One by one the men and boys filed past him, and, selecting a hat or cap from a couple of boxes near, he adjusted a covering to each woolly cranium that presented itself; interspersing the exercise with humorous remarks on their respective phrenological developments: 'Pomp, you's made fur a preacher, shore. Dat dar head ob your'n gwoes up jess like a steeple. I'll hab ter gib you a cap, Dave; you'm so big ahind de yeres none ob dese hats'll fit, nohow. Jess show de back ob you' head to any gemman, an' he'll say you'm one ob de great ones ob de 'arth. None ob dese am big 'nuff fur you, Ally,' he continued, as a tall, well-clad mulatto man stepped up to him. 'You' bumps hab growed so sense you took to de swamp, dat nuffin'll cober you 'cept massa Robert's hat, or de gal Rosey's sunshade.' The yellow man laughed, but kept on trying the hats. Finding one at last of suitable dimensions, he turned away to make room for another candidate for cranial honors. As I caught a full view of his face, I exclaimed: 'Why, Ally, is that you?' 'Yas, massa; it'm me,' he replied, making a respectful bow. 'And you live here yet?' 'Yas, massa. Hope you's well, massa?' 'Very well; and your mother--how is she?' 'Oh, she'm right smart, sar.' 'Yas, massa, I'se right smart; an' I'se bery glad ter see 'ou, massa,' said a voice at my elbow. It was Dinah, no longer clad in coarse osnaburg, but arrayed in a worsted gown, and a little grayer and a little bulkier than when I saw her eight years before. 'Why, Dinah, how well you look!' I exclaimed, giving her my hand. 'And you've come up to spend Christmas with Ally?' 'No, massa, I _libs_ yere. I'se FREE now, massa!' 'Free! So you've made enough to buy yourself? I'm glad to hear it.' 'No, massa. Ally--de good chile--he done it, massa.' 'Ally did it! How could he? He's not more than twenty now!' 'No more'n he hain't, massa; but he'm two yar in massa Preston's swamp, wid a hired gang. Massa Preston put de chile ober 'em, an' gib him a haff ob all he make, an' he'm doin' a heap dar, massa.' 'And with his first earnings he bought his mother!' 'Yas, massa; wid de bery fuss.' 'Ally, give me your hand,' I exclaimed, with unaffected pleasure; 'you're a man! You're worthy of such a mother!' 'Yas, he am dat, massa! He'm wordy ob anyting, an' he'm gwine to hab a wife ter day, massa. Boss Joe am gwine ter marry 'em, an' ter gib 'em him own cabin fur dar Chrismus giff.' 'Well, Joe _is_ a trump. I'll remember him in my will for that, aunty, sure.' 'Dat'm bery good ob 'ou, massa; but I reckon 'ou can't tink who Ally'm gwine ter hab, massa,' said the old woman, her face beaming all over. 'No, I can't, Dinah. Who is she?' 'It'm little Rosey, dat 'ou buy ob de trader, massa; an' she'm de pootiest little gal all roun' yere; ebery one say dat, massa.' 'Indeed! And they are to be married to-day?' 'Yas, massa, ter day--dis evenin'. 'Ou'll be dar, woan't 'ou, massa?' 'Yes, certainly I will.'