can print it in the _Review_."

To humor the old darky, the editor-in-chief took out his pencil and
note-book and waited for the story.

"Ah was down in ol' Mammy Lee's cabin the other day," he began, "becase
Ah wanted to talk to Mammy about somethin'."

"Went to have your fortune told, I suppose," put in Tom.

"No, Mistah Tom, no, Ah done hold with no tellin' of fortunes, but Mammy
she knows a heap an' can see more with her eyes shut than most folks
with them open. It was a mighty hot day an' the sun was a shinin' hot.
Ef it hadn't been that the sun was a shinin' so hot, Ah wouldn't have
this story to tell yo'."

He paused for effect and the boys drew closer. Dan'l was a famous
story-teller and his tales were always popular among the boys.

"Ah was standing in Mammy's cabin," he continued. "She was a sittin' in
her old rockin' chair in the sun right near that little table where she
keeps the big glass ball for tellin' fortunes."

"You mean her crystal?" put in the Forecaster.

"Yas, suh, Mistah Levin, her crystal. Mammy has two, the little one,
what she uses all the time an' the big one, which she doesn't use no
mo'. Ah was a sittin' on the other side o' the table, right by the
window, an' my hand was on the table. By and by, Ah felt my hand burnin'
as though some one had laid a match on it. Ah pulled away my hand but
thar wa'n't nothin' thar. Ah thought it queer, but Ah didn't say nothin'
and went on talkin'. By and by, leanin' forward to say some thin' mo' to
Mammy, Ah put my hand on the table again, an' suddenly, the back of my
hand began to burn as if de devil was standin' on it.

"Ah looked, an' Ah looked again, but thar wasn't nothin' thar but jes' a
spot o' sunshine, jes' so bright. An'it sho' was burning hot. Ah took my
hand away an' looked at the table. Yas, suh, it was burnin' hot. It's an
ol' table and in a sort o' ring jes' exactly the same shape as the ring
o' white stones that Mistah Anton put round his sun clock, thar was a
burned groove in the table. No wonder my hand got hot. If Ah'd have left
it there, there'd have been a hole burned right through my hand. Yas,
suh.

"Ah spoke to Mammy about it, and Mammy she says to me that in summer
time, when it's very hot, she has to throw a cloth over the crystal to
keep it from settin' the table on fire. In winter and in cloudy weather
thar ain't no heat at all. So Ah says to myself:

"'Dan'l, if a bright sun burns the table and a half-bright day sco