“I kin almos’ see sweet little Ham playin’ wid dem gre’t musisioners. Kin anybody see Ho Ho? Not ef he wuz uh Chine er Japne, kase dey wudn’ ’low no sech music ez dat dem days, when de Petracks made de laws.”
Now, Zacharyhy he only name fo’ pussons—(I’m readin’ fum de Book ub Zacharyhy)—an’ all de names ’ceppin’ Ho Ho’s cummenc’ wid de letter “b.” He lubbed “b” so much, wonder he didn’ name Ho Ho Bo Bo. I s’pose Brer Damon wud call Bochim, Bill-hah, Be-Tah, Beth-Sham an’ Belzebub Chine er Japne. Well, I reckon de lars one wuz Chine. Leab you alone, Brer Danridge, you’d meck rat-eaters ub all de saints.
“Obid, de pa ub Jesse, is only spoke ub uh few times in de Bible; how-some-ebber, he wuz uh gran’ man, an’ he gre’t-gre’t-gre’t-gre’t granpa wuz Ram.”
Damon—“Ras, you mean Sham.”
“No, I don’; I mean Ram! I reckon I bin readin’ an’ westigatin’ de Bible ez well ez Brer Damon, an’ I wan’ ter tell him when C’lumbus ’sciver’d Americy he ’sciver’d Talbot County befo’ he did Kyarline County. I s’pose you’d call Obid uh Chine?
“Ho Ho is only mentioned once in Zacharyhy’s narration, but think what er gre’t man he wuz, fuh de vus say, ‘Ho Ho, cum forth an’ flee fum de lan’ ub de North, saith de Lawd: fuh I hab spread you abroad (jes see what condidence Zacharyhy had in him) as de fo’ winds ub de heaben, saith de Lawd.’
“In dem days de fo’ winds mus’ uh all blow’d Souf, kase Zacharyhy tells him ‘Ter flee fum de lan’ ub de Norf.’
“My erpinion is dat Ho Ho wuz de nick name fuh one ub de Petracks, fuh I once heah Mars Pinckney say in uh sermon dat Ab’ham, Isaac er Jacob, I fogit which, dwelt in de Souf country.
“Zacharyhy knew how ter spressify hissef. ’Tain’ no use mentionin’ gre’t people all de time. Damon nose how ter spressify hissef sometimes, but not ter night. He wudn’ interjuice Rash-nal, Pus-nal, Horace, Shakespeare, an’ all sorts ub animals’ tails in dis rebate, ef’n he wan’t skeetin’ [skating] on thin ice, an’ fustyfied.
“Mo’n dat, is da any pusson heah dat s’poses Zacharyhy, whose Pa wuz uh king, would put all dat condidence in uh Japne er Chine?