Ole Mammy's Torment

oth in mind and body, very little of his l

at boy," sighed Mammy. "It slides right

. "He goes rollickin' through the days, from sunup 'twel sundown, so fast

around the little cabin by the end of the summer. There were two days especially that he remembered with deepest satisfaction: one was the

le

and late in the patch. So many of the shining berries slipped down his throat, so many things called his a

changed her plan. Berries were in demand at Rosehaven, a

fe, this seemed a princely offer. He was standing outside by the stick chimney when she made the promise. After one sidelong glance, to see if she we

'm goin' to pick every bush in this neck

e fingers stripped every roadside vine within a mile of the cabin. His hands and legs, and even his face, were criss-crossed with many brier scratches. The sun beat down on him unmercifully, but he stuck to his task so closely tha

s about to start out again after dinner. "Uncle Billy says there's lot

my, encouragingly, "but I would n't go through there at n

asked John Jay with eager interest, yet cautiou

icket 'thout any heads on. You know they's an awful wicked man buried down there in the woods, an' the sperrits of them he's inju'ed ha

" asked John Jay, w

d his face. "Who sees 'em? They've been seen by generations of them as is dead and gone. Who is

that he was beneath any further notice. Still, no sooner had she piled the

' long an slim flyin' low in the bushes-he reckoned it was twenty feet long. It had a little thin head like a snake, an' yeahs that stuck up like rabbit's. It was all white, an' had fo' little short legs an' two l

eve I'll go down there aftah berries," he said. "I don

in the daytime," she insisted, "an' I reckon berries is mighty plentiful, too," she added, pe

and stood on one foot again. Then he went slowly down the hill. Mammy, standing in the door with her apron flung over her head, watched him c

erbrush had grown into a tangled thicket. No one remembered now what had given rise to the name, and no one living had ever seen the ghostly white ga

e little graveyard, where the colored people buried t

the other end of the thicket, past a deserted mill. Yet, when he reached the ruined old building

y into the thicket and pushing his way through to the other side had never occurred to him, although it is doubtful if he would have dared to do so even had he t

l. A woodpecker's cheerful tapping sounded somewhere within. Butterflies flitted fearlessly down into its shady ravines. A squirrel ran out on a

t into the bushes. Plunging down a narrow cow-path which wound in and out, he came to an open space where a few trees had fallen. Here, with an exclamation of delight, he pounced u

big slices of bread and jam in one pocket, and a big apple in the other. As he sat there, slowly munching, he began to feel drowsy. He had awakened earl

p that slow, monotonous motion against the bright sky. He had no intention of closing the

beside the log where he lay. Suddenly, it raised itself up to look at the strange sight, and then bounded away again. The sun dro

bushes. A cold perspiration covered him when he realized that it was dusk and that he was in the middle of the gander thicket. He snatched up the blackberries, a pail in each hand, and stood looking helplessly around him, for h

to their barn-yard. They moved along in a silent procession, pushing their long, thin necks through the underbrush. John Jay was too t

hat he could not lift them when he tried to run. Made desperate by his fear, he raised first one pail of berri

nd him; at least, he thought he could, but the noise he heard was the snapping of the twigs he trampled in his headlong flight. No greyhound ever bounded through a wood with lighter feet than those which carried him. His eyes were wide with fright. His heart beat so hard in his throat he thought he would surely

had chased

stion. Then he recalled a superstition that he had often heard, that anyone who has lost his way may find it again by turning his pocket wrong side out. He was twitching at his with trembling hand

ank down in a helpless little heap, blubbering and groaning aloud, with his teeth chattering, and the tears running down his clammy face. There was

crambled to his feet and started to run again. To avoid passing the cow, he turned in another direction. This time, it happened

bling and cold, and so frightened that he could only cling to her skirts, sobbing piteously. When, at last,

oulder, rocked back and forth in the big wooden chair until he grew calmer. Not until he had sobbed out the

ation to stay to supper, but when he saw that she shared John Jay's fright, he decided to remain. Had it not been for his protecting presence in the house, Mammy was so affected by the boy's story that she would have barred every opening. Then, cowering around one little flickering candle, they would have fed each other's superstitious fears until bedtime. George

of the hole where the lost tooth had been. As for John Jay, his hero-worship passed that night into warmest love. From that time on, he would have gone through fire and water to ser