But Snow, the darlin’, wuz the very light of our eyes, the joy of our lives. A sweeter child never lived, and that I know. She twined round our hearts as it seemed as if no other child ever had or ever could. Her Pa and Ma watched her grow in beauty and goodness with love-glorified eyes; and as for her Grandpa, I should have said he acted fairly foolish if it wuz on any other subject than this that he wuz so carried away on. [Illustration: ROSY’S BABY.] But I could see plain that every word he said in commendation and praise of that child wuz Gospel truth. There never wuz such a beautiful child before, either in America, or Asia, or Africa, or the Islands of the Sea. And bein’ entirely onprejudiced myself, of course I could see that he wuz in the right on’t. That man wuz jest led round by her like a lamb by the shearer, only the lamb might mebby be onwillin’ and Josiah Allen went happy and smilin’, the shearer wuz so awfully smart and pretty. (That metafor don’t quite fit into my meanin’, but I guess I will let it go. It is hard work sometimes to find metafors a layin’ round handy all rounded off to suit round holes in your conversation, and square ones to fit the square places, etc.) But as I wuz a sayin’, I never see a man take more solid comfort than my pardner did a walkin’ round, and a talkin’, and a playin’ with that beautiful, beautiful child. And I too the same, and likewise. And the help all jest about worshipped her, and they couldn’t do enough for her, from Genieve down to Rosy and Rosy’s baby. That little ebony image would seem to laugh louder and show his white teeth and the whites of his little eyes like two pearl buttons sot in black beads, and babble his baby talk faster and faster, if she come in his sight. Mebby it wuz her oncommon beauty and worth, and then, agin, mebby it wuz the little nice bits she always carried him—candy, and nuts, and cakes, and such, and lots of her toys that she had sort o’ outgrown. I want to be exact and truthful as a historian, and so I say, _mebby_ it wuz this and _mebby_ it wuz that. [Illustration: URY.] Wall, now that they wuz all well agin and oncommon prosperous, Josiah and me begun to talk about goin’ back to Jonesville and our duties there. But our children wouldn’t hear a word to it. They said nuthin’ hendered us from stayin’ and takin’ a good rest, as Ury took good care of everything, and we had worked hard, and ort to rest off for a long time. So we kep’ on a stayin’. There wuzn’t no reason why we shouldn’t, to tell the truth—Ury wuz a doin’ better with the farm than Josiah Allen could, or full as well anyway. And Philury took care of everything inside, and I knew I could trust her with ontold gold, if I had any ontold gold; so we stayed on. [Illustration: SOME NEIGHBORS.] CHAPTER XII. IT wuz a dretful curiosity to me and a never-failin’ source of interest to watch the ways and habits of the Southern people about Belle Fanchon, both white and colored.