Blue-Eyes and Battlewick, Chapters XVIII-XXIII [pp. 273-294]

Blue.Eyes and Battlewick.
dar eyes. I seen it a comin', and I know'd
ole Marster was gwine to give way to his
feelins. Tears was runnin fast down his
holler cheeks when he said:
"Mary, only poor men know who the
angels are."
"Wid dat he bowed hisself'pon de
table an' give right up, an' fo' I knowed
it Miss Ma'y, she was kneelin by his cheer,
an' her arm'roun his neck."
"I was weak a'most is Marster. I
could'n stand it. I throwd my apun over
my face an' run out in de yard, cryin fit
to break my heart. You Unc' Peter,
comin' in from de field', was skeered,
'cause he'eluded from de way I was
gwine on dat ole Marster was dead. Much
as I could do, holdin' him, to keep him
from gwine in to see.
"Marss Abum, I would'n a had him to
gone in dar for all de money in de worl'.
Dem two in dar-dem po' sick creturs
cryin for joy-who could a dar'd to intrup' um sich a time as dat? "An' dey
was happy, for all dar cryin.'Twas summer time, an' when it got warm good, an'
de grass dry, you Ma made a pallet under
a tree for ole Marster, an' he laid down
an' she read de Bible to him. Dey was
all in all to one nuther dat day, an' 1 nuvver has seen faces like thern was dat day.
A light dat don't b'long to dis worl' shined on um. When I passed by, gwine to
de house, dey praised me an' said what a
good girl I had bin, and' how'tentively I
minded de chile and waited on um; but,
seein it made me cry, dey stop'd and
did'n say no mo'."
"An' dat was de fust and las' time
Miss Ma'y uvver n'glected you, Marss
Abum. You play'd'bout in de yard; an'
come to de kitchen an' stayed wid me.
Miss Ma'y love you much is any Ma love
any chile, but for dat day I could'n blame
her-I'scused her.
'-Oh! Marss Abum, dat was a true
sayin uv you Pa-' only po' people knows
who de angels is.' Sposin we-all had had
plenty uv doctors an' nusses, an' sarvants,
an' fren's,'stid a bein way off from everybody, an' all de worl, to ourselves? Could
we bin sich fren's to one nuther, could we
loved one nuther so much, an' done so
much, an' showed sich goodniss an' warm
heart? No, my chile. Dar'd bin no'casion for it, an' it nuvver would a come
out, but'mained in us, and we nuvver
would a knowed what good qual'ties weall had; and what's mo', I'spec we nuvver would a had um,'cause they nuvver
would a growed, but stayed dead, like a
seed of corn whar gits no rain nor no sunshine for to give it a start."
"I don't know no great deal, Marsa
Abum, but I has often thought uv dat
day.'Twas mo' like Sunday den any
Sunday I uvver seen. An' it do'pear to
me dat de Lord have'ranged a plan how
to balance things in dis life. I'vises nobody to go into pov'ty hopin by it to git
happy, but it are certainly a fac' dat po'
folks has pleasures dat rich folks can't
have. and dem pleasures is many times
uv the highest and best kind, po'portioned to de troubles dey has to bar."
Long before she concluded, Abram had
yielded, and now a tenderness almost
womanly, was visible on his face, and his
eyes were wet under the fallen lids, as he
caught the old woman's wrinkled hand
and shook it, but would not trust himself
to speak, or to look at her.
Seeing his victim won over, Mr. hIardolde Wunwuld became furious, and began
to vituperate the old woman in a manner
out of all keeping with his eminently respectable and dignified character. He
cursed and swore, and called the old woman names that made Abram's blood boil.
But Abram could not strike him, because
Aunt Betty held him fast by the hand.
After Mr. HIardolde Wuhwuld had roared
out abuse until he was black in the face
and almost speechless, the subject of his
calumny quietly stepped forward and
answered him.
"You is a pitiful po' cretur. You has
deceived everybody untel you has deceived yourself. You reely thinks you is de
great man other folks thinks you is. But
you ain't. Now, I knows you, an' all
'bout you. You can't fool me, and you
has fooled my young Marster long nuf. I
'tends to ixpose you."
Abram was more surprised than pleas od to see what consternation this speech
from Aunt Betty produced in the respec table Hobgoblin. He was astonished to
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