I hain't seen nobody but her an'
dese yer people, sence I was tuk."
"Ha!" exclaimed the dejected mulatto, "that's a favorite feat of Patty
Cannon. She is the only woman ever seen at a threshing-floor who can
stand in a half-bushel measure and lift five bushels of grain at once
upon her shoulders, weighing three hundred pounds."
"I ain't half dat," Samson smiled, quietly, "an' she handled me, shore
enough. You remember, Jimmy, when I leff you by ole Spring Hill church,
to go an' git a woman on a little wagon to show me de way to Laurel?"
"Why, it was only yisterday, Samson!"
"Dat was de woman, Jimmy. She was a chunky, heavy-sot woman, right purty
to look at, an' maybe fifty year ole. She was de nicest woman mos' ever
I see. She made me git off my mule an' ride in de wagon by her, an' take
a drink of her own applejack--she said she 'stilled it on her farm. She
said she knowed Judge Custis, an' asked me questions about Prencess
Anne, an' wanted me to work fur her some way. We was goin froo a pore,
pine country, a heap wuss dan Hardship, whar Marster Milburn come outen,
an' hadn't seen nobody on de road till we come to a run she said was
named de Tussocky branch, whar she got out of de wagon to water her
hoss. At dat place she come up to me an' says, 'Samson, I'll wrastle
you!' 'Go long,' says I, 'I kin't wrastle no woman like you.' 'You got
to,' she says, swearin' like a man, an' takin' holt of me jess like a
man wrastles.
Pages:
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377