"Yes, sah," the woman answered, "he done live in Wilmin'ton all his life."
So Hamilton put down the birthplaces of the wife's parents and in the same fashion those of the husband, while the filling in of the columns for the parents of the child was simply a matter of copying.
"There's no need to find out about your naturalization then," he went on, "of course you're both Americans. And you both speak English," and he entered this also on the language column.
"What does your husband work at?" was the boy's next query.
"He's a gardener, sah."
"Odd jobs?"
"Oh, no, sah, in the big nu'sery here."
"On regular wages, then?"
"Yas, sah, nine dollahs a week."
"I don't have to put down how much he earns," the boy explained, "only to state whether he is paying wages, or being paid wages, or working on his own account.—But you must find it hard to get along on nine a week."