Bill Gray, he was a eddycated man, but de res', dey was
just plain old ex-slave darkies an' didn't know nothing. Bill Gray, he
used to be de slave of a captain on a steamboat on de ribber. He was
sorter servant to he mars on de boat where he stayed all the time. The
captain used to let him git some eddycation. Darkies, dey never last
long in de courthouse. Dey soon git 'em out.
"I gwine tell you somepin else dat is done changed er lot since I was
comin' up. Dat is, de signs what de folks used to believe in dey don't
believe in no more. Yet de same signs is still here, an' I sure does
believe in 'em 'cause I done seen 'em work for all dese years. De Lawd
give de peoples a sign for all things. De moon an' de stars, dey is a
sign for all them what can read 'em an' tells you when to plant de
cotton an' de taters an' all your crops. De screech owls, dey give er
warnin' dat some one gwine to die. About de best sign dat some person
gwine die 'round close is for a cow to git to lowin' an' a lowin'
constant in de middle of de night. Dat is a sign I hardly is ever seen
fail an' I seen it work out just a few weeks ago when old Aunt Dinah
died up de road. I heered dat cow a lowin' an' a lowin' an' a walkin'
back an' forth down de road for 'bout four nights in a row, right past
Aunt Dinah's cabin.
Pages:
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149