“I ain’t been here long, ’fo’ dey tell me dat de Little Marster—which dey call him Little Crotchet—is sorter ailin’, an’ I say ter myse’f dat I’ll go up sta’rs dar whar he stay at, an’ see him. So, atter while, up I goes, an’ sho’ nuff, dar wuz de Little Marster layin’ up dar readin’.
“He put down his book, he did, an’ look like he mighty glad ter see me, an’ he ax me what good fer deze here long-time pains in de legs; an’ I say I dunno, ’cep’n you have somebody to rub ’em. He ax me ef I won’t rub ’em; an’ I say tooby-shore I will, an’ glad to do it, an’ den I whirled in an’ rub ’em; an’ whiles I’m a-rubbin’ he ax me de names er all de presidencies er de Nunitin’ States whar we live at, an’ I say ef I ever know’d ’em I done fergitted ’em off’en my min’. Desso.
“An’ den, bless yo’ souls, he lay dar flat er his back, an’ call off de names er all de presidencies er de Nunitin’ States same ez ef he had ’em right dar in a book, an’ den when he done dat he tol’ me all ’bout John Henry Bonaparte an’ Mr. Benjamin Arnold, which he traded off his country fer a pa’r er shiny boots an’ a cocked hat.”
Buster John and Sweetest Susan laughed heartily at this, and Free Polly laughed in sympathy.
“Yes, honey, he lay dar flat er his back an’ tol’ me all de news. I dunner how long I sot dar, rubbin’ an’ noddin’, an’ lis’nin’ ter de Little Marster, tellin’ me all ’bout how de Nunitin’ State of Americus, Georgy, come up, an’ how he wuz skeer’d she wuz gwine down agin ef de folks up dar whar dey make laws did’n’ stop scandalizin’ an’ gwine on. I speck both un us must er drapt off ter sleep, kaze when I waked up, de candle had done burnted mos’ down. Bimeby de Little Marster say, ‘Polly Ann’—he call me Polly Ann fer short—‘Polly Ann, I smell smoke. What does you smell?’
“I say, ‘I smells smoke, too. I speck somebody burnin’ off a new groun’.’
“He say, ‘Polly Ann, dis ain’t de time er de year when dey burns off de new groun’.’
“I say, ‘Maybe somebody possum huntin’ drapt der torch an’ sot fire to de woods.’
“He say, ‘Polly Ann, dis ain’t de time er de year when dey hunts possums.’
“I say, ‘I dunner how come it den.’