owed by her
husband. 'Mars' Cap'n,' she said, 'can't I go home ef I choose?'

"'Certainly,' I said.

"'Dar, you nigga!' she said. 'I's gwine home dis bery day.'

"'But, Mars' Cap'n,' said the man, 'the minister said she was to lib
'long o' me fur allers.'

"'Oh,' I said, 'she wants to leave you?'

"'Jes' fo' sure I does! I'se gwine home: I done tired o' bein'
married, I is. I'se gwine back to ole missus.'

"'Does your husband treat you badly?' I asked.

"'Nebber, Mars' Cap'n,' said the man earnestly. 'I done make the fire
ebery mornin', an' cook her a hoecake 'long o' my own, so dat gal
sleep half de day. An' I done give her two pair earrings.'

"'What do you complain of?' I asked the bride.

"'Sho' now, Mars' Cap'n, I ain't a-complainin'; only I done tired o'
dat nigga, an' I'se gwine home.'

"It was wasted talk, I found afterward, that I spent in trying
to convince her of her duty to her husband. They left the office
together, but the bride disappeared, and the disconsolate husband
never found her, to my knowledge. One of the neighbors told me, 'He
jes' spiled dat gal, Mars' Cap'n, a-lettin' her have her own way all
de time. My ole woman ain't wuff shucks if I don't ware her out 'bout
onct a week.'

"'How do you wear her out?' I asked.

"'Jes' wif a stick, Mars' Cap'n. Women ain't good for nuffin' 'less
you give 'em a good warin' out when they gits sarsy.'

"And I found afterward that this man beat his wife till she fainted
about once a week. The best of the joke was, that when I remonstrated
with him the woman told me she 'didn't want no Bureau 'terference with
her ole man!'"

"But, Cap," I said, "you cannot defend the custom of tearing children
from their mothers?"

"No," he said gravely: "it hardened them. I have been as soft-hearted
as any man over the supposed maternal anguish of negro women, but I
assure you, old fellow, my own observation quite cured me. It may be
there are cases, such as we weep over in _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, but my
own experience shows not one. I think the custom of taking children
in infancy to put them in dozens under the care of old negresses past
work may be answerable for the indifference I have seen manifested by
negro mothers. I have known more than one case where the love of
a colored nurse for her white charge was strong as mother-love. I
remember one woman who came to me in a violent rage to ask if I could
not punish her mistress for striking her own child. The lit