CLARKE I God, de bear got me! (silence for a moment) How y'all feelin' ladies? SISTER TAYLOR Brother Mayor, I ain't one of these folks dat bite my tongue and bust my gall--Whuts inside got to come out! I can't see to my rest why you cloakin' in wid dese Baptist buzzards ginst yo' own Church. MAYOR CLARKE I ain't cloakin' in wid _none_. I'm de Mayor of dis whole town. I stands for de right and against de wrong. I don't keer who it kill or cure. SISTER THOMAS You think it's right to be runnin' dat boy off for nothin? MAYOR CLARKE I God! You call knockin' a man in de head wid a mule bone nothin'? 'Nother thing--I done missed nine of my best-layin' hens. I ain't sayin' Jim got 'em--but different people has told me he buries a powerful lot of feathers in his back yard. I God, I'm a ruint man! (He starts towards the right exit, but Lum Rogers enters right.) I God, Lum, I been lookin' for you all day. It's almost three o'clock. (hands him a key from his ring) Take dis key and go fetch Jim Weston on to de church. LUM Have you got yo' gavel from de lodge-room? CLARKE I God, that's right, Lum. I'll go get it from de lodge room whilst you go git de bone an' de prisoner. Hurry up! You walk like dead lice droppin' off you! (He exits right while Lum crosses stage towards left) SISTER TAYLOR Lum, Elder Simms been huntin' you--he's gone on down bout de barn. (She gestures.) LUM I reckon I'll overtake him. (Exit left) SISTER THOMAS I better go put dese greens on--my husband will kill me if he don't find no supper ready. Here come Mrs. Blunt. She oughter feel like a penny's worth of have-mercy wid all dis stink behind her daughter. SISTER TAYLOR Chile, some folks don't keer. They don't raise they chillen, they drags 'em up. God knows if dat Daisy was mine, I'd throw her down and put a hundred lashes on her back wid a plow-line. Here she come in de store Sat'day night (acts coy and coquettish, burlesques Daisy's walk) a wringing and a twisting! (Enter Mrs. Blunt left.) MRS. BLUNT How y'all sisters? SISTER THOMAS Very well, Miz Blunt, how you? MRS. BLUNT Oh so-so. SISTER TAYLOR I'm kickin' but not high. MRS. BLUNT Well, thank God you still on prayin' ground and in a Bible Country--Me, I ain't many today. De niggers got my Daisy's name all mixed up in diss mess. SISTER TAYLOR You musn't mind dat, Sister Blunt. People just _will_ talk. They's talkin' in New York and they's talkin' in Georgy and they's talkin' in Italy. SISTER THOMAS Chile, if you talk after niggers they'll have you in de graveyard or in Chattahoochee one. You can't pay no tention to talk.