Mingo, and Other Sketches in Black and WhiteHarris, Joel Chandler
General
Mingo, and Other Sketches in Black and White
Harris, Joel Chandler
Georgia -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
"Woe unto you, Sister Bonner!" Uncle Jake went on, examining Woodward
and speaking more calmly when he found him breathing regularly. "Woe
unto you, and shame upon you, Sister Bonner, to do this deed of
onjestifiable homicide, ez I may say. Let flesh an' min' rankle, but
shed no blood."
"Oh, my little Ab! I uv kilt 'im ag'in!"
"You may well sesso, Sister Rachel Bonner," said Uncle Jake, turning
Woodward over and examining him with the crude skill of an old soldier;
"you may well sesso. Drap down where you is, an' call on the Lord not
to give you over to a reprobate min' for to do the things that were
unconvenient, ez St. Paul says. Let tribulation work patience, lest you
git forsook of hope, Sister Jane Bonner. Come, Cap," he went on,
addressing himself to Woodward, "Teague'll be a drappin' on us,
thereckly, an' it twon't never do in the roun' worl' for to be a-makin'
faces at 'im frum the groun'. Roust up, roust up."
Woodward did rouse up. In fact his unconsciousness was only momentary,
but he had been making a vain effort to trace his surroundings,
disordered as they were by the wild cribs of the woman, to a reasonable
basis.
By the time he had been helped to his feet, and had discovered that the
bullet from Mrs. Bonner's rifle had merely grazed the fleshy part of
his shoulder, Teague and a number of his friends had arrived upon the
scene. There was nothing to be said, nothing to be done, except to move
up the mountain to Poteet's.
"Ah, pore woman!" exclaimed Uncle Jake. "Pore mizerbul creetur! Come
wi' us, Sister Jane Bonner, come wi' us. Ther's a warm place at
Teague's h'a'th fer sech ez you."
The woman followed readily, keeping close to Woodward. To her
distracted eyes he took the shape of her murdered son. Poteet was
strangely reticent. His tremendous stride carried him ahead of the
horses, and he walked with his head held down, as if reflecting. Once
he turned and spoke to Parmalee--
"Oh, Sid!"
"Ah-yi?"
'S'posen it had thes a bin a man?'
"Good-bye, Mr. Man!"
It is not necessary to describe the marriage of Sis and Woodward, or to
recite here the beautiful folk-songs that served for the wedding music.
As Mrs. Poteet remarked after it was all over, "They wer'n't a bobble
frum beginnin' to en';" and when the wedding party started down the
mountain in the early hours of the morning to take conveyances at
Gullettsville for the railroad station, thirty miles away, Uncle Jake
Norris was sober enough to stand squarely on his feet as he held Sis's
hand.
"Ez St. Paul says, I prophesy in perportion to my faith. You all is
obleege to be happy. Take keer of thish 'ere gal, Cap!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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