ds as she bestowed upon me the first
ten dollars. It was not that she loved money so well, but she thought
this was another form of my father's unwise indulging and spoiling of
me; and that I was spoiled already. But I--I saw in a vision a large
harvest of joy, to be raised from this small seed crop.

At first I thought I must lay out a few shillings of my stock upon a
nice purse to keep the whole in. I put the purse down at the head of
the list of things I was making out, for purchase the first time I
should go to Baytown, or have any good chance of sending. I had a
good deal of consideration whether I would have a purse or a
pocket-book. Then I had an odd secret pleasure in my diplomatic way of
finding out from Darry and Maria and Margaret what were the wants most
pressing of the sick and the old among the people; or of the
industrious and the enterprising. Getting Darry to talk to me in my
rides, by degrees I came to know the stories and characters of many of
the hands; I picked up hints of a want or a desire here and there,
which Darry thought there was no human means of meeting or gratifying.
Then, the next time I had a chance, I brought up these persons and
cases to Maria, and supplemented Darry's hints with her information.
Or I attacked Margaret when she was making my fire, and drew from her
what she knew about the parties in whom I was interested. So I
learned--and put it down in my notebook accordingly--that Pete could
spell out words a little bit, and would like mainly to read; if only
he had a Testament in large type. He could not manage little print; it
bothered him. Also I learned, that Aunt Sarah, a middle-aged woman who
worked in the fields, "wanted terrible to come to de Sabbas meetin's,
but she war 'shamed to come, 'cause her feet was mos' half out of her
shoes; and Mr. Ed'ards wouldn't give her no more till de time come
roun." Sarah had "been and gone and done stuck her feet in de fire for
to warm 'em, one time when dey was mighty cold, and she burn her
shoes. Learn her better next time."

"But does she work every day in the field with her feet only half
covered?" I asked.

"Laws! she don't care," said Maria. "'Taint no use give dem darkies
not'ng; dey not know how to keep um."

But this was not Maria's real opinion, I knew. There was often a
strange sort of seeming hard edge of feeling put forth which I learned
to know pointed a deep, deep, maybe only half-conscious irony, and was
in reality a b