Mrs. G. (To Mary) We tole yer young man that looks so much like Fred Douglass not ta tell yer who we was.
J. Q. A. Marm won’t say “colored man.”
Mrs. G. No, I won’t; I’m sick o’ readin’ on’t in the newspapers. They’re allus sayin’ such a man, colored, had his leg took off, or died, or suthin’. What difference does it make, I should like to know, whether he’s colored or not! He’s hurt all the same, ain’t he? an’ he’s a man, tew, all the same, ain’t he?
Phus (aside). Golly! I shall bust!
Mary (to Mrs. G.). How long can you stay? a good while, I hope.
Hank (steps forward, drawls). I think we must start in about three weeks from Monday, if all the signs come right. (To Mary) You see the excursion don’t last only till then.
Mary (in surprise). We must start! What in the world does this mean?
Hank. Wal, you see, Leafy and me, we’ve been a-writin’ back and forth sence the cap’n told me I’d better; an’ she’s agreed to hev me, an’ go an’ live down to Nantucket. Grandfather’s old, and my marm wants me to come home an’ settle down an’ see to things. She says she’s tired o’ housekeeping, and wants to see some young folks round.
J. Q. A. (To L. J.). ’Fore I’d marry a cook! Anybody that feels as big as you do. Cookie Mudgitt! How are you, Mrs. Cookie Mudgitt!
Capt. G. Hold your yorp! Hundreds of big men hev ben cooks. There was the most worshipful G. M. of aour Masonic Lodge, he used to be cook in Annisport Jail, an’ now he’s a ’surance man, an’ lives in a tarnal big haouse. An’, then, there was a feller cooked on a ranch five year’, an’ they sent him to Congress.