"Well, I seen Brother 'Liphalet Hodges takin' him away from here in his buggy—"
"An' so you come down to see what was what, eh, so 's you could be the first to tell the neighbourhood?"
"Now, Miss Hester, you know that I
ain't one o' them that talks, but I do feel sich an interest in the pore motherless child, an' when I seen Brother Hodges a-takin' him away, I thought perhaps he was a-goin' to take him to raise."
"Well, Brother Hodges ain't a-goin' to take him to raise."
"Mercy sakes! Miss Hester, don't git mad, but who is?"
"I am, that 's who."
"Miss Prime, what air you a-sayin'? You shorely don't mean it. What kin you do with a child?"
"I kin train him up in the way he ought to go, an' keep him out o' other people's houses an' the street."
"Well, o' course, that 's somethin'," said Mrs. Martin, weakly.