winder. D'reckly in come
Emily Wornum, an' I wish I may die if I'd 'a know'd 'er if I'd saw 'er
anywheres else on the face er the yeth. She had this 'ere kinder
dazzled look what wimmen has airter they bin baptized in the water. I
helt my head high, but I kep' my eye on the battlin'-stick, an' if
she'd 'a made fight, I'll be boun' they'd 'a bin some ole sco'es
settled then an' thar if ole sco'es ken be settled by a frailin'. But,
bless your heart, they wa'n't never no cammer 'oman than what Emily
Wornum was; an' if you'd 'a know'd 'er, an' Mingo wa'n't here to b'ar
me out, I wish I may die if I wouldn't be afeared to tell you how ca'm
an' supjued that 'oman was, which in her young days she was a
tarrifier. She up an' says, says she--

"'Is Mizzers Bivins in?'

"'Yessum,' says I, 'she is that-away. An more 'n that, nobody don't
hafter come on this hill an' holler more 'n twicet 'thout gittin'some
kinder answer back. _Yessum!_ An' what's more, Mizzers Bivins is come
to that time er life when she's mighty proud to git calls from the
big-bugs. If I had as much perliteness, ma'am, as I is cheers, I'd ast you
to set down,' says I.

"She stood thar, she did, thes as cool as a cowcumber; but d'reckly she
ups an' says, says she--

"'Might I see my little gran'chile?' says she.

"'Oho, ma'am!' says I; 'things is come to a mighty purty pass when
quality folks has to go frum house to house a-huntin' up pore white
trash, an' a-astin' airter the'r kin. Tooby shore! tooby shore! Yessum,
a mighty purty pass,' says I."

I cannot hope to give even a faint intimation of the remarkable
dramatic fervour and earnestness of this recital, nor shall I attempt
to describe the rude eloquence of attitude and expression; but they
seemed to represent the real or fancied wrongs of a class, and to
spring from the pent-up rage of a century.

"I wa'n't lookin' fer no compermise, nuther," Mrs. Bivins continued. "I
fully spected 'er to flar' up an' fly at me; but 'stedder that, she
kep' a-stan'in' thar lookin' thes like folks does when theyer runnin'
over sump'n in the'r min'. Then her eye lit on some 'er the pictur's
what Deely had hung up on the side er the house, an' in pertic'lar one
what some 'er the Woruum niggers had fetched 'er, whar a great big dog
was a-watehin' by a little bit er baby. When she seen that, bless your
soul, she thes sunk right down on the floor, an' clincht 'er han's, an'
brung a gasp what looked like it might er bin the