Wallace School and Conservatory - Oor Ain Folk Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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said she little Its inmates. But it was and Lijah her Dovie, the throat, showing her round dimpled neck. The soft rings of brown hair that curled about her forehead were wet and glistening. Her eyes were closed, her cheeks cold and pale. Get de kettle er hot water. Dicy, ordered Aunt Cindy. Stir yo ' se ' f. gal! Polly, fetch Lijah a swallow o ' pepper sass. Punch up de fiah. Sal. Po li ' l gal chile. Dere am ' t much bref lef m yo ' body, honey. ' Half an hour later the baby, lying on Aunt Cindy ' s lap, opened her blue eyes languidly, and looked at the wondering group gathered around her. Dar now! Aunt Cindy, comfortably, I gwine ter git her somefin ' ter eat, an ' den I be boun given ter be lively. The little creature pursed up her pretty mouth and began to whimper as her eyes went from face to face. But catching sight of Lijah, she smiled, reached out her hand and clasped one of his fingers. From that moment the baby grew and thrived in the water-girt cabin, from Aunt Cindy herself, down to Viny, the youngest child, adored her. to Lijah most of all that she clung with( all the strength of her baby heart never wearied of toting her around the crowded room. They called thinking of the Dove in the Bible. One morning, several months after the flood Aunt Cindy took some eggs to town. At the station of Win Church she saw a light carriage, drawn by two sleek horses. When she saw its owner she said, Dullaw! Ef dat ain ' hi ' Marse Jack Mannin ' ! Howdy. Marse Jack? The young man shook hands with her heartily. And then Aunt Cindy asked, An whar is you lef Miss Nannie? He said. Nannie is in the station. Go and see her. Aunt Cindy. The young woman who was seated m the little waiting room, threw herself, with a sob, into the arms of the faithful old soul who had nursed her when she was a baby. Oh, Mammy I Mammy! she moaned. What ' s de matter, honey? asked Aunt Cindy. The story which Mrs. Manning told through her tears was a sad one. She told her that her little baby girl, sleeping in her crib, had been carried away in the crib and was drowned in the flood. When Aunt Cindy had heard the description of the little baby girl she became very much excited and insisted that Mrs. Manning go with her to her cabin at once. It needed no coaxing to induce Mrs. Manning to go with her old nurse. When Mrs. Manning entered the cabin and saw Dovie, she sank to the floor with a cry of surprise and joy. Doan ' you be skeered, Marse Jack, said Aunt Cindy, she aint gwine ter die. Dat kin er joy doan ' kill. She laid the child in the mother ' s outstretched arms. Why, honey, I might er knowed dat dis baby b ' long ter we-all ' s fambly. Polly ain ' you got no manners? Fetch er chair fer Master Jack! I ain ' shout since de Win Church is tumble inter de flood but, I sholy is gwine to shout now. Glory! And the high triumphant cry of the old negress went echoing away like a trumpet tone on the clear morning air. B. S. ' 22. 33

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OOR AIN FOLK The Home and Heart of Aunt Cindy You. Lijah! called Aunt Cuidy from withui the cabin, ef you doan ' keep out ' n dat vvateh. I is sholy gwine ter war you ter plum frazzle. ' ass ' m. replied Lijah, contmumg to wiggle his small dusky body about m the water, and feeling with his toes for the ground, as he swung by the tips of his fingers from the gallery. But when his mother suddenly appeared in the doorway, with a well-sea- soned bunch of switches in her hand, he crawled, chuckling, up on the wet planks, and stretched himself there like a baby alligator in the warm noon-day sun. Three days before, the levee over on the big swollen river had broken, and the waters from the crevasse were swirling about Aunt Cmdy Washington ' s cabin, and rushing away, yellow and foaming, in an angry current that was cutting a huge channel for itself across the very heart of the country. From the cabin it looked like a vast sea. spreading as far as the eye could reach to the south and west. The first onslaught of the flood had carried away nearly all the cabins and houses scattered about the isolated negro settlement of Win Church; those that remained threat- ened every moment to topple over into the widening stream, on whose surface floated the forlorn majs of wreckage. — shingles, doors, window-shutters, odds and ends of house- hold goods, chicken coops, animals, living and dead, that told its own pitiful story of destruction. The inhabitants had been removed to a place of safety by relief boats. But Aunt Cindy had stoutly refused to abandon her cabin. De onderpinnin ' o ' dish yer cabin, she declared, ain lak de onderpinnin ' o ' dem yander triflin ' no- ' count cabins, caze Sol Washington, my ole man, is put dish yer cabin up wi ' his own hands befo ' he was tuk ' n ter glory, an ' I knows hits gwine ter stan ' ! The queer, ramshackle little structure which Uncle Sol Washington had put up with his own hands. had one room and a front gallery, and in ordinary times it sheltered Aunt Cindy, her four daughters. — Polly. Dicy. Sal. and Viny — and her one eleven year old boy. Lijah. Just now, however, it must be confessed, the cabin was somewhat crowded. A calf, which had drifted against the back door, and had been lifted in and warmed back to life, now trotted like a kitten m and out of the open door- way. A big flop-eared hound dog lay in a corner of the fireplace. A litter of pigs grunted m a corner. I clar ' ter goodness, said Aunt Cmdy. the second morning, as she fished out a coop of half-drowlied chickens, hits edzacktly lak de zark dat ole Noah done builded at de comman ' o ' de Lord! Lijah sunned himself in his wet clothes, now staring dreamily at the sky, now watching Polly, who was rescuing a box. Suddenly he scrambled to his feet, and gazed intently over the yellow sea. The next moment he plunged headlong into the water, where for a second he disappeared, then rose, spluttering and blowing. Polly ran for- sard. You Lije. she gasped, come out ' n dat water dis minute! Does you wanter drown yo ' self? Mammy gwine ter w ' ar you ter er — She stopped abruptly, her mouth wide open and her eyes dilated. Lijah was pushing his way slowly against the incoming waves. He caught a whitish mass from out of the rapid current. He turned with difficulty and labored back, pushing the drift before him. .As he came up. Polly, who had been too terrified to utter a word, seized him and drew him into the cabin. Then she looked down at the jetsam he had towed in, and gave a screech which brought Aunt Cindy, the girls, and the dog flying out. It was indeed a strange little craft which lay alongside the Zark — a tiny cradle, mattress, water-soaked and stained. Lying upon it under her pinned coverlet was a four or five months ' old girl baby, white and delicate as a snow drop. She was clad in a long white night-gown, which was open at 32

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■I fi ni OOR AIN FOLK . ' id4: UL| Elegy To Our Pigeons We had two hiidi at WallacL ' School One named Miss Cee, the other Miss Lue We rescued them from the roof one dav Thinlfing to save the pets would pay. On the second day Miss Cee ri ' ent Ti ' est We called on John to do his best By the aid of his ah ' avs handy broom He carried Miss Cee to an early tomb. Miss Lue was placed on the balcony high We never thought that she would die But Clara — the cruelest of her sex — Cut, with the scissors, the wee bird ' s necl(. And now our pets are lying at rest Bui we ' re awfully glad wc did our best And the liveliest dead foU(s you ever did see Are their walking spirits — Miss Lue and Miss Cee! E. T. 72. An Analysis Name Ann H.ll Miss Pratt Florence Mapes Dorothy Fink Naomi Schnener Audrey Know! ton Oillie Ross Miss Gee Clara Wallace Mrs. Fairbanks Sara Watts Ambition Artist To be a great harpist To teach music To make money To give lectures on etiquette Gossip Editor of Hicksville News To be world ' s greatest cellist Sawing wood Owner of Ross Champion Dog catcher Kennels Destination Barn painting The heavenly choir An organ grinder U. S. Mint To be choral director Opera singer To be judge To be a vamp .i4 Raring jays and warblers Salvation .Army soloist Referee in Nursery Snake charmer