The Real Hard Sell

entertainment for a party of society folk for nearly a

pplementary larder on wheels,-which is to say, a wagon-load of bread, butter, coffee, condiments,

f the brake, eavesdropped for the ultimate secret of the woods, and plumbed for the bayou's heart, b

diately available for spit or grill, while many went-so bountiful w

e as full of suggestion as of mud, and whose tongueless mouths fairly whistle as if to recount t

the young women coddled their bloom in linen cambric night-gowns, mostly, reading light

ion of their gentle hostess, who felt herself warmed and cheered in the sunshine of these Sou

of whom could throw herself across the foot of a bed and snatch a superf

ntly passing from one to another in a single sentence for easy su

their own, their fluency being more of a traditional inheritance than an

mbly retrim it with pins, to match her face or fancy-or d

in names of much of the flora of the island, and found time and small coins sufficien

aping confections which were always in evidence at the man-hour-bon-bons, kisses, pralines, what n

drifted in couples, paddling indolently among the floating lily-pads on the bayou, or reclining among the vines in the summer-houses, where they sipped iced orange syru

ange syrup or c

he gate of his lady's heart, while she quoted Fanny Fern for her defense, or, if she were passing intellectual and of a broader culture, she would give him i

thered old crones whose dim eyes, discerning life's secrets

ich was in this case performed quite regularly and decorously in the interest of a coal-black piccaninny, artlessly named Lily Blanche in honor of two of the young ladies presen

assment in witnessing so delicate a ceremony-one which in another setting would easily have become i

ven or hell,-with always the resounding human note which ever prevails in vital reach for truth. Through it all they discerned the cry which finds the heart

it will pierce the heavens, finding the blue for him who sends

dued and silent, more tender at heart, and, if need be, stronger of hand to clasp and t

tain of its members that they would be expected to answer the royal summons of Comus at the approaching carnival; and of cour

s visit, seeming to confirm a report of an ab

who, by the irony of circumstance, is familiarly known as "Ol' Mammy Molar," who "remembers" many things of this

most meager and unfaithful, for she does most strenuously insist that, f

way of it for a momen

r-buckets, an' dipped out in gou'd dippers-full, bilin' over so fast an' fizzin' so it'd tickle yo' mouf to drink it. An' Marse Harol' Le Duc, he stood on a pianner-stool on de ba

' on de sky, an' a voice say, 'Eat up de balance ef anything is found wantin'!' an' wid dat, dey plunged in like a herd o' swine boun' for de sea, an' dey devoured de fragmin

introduced as a high dignitary, did make a little speech late that night, thanking the colored people in terms of compliment for their d

of them as possible without breaking step. So the old woman's memory is not so far afield, although as a historian she might need a

roglyphics of import, instead of simply brushing them away, or relegating them, where they belong, to the dusky domain of t

ed itself almost wholly to pleasure, was nevertheless followed by

ing his wife in so intimate a fashion to some of the important members of society, who would

his boats should sail to their landing. With the arrogant bravado of an impulsive boy challenged to action, he began his arch first. Its announcement of i

-but the gods of

gh his nostrils quivered like those of an impetuous war-horse, the master held himself in rein with the thought of her who would be cruelly alone without him. And he said to himself, whi

ground stopped work on the arch. T

low, after embracing his b

er embracing his beloved, put one of her hands in Hannah's and the other in Israel's, and, commending them to G