'Tworn't very long afore I gut upon the nest o'

Pomp;

I come acrost a kin' o' hut, an', playin' round the door,

Some little woolly-headed cubs, ez many'z six or

more.

At fust I thought o' firin', but think twice is safest ollers ;

There aint, thinks I, not one on 'em but's wuth his twenty dollars,

Or would be, ef I hed 'em back into a Christian

land,

How temptin' all on 'em would look upon an auction-stand!

(Not but wut I hate Slavery in th' abstract, stem to starn,

I leave it ware our fathers did, a privit State con

sarn.)

Soon'z they see me, they yelled an' run, but Pomp wuz out ahoein'

A leetle patch o' corn he hed, or else there aint no knowin'

He wouldn't ha' took a pop at me; but I hed gut the start,

An' wen he looked, I vow he groaned ez though he'd broke his heart;

He done it like a wite man, tu, ez natʼral ez a

pictur,

The imp'dunt, pis'nous hypocrite! wus 'an a boy

constrictur.

"You can't gum me, I tell ye now, an' so you needn't try,

I 'xpect my eye-teeth every mail, so jest shet up," sez I.

"Don't go to actin' ugly now, or else I'll jest let

strip,

You'd best draw kindly, seein' 'z how I've gut ye on the hip;

Besides, you darned ole fool, it aint no gret of a disaster

To be benev❜lently druv back to a contented master, Ware you hed Christian priv❜ledges you don't seem quite aware of,

Or you'd ha' never run away from bein' well took care of;

Ez fer kin' treatment, wy, he wuz so fond on ye, he

said

He'd give a fifty spot right out, to git ye, 'live or

dead;

Wite folks aint sot by half ez much; 'member I

run away,

Wen I wuz bound to Cap'n Jakes, to Mattysqum

scot bay;

Don' know him, likely?

mean ole codger went

Spose not; wal, the

An' offered-wut reward, think? Wal, it worn't no less 'n a cent."

Wal, I jest gut 'em into line, an druv 'em on afore

me,

The pis'nous brutes, I'd no idee o' the ill-will they bore me;

We walked till som'ers about noon, anʼ then it grew so hot

I thought it best to camp awile, so I chose out a spot Jest under a magnoly tree, an' there right down I

sot;

Then I unstrapped my wooden leg, coz it begun to chafe,

An' laid it down 'long side o' me, supposin' all wuz

safe
;

I made my darkies all set down around me in a

ring,

An' sot an' kin' o' ciphered up how much the lot would bring;

But, wile I drinked the peaceful cup of a pure heart an' mind,

(Mixed with some wiskey, now an' then,) Pomp he snaked up behind,

An' creepin' grad'lly close tu, ez quiet ez a mink, Jest grabbed my leg, and then pulled foot, quicker 'an you could wink,

An', come to look, they each on 'em hed gut behin' a tree,

An Pomp poked out the leg a piece, jest so ez 1 could see,

An' yelled to me to throw away my pistils an' my gun,

Or else thet they'd cair off the leg, an' fairly cut

an' run.

I vow I didn't b'lieve there wuz a decent alligatur Thet hed a heart so destitoot o' common human

natur;

However, ez there worn't no help, I finally give in An' heft my arms away to git my leg safe back

agin.

Pomp gethered all the weapins up, an' then he come an' grinned,

He showed his ivory some, I guess, an' sez, "You're fairly pinned;

Jest buckle on your leg agin, an' git right up an

come,

'Twun't du fer fammerly men like me to be so long from hum.”

At fust I put my foot right down an' swore I wouldn't budge.

"Jest ez you choose," sez he, quite cool, "either be shot or trudge.”

So this black-hearted monster took an' act'lly druv me back

Along the very feetmarks o' my happy mornin track,

An' kep' me pris'ner 'bout six months, an' worked me, tu, like sin,

Till I hed gut his corn an' his Carliny taters in; He made me larn him readin', tu, (although the crittur saw

How much it hut my morril sense to act agin the law,)

So'st he could read a Bible he'd gut; an' axed ef I could pint

The North Star out; but there I put his nose some out o' jint,

Fer I weeled roun' about sou'west, an', lookin' up a

bit,

Picked out a middlin' shiny one an' tole him thet wuz it.

Fin❜lly, he took me to the door, an', givin' me a

kick,

Sez," Ef you know wut's best fer ye, be off, now, double-quick;

The winter-time's a comin' on, an', though I gut ye cheap,

You're so darned lazy, I don't think you're hardly wuth your keep ;

Besides, the childrin's growin' up, an' you aint jest the model

I'd like to hev 'em immertate, an' so you'd better toddle!"

Now is there any thin' on airth'll ever prove to me Thet renegader slaves like him air fit fer bein' free?

D'you think they'll suck me in to jine the Buff'lo chaps, an' them

Rank infidels thet go agin the Scriptur❜l cus o Shem?

Not by a jugfull! sooner'n thet, I'd go thru fire an water;

Wen I hev once made up my mind, a meet'nhus

aint sotter;

No, not though all the crows thet flies to pick my bones wuz cawin',

I guess we're in a Christian land,

Yourn,

BIRDOFREDUM SAWIN.

[Here, patient reader, we take leave of each other, I trust with some mutual satisfaction. I say patient, for I love not that kind which skims dippingly over the surface of the page, as swallows over a pool before rain. By such no pearls shall be gathered. But if no pearls there be (as, indeed, the world is not without example of books wherefrom the longest-winded diver shall bring up no more than his proper handful of mud), yet let us hope that an oyster or two may reward adequate perseverance, If neither pearls nor oysters, yet is patience itself a gem worth diving deeply for.

It may seem to some that too much space has been usurped by my own private lucubrations, and some may be fain to bring against me that old jest of him who preached all his hearers out of the meeting-house save only the sexton, who, remaining for yet a little space, from a sense of official duty, at last gave out also, and, presenting the keys, humbly requested our preacher to lock the doors, when he should have wholly relieved himself of his testimony. I confess to a satisfaction in the self act of preaching, nor do I esteem a discourse to be wholly thrown away even upon a sleeping or unintelligent auditory. I cannot easily believe that the Gospel of Saint John, which Jacques Cartier ordered to be read in the Latin tongue to the Canadian savages, upon his first meeting with them, fell altogether upon stony ground. For the earnestness of the preacher is a sermon apprecia