ON TO FLORIDA
The clatter of the mule's hoofs, the rattle of the cart, and the yells
of the little colored boy on the animal's back made plenty of excitement
in the roadway of the cotton field. But besides all this there were the
calls of Mrs. Brown, the shouts and yells of the frightened colored men,
women and children, and the screams of Bunny Brown and his sister Sue.
"Good lan' ob massy!" exclaimed one big, fat, colored woman, as she
dropped her basket of cotton and rushed for a place of safety. "Dat
frisky li'l nigger suah will be splatter-dashed ef he fall offen dat
mule's back!"
And indeed it did look bad for the small colored boy.
"Over here, Sue! Come to me, Bunny!" cried Mrs. Brown. "Walter," she
called to her husband, "look out for Sam and Grace," for the Morton
children were with their friends from the North.
Mr. Brown, with a quick motion, pulled Sam and Grace out of danger as
the runaway mule, hauling the load of cotton, came nearer.
"Maybe Sam and I can stop him, Mother!" cried Bunny.
"Indeed and you'll do nothing of the sort!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown,
hurrying the children behind a row of cotton plants.
"Hi! Hi! Hi!" was all the little colored boy on the back of the runaway
mule could shout. "Hi! Hi!"
"Oh, can't some one save him?" cried Mrs. Brown.
"I'll try," answered her husband, who, having seen to it that Sam and
Grace were safe with Bunny and Sue, started out to try to head off the
mule. At the same time the shrieks of the colored women had called from
a distant part of the field several strong colored men, and one of these
ran toward the mule about the same time that Mr. Brown did.
But there was no need of any one getting worried. Before the mule could
be caught he stopped, and stopped so suddenly that the colored boy was
pitched off the animal's back. Down to the ground the dusky-skinned
child slipped, but, luckily enough, there was a pile of cotton here, and
it was on top of the fluffy stuff that he landed.
There he sat, a splotch of black in a heap of white, and he presented
such a funny picture that Sue and her brother burst out laughing. So did
Sam and Grace. And then Jim, the colored boy, finding that he was not
hurt, opened his mouth and shrieked in delight.
Some of the colored men came up and took charge of the mule, which they
led back to the shed whence he had run away. And one of the fat black
women waddled toward Jim on the heap of cotton.
"Look yeah, yo' li'l hunk ob sticky black 'lasses!" she cried. "Whut fo'
you want to git on dat mule's back an' scare yo' po' mammy 'most into a
conniption fit? Whut fo' you do dat, Jim St. Clair Breckinridge? Whut
fo', huh?"
"Ah didn't go fo' to do it, 'deed an' Ah didn't, Mammy!" said Jim, as he
arose. "Ah wuz jest leanin' ober to knock a fly often dat mule's back
an' Ah slipped an' fell on him. Den he started up, an' Ah couldn't nohow
git offen him!"
And this, it appeared, was how it had happened. The little colored boy
was playing around the shed where the darkies emptied their baskets of
cotton into a bin. There it was piled into the cart to be taken to the
gin. The boy had climbed up on a pile of boxes to make himself higher,
and in this position had seen a fly on the mule's back. Or at least that
is what Jim said.
At any rate, whether he tried to do the mule a kindness, or whether he
really intended to use the boxes as a stepping block to get up and take
a ride, Jim got on the animal's back, and this so alarmed the mule that
it started off, causing much excitement.
But no real harm had resulted, and no one was hurt, for the fluffy
cotton was even softer to fall on than a pile of hay. Jim was taken in
charge by his mother and made to help pick cotton the rest of the day.
Bunny and Sue liked it so much on the plantation, watching the
cotton-pickers and occasionally pulling up a few peanuts for themselves,
that I think they would have been willing to spend the rest of the
winter in that part of the sunny South.
"But my business here is almost finished," said Mr. Brown to his family
one evening as they sat in Mr. Morton's pleasant home. "We will soon go
on to Florida."
"And eat oranges!" added Sue, for she had often been thinking of that
juicy fruit.
"And catch alligators!" exclaimed Bunny. The chance of at least seeing
some of these scaly creatures seemed to give Bunny pleasure.
"Oh, my!" exclaimed his mother. "Now look here!" she went on, as she
thought of what might happen. "I don't want you two tots going off by
yourselves trying to catch alligators! Mind that!" and she shook a
warning finger at them.
In the evening, while the older folks were talking in the sitting room
and the children were playing games, Bunny heard his father say:
"There's the oil stock certificate Bunny found, Mr. Morton."
"Oh, yes, your wife was telling us about that," remarked the cotton
planter. "Let me see it."
Bunny looked up in time to see his father show Mr. Morton a stiff,
crinkly green and gold paper, which the little boy well remembered.
"Didn't you yet find out to whom that oil stock belongs?" asked Mrs.
Brown of her husband, while Bunny entertained Sam and Grace by telling
them in a low voice how, while they were in the sleigh that day with
Uncle Tad, the porter of the Pullman car had tossed the valuable paper
out in a pan of dirt.
"No, so far I haven't found the owner," Mr. Brown answered. "I brought
the certificate with me, for I thought perhaps the oil company might
have been notified by the loser. But they write me that no one has yet
notified them of the loss. So I'll have to hold the stock a while
longer. It is quite valuable, the oil company says, and I must take good
care of it."
He put the temporary certificate back in his pocket, and Bunny and his
sister, after telling about the runaway, went on playing games with Sam
and Grace.
"Well," said Mr. Brown at last, after he and Mr. Morton had looked over
several business books and papers, "I think we'll be traveling on to
Florida in a few days."
"We shall miss having you here," Mrs. Morton said. "I'm sure it has done
the children good."
"Yes," agreed Mrs. Brown. "They never before saw cotton or peanuts
growing, and they have learned something."
"I want to learn about oranges!" exclaimed Sue.
"And maybe I could grow up to be an alligator hunter," added Bunny.
"I hope not that!" his mother exclaimed, laughing. "And I think it is
almost time for you children to go to bed."
But just then there came a knock on the door and the colored servant,
having answered it, came back to say that the plantation hands were
having a sort of jubilee among themselves and had sent to know if the
"white folks" didn't want to see the fun.
"Oh, yes," said Mr. Morton, as he heard this message. "I was telling you
that at the end of the cotton-picking season the darkies have a great
time among themselves, playing and singing songs. They make hoe cakes
and if they can get a 'possum they roast that with sweet potatoes. Let's
go down for a little while."
"Can we come?" cried all four children, almost in one voice.
"Yes, let them come!" said Mr. Morton.
It was not really very late, though it was dark. But once Bunny and Sue,
with Sam and Grace were outside, they saw, down in the direction of the
darkies' cabins, some flickering lights which told of bonfires and
torches.
"It looks just like a picture," said Mrs. Brown, as she walked along
with her husband.
They could hear the strumming of banjos, the blowing of mouth organs,
and the singing of the colored folk, whose full, soft voices made most
pleasant tunes.
[Illustration: BUNNY AND SUE WERE DELIGHTED WITH THE "JUBILEE."
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Sunny South._ _Page 101_]
Bunny and Sue were delighted with the "jubilee," as it was called. Of
course Sam and Grace had seen it before, but they always enjoyed it.
There was dancing, too, and some of the capers cut by the men and boys
were very funny.
"What's hoe cake?" asked Bunny, remembering that Mr. Morton had spoken
of this.
"In the old days, before the war, it was a cornmeal cake baked on the
clean blade of a field hoe," was the answer. "But now they are generally
made in a pan or skillet, I think. A hoe cake is a sort of Johnnie cake
up North."
"Here comes Mammy Jackson with some now," said Mrs. Morton, as a fat,
jolly-looking colored woman approached the visitors with a large tray.
"White folks come to visit an' we got to treat 'em quality like!"
chuckled the old negress. "Here you is, li'l white folks," and she
presented the tray to Bunny and Sue.
It was laden with all sorts of good things that the darkies like to eat,
but as some of the food was rather rich, especially for eating just
before going to bed, Mrs. Brown looked at what Bunny and Sue took,
allowing them only a little of each dainty. It was all clean and well
cooked, and Bunny and Sue thought they had never before tasted anything
so good. They did not get any 'possum meat, and perhaps they would not
have liked that. It takes a real Southerner to care for that dainty.
After the eating, the singing, playing and dancing went on more wild and
noisy than before, but Bunny and Sue were not allowed to stay up very
late. And so, rather wishing they might remain longer, they were led
away, and a little while afterwards were snug in bed, listening to the
faint and far-off sounds of the colored jubilee.
Two days later Mr. Brown, having finished his business in Georgia,
started with his family for Orange Beach, Florida.
"We had a lovely time here!" said Sue to Grace, as they parted.
"Most fun I ever had in my life!" added Bunny. But then as he said that
about nearly every place he had visited, I am beginning to think he had
a very happy disposition.
"Don't eat too many oranges!" Grace called to Sue, as the Southern
children watched their little guests climb aboard the train that was to
take them to Florida.
"I won't," Sue promised.
"And don't let an alligator catch you!" begged Sam of Bunny.
"I'll catch _them_!" declared the little fellow.
"Good-by! Good-by!" was echoed back and forth.
Then the train pulled out of the small station of Seedville, and once
more Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were on their journey. And many
things were to happen before they reached home again.