“‘Pear lack Shadrach sho gwine plum crazy ’twixt de mizry an’ de noises, an’ de hoodoo git ter work quick, fur ter pull de debil outen Shadrach, so’s Shadrach mought git he soul back.
“IN DE SHAPE UV ER BIG JACK-RABBIT”
“Shadrach lay on de flo’ er de cabin, des er-rollin’ an’ er-groanin’. Dey done pour hot lard an’ er whole bottle er laud’num in he years widout doin’ any good, an’ de hoodoo try ter fling de debil out in de name er de jackass, de el’phunt, de owl—ever’thing dat he kin think uv dat got big years; but de debil hain’t come outen him yit.
“Den de hoodoo taken him inter de woods an’ call de name uv er long-yeared houn’ dat passin’ by, but hit hain’t dat.
“De hoodoo workin’ mighty hard, an’ he stop an’ steddy erwhile, an’ den he lead Shadrach, wid de thorns des er-t’arin’ uv he beard an’ he knees an’ he han’s, ober inter er thicket er blackberry-bushes, ter gib de debil er good chance ter kim out, ’case he sho arter him.
“He make de passes wid he han’s, an’ say de charm, an’ wait erwhile. De debil he see he chances done plum gone, an’ he hatter gib up de soul, ’case de hoodoo got him in er corner, an’ when he see dat, he des kim er-lopin’ outen Shadrach inter de blackberry-bushes, in de shape uv er big jack-rabbit wid great long years.
“Dey say dat ole Shadrach lib ter be er hundud an’ fifty year ol’er ’n he were, stone-blin’ an’ ’mos’ stone-deef; but he go ’bout powerful happy twel he die, an’ hain’t nebber git cuissome ’bout hearin’ things no mo’, ’case he done heared ernough ter las’ him.”
THE TAMING OF JEZRUL
It was a nine days’ wonder that Jezrul had ever taken a fancy to Lemuel’s Crecy, for Jezrul was Colonel Greene’s butler, as pompous, if not so rotund, as the Colonel himself, and Lemuel’s Crecy, as every one knew, had never done anything but pick cotton in her life.