ed the barriers of
the grave. In another moment Mrs. Bivins was brushing the crumbs from
her lap, and exchanging salutations with her neighbours and
acquaintances; and a little later, leading her grandchild by the hand,
she was making her way back to the church, where the congregation had
begun to gather.

III.

FOR my own part, I preferred to remain under the trees, and I soon
found that this was the preference of Mingo. The old man had finished
his dinner, and sat at the foot of a gigantic oak, gazing dreamily at
the fleecy clouds that sailed across the sky. His hands were clasped
above his head, and his attitude was one of reflection. The hymn with
which the afternoon services were opened came through the woods with a
distinctness that was not without a remote and curious suggestion of
pathos. As it died away, Mingo raised himself slightly, and said, in a
tone that was intended to be explanatory, if not apologetic--

"Miss F'raishy, ef she ain't one sight, den I ain't never seed none. I
s'pec' it seem sorter funny ter you, boss, but dat w'ite 'oman done had
lots er trouble; she done had bunnunce er trouble--she sholy is! Look
mighty cu'us dat some folks can't git useter yuther folks w'at got
Fergiuny ways, but dat's Miss F'raishy up en down. Dat's her, sho! Ole
Miss en ole Marster dey had Ferginny ways, en Miss F'raishy she
wouldn't 'a staid in a ten-acre fiel' wid urn--dat she wouldn't. Folks
wa't got Ferginny ways, Miss F'raishy she call um big-bugs, en she git
hos_tile_ w'en she year der name call. Hit's de same way wid niggers.
Miss F'raishy she hate de common run er niggers like dey wuz pizen. Yit
I ain't makin' no complaints, kaze she mighty good ter me. I goes en I
suns myse'f in Miss F'raishy back peazzer all day Sundays, w'en dey
ain't no meetin's gwine on, en all endurin' er de week I hangs 'roun'
en ploughs a little yer, en hoes a little dar, en scratches a little
yander, en looks arter ole Miss' gran'chile. But des let 'n'er nigger
so much ez stick der chin 'cross de yard palin's, en, bless yo' soul,
you'll year Miss F'raishy blaze out like de woods done cotch afire."

Mingo paused here to chuckle over the discomfiture and alarm of the
imaginary negro who had had the temerity to stick his supposititious
chin over the fence. Then he went on--

"I dunner whar Miss F'raishy git do notion 'bout dat chile a-faverin'
er de Wornums, kaze she de ve'y spit en image er ole Miss, en ole Miss
wuz a full-blood