u were allowed to run wild with the negroes,
but your name is William Green Hill and I shall insist upon your being
called by it."

She stooped to help him off with his coat, remarking as she did so,
"What a big overcoat; it is several sizes too large for you."

"Darned if 'tain't," agreed the child promptly.

"Who taught you such a naughty word?" she asked in a horrified voice.
"Don't you know it is wrong to curse?"

"You call that cussin'?" came in scornful tones from the little boy.
"You don't know cussin' when you see it; you jest oughter hear ole Uncle
Jimmy-Jawed Jup'ter, Aunt Cindy's husban'; he'll show you somer the
pretties' cussin' you ever did hear."

"Who is Aunt Cindy?"

"She's the colored 'oman what 'tends to me ever sence me an' Wilkes
Booth Lincoln's born, an' Uncle Jup'ter is her husban' an' he sho' is a
stingeree on cussin'. Is yo' husban' much of a cusser?" he inquired.

A pale pink dyed Miss Minerva's thin, sallow face.

"I am not a married woman," she replied, curtly, "and I most assuredly
would not permit any oaths to be used on my premises."

"Well, Uncle Jimmy-Jawed Jup'ter is jest nach'elly boon' to cuss,--he's
got a repertation to keep up," said Billy.

He sat down in a chair in front of his aunt, crossed his legs and smiled
confidentially up into her face.

"Hell an' damn is jest easy ev'y day words to that nigger. I wish you
could hear him cuss on a Sunday jest one time, Aunt Minerva; he'd sho'
make you open yo' eyes an' take in yo' sign. But Aunt Cindy don't 'low
me an' Wilkes Booth Lincoln to say nothin' 't all only jest 'darn' tell
we gits grown mens, an' puts on long pants."

"Wilkes Booth Lincoln?" questioned his aunt.

"Ain't you never hear teller him?" asked the child. "He's ole Aunt
Blue-Gum Tempy's Peruny Pearline's boy; an' Peruny Pearline," he
continued enthusiastically, "she ain't no ord'nary nigger, her hair
ain't got nare kink an' she's got the grandes' clo'es. They ain't
nothin' snide 'bout her. She got ten chillens an' ev'y single one of
'em's got a diff'unt pappy, she been married so much. They do say she
got Injun blood in her, too."

Miss Minerva, who had been standing prim, erect, and stiff, fell limply
into a convenient rocking chair, and looked closely at this orphaned
nephew who had come to live with her.

She saw a beautiful, bright, attractive, little face out of which big,
saucy, grey eyes shaded by long curling black lashes looked winningly
at her