n'ence in de Lord. I'm er goin' ter
pray."

Diddie and Dilsey thought this a wise move, and, the three children
kneeling down, Dumps began,

"Now, I lay me down to sleep."

And just at this moment Mr. Smith, returning from the field, was
surprised to hear a voice proceeding from the house, and, stepping
lightly to the window, beheld, to his amazement, the three children on
their knees, with their eyes tightly closed and their hands clasped,
while Dumps was saying, with great fervor,

"If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take;
An' this I ask for Jesus' sake."

"Amen!" reverently responded Diddie and Dilsey; and they all rose from
their knees much comforted.

"I ain't 'fraid uv him now," said Dumps, "'cause I b'lieve the Lord'll
he'p us, an' not let Mr. Tight-fis' Smith git us."

"I b'lieve so too," said Diddie; and, turning to the window, she found
Mr. Smith watching them.

"Are you Mr. Tight-fis' Smith?" asked Diddie, timidly.

"I am Mr. Smith, and I have heard that I am called '_tight_-fisted' in
the neighborhood," he replied, with a smile.

"Well, we are Major Waldron's little girls, Diddie and Dumps, an' this
is my maid, Dilsey, an' we've come ter see yer on business."

"On business, eh?" replied Mr. Smith, stepping in at the low window.
"Well, what's the business, little ones?" and he took a seat on the side
of the bed, and regarded them curiously. But here Diddie stopped, for
she felt it was a delicate matter to speak to this genial,
pleasant-faced old man of cruelty to his own slaves. Dumps, however, was
troubled with no such scruples; and, finding that Mr. Smith was not so
terrible as she had feared, she approached him boldly, and, standing by
his side, she laid one hand on his gray head, and said:

"Mr. Smith, we've come ter beg you please not ter whup Uncle Pomp if he
comes back. He is runned erway, an' me an' Diddie know where he is, an'
we've ben feedin' him, an' we don't want you ter whup him; will you
please don't?" and Dumps's arm slipped down from the old man's head,
until it rested around his neck; and Mr. Smith, looking into her eager,
childish face, and seeing the blue eyes filled with tears, thought of
the little faces that long years ago had looked up to his; and, bending
his head, he kissed the rosy mouth.

"You won't whup him, will you?" urged Dumps.

"Don't you think he ought to be punished for running away and staying
all this time, when I needed him in th