'A chicken! what's that?'
'A thing that goes on tu legs, and karkles,' was the ready reply.
'Ah, my dear madam, you can out-talk me.'
'Yes, I reckon I kin outrun ye, tu. Ye ain't over rugged.' Then, after a pause, she added,—'What d'ye 'lect that darky Linkum for President for?'
'I didn't elect him. I voted for Douglass. But Lincoln is not a darky.'
'He's a mullater, then; I've heern he war,' she replied.
'No, he's not a mulatto; he's a rail-splitter.'
'Rail-splitter? Then he's a nigger, shore.'
'No, madam; white men at the North split rails.'
'An' white wimmin tu, p'raps,' said the woman, with a contemptuous toss of the head.