odgement, and then proceeded:

"He wuz so wuthless at home, I hired him out to ole Mis' Twine for fo'
dollars an' a half a mont'--an' more'n he wuth, too!--to see ef po'
white ooman kin git any wuck out'n him. A po' white ooman kin git
wuck out a nigger ef anybody kin, an' 'twuz down dyah that he got had
foolishness lodgicated in he haid. You see, ole Mis' Twine warn' so fur
f'om Wash'n'n. Nigger think ef he kin git to Wash'n'n, he done got in
heaven. Well, I hire him to ole Mis' Twine, 'cuz I think she'll keep
P'laski straight, an' ef I don' git but one fo' dollars an' a half f'om
him, hit's dat much; but 'pear like he got to runnin' an' consortin'
wid some o' dem urr free-issue niggers roun' dyah, an' dee larne him mo'
foolishness'n I think dee able; 'cuz a full hawg cyarn drink no mo'."

The old fellow launched out into diatribes against the "free issues,"
who, he declared, expected to be "better than white folks, like white
folks ain' been free sense de wull begin." He, however, shortly returned
to his theme.

"Well, fust thing I knowed, one Sunday I wuz settin' down in my house,
an' heah come P'laski all done fixed up wid a high collar on, mos'
high as ole master's, an' wid a better breeches on 'n I uver wear in my
_life_, an' wid a creevat! an' a cane! an' wid a seegar! He comes in de
do' an' hol' he seegar in he han', sort o' so" (illustrating), "an' he
teck off he hat kine o' flourishy 'whurr,' an' say, 'Good mornin', pa
an' ma.' He mammy--_dat_ she--monsus pleaged wid dem manners; she ain'
know no better; but I ain' nuver like nobody to gobble roun' _me_, an' I
say, 'Look heah, boy, don' fool wid me; I ain' feelin' well to-day,
an' ef you fool wid me, when I git done wid you, you oon feel well
you'self.' Den he kine o' let he feathers down; an' presney he say he
warn me to len' him three dollars an' a half. I ax him what he warn do
wid it, 'cuz I know I ain' gwine len' to him--jes well len' money to a
mus'-rat hole;--an' he say he warn it for a tunament.

"'Hi!' I say, 'P'laski, what air a tunament?' I mecked out, you see, like
I ain' recognizated what he meck correspondence to; an' he start to say,
'A tunament, pa--' but I retch for a barrel hoop whar layin' by kine
o' amiable like, an' he stop, like young mule whar see mud-puddle in de
road, an' say, 'A tunament--a tunament is whar you gits 'pon a hoss wid
a pole, an' rides hard as you kin, an' pokes de pole at a ring, an'--'
When he gets right dyah, I int