"Yes; but the lady, Miss Ellis. Where did you find her?" Adah asked, and
Sam replied: "I'se comin' to her d'rectly. Mas'r Fitzhugh live on big plantation--big
house, too, with plenty company; and one day she comed, with great
trunk, a visitin' you know. She'd been to school with Miss Mabel, Mas'r
Fitzhugh's daughter."
"Are you sure it's the same?" Adah asked.
"Yes, miss, Sam sure, he 'members them curls--got a heap of 'em; and
that neck--oh, wear that neck berry low, so low, so white, it make even
ole Sam feel kinder, kinder, yes, Sam feel very much that way."
Adah could not repress a smile, but she was too much interested to
interrupt him, and he went on: "They all think heap of Miss Ellis, and I hear de blacks tellin' how she
berry rich, and comed from way off thar wher white niggers
live--Masser-something."
"Massachusetts?" suggested Adah.
"Yes; that's the very mas'r, I 'member dat."
"Was Ellis her first or last name?" Adah asked, and Sam replied: "It was neider, 'twas her Christian name. I'se got mizzable memory, and
I disremembers her last name. The folks call her Ellis, and the blacks
Miss Ellis."
"A queer name for a first one," Adah thought, while Sam continued: "She jest like bright angel, in her white gownds and dem long curls, and
Sam like her so much. She promise to write to Mas'r Browne and tell him
whar I is. I didn't cry loud then--heart too full. I cry whimperin'
like, and she cry, too. Then she tell me about God, and Sam listen, oh,
listen so much, for that's what he want to hear so long. Miss Nancy, in
Kuntuck, be one of them that reads her pra'rs o' Sundays, and ole mas'r
one that hollers 'em. Sam liked that way best, seemed like gettin' along
and make de Lord hear, but it don't show Sam the way, and when the
ministers come in, he listen, but they that reads and them that hollers
only talk about High and Low--Jack and the Game, or something, Sam
disremembers so bad; got mizzable memory. He only knows he not find the
way, 'till Miss Ellis tells him of Jesus, once a man and always God.
It's very queer, but Sam believe it, and then she sing, 'Come unto me.'
You ever hear it?"
Adah nodded, and Sam went on.
"But you never hear Miss Ellis sing it. Oh, so fine, the very rafters
hold their breff, and Sam find the way at last."
"Where is Miss Ellis now?" Adah asked, and Sam replied: "Gone to Masser--what you say once. She gived me five dollars and then
ask what else. I look at her and say, 'Sam wants a spear or two of yer
shinin' hair,' and Miss Mabel takes shears and cut a little curl. I'se
got 'em now. I never spend the money," and from an old leathern wallet
Sam drew a bill and a soft silken curl, which he laid across Adah's
hand.