A Woman Rice Planter

by Elizabeth W. Allston Pringle

"Yes," I answered, "and I was greatly pleased."

"Well," he went on, "I did that because if you do what grown-up people tell you not to do, God don't like it, an' he'll surely make you stump your toe."

I could not help laughing, it was so funny, his little bare feet are so battered and bruised by stones and roots; but he got very angry, and let go his hold on the limb on which he sat, to gesticulate fiercely as he went on.

"That ain't nothin' to laugh at, its puffectly true! An' if you're a grown man an' won't mind Him an' do wrong, He might make you break your neck, but if you're a boy, he'll only jes' make you stump your toe."

I was so afraid that in the earnestness of his gesticulations he would fall from the high limb that I became solemn at once and said how pleased I was that he was so wise and realized that evil doing always brought its own punishment. At the same time I begged him to hold on, as it was necessary to take proper precautions not to get hurt as well as to do what was right. As "Seven" fell from that same limb and split his tongue two days before I arrived, I was truly thankful when the little preacher got down safe and sound.

The last time the boys stayed with me at Cherokee Chloe nicknamed them the doctor, the lawyer, and the preacher, and the names seem to suit. I was walking with "Eight," the doctor, yesterday afternoon and as we flew along, for I walk fast, he threw his arms out and exclaimed:—

"Oh, I just wish I had all the money in the world."

I was quite shocked. "Oh, my dear boy, what makes you wish for money? You have everything you want."

He answered: "Didn't you see that poor old daddy, all ragged and dirty? He has an awful foot, I saw it, and I gave him a dime the other day, but if I had all the money, I'd load up my pockets with big bills and as I went along the streets and I saw him, I'd just slip a fifty-dollar bill out of my pocket and into his hand and say, 'Shut your hand quick, old uncle, here's fifty dollars; go get your leg cured and buy all you want.' And then I'd run on quick before he knew who it was. And you see that poor, thin, pale-faced little girl coming out of the factory? I'd do the same to her, and walking just as fast as we are now I'd just give everybody that looked needing it, a good big bill! Now wouldn't that be jolly? And wouldn't I be happy!"

I told him if he ever wanted to do that he would have to work hard at his arithmetic, over which he has so much trouble, for there was no chance of ever making headway in the world without conquering that—which seemed to put arithmetic in a new light to him.