"Ah's made a discovery," he said. "Mistah Fred, yo'-all wants to take notes of what I say, so's yo' can print it in the Review."
A | B |
C | D |
Pencil Drawings of Tornado in Dakota. For many years this was an authoritative series of pictures, andshows:—(A) Tornado becoming a waterspout;—(B) Tornado wrecking afarmhouse and barn, nothing but fragmentary timbers being thrownout;—(C) Tornado funnel rising from the ground;—(D) Successive funnelformations, with a second whirl reaching ground and sucking up a pillarof dust. Copyright by Sam W. Glenn, Courtesy of U. S. Signal Service. | |
To humor the old darky, the editor-in-chief took out his pencil and note-book and waited for the story.
"Ah was down in ol' Mammy Lee's cabin the other day," he began, "becase Ah wanted to talk to Mammy about somethin'."
"Went to have your fortune told, I suppose," put in Tom.
"No, Mistah Tom, no, Ah done hold with no tellin' of fortunes, but Mammy she knows a heap an' can see more with her eyes shut than most folks with them open. It was a mighty hot day an' the sun was a shinin' hot. Ef it hadn't been that the sun was a shinin' so hot, Ah wouldn't have this story to tell yo'."
He paused for effect and the boys drew closer. Dan'l was a famous story-teller and his tales were always popular among the boys.
"Ah was standing in Mammy's cabin," he continued. "She was a sittin' in her old rockin' chair in the sun right near that little table where she keeps the big glass ball for tellin' fortunes."
"You mean her crystal?" put in the Forecaster.
"Yas, suh, Mistah Levin, her crystal. Mammy has two, the little one, what she uses all the time an' the big one, which she doesn't use no mo'. Ah was a sittin' on the other side o' the table, right by the window, an' my hand was on the table. By and by, Ah felt my hand burnin' as though some one had laid a match on it. Ah pulled away my hand but thar wa'n't nothin' thar. Ah thought it queer, but Ah didn't say nothin' and went on talkin'. By and by, leanin' forward to say some thin' mo' to Mammy, Ah put my hand on the table again, an' suddenly, the back of my hand began to burn as if de devil was standin' on it.