"
"Indeed you could," the housewife said; "we are not of the same age, but
white people don't read a pass very careful."
"How I would love anybody that could get me such a pass!"
"I have given my word of honor that I will never lend it. Much as I like
to help my color to freedom, I cannot break my word. To-morrow I have to
go into Delaware with my pass to nurse a lady."
"You attend the sick, Mrs. Hudson?"
"Yes, I have a kind of call that way, Miss Virgie. Ever since I was a
girl I pulled herbs and tried them on myself, and studied 'tendin' on
people, watchin' their minds, that is so much of sickness, and how to
wrap and rub them. My husband oysters down in the inlets. Here is his
wagon."
"The Lord remember you in need, dear Mrs. Hudson."
The old wagon, an open thing, to peddle oysters and fish, was driven
across the town to the south, and soon was in the open country, going
towards Virginia. A smell of salt bay seemed in the air; the hawks'
nests in dead trees indicated the element that subsisted everything, and
the trees in the fields were often lordly in size, though sand and small
oak and pine woods were seldom out of sight. As they turned into a lane
near a little roadside place of worship, a young white man rode by on
horseback, and, seeing Virgie, reined in and shouted,
"Purty, purty, purty as peaches and cream! Ole Virginny blood is in them
eyes, by the Ensign!"
The colored man muttered, "Go 'long, Mr.
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