SKETCHES OF SOUTHERN LIFE, BY FRANCES E. WATKINS HARPER. PHILADELPHIA: FERGUSON BROS. & CO., PRINTERS, No. 15 North Seventh Street. 1891. SKETCHES OF SOUTHERN LIFE. BY FRANCES E. WATKINS HARPER. PHILADELPHIA: FERGUSON BROS. & CO., Printers No. 15 North Seventh Street. 1891. SKETCHES OF SOUTHERN LIFE. AUNT CHLOE. I remember, well remember, That dark and dreadful day, When they whispered to me, “Chloe, Your children’s sold away!” It seemed as if a bullet Had shot me through and through, And I felt as if my heart-strings Was breaking right in two. And I says to cousin Milly, “There must be some mistake; Where’s Mistus?” “In the great house crying— Crying like her heart would break. “And the lawyer’s there with Mistus; Says he’s come to ’ministrate, ’Cause when master died he just left Heap of debt on the estate. “And I thought ’twould do you good To bid your boys good-bye— To kiss them both and shake their hands, And have a hearty cry. “Oh! Chloe, I knows how you feel, ’Cause I’se been through it all; I thought my poor old heart would break, When master sold my Saul.” Just then I heard the footsteps Of my children at the door, And I rose right up to meet them, But I fell upon the floor. And I heard poor Jakey saying, “Oh, mammy, don’t you cry!” And I felt my children kiss me And bid me, both, good-bye. Then I had a mighty sorrow, Though I nursed it all alone; But I wasted to a shadow, And turned to skin and bone. But one day dear Uncle Jacob (In heaven he’s now a saint) Said, “Your poor heart is in the fire, But child you must not faint.” Then I said to Uncle Jacob, If I was good like you, When the heavy trouble dashed me I’d know just what to do.