Transcriber’s Note: This book contains outdated racial stereotypes and words that are now considered highly offensive. THE CHRONICLES OF AUNT MINERVY ANN [Illustration: “I ain’t fergot dat ar ’possum.”] THE CHRONICLES OF AUNT MINERVY ANN BY JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS ILLUSTRATED BY A. B. FROST CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS NEW YORK 1899 COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS TROW DIRECTORY PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK CONTENTS PAGE I. An Evening with the Ku-Klux 1 II. “When Jess went a-fiddlin’” 34 III. How Aunt Minervy Ann Ran Away and Ran Back Again 70 IV. How She Joined the Georgia Legislature 97 V. How She Went Into Business 119 VI. How She and Major Perdue Frailed Out the Gossett Boys 139 VII. Major Perdue’s Bargain 157 VIII. The Case of Mary Ellen 182 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS “I ain’t fergot dat ar ’possum” _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE “Well, he can’t lead _me_” 6 He wore a blue army overcoat and a stove-pipe hat 8 “Sholy you-all ain’t gwine put dat in de paper, is you?” 10 Inquired what day the paper came out 14 “I was on the lookout,” the Major explained 18 In the third he placed only powder 26 We administered to his hurts the best we could 30 “I’d a heap rather you’d pull your shot-gun on me than your pen” 32 The Committee of Public Comfort 72 Buying cotton on his own account 76 “Miss Vallie!” 78 “I saw him fling his hand to his shoulder and hold it there” 80 “Dat ar grape jelly on de right han’ side” 82 “‘Conant!’ here and ‘Conant’ dar” 84 “Drapt down on de groun’ dar an’ holler an’ cry” 90 “Oh, my shoulder!” 122 “Marse Tumlin never did pass a nigger on de road” 124