"Look, woman!' said the Doctor, bending over the kneeling figure at his side. She raised her head and saw the wolfish faces below. "They have had ten months of your religion,' he said. "It was his revenge. Bitter, indeed; but he loved her. "In the mean time the man Mitchell was hauled and pushed and tossed forward to the platform by rough hands that longed to throttle him on the way. At last, angry himself, but full of wonder, he confronted them, this crowd of comrades suddenly turned madmen! What does this mean?' he asked. 666 "Mean! mean!' shouted the men; 'a likely story! He asks what this means!' And they laughed boisterously. "The Doctor advanced. "I see our Lady.' You see this woman,' he said. "Our Lady no longer; only a woman like any other,-weak and fickle. Take her, but begone.' "Take her!' repeated Mitchell, bewildered,-'take our Lady! And where?' "Fool! Liar! Blockhead!' shouted the crowd below. "The truth is simply this, Mitchell,' continued the Doctor, quietly. We herewith give you up our Lady,—ours no longer; for she has just confessed, openly confessed, that she loves you.' "Mitchell started back. 'Loves me!' "'Yes.' "Black Andy felt the blade of his knife. He'll never have her alive,' he muttered. "But,' said Mitchell, bluntly confronting the Doctor, 'I don't want her.' "You don't want her?' 666 "I don't love her.' 666 You don't love her?' "Not in the least,' he replied, growing angry, perhaps at himself. 'What is she to me? Nothing. A very good missionary, no doubt; but I don't fancy woman-preachers. You may remember that I never gave in to her influence; I was never under her thumb. I was the only man in Little Fishing who cared nothing for her!' "And that is the secret of her liking,' murmured the Doctor. O woman! woman! the same the world over!' "In the mean time the crowd had stood stupefied. "He does not love her!' they said to each other; he does not want her!' "Andy's black eyes gleamed with joy; he swung himself up onto the platform. Mitchell stood there with face dark and disturbed, but he did not flinch. Whatever his faults, he was no hypocrite. 'I must leave this tonight,' he said to himself, and turned to go. But quick as a flash our Lady sprang from her knees and threw herself at his feet. You are going,' she cried. I heard what you said,-you do not love me! But take me with you, —oh, take me with you! Let me be your servant-your slave-anythinganything, so that I am not parted from you, my lord and master, my only, only love!' "She clasped his ankles with her thin, white hands, and laid her face on his dusty shoes. 66 "The whole audience stood dumb before this manifestation of a great love. Enraged, bitter, jealous as was each heart, there was not a man but would at that moment have sacrificed his own love that she might be blessed. Even Mitchell, in one of those rare spirit-flashes when the soul is shown bare in the lightning, asked himself, 'Can I not love her?' But the soul answered, 'No.' He stooped, unclasped the clinging hands, and turned resolutely away. "You are a fool,' said the Doctor. No other woman will ever love you as she does.' "I know it,' replied Mitchell. "He stepped down from the platform and crossed the church, the silent crowd making a way for him as he passed along; he went out into the sunshine, through the village, down towards the beach. They saw him no more. "The Lady had fainted. The men bore her back to the lodge and tended her with gentle care one week,-two weeks,-three weeks. Then she died. "They were all around her; she smiled upon them all, and called them all by name, bidding them farewell. Forgive me,' she whispered to the Doctor. The Nightingale sang a hymn, sang as he had never sung before. Black Andy knelt at her feet. For some minutes she lay scarcely breathing; then suddenly she opened her fading eyes. Friends,' she murmured, I am well punished. I thought myself holy, I held myself above my kind,—but God has shown me I am the weakest of them all.' "The next moment she was gone. "The men buried her with tender hands. Then, in a kind of blind fury against Fate, they tore down her empty lodge and destroyed its every fragment; in their grim determination they even smoothed over the ground and planted shrubs and bushes, so that the very location might be lost. But they did not stay to see the change. In a month the camp broke up of itself, the town was abandoned, and the island deserted for good and all; I doubt whether any of the men ever came back or even stopped when passing by. Probably I am the only one. Thirty years ago,-thirty years ago!" "That Mitchell was a great fool," I said, after a long pause. "The Doctor was worth twenty of him; for that matter, so was Black Andy. I only hope the fellow was well punished for his stupidity." 66 He was." "O, you kept track of him, did you?" "Yes. He went back into the world, and the woman he loved repulsed him a second time, and with even more scorn than before." "Served him right." "Perhaps so; but after all, what could he do? Love is not made to order. He loved one, not the other; that was his crime. Yet,-so strange a creature is man, he came back after thirty years, just to see our Lady's grave.' "What! Are you" "I am Mitchell-Reuben Mitchell." Joel Chandler Harris. BORN in Eatonton, Ga., 1848. THE WONDERFUL TAR-BABY STORY. [Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings. The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation. 1881.] "DIDN IDN'T the fox never catch the rabbit, Uncle Remus?" asked the little boy the next evening. "He come mighty nigh it, honey, sho's you bawn-Brer Fox did. One day atter Brer Rabbit fool 'im wid dat calamus root, Brer Fox went ter wuk en got 'im some tar, en mix it wid some turkentime, en fix up a contrapshun w'at he call a Tar-Baby, en he tuck dish yer Tar-Baby en he sot 'er in de big road, en den he lay off in de bushes fer ter see w'at de news wuz gwineter be. En he didn't hatter wait long, nudder, kaze bimeby here come Brer Rabbit pacin' down de road-lippity-clippity, clippity-lippity-dez ez sassy ez a jay-bird. Brer Fox, he lay low. Brer Rabbit come prancin' 'long twel he spy de Tar-Baby, en den he fotch up on his behime legs like he wuz 'stonished. De Tar-Baby, she sot dar, she did, en Brer Fox, he lay low. "Mawnin'!' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee-‘nice wedder dis mawnin',' sezee. "Tar-Baby ain't sayin' nuthin', en Brer Fox, he lay low. 666 How duz yo' sym'tums seem ter segashuate?' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. "Brer Fox, he wink his eye slow, en lay low, en de Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nuthin'. if "How you come on, den? Is you deaf?' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. 'Kaze you is, I kin holler louder,' sezee. "Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low. "Youer stuck up, dat's w'at you is,' says Brer Rabbit, sezee, gwineter kyore you, dat's w'at I'm a gwineter do,' sezee. en I'm "Brer Fox, he sorter chuckle in his stummuck, he did, but Tar-Baby ain't sayin' nuthin'. 6 "I'm gwineter larn you howter talk ter 'specttubble fokes ef hit's de las' ack,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. Ef you don't take off dat hat en tell me howdy, I'm gwineter bus' you wide open,' sezee. "Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low. "Brer Rabbit keep on axin' 'im, en de Tar-Baby, she keep on sayin' nuthin', twel present'y Brer Rabbit draw back wid his fis', he did, en blip he tuck 'er side er de head. Right dar's whar he broke his merlasses jug. His fis' stuck, en he can't pull loose. De tar hilt 'im. But Tar-Baby, she stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low. "Ef you don't lemme loose, I'll knock you agin,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, en wid dat he fotch 'er a wipe wid de udder han', en dat stuck. Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nuthin', en Brer Fox, he lay low. "Tu'n me loose, fo' I kick de natal stuffin' outen you,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, but de Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nuthin'. She des hilt on, en den Brer Rabbit lose de use er his feet in de same way. Brer Fox, he lay low. Den Brer Rabbit squall out dat ef de Tar-Baby don't tu'n 'im loose he butt 'er cranksided. En den he butted, en his head got stuck. Den Brer Fox, he sa'ntered fort', lookin' des ez innercent ez wunner yo' mammy's mockin'birds. "Howdy, Brer Rabbit,' sez Brer Fox, sezee. You look sorter stuck up dis mawnin',' sezee, en den he rolled on de groun', en laft en laft twel he couldn't laff no mo'. 'I speck you'll take dinner wid me dis time, Brer Rabbit. I done laid in some calamus root, en I ain't gwineter take no skuse,' sez Brer Fox, sezee." Here Uncle Remus paused, and drew a two-pound yam out of the ashes. "Did the fox eat the rabbit?" asked the little boy to whom the story had been told. 66 "Dat's all de fur de tale goes," replied the old man. "He mout, en den agin he moutent. Some say Jedge B'ar come 'long en loosed 'im-some say he didn't. I hear Miss Sally callin'. You better run 'long." ΟΙ A REVIVAL HYMN. [From the Same.] H, whar shill we go w'en de great day comes, Wid de blowin' er de trumpits en de bangin' er de drums? How many po' sinners 'll be kotched out late En fine no latch ter de golden gate? No use fer ter wait twel ter-morrer! De sun musn't set on yo' sorrer, Sin's ez sharp ez a bamboo-brier— Oh, Lord! fetch de mo'ners up higher! W'en de nashuns er de earf is a stan'in all aroun', Who's a gwineter be choosen fer ter w'ar de glory-crown? Who's a gwine fer ter stan' stiff-kneed en bol', En answer to der name at de callin' er de roll? De wheels er distruckshun is a hummin'— De song er salvashun is a mighty sweet song, En right dar's de place whar de sinners oughter hide! De time is right now, en dish yer's de place- |