He foun' it in de
grave."
"But you said this afternoon, aunty, that the Bad Man gave it to him."
"De debbil met him right dar," insisted Aunt Hominy, "in dat ole
obergrown churchyard, whar de hymns ob God used to be raised befo' de
debbil got it. He says to Meshach: 'I make you de sexton hyar. Go git de
spade out yonder, whar de dead-house used to be, an' dig among de graves
under de myrtle-vines, an' fin' my hat. As long as ye keep de Lord an'
de singin' away from dis yer big forsaken church, you may keep dat hat
to measure in eberybody's lan'.' So nobody kin sing or pray in dat
church. Nobody but Meshach Milburn ever prays dar. He goes dar sometimes
wid his Chrismas-giff on he head, an' prays to de debbil."
Thus does an unwonted fashion arouse unwonted visions, as if it brought
to the present day the phantoms which were laid at rest with itself, and
they walked into simple minds, and produced superstition there.
Aunt Hominy never was stimulated to inventions of this kind, but she
immediately absorbed them, and they became religious beliefs with her.
Her manner, highly animated by her terror and belief, produced more and
more superstition in the minds of the girls and children, and the
conversation fell off,--the little negroes wandering hither and thither,
unable to sleep, yet unable to attract sufficient attention from any
one, till Judge Custis, who had been waiting for hours for his creditor
to go, slipped down the back stairs in his old slippers, and came to the
kitchen among the colored people for company's sake.
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