Table of

te direction from the quarters. It was out in an open field, but a narrow strip of

uring the last ginning season they had gone down once with Mammy to "ride on the gin," but had soon abandoned that amusement to play housekeeping on the lumber, and have the little squares for rooms. They had of

eaning-up in the nursery and the children had been sent into the yard to play, C

thing, an' Mammy won't never know it, 'cause

ike the boy in my blue book, who went off fishin' when his mo

e bad little chil'en in the Bible; and tain't no Injuns in this country, an' tain't no snakes nor lizards till summer-time, an' all the cows is out in the past

, ef we don't mind our

y on the lumber, neither. Please come, Diddie, we'll have such a fun, an' nothin' can't h

n. Dilsey was then despatched to the nursery to bring the dolls, and Chris ran off to the wood-pile

for they followed the little girls everywhere, and they would be too much trouble on this occasion, si

at, while the other children were to go as fast as they could down the avenue and wait for he

Diddie came running down the road, and b

ring him?" asked Dum

die, "but he won't hurt: he'll just eat gr

ves jus' dreadful, an' I don't want ter g

u always wanted to be er playin' with him; an' now, jes 'cause he ain't pretty, you don't want him to come anywhere, nor have no fun nor nothin'; yes-he shall come; an' ef that's t

way, and were soon on the lumber-pile. Diddie at once opened her hotel. Chris was the chambermaid, Riar was the waiter, and Dilsey was the man to take the omnibus

s, as Dilsey came up rolling the wheelb

for her little daughters, and a large cotton-stalk for her little boy, took a seat

name, madam?

he guest, "an' this is my little b

ie; "who ever heard of anybody bein' named

n' else," said Dumps; "I

shington?" said Diddie, who was now studying a child's

as assigned apartments, and Chris was sent up with refreshments, composed o

cked face, and a rag body that had once sported a china head, and now had no head of any kind; but i

ot, as Diddie received her, "

ur name?" a

evidently never thought of a name, and had suddenly de

name for folks," said Diddie. "Let's play

t, shaking her hand up and down, and saying, "Ting-er-ling-ting-er-ling-ting-er-ling!" That was the dinner-bell, and they all assembled around a table that Riar had improvised out

laid eyes on the mud cake

' ter be the cook, an' m

mud takes," said Miss Unker Bill, and the

ot to be stoppin' at the hotel, an' I t

rsisted Dumps, an' Tot can be the folks

d the hotel seemed in imminent danger of being closed

man what writ ter Miss Diddie in er letter dat he was er co

quarters to help cook; an' we'll make out Ole Billy is some great general or somethin', an' we'

sed at that idea, and Diddie imme

ou all to go right into the kitchen an' make pies an' cakes." And so the whole party adjourned to a little ditch where mud and w

e, and lovely cakes all iced with white sand, and bits of grass laid around the

es in the ditch, with her sleeves rolled up, and her fat little arms muddy to the elbows; "

come?" said Diddie; "we wouldn't

ved bad at all; he ain't butted nobody,

mudball that she had moulded with her own littl

ed to the hotel to arrange the table. But after the table was set

d fotch 'im hyear in de omnibus. I wush we'd a let

dy to take up for her pet; "he's rael gentle now, an' he's quit buttin';

and accordingly the omnibus was dispatched for Lord Burgoyne, who was quiet

ccompanied Dilsey and Chris with the omnibus, as she had more influence over Old Billy than anybody else. He came now at once to her side, and rub

with all her might to gain the lumber-pile, he took after her, and catching up with her just as she reached the gin-house, placed his head in the middle of her back, and sent her sprawling on her face. Diddie and Chris had by this time regained their feet, both of them very muddy, and Chris with her face all scratched from the roots and briers in the ditch. Seeing Old Billy occupied with Dilsey, they started in a run for the

BIL

List of Il

em; Diddie, however, was only half-way up, so he made a run at her, and butted her feet from under her, and threw her back to the ground. This time he hurt her very much, for her head struck against the lumber, and it cut a gash in her forehead and made the blood come. This alarme

t of his reach, devoted his entire time and attention to her, and her only safety was in lying flat

od was trickling down from the gash in her forehead, and Chris was all scratched and dirty, and her eyes smarted from the sand in them. So it was a disconsolate little group that sat h

s, "an' now I spec' we'll hafter stay here al

himself, an' ef you hadn't made us run away fum Ma

stayed at home. You're all time pettin' 'im an' feedin' 'im-hateful old thing-tell he thinks he's got ter go ev'ywhere we

glad he was here jes now, to be Lord Burgoyne: he's jes doin' this fur f

e children never to give orders to each other's

b nuf'n ter do wi

e's suggestion of having him driven away. "Get down this minute, an'

disobedience to their mistresses); "she'll hatter whup me, caze I ain't gwine ter hab nuf'n t

id Diddie; "he ain

up hyear long o' Miss Tot, like Mammy tell me. I 'longs to her,

igilance was unabated, and the children were very miserable, when they he

red all of the li

yer?" cal

ed the children; and soon Mammy

m. The children were delighted to see her now, and so, indeed, seemed Old Billy, for, quitting his position at Dilsey's head, h

-stalk at Old Billy. "Gwuf fum yer, I tell you! I ain't bodern' you. I jes

d lady went backwards. At this the children, who loved Mammy dearly, set up a yell, and Mammy, still waving the co

Billy, being master of the situation, stood his ground, and I dare say Mammy would have been lying there yet, but fortunately Uncle Sambo and Bill, the wagon

y more," said Diddie, as Mammy cam

eep, an' I won'er what you kinky-head niggers is fur, ef yer can't keep de chil'en in de yard: come

but she put a piece of court-plaster on Diddie's head, and kissed all of the dirty little fac

etter quit dem ways yer got, er runnin' off an' er gwine in de mud, an' er gittin' yer cloes tor'd, an' er gitt

o bed quite happy, while Mammy seated herself in her rocking-chair, and entertained