“I’m monst’us sorry. Daught ain’t here,” he began, “’cause she know’d the folks thess ez well ez I did; she’s been thar at the house an’ seed um. It thess come inter¹ my min’ whilst we been a-settin’ here talkin’ ’bout ghostses an’ the like er that. Daught’s over yander settin’ up wi’ Mis Clemmons, an’ I wisht she wuz here. She know’d ’em all.

 

“Well, sir, it wuz in North Ca’liny, right nex’ ter the Ferginny line, whar we all cum frum. They wuz a fammerly thar by the name er Chambliss—Tom Chambliss an’ his wife—an’ they had a boy name John, in about ez peart a chap ez you ever set your eyes on. Arter awhile, Miss Chambliss, she took sick an’ died. Tom, he moped aroun’ right smartually, but ’twan’t long fo’ he whirled in an’ married agin. He went away off some’rs for to get his wife, the Lord knows whar, an’ she wuz a honey! She fussed so much an’ went on so that Tom, he took ter drink, an’ he went from dram ter dram tell he wern’t no manner account. Then she took arter John, the boy, an’ she thess made that child’s life miserbul a-doggin’ arter him all day long an’ half the night.

 

“One Sunday she fixed² up an’ went ter church, arter tellin’ Johnny for to stay at home an’ keep the chickens outn’ the sallid-patch. She locked the door of the house before she went off an’ took the key wi’ ’er. It wuz right down coolish, but the sun wuz a-shinin’ an’ Johnny didn’t min’ the cold. Ther’ wuz a big white oak-tree in the yard, an’ he clum’ up that an’ crope out on a lim’ an’ got on top er the house, an’ sot up thar a straddle er the comb. He wuz a feeling mighty³ lonesome, an’ he didn’t know what ter do wi’ hisse’f skacely.

 

“I dunno how long he sot thar, but presently a great big acorn⁴ dropped on the roof—ker-bang! It wuz sech a big one an’ it fell so hard that it made Johnny jump. It fell on the roof ’bout half-way betwixt the comb an’ the eaves, an’ when Johnny looked aroun’ for to see what made the fuss he seed the acorn a-rollin’ up to’rds whar he wuz a-settin’. Yes, sir! stedder rollin’ down the roof an’ failin’ off on the groun’, the acorn come a-rollin’ up the

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