“I fergot his name, suh, but I ain’t never fergit him. He so mean-lookin’ he make de col’ chills run over me. He wuz a low-country mulatter, an’ you know how dey talk. Eve’y time he look at me, he’d bow, an’ de mo’ he bowed de mo’ I ’spized ’im. He call Hamp ‘Mistooah Tummalin,’ an’ eve’y time he say sump’n’, he’d gi’ one er dem venomous grins. I declar’ ter gracious, suh, I oughtn’t ter talk ’bout dat man dis way, but de way he look wuz scan’lous. I done fergive ’im for dat long time ’go on ’count er what he done; but when I hear white folks ’busin’ ’im in dat day an’ time I know’d dey had mighty good groun’, bekaze dey ain’t no human kin look like dat man an’ not be mean at bottom. “Well, suh, Hamp, he up’n tol’ dis yer Alpory er Alpiry (whatsomever his name mought be) what I come ter town fer, an’ Alpory, he say, ‘Mistooah Tummalin, you kyarn’t do it. Hit would-er ruin you in de-er party, suh—er ruin you.’ I kinder fired up at dat. I ’low, ‘How come he can’t do it? Ain’t he free?’ Ol’ Alpory, he grin an’ he talk, he talk an’ he grin, but he ain’t budge me. At de offstart I say ef Hamp don’t put dat paper in de Legislatur’, I’ll put it in myse’f, an’ at de windin’ up I still say dat ef he don’t put Marse Tumlin’s paper in de Legislatur’, den I’ll be de one ter do it. Ol’ Alpory say, ‘You-er is got no marster, ma’am.’ Den I snapt ’im up an’ cut ’im off short; I say, ‘I got one ef I want one. Ain’t I free?’ Den he went on wid a whole passel er stuff dat I can’t make head er tail un, ner him needer, fer dat matter, twel bimeby I say, ‘Oh, hush up an’ go on whar you gwine.’ “Hamp look so broke up at dis dat I wuz kinder sorry I say it, but dat’s de only way ter deal wid dem kind er folks, suh. Ol’ Alpory wuz des famishin’, suh, fer some un ter b’lieve he’s a big Ike; dat ’uz all de matter wid ’im an’ I know’d it. So he quit his jawin’ when I snapped ’im up, an’ he sot dar some time lookin’ like a cow does when her cud don’t rise. Bimeby he ax Hamp fer ter let ’im see de paper what I want ’im ter put in de Legislatur’. He tuck it, he did, an’ look at it sideways an’ upside down, an’ eve’ywhichaway. Ez ef dat wa’n’t ’nuff, he took off his goggles an’ wiped um an’ put um on ag’in, an’ read de paper all over ag’in, noddin’ his head an’ movin’ his mouf, an’ grinnin’. “Atter he got th’oo, he fol’ de paper up an’ han’ it back ter Hamp. He say he can’t see no harm in it ter save his life, an’ he ’low dat ef Hamp’ll put it in at one een’ er de Legislatur’, he’ll put it in at de t’er een’. Dey call one part a house, but nobody ain’t never tell me why dey call a wranglin’ gang er men a house. Dey des might ez well call um a hoss an’ buggy; eve’y bit an’ grain. Well, suh, de house wuz de part what Hamp b’longs ter, an’ de ’t’er part wuz whar ol’ Alpory b’long’d at, an’ by de time dey wuz ready fer ter set in dar dey had e’en ’bout ’greed fer put de paper in at bofe een’s.