yo’ jes’ ought to a-heard de folks sayin’, ’Lawd! marster, dat boy’ll drap dat chile!’ ‘Naw, he won’t,’ sez marster; ’I kin trust ‘im.’  And den he sez:  ‘Now, Sam, from dis time you belong to yo’ young Marse Channin’; I wan’ you to tek keer on ’im ez long ez he lives.  You are to be his boy from dis time.  An’ now,’ he sez, ’carry ’im in de house.’  An’ he walks arfter me an’ opens de do’s fur me, an’ I kyars ‘im in my arms, an’ lays ‘im down on de bed.  An’ from dat time I was tooken in de house to be Marse Channin’s body-servant.

“Well, you nuver see a chile grow so.  Pres’n’y he growed up right big, an’ ole marster sez he must have some edication.  So he sont ‘im to school to ole Miss Lawry down dyar, dis side o’ Cun’l Chahmb’lin’s, an’ I use’ to go ’long wid ‘im an’ tote he books an’ we all’s snacks; an’ when he larnt to read an’ spell right good, an’ got ‘bout so-o big, old Miss Lawry she died, an’ old marster said he mus’ have a man to teach ‘im an’ trounce ’im.  So we all went to Mr. Hall, whar kep’ de school-house beyant de creek, an’ dyar we went ev’y day, ‘cep Sat’d’ys of co’se, an’ sich days ez Marse Chan din’ warn’ go, an’ ole missis begged ’im off.

“Hit wuz down dyar Marse Chan fust took notice o’ Miss Anne.  Mr. Hall, he taught gals ez well ez boys, an’ Cun’l Chahmb’lin he sont his daughter (dat’s Miss Anne I’m talkin’ about).  She wuz a leetle bit o’ gal when she fust come.  Yo’ see, her ma wuz dead, an’ old Miss Lucy Chahmb’lin, she lived wid her brurr an’ kep’ house for ‘im; an’ he wuz so busy wid politics, he didn’ have much time to spyar, so he sont Miss Anne to Mr. Hall’s by a ’ooman wid a note.  When she come dat day in de school-house, an’ all de chil’en looked at her so hard, she tu’n right red, an’ tried to pull her long curls over her eyes, an’ den put bofe de backs of her little han’s in her two eyes, an’ begin to cry to herse’f.  Marse Chan he was settin’ on de een’ o’ de bench nigh de do’, an’ he jes’ reached out an’ put he arm ‘roun’ her an’ drawed her up to ’im.  An’ he kep’ whisperin to her, an’ callin’ her name, an’ coddlin’ her; an’ pres’n’y she took her han’s down an’ begin to laugh.

“Well, dey ‘peared to tek’ a gre’t fancy to each urr from dat time.  Miss Anne she warn’ nuthin’ but a baby hardly, an’ Marse Chan he wuz a good big boy ‘bout mos’ thirteen years ole, I reckon.  Hows’ever, dey sut’n’y wuz sot on each urr an’ (yo’ heah me!) ole marster an’ Cun’l Chahmb’lin dey ’peared to like it ’bout well ez de chil’en.  Yo’ see, Cun’l Chahmb’lin’s place j’ined ourn, an’ it looked jes’ ez natural fur dem two chil’en to marry an’ mek it one plantation, ez it did fur de creek to run down de bottom from our place into Cun’l Chahmb’lin’s.  I don’ rightly think de chil’en thought ‘bout gittin’ married, not den, no mo’n I thought ‘bout marryin’ Judy when she wuz a little gal at Cun’l Chahmb’lin’s, runnin’ ‘bout de house, huntin’ fur Miss Lucy’s spectacles; but dey wuz good frien’s