“Why dey change de names ub dem chillun is mo’ dan I kin ondastan; dey wan’ ornry, an’ had dun nuffin; fac’ is, de king say [reading from the Bible], ‘Dey ten times better dan de musisioners an’ ’stronemers in de law;’ an’ dey wuz fine players, too. De Bible say, ‘Dey played de cornet, flute, hyarp, an’ sackbut.’ Dat lars’ instrument is ez much uh myst’ry ter me ez Ho Ho. “We read in de book ub Daniel dey played _all kinds ub music_; mo’n dat, dey wuz all ’ceppin’ Daniel _fireproof_. “I kin almos’ see sweet little Ham playin’ wid dem gre’t musisioners. Kin anybody see Ho Ho? Not ef he wuz uh Chine er Japne, kase dey wudn’ _’low no sech music ez dat dem days_, when de Petracks made de laws.” Now, Zacharyhy he only name fo’ pussons—(I’m readin’ fum de Book ub Zacharyhy)—an’ all de names ’ceppin’ Ho Ho’s cummenc’ wid de letter “b.” He lubbed “b” so much, wonder he didn’ name Ho Ho Bo Bo. I s’pose Brer Damon wud call Bochim, Bill-hah, Be-Tah, Beth-Sham an’ Belzebub Chine er Japne. Well, I reckon _de lars one_ wuz Chine. Leab you alone, Brer Danridge, you’d meck rat-eaters ub all de saints. “Obid, de pa ub Jesse, is only spoke ub uh few times in de Bible; how-some-ebber, he wuz uh gran’ man, an’ he gre’t-gre’t-gre’t-gre’t granpa wuz Ram.” Damon—“Ras, you mean Sham.” “No, I don’; I mean Ram! I reckon I bin readin’ an’ westigatin’ de Bible ez well ez Brer Damon, an’ I wan’ ter tell him when C’lumbus ’sciver’d Americy he ’sciver’d Talbot County befo’ he did Kyarline County. I s’pose you’d call Obid uh Chine? “Ho Ho is only mentioned once in Zacharyhy’s narration, but think what er gre’t man he wuz, fuh de vus say, ‘Ho Ho, cum forth an’ flee fum de lan’ ub de North, saith de Lawd: fuh I hab spread you abroad (jes see what condidence Zacharyhy had in him) as de fo’ winds ub de heaben, saith de Lawd.’ “In dem days de fo’ winds mus’ uh all blow’d _Souf_, kase Zacharyhy tells him ‘Ter flee fum de lan’ ub de _Norf_.’ “My erpinion is dat Ho Ho wuz de nick name fuh one ub de Petracks, fuh I once heah Mars Pinckney say in uh sermon dat Ab’ham, Isaac er Jacob, I fogit which, dwelt in de Souf country. “Zacharyhy knew how ter spressify hissef. ’Tain’ no use mentionin’ gre’t people all de time. Damon nose how ter spressify hissef _sometimes_, but not ter night. He wudn’ interjuice Rash-nal, Pus-nal, Horace, Shakespeare, an’ all sorts ub animals’ tails in dis rebate, ef’n he wan’t skeetin’ [skating] on thin ice, an’ fustyfied. “Mo’n dat, is da _any_ pusson heah dat s’poses Zacharyhy, whose Pa wuz uh king, would put all dat condidence in uh Japne er Chine? “Lars’ but not leas’, Little Billy say he thinks he read somewha in de Bible dat Ho Ho hab a beard. Now, ef’n de Japnes an’ Chinese don’ hab beards dese days, ’twuz ornpossible dey had beards dem days.”