"Mind, Miss Pashuns, I ain't tell yu fu' cut um till yu hab kump'ny."
So I said, "That is very wise, Chloe; put it away until we have company," and she removed it with great agility, but it was a disappointment, for I have got accustomed to having a great many nice things all the time recently. I know it is going to be hard to force myself back to the great economy I have felt necessary and practised for the past year.
June 16.
Rose at 5:20 o'clock and had breakfast early. That is one of the unexpected results of Chloe's travel; she is much earlier in the morning, which is a great comfort; that is the only cool time, and I am so anxious for Jim to get off to his work at 6:30 o'clock every day; it is much better for man and beast to start the ploughing very early, and then knock off for the hottest hours and plough again in the afternoon.
The season has been hard on all crops; a severe drought after the late frost, so that it was hard for seeds to come up. I have nice snap beans and corn from the garden and soon will have tomatoes. The cotton and corn in the field look poorly, the watermelons need work, but I hope they will be abundant.
Chloe's visit to New York is a subject of immense and unending interest to every one. She spends her time narrating to white and black all she has seen. She brought most carefully selected little presents for every one. How she managed I do not know.
Chloe was a great success at the North.
The truth is Chloe was a great success at the North; the height of her white turban, the width and length of her white apron, the classically disposed white kerchief crossed over her ample form, the large gold hoop earrings and her Mona Lisa smile as she dropped a curtsy to any guest appearing at the door of my sitting room at the St. Regis impressed those unaccustomed to it very much.