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118 UNCLE TOM'S CABIN; OR
" Oh ! ou ! aw ! now, I want to know ? " said the good man, pitifully ; " sho ! now sho! That's natur now, poor crittur! hunted down now like a deer, — hunted down, jest for havin' natural feelin's, and doin' what no kind o' mother could help a-doin'! I tell ye what, these yer things make me come the nighest to swearin', now, o' most anything," said honest John, as he wiped his eyes with the back of a great, freckled, yellow hand. " I tell yer what, stranger, it was years and years before I 'd jine the church, 'cause the ministers round in our parts used to preach that the Bible went in for these ere cuttings up, — and I could n't be up to 'em with their Greek and Hebrew, and so I took up agin 'em, Bible and all. I never jined the church till I found a minister that was up to 'em all in Greek and all that, and he said right the contrary ; and then I took right hold, and jined the church, — I did now, fact," said John, who had been all this time uncorking some very frisky bottled cider, which at this juncture he presented.
" Ye 'd better jest put up here, now, till daylight," said he, heartily, " and I '11 call up the old woman, and have a bed got ready for you in no time."
"Thank you, my good friend," said the senator. "I must be along, to take the night stage for Columbus."
" Ah! well, then, if you must, I '11 go a piece with you, and show you a cross road that will take you there better than the road you came on. That road's mighty bad."
John equipped himself, and, with a lantern in hand, was soon seen guiding the senator's carriage towards a road that ran down in a hollow, back of his dwelling. When they parted, the senator put into his hand a ten-dollar bill.
" It's for her," he said, briefly.
" Ay, ay," said John, with equal conciseness.
They shook hands, and parted. |
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