Dey didn"t care nuffin for her much. Let "er go roun" barefoot half de time, an" her hair a-fiyin". Only one good frock to her name, an" dat warn"t nuffin but calico. I used to wash dat many a time for her long "fore she was outen her bed. Allus makes my blood bile to dis day whenever I think of de way dey treated dat chile. But it didn"t make no diff"ence what she had on--shoes or no shoes--her footses was dat lil. An" purty! Wid her big eyes an" her cheeks jes" "s fresh as dem rosewater roses dat I used to snip off for ole Sam to put on de table. Oh! I tell ye, if ye could picter her like dat dey wouldn"t be n.o.body clear from here to glory could come nigh her."
Aunt Chloe"s eyes were kindling with every word. I remembered Marny"s warning and kept still. I had abandoned the sketch of the chain as an unnecessary incentive, and had begun again with my palette knife, pottering away, nodding appreciatingly, and now and then putting a question to clear up some tangled situation as to dates and localities which her rambling talk had left unsettled.
"Yes, suh, down in the blue gra.s.s country, near Lexin"ton, Kentucky, whar my ole master, Ma.r.s.e Henry Gordon, lived," she answered to my inquiry as to where this all happened. "I used to go eve"y year to see him after de war was over, an" kep" it up till he died. Dere warn"t n.o.body like him den, an" dere ain"t none now. He warn"t never spiteful to chillen, white or black. Eve"ybody knowed dat. I was a pickaninny myse"f, an" I b"longed to him. An" he ain"t never laid a lick on me, an" he wouldn"t let n.o.body else do"t nuther, "cept my mammy. I "members one time when Aunt Dinah made cake dat ole Sam--he war a heap younger den--couldn"t put it on de table "ca"se dere was a piece broke out"n it. Sam he riz, an" Dinah she riz, an" after dey"d called each other all de names dey could lay dere tongues to, Miss Ann, my own fust mist"ess, come in an" she say dem chillen tuk dat cake, an"
"tain"t nary one o" ye dat"s "sponsible." "What"s dis," says Ma.r.s.e Henry--"chillen stealin" cake? Send "em here to me!" When we all come in--dere was six or eight of us--he says, "Eve"y one o" ye look me in de eye; now which one tuk it?" I kep" lookin" away,--fust on de flo"
an" den out de windy. "Look at me," he says agin. "You ain"t lookin", Clorindy." Den I cotched him watchin" me. "Now you all go out," he says, "and de one dat"s guilty kin come back agin." Den we all went out in de yard. "You tell him," says one. "No, you tell him;" an"
dat"s de way it went on. I knowed I was de wustest, for I opened de door o" de sideboard an" gin it to de others. Den I thought, if I don"t tell him mebbe he"ll lick de whole pa.s.sel on us, an" dat ain"t right; but if I go tell him an" beg his "umble pardon he might lemme go. So I crep" "round where he was a-settin" wid his book on his knee,"--Aunt Chloe was now moving stealthily behind me, her eyes fixed on her imaginary master, head down, one finger in her mouth,--"an" I say, "Ma.r.s.e Henry!" An" he look up an" say, "Who"s dat?" An" I say, "Dat"s Clorindy." An" he say, "What you want?" "Ma.r.s.e Henry, I come to tell ye I was hungry, an" I see de door open an" I shove it back an"
tuk de piece o" cake, an" maybe I thought if I done tole ye you"d forgib me."
""Den you is de ringleader," he says, "an" you tempted de other chillen?" "Yes," I says, "I spec so." "Well," he says, lookin" down on de carpet, "now dat you has perfessed an" beg pardon, you is good an"
ready to pay "tention to what I"m gwine to say." De other chillen had sneaked up an" was listenin"; dey "spected to see me git it, though dere ain"t nary one of "em ever knowed him to strike "em a lick. Den he says: "Dis here is a lil thing,--dis stealin a cake; an" it"s a big thing at de same time. Miss Ann has been right smart put out "bout it, an" I"m gwine to see dat it don"t happen agin. If you see a pin on de fl"or you wouldn"t steal it,--you"d pick it up if you wanted it, an"
it wouldn"t be nuffin, "cause somebody th"owed it away an" it was free to eve"body; but if you see a piece o" money on de fl"or, you knowed n.o.body didn"t th"ow dat away, an" if you pick it up an" don"t tell, dat"s somethin" else--dat"s stealin", "cause you tuk somethin" dat somebody else has paid somethin" for an" dat belongs to him. Now dis cake ain"t o" much "count, but it warn"t yourn, an" you oughtn"t to ha" tuk it. If you"d asked yo"r mist"ess for it she"d gin you a piece.
There ain"t nuffin here you chillen doan" git when ye ask for it." I didn"t say nuffin more. I jes" waited for him to do anythin" he wanted to me. Den he looks at de carpet for a long time an" he says:--
""I reckon you won"t take no mo" cake "thout askin" for it, Clorindy, an" you chillen kin go out an" play agin.""
The tears were now standing in her eyes.
"Dat"s what my ole master was, suh; I ain"t never forgot it. If he had beat me to death he couldn"t "a" done no mo" for me. He jes" splained to me an" I ain"t never forgot since."
"Did your own mother find it out?" I asked.
The tears were gone now; her face was radiant again at my question.
"Dat she did, suh. One o" de chillen done tole on me. Mammy jes" made one grab as I run pas" de kitchen door, an" reached for a barrel stave, an" she fairly sot--me--afire!"
Aunt Chloe was now holding her sides with laughter, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks.
"But Ma.r.s.e Henry never knowed it. Lawd, suh, dere ain"t n.o.body round here like him, nor never was. I kin "member him now same as it was yisterday, wid his white hair, an" he a-settin" in his big chair. It was de las" time I ever see him. De big house was gone, an" de colored people was gone, an" he was dat po" he didn"t know where de nex"
mouf"ful was a-comin" from. I come out behind him so,"--Aunt Chloe made me her old master and my stool his rocking-chair,--"an" I pat him on the shoulder dis way, an" he say, "Chloe, is dat you? How is it yo"
looks so comf"ble like?" An" I say, "It"s you, Ma.r.s.e Henry; you done it all; yo" teachin" made me what I is, an" if you study about it you"ll know it"s so. An" de others ain"t no wus". Of all de colored people you owned, dere ain"t nary one been hung, or been in de penitentiary, nor ain"t knowed as liars. Dat"s de way you fotch us up."
"An" I love him yet, an" if he was a-livin" to-day I"d work for him an" take care of him if I went hungry myse"f. De only fool thing Marster Henry ever done was a-marryin" dat widow woman for his second wife. Miss Nannie, dat looks a lil bit like dat chile you got dere before ye"--and she pointed to the canvas--"wouldn"t a been sot on an"
"bused like she was but for her. Dat woman warn"t nuffin but a harf-strainer noway, if I do say it. Eve"body knowed dat. How Ma.r.s.e Henry Gordon come to marry her n.o.body don"t know till dis day. She warn"t none o" our people. Dey do say dat he met her up to Frankfort when he was in de Legislater, but I don"t know if dat"s so. But she warn"t nuffin, nohow."
"Was Miss Nannie her child?" I asked, stepping back from my easel to get the better effect of my canvas.
"No suh, dat she warn"t!" with emphasis. "She was Ma.r.s.e Henry"s own sister"s chile, she was. Her people--Miss Nannie"s--lived up in Indiany, an" dey was jes"s po" as watermelon rinds, and when her mother died Ma.r.s.e Henry sent for her to come live wid him, "cause he said Miss Rachel--dat was dat woman"s own chile by her fust husband--was lonesome. Dey was bofe about de one age,--fo"teen or fifteen years old,--but Lawd-a-ma.s.sy! Miss Rachel warn"t lonesome "cept for what she couldn"t git, an" she most broke her heart "bout dat, much"s she could break it "bout anything.
"I remember de ve"y day Miss Nannie come. I see her comin" down de road totin" a big ban"box, an" a carpet bag mos"s big"s herse"f. Den she turned in de gate. ""Fo" G.o.d," I says to ole Sam, who was settin"