OHNSTON

Illustrated by Mary G. Johnston and Amy M. Sacker

[Illustration: Publisher's crest]

Boston
L. C. Page and Company
(Incorporated)
Publishers
_Copyright, 1897_
by L. C. Page and Company
(Incorporated)
Thirteenth Impression, February, 1907
Fourteenth Impression, March, 1909
Fifteenth Impression, August, 1910
=Colonial Press:=
Electrotyped and Printed by C.H. Simonds & Co.
Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

TO
TWO TORMENTS WHOM I KNOW

[Illustration: Illustrations]

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
BUD AND IVY _Frontispiece_

JOHN JAY 2

"'WOT WE ALL GWINE DO NOW?'" 7

MARS' NAT 29

"A GROUP OF PRETTY GIRLS SAT ON THE PORCH" 37

"FILLED BOTH HIS HANDS" 41

UNDER THE APPLE-TREE 52

UNCLE BILLY 65

"THE GANDERS HAD CHASED HIM AROUND" 76

"GEORGE CAME OUT AND LOCKED THE DOOR" 93

"SAT ALONE BY THE CHURCH STEPS" 111

[Illustration: Cabin]

OLE MAMMY'S TORMENT.

CHAPTER I.

Uncle Billy rested his axe on the log he was chopping, and turned his
grizzly old head to one side, listening intently. A confusion of sounds
came from the little cabin across the road. It was a dilapidated negro
cabin, with its roof awry and the weather-boarding off in great patches;
still, it was a place of interest to Uncle Billy. His sister lived there
with three orphan grandchildren.

Leaning heavily on his axe-handle, he thrust out his under lip, and
rolled his eyes in the direction of the uproar. A broad grin spread over
his wrinkled black face as he heard the rapid spank of a shingle, the
scolding tones of an angry voice, and a prolonged howl.

"John Jay an' he gran'mammy 'peah to be havin' a right sma't difference
of opinion togethah this mawnin'," he chuckled.

He shaded his eyes with his stiff, crooked fingers for a better view. A
pair of nimble black legs skipped back and forth across the open
doorway, in a vain attempt to dodge the descending shingle, while a
clatter of falling tinware followed old Mammy's portly figure, as she
made awkward but surprising turns in her wrathful circuit of the crowded
room.

[Illustration: