y tole
him thar was once a big man, Hamilton, an' when Mandy Ann had twin boys,
she was tole to call 'em Alexander an' Aaron,--sumptin',--I doan justly
remember what. It makes me think of a chestnut.'

"'Burr,' I suggested, and he replied, 'Yes, sar, dat's it,--Aaron
Burr,--anoder big man,--an' dey calls de twins Alex and Aaron. Fine
boys, too, wid Mandy Ann's get-up in 'em. Dar's two mo' twins,--little
gals; beats all what a woman Mandy Ann is for twins,--an' she calls 'em
Judy and Dory,--one for young Miss, an' t'other for de rag doll lil
chile took norf wid her and called Judy, for an ole woman who has gone
to de Canaan she used to sing about--"Oh, I'se boun' for de lan' of
Canaan." She was powerful in pra'r, an' at de fust meetin' after de wah,
an' she knew she was free, I b'lieve you could of hearn her across de
lake to Sanford, she shout "Glory, bress de Lawd!" so loud. But for all
she was free, she wouldn't leave ole Miss Thomas. "I likes my mistis,
an' I ain't gwine to leave her wid somebody else to comb her har, an'
make her corn bread," she said, when dey tried to persuade her to go to
Palatky. She staid wid ole Miss, who buried her decent, an' has gone
herself to jine her an' Miss Dory in de better land, which seems to me
is not far away; an' offen, when I sees de sun go down in a glory of red
an' purple an' yaller,--I'se mighty fond of yaller,--I says to myself,
"It's dat way dey goes to de udder world, whar, please God, I'll go some
day fore berry long,--for I tries to be good."

"There was a rapt look in Jake's face as he turned it to the west, and I
would have given much to know that my future was as assured as his."

Here the first part of Mr. Mason's letter closed abruptly, as a friend
came to call, but he added hastily, "To-morrow I'll finish, and tell you
about the child who now occupies all Jake's thoughts, praying every day
that he may see her again."

CHAPTER X

PART SECOND OF REV. MR. MASON'S LETTER

"I was interrupted yesterday, and hardly know where to begin again, or
what I have written, as Jake was a little mixed and went forward and
back at times, showing that his memory was, as he said, leaky, but when
he struck the child he was bright as a guinea. 'Lil Chile' and 'Honey
Bee' he calls her. He told me of her running into the house to meet the
Colonel, with her soiled frock, and her face and hands besmeared with
molasses; of her tussle with Mandy Ann, who wanted to wash her face