Tar Heel Tales

by H. E. C. Bryant

“Did they put Grandpa in jail?” asked one of the excited children.

“No, honey, but dey mos’ done it. Marse John come back de very nex’ day, but he wuzn’t de same man. He done gut mad an’ all de res’ uv de white foks wid him. ’Deed, sir, dey wuz tired foolin’ wid dem cearpet-baggers, an’ Marse John make Tite git out uv his house de fust thing when he come back, an’ to tell de truf I didn’t blame him one bit, fur dat nigger wuz des so mean dat nobudy coul’ git on wid him. Ole Miss Jane wuz pow’ful sorry fur me but I had to go wid Tite. We rented a house fum a town man, an’ move in. We wuz back fum de road an’ ’way fum de white foks. I never seed sich a nigger es Tite; every day he wuz wusser dan de day befo’. Fum ’sociatin’ wid dem cearpet-baggers he gut high up. Dey done fill his ole kinky haid wid highferlutin’ talk an’ idees. Every udder night he wuz at some nigger meetin’, stayin’ till ’fo’ day in de mornin’. You woul’ never know when an’ where dey wuz gwine to meet but dere wuz all’ers lots uv ’em dere. Sometimes dey’d meet at my house an’ it woul’n’t hold ’em all. De way dem niggers talk when dey meet I des knowed somefin’ bad wuz boun’ to happen.

“Now an’ den, when Tite wuz off politicin’, I woul’ slip off an’ go see Miss Jane, an’ hear whut de white peoples wuz doin’. Den I beg Tite to let politicin’ ’lone an’ stay at home, but, no, sir, he knowed his bizness. His haid wuz sot on dat forty acres an’ de mule, an’ I coul’n’t do nuthin’ wid him.

“One day Miss Jane read fum de paper whut de Ku Kluxes wuz doin’ to niggers down in Souf Careliny. You know where ’tis: des over de line down here ’bout three mile? De piece say dat dey wuz comin’ dis way. She ’low dat de doin’s uv mean niggers wuz gwine to fetch ’em here.

“An’ let me tell you, chilluns, it wuzn’t long ’fo’ dey come an’ putty nigh skeered de niggers to deaf.

“But, ’fo’ dey come Tite done run plum mad on de subjec’ uv de ’lection. I beg him to stop dat foolin’ an’ go back to wuck, but he des go on lak he never heerd me. Why, honey, de fool nigger done ’gin to think he’s gwine to be Gov’ner. De wust ain’t come yit, fur one day a white man come ’long an’ giv’ Tite what he say wuz a deed fur Marse John’s mill place. Es he giv’ de paper to Tite he say: ‘Mr. Robinson (talkin’ to nobudy but Tite), here’s de deed to de mill place an’ you kin have it surveyed as soon as you laks, fur de ’lection is mos’ here an’ ’twon’t be long ’fo’ you kin git dem forty acres an’ de mule.’

“Tite, he take it an’ hide it under a rock. I seed him lookin’ at it, des lak he coul’ read, when he know he don’t know B fum bull-foot. One day, while Tite wuz in Charlotte, I slip de deed out fum under de log where he hid it, an’ took it over to Miss Jane an’ she say it read lak dis: ‘Es Samson lifted de serpent out uv de wilderness so I lifted dis po’ nigger out uv $5.’

“Tite done giv’ de man $5 fur drawin’ de deed, an’ he sho’ did think it wuz er deed fur de mill place, an’, ’cordin’ly, he an’ another nigger sneak down one day, while Ole Marster wuz in Souf Careliny, an’ lay off whut he want an’ put up rocks to mark de corners. Soon after de ’lection Tite an’ de yudder niggers uv de Robinson settlement wuz to go to town an’ git de mules an’, bein’ as Tite wuz a leader, he wuz gwine to have a fine hoss to boot. De cearpet-baggers done tell dem dat dey woul’ have several thousan’ mules fur de niggers in de county. ’Fo’ dat, one night, Tite done come in wid a long coat wid shiny buttons, an’ a stovepipe hat. You orter seed dat nigger how he swell ’roun’ ’fo’ me, but de mo’ he git fur nuthing de mo’ trouble I seed fur him. I ’spect’d trouble every day. It des look to me lak de worl’ wuz comin’ to de een. All de time Miss Jane kep’ tellin’ me ’bout de Kluxes comin’ nigher. An’, bless yo’ soul, honey, one mornin’ all de niggers ’long de big road wuz stirred up ’bout er percession dey had seed de night befo’. Dey say dat de bigges’ men dey ever see come ’long ridin’ camels lak dey have in de show. Whutever it wuz didn’t make no fuss but move easy des lak a cat after er rat. De mens coul’ stretch deyer necks way up in de trees, an’ drink a whole bucket uv water at a time.

“’Fo’ de day passed we heerd ’bout de same crowd goin’ to ole Joe Grier’s home an’ takin’ him out an’ beatin’ his back wid a buggy trace. Yes, sir, dey say it wuz a shame de way dey do dat nigger, but he’d been medlin’ des lak Tite. Dey kotch him makin’ a speech at one uv dem nigger meetin’s an’ dey bus’ his high hat (one lak Tite’s) all to flinders. An’ dey say when dey lef’ dere dat ole Tite Robinson wuz de nex’ nigger dey woul’ git. When Tite hear’ dat he git sorter shaky, but ’low, big lak, dat dey wuz foolin’ wid de wrong nigger. He make out lak he’s gwine to fite.