name him Christopher Columbus, 'cause if he hadn't
discovered America there wouldn't er been no people hyear, an' I
wouldn't er had no father nor mother, nor dog, nor nothin': an', Dumps,
sposin' you name yours Pocahontas, that was er _beau-ti-ful_ Injun
girl, an' she throwed her arms 'roun' Mr. Smith an' never let the
tomahawks kill 'im."

"I know I ain't goin' to name mine no Injun," said Dumps, decidedly.

"Yer right, Miss Dumps; now yer's er talkin'," said Riar; "I wouldn't
name 'im no Injun; have 'im tearin' folks' hyar off, like Miss Diddie
reads in de book. I don't want ter hab nuffin 'tall ter do wid no
Injuns; no, sar! I don't like dem folks."

"Now, chil'en, de dogs is 'sleep," said Mammy, yawning and rubbing her
eyes; "go ter bed, won't yer?"

And the little girls, after laying the puppies in the box and covering
them with an old shawl, were soon fast asleep. But there was not much
sleep in the nursery that night; the ungrateful little dogs howled and
cried all night. Mammy got up three times and gave them warm milk, and
tucked them up in the shawl; but no sooner would she put them back in
the box than they would begin to cry and howl. And so at the
breakfast-table next morning, when Dumps asked her papa to tell her
something to name her puppy, Diddie gravely remarked,

"I think, Dumps, we had better name 'um Cherubim an' Seraphim, for they
continually do cry."

And her papa was so amused at the idea that he said he thought so too;
and thus the puzzling question of the names was decided, and the little
woolly poodles were called Cherubim and Seraphim, and became great pets
in the household.

CHAPTER II.

CHRISTMAS ON THE OLD PLANTATION.

Christmas morning, 1853, dawned cold and rainy, and scarcely had the
first gray streak appeared when the bolt of the nursery was quietly
turned, and Dilsey's little black head peered in through the half-open
door.

"Chris'mus gif', chil'en!" she called out, and in a twinkling Diddie,
Dumps, and Tot were all wide awake, and climbing over the side of the
bed. Then the three little sisters and Dilsey tip-toed all around to
everybody's rooms, catching "Chris'mus gif';" but just as they were
creeping down stairs to papa and mamma two little forms jumped from
behind the hall door, and Riar and Chris called out, "Chris'mus gif'!"
and laughed and danced to think they had "cotch de white chil'en."

As soon as everybody had been caught they all went into the sitt