an' her niggers wuz all dar, an' she wuz well an'
strong, an' good an' happy. Jes' like she wush fur de po' folks, an' de
sick folks, de Lord he fixed it jes dat way fur her. He fixed all dat
hisse'f."

CHAPTER IV.

OLD BILLY.

The gin-house on the plantation was some distance from the house, and in
an opposite direction from the quarters. It was out in an open field,
but a narrow strip of woods lay between the field and the house, so the
gin-house was completely hidden.

Just back of the gin-house was a pile of lumber that Major Waldron had
had hauled to build a new pick-room, and which was piled so as to form
little squares, large enough to hold three of the children at once.
During the last ginning season they had gone down once with Mammy to
"ride on the gin," but had soon abandoned that amusement to play
housekeeping on the lumber, and have the little squares for rooms. They
had often since thought of that evening, and had repeatedly begged Mammy
to let them go down to the lumber pile; but she was afraid they would
tear their clothes, or hurt themselves in some way, and would never
consent.

So one day in the early spring, when Mammy and Aunt Milly were having a
great cleaning-up in the nursery and the children had been sent into
the yard to play, Chris suggested that they should all slip off, and go
and play on the lumber pile.

"Oh yes," said Dumps, "that will be the very thing, an' Mammy won't
never know it, 'cause we'll be sho' ter come back befo' snack-time."

"But something might happen to us, you know," said Diddie, "like the boy
in my blue book, who went off fishin' when his mother told him not to,
an' the boat upsetted and drownded him."

"Tain't no boat there," urged Dumps; "tain't no water even, an' I don't
b'lieve we'd be drownded; an' tain't no bears roun' this place like them
that eat up the bad little chil'en in the Bible; and tain't no Injuns in
this country, an' tain't no snakes nor lizards till summer-time, an' all
the cows is out in the pasture; an' tain't no ghos'es in the daytime,
an' I don't b'lieve there's nothin' ter happen to us; an' ef there wuz,
I reckon God kin take care of us, can't he?"

"He won't do it, though, ef we don't mind our mother," replied Diddie.

"Mammy ain't none of our mother, and tain't none of her business not to
be lettin' us play on the lumber, neither. Please come, Diddie, we'll
have such a fun, an' nothin' can't hurt us. If you'll come, we'll let