What's that you say? "Fetch 'im along"? An' has she ast for 'im? Bless
the Lord! I say. But a couple of you 'll have to come help me loosen up
'fo' I can stir, doctor.
Here, you stan' on that side the quilt, whiles I stir my foot to the
flo' where it won't slip--an' Dicey--where's that nigger Dicey? You
Dicey, come on here, an' tromp on the other side o' this bedquilt till
I h'ist yo' young marster up on to my shoulder.
No, you don't take 'im, neither. I'll tote 'im myself.
Now, go fetch a piller till I lay 'im on it. That's it. And now git
me somethin' stiff to lay the piller on. There! That lapboa'd 'll do.
Why didn't I think about that befo'? It's a heap safeter 'n my ole
knee-j'ints. Now, I've got 'im secure. _Wait_, doctor--hold on! I'm
afeered you 'll haf to ca'y 'im in to her, after all. I'll cry ef I do
it. I'm trimblin' like ez ef I had a'ager, thess a-startin' in with
'im--an seein' me give way might make her nervious. You take 'im to her,
and lemme come in sort o' unconcerned terreckly, after she an' him've
kind o' got acquainted. Dast you hold 'im that-a-way, doctor, 'thout no
support to 'is spinal colume? I s'pose he _is_ too sof' to snap, but
I wouldn't resk it. Reckon I can slip in the other do' where she won't
see me, an' view the meetin'.
Yas; I 'm right here, honey! (The idea o' her a-callin' for me--an'
_him_ in 'er arms!) I 'm right here, honey--_mother!_ Don't min' me
a-cryin'! I'm all broke up, somehow; but don't you fret. I 'm right here
by yo' side on my knees, in pure thankfulness.
Bless His name, I say! You know he's a boy, don't yer? I been a holdin'
'im all day--'t least ever sence they dressed 'im, purty nigh a' hour
ago. An' he's slep'--an' waked up--an' yawned--an' snez--an' wunk--an'
sniffed--'thout me sayin' a word. Opened an' shet his little fist,
once-t, like ez ef he craved to shake hands, howdy! He cert'n'y does
perform 'is functions wonderful.
Yas, doctor; I'm a-comin', right now.
Go to sleep now, honey, you an' him, an' I'll be right on the spot when
needed. Lemme whisper to her thess a minute, doctor?
I thess want to tell you, honey, thet you never, even in yo' young days,
looked ez purty to my eyes ez what you do right now. An' that boy is
_yo' boy_, an' I ain't a-goin' to lay no mo' claim to 'im 'n to see thet
you have yo' way with 'im--you hear? An' now good night, honey, an' go
to sleep.
* * * * *
They wasn't nothin' lef for me to do but to come out here in this ol'
woodshed where nobody wouldn't see me ac' like a plumb baby.
An' now, seem like I _can't_ git over it! The idee o' me, fifty year
ol', actin' like this!
An' she knows it! An' she's got 'im--_a boy_--layin' in the bed
'longside 'er.
"Mother an' child doin' well!" Lord, Lord! How often I've heerd that
said! But it never give me the all-overs like it does now, some way.
Guess I'll gether up a' armful o' wood, an' try to act unconcerned--an'
laws-a-mercy me! Ef--to-day--ain't--been--Christmas! My! my! my! An' it
come an' gone befo' I remembered!
I'll haf to lay this wood down ag'in _an' think_.
I've had many a welcome Christmas gif' in my life, but the idee o' the
good Lord a-timin' _this_ like that!
Christmas! An' a boy! An' she doin' well!
No wonder that ol' turkey-gobbler sets up on them rafters blinkin' at me
so peaceful! He knows he's done passed a critical time o' life.
You've done crossed another bridge safe-t, ol' gobbly, an' you can
_afford_ to blink--an' to set out in the clair moonlight, 'stid o'
roostin' back in the shadders, same ez you been doin'.
You was to 've died by ax-ident las' night, but the new visitor thet's
dropped in on us ain't cut 'is turkey teeth yet, an' his mother--
Lord, how that name sounds! Mother! I hardly know 'er by it, long ez
I been tryin' to fit it to 'er--an' fearin' to, too, less'n somethin'
might go wrong with either one.
I even been callin' him "it" to myself all along, so 'feerd thet ef I
set my min' on either the "he" or the "she" the other one might take a
notion to come--an' I didn't want any disappointment mixed in with the
arrival.
But now he's come,--_an'_ registered, ez they say at the polls,--I know
I sort o' counted on the boy, some way.
Lordy! but he's little! Ef he hadn't 'a' showed up so many of his
functions spontaneous, I'd be oneasy less'n he mightn't have 'em; but
they're there! Bless goodness, they're there!
An' he snez prezac'ly, for all the world, like my po' ol' pap--a reg'lar
little cat sneeze, thess like all the Joneses.
Well, Mr. Turkey, befo' I go back into the house, I'm a-goin' to make
you a solemn promise.
You go free till about this time next year, _anyhow_. You an' me'll
celebrate the birthday between ourselves with that contrac'. You needn't
git oneasy Thanksgivin', or picnic-time, or Easter, or no other time
'twixt this an' nex' Christmas--less'n, of co'se, you stray off an' git
stole.
An' this here reprieve, I want you to understand, is a present from the
junior member of this firm.
Lord! but I'm that tickled! This here wood ain't much needed in the
house,--the wood-boxes 're all full,--but I can't _de_vise no other
excuse for vacatin'--thess at this time.
S'pose I _might_ gether up some eggs out 'n the nestes, but it'd look
sort o' flighty to go egg-huntin' here at midnight--an' he not two hours
ol'.
I dunno, either, come to think; she might need a new-laid egg--sof
b'iled. Reckon I'll take a couple in my hands--an' one or two sticks o'
wood--an' I'll draw a bucket o' water too--an' tote _that_ in.
Goodness! but this back yard is bright ez day! Goin' to be a clair, cool
night--moon out, full an' white. Ef _this ain't the stillest_ stillness!
Thess sech a night, for all the world, I reckon, ez the first Christmas,
when He come--
When shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel o' the Lord come down,
An' glory shone around--
thess like the hymn says.
The whole o' this back yard is full o' glory this minute. Th' ain't
nothin' too low down an' mean for it to shine on, neither--not even the
well-pump or the cattle-trough--'r the pig-pen--or even me.
Thess look at me, covered over with it! An' how it does shine on the
roof o' the house where they lay--her an' him!
I suppose that roof has shined that-a-way frosty nights 'fo' to-night;
but some way I never seemed to see it.
Don't reckon the creakin' o' this windlass could disturb her--or him.
Reckon I might go turn a little mo' cotton-seed in the troughs for them
cows--an' put some extry oats out for the mules an' the doctor's
mare--an' onchain Rover, an' let 'im stretch 'is legs a little. I'd like
everything on the place to know _he's_ come, an' to feel the diff'ence.
Well, now I'll load up--an' I do hope nobody won't notice the
_re_dic'lousness of it.
You say she's asleep, doctor, an' th' ain't nothin' mo' needed to be
did--an' yo' 're goin'!
Don't, for gracious sakes! go, doctor, an' leave me! I wont know what on
top o' the round earth to do, ef--ef--You know she--she might wake
up--or he!
You say Dicey she knows. But she's on'y a nigger, doctor. Yes; I know
she's had exper'ence with the common run o' babies, but--
Lemme go an' set down this bucket, an' lay this stick o' wood on the
fire, an' put these eggs down, so's I can talk to you free-handed.
Step here to the do', doctor. I say, doc, ef it's a question o' the size
o' yo' bill, you can make it out to suit yo'self--or, I'll tell you what
I'll do. You stay right along here a day or so--tell to-morrer or nex'
day, anyhow--an' I'll sen' you a whole bale o' cotton--an' you can sen'
back any change you see fit--or none--_or none_, I say. Or, ef you'd
ruther take it out in pertaters an' corn an' sorghum, thess say so, an'
how much of each.
But _what_? "It wouldn't be right? Th' ain't no use," you say? An'
you'll _shore_ come back to-morrer? Well. But, by the way, doctor, did
you know to-day was Christmas? Of co'se I might've knew you did--but _I_
never. An' now it seems to me like Christmas, an' Fo'th o' July, an'
"Hail Columbia, happy lan'," all b'iled down into one big jubilee!
But tell me, doctor, confidential--sh!--step here a leetle further
back--tell me, don't you think he's to say a leetle bit undersized?
Speak out, ef he is.
Wh--how'd you say? "Mejum," eh? Thess mejum! An' they do come even
littler yet? An' you say mejum babies're thess ez liable to turn out
likely an' strong ez over-sizes, eh? Mh-hm! Well, I reckon you
_know_--an' maybe the less they have to contend with at the start the
better.
Oh, thanky, doctor! Don't be afeered o' wrenchin' my wris'! A thousand
thankies! Yo' word for it, he's a fine boy! An' you've inspected a good
many, an' of co'se you know--yas, yas! Shake ez hard ez you like--up an'
down--up an' down!
An' now I'll go git yo' horse--an' don't ride 'er too hard to-night,
'cause I've put a double po'tion of oats in her trough awhile ago. The
junior member he give instructions that everything on the place was to
have a' extry feed to-night--an' of co'se I went and obeyed orders.
Now--'fo' you start, doctor--I ain't got a thing stronger 'n raspberry
corjal in the house--but ef you'll drink a glass o' that with me? (Of
co'se he will!)
She made this 'erself, doctor--picked the berries an' all--an' I raised
the little sugar thet's in it. Well, good-night, doctor! To-morrer,
shore!
Sh-h!
How that do'-latch does click! Thess like thunder!
Sh-h! Dicey, you go draw yo' pallet close-t outside the do', an' lay
down--an' I'll set here by the fire an' keep watch.
How my ol' stockin'-feet do tromp! Do lemme hurry an' set down! Seem
like this room's awful rackety, the fire a-poppin' an' tumblin', an'
me breathin' like a porpoise. Even the clock ticks ez excited ez I
feel. Wonder how they sleep through it all! But they do. He beats her
a-snorin' a'ready, blest ef he don't! Wonder ef he knows he's born into
the world, po' little thing! I reckon not; but they's no tellin'. Maybe
that's the one thing the good Lord gives 'em _to_ know, so's they'll
realize what to begin to study about--theirselves an' the world--how to
fight it an' keep friends with it at the same time. Ef I could giggle
an' sigh both at once-t, seem like I'd be relieved. Somehow I feel sort
o' tight 'roun' the heart--an' wide awake an'--
How that clock _does_ travel--an' how they all keep time, he--an'
she--an' it--an' me--an' the fire roa'in' up the chimbley, playin' a
tune all around us like a' organ, an' he--an' she--an' he--an' it--an'
he--an'--
Blest ef I don't hear singing--an' how white the moonlight is! They's
angels all over the house---an' their robes is breshin' the roof whilst
they sing--
His head had fallen. He was dreaming.
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