' 'Den,'
says Mars Milburn, 'I needn't say to ye, P'ofessor Buzzard, dat dis
little bell will be very pleasin' to yo' refine taste.' Wid dat he takes
a little piece o' wire an' fastens de tea-bell to de bird's foot an'
says, 'Buzzard, let me hear ye play!' De buzzard flew and de bell
tinkled, an' all de other buzzards hear some'in' like de cowbell on de
dead cow dey picked yisterday, an' dey says, 'Who's dat a flyin' heah?
Maybe it's a cow's ghose!' So dey up, all scart, an' cross'd de bay; an'
de buzzard wid a bell haint had no company sence, becoz he stole a
talent he didn't have, and it made everybody oncomfitable."
"I've heard about Meshach belling a buzzard," said Roxy, "but they say
he's got something on his foot, too, like a hoof--a clove foot. Did you
ever see it, Samson?"
"He never tuk his foot off," said the negro, warily, "to let me see it.
Dat bell on de buzzard, gals, is like white beauty in a colored skin; it
draws white men and black men, like quare music in de air, but it makes
de pale gal lonesome. She can't marry ary white man; she despises black
ones."
The shrewd lover had touched a chord of young pain in the hearts of both
those delicate quadroons. Both were so nearly white that the slight
corruption increased their beauty, rounded their graceful limbs,
plumpened their willowy figures, gave a softness like mild night to
their expressive eyes, and blackened the silken tassels of their elegant
long hair.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267