llow. "And did he
know how they was goin' to look when he made 'em? That man that
catched me up, why, how he must feel!"

"He was very kind," said aunt Madge, trembling as she thought of the
child's danger. "O Prudy, did you thank him?"

"No, I didn't," replied Prudy. "I didn't know as he could hear any
thing. O, mayn't I go up to the jispy Pines to-morrow and thank him?"

"We'll see; but now it's time you went to sleep."

"Well, I will," said Prudy, "I'll go in a minute; but, auntie, he's
good, ain't he? He ain't black _all_ through?"

"He's quite a good man," answered aunt Madge, trying not to smile,
"and has had a great deal of trouble. I can't stop to tell you, and
you wouldn't understand; but I dare say he has cried ever so much,
Prudy, and felt worse than you can think, all because he is black; and
some people don't like black men."

"I should think they'd be ashamed," cried the child. "Why, _I_ love
him, 'cause he can't wash it off! Mayn't I put him in my prayer?"

Then Prudy had to get out of bed and kneel down and say her prayer
over again. It followed the Lord's Prayer, and was in her own words:--

"O God, please bless every body. Bless all the big children, and the
little children, and the little mites o' babies. And bless all the men
and ladies that live in the whole o' the houses."

And now she added,--

"And won't you please to bless that black man that catched me up, and
bless all the black folks, forever, amen."

CHAPTER XIV

THE ANGEL-BABY

The beautiful summer was passing away very fast. Only a few days more
till autumn. A little longer, and the cousins must separate; so, for
the time that was left, they clung all the more closely together.

I have called it a beautiful summer; so it was, but there is one
sorrowful thing I have not said much about. There was one trouble
which always made the children feel sad when they stopped to think of
it.

While they were playing in the hay-field, or taking supper "up in the
trees," now and then they would hear the tired cry of the darling sick
baby.

Then Grace would clasp her hands together in her quick way, and say,--

"O dear, dear, I wish the doctor would get Harry well."

"Poh!" said Horace, "the doctors they have East ain't no 'count, are
they, though, Gracie?"

"Of course they don't know so much as Dr. De Bruler," replied Grace,
very decidedly.

"I'll tell you how they make doctors," spoke up little Prudy; "they
take a man