Sketches New and Old by Mark Twain

away,’ I says; ‘I’ll kill de man dat tetch him!’ I says. But my little

Henry whisper an’ say ‘I gwyne to run away, an’ den I work an’ buy yo’

freedom’ Oh, bless de chile, he always so good! But dey got him–dey got

him, de men did; but I took and tear de clo’es mos’ off of ’em an’ beat

’em over de head wid my chain; an’ dey give it to me too, but I didn’t

mine dat.

‘Well, dah was my ole man gone, an’ all my chil’en, all my seven chil’en

–an’ six of ’em I hain’t set eyes on ag’in to dis day, an’ dat’s

twenty-two year ago las’ Easter. De man dat bought me b’long’ in

Newbern, an’ he took me dah. Well, bymeby de years roll on an’ de waw

come. My marster he was a Confedrit colonel, an’ I was his family’s

cook. So when de Unions took dat town dey all run away an’ lef’ me all

by myse’f wid de other niggers in dat mons’us big house. So de big Union

officers move in dah, an’ dey ask me would I cook for dem. ‘Lord bless

you,’ says I, ‘dat what I’s for.’

“Dey wa’n’t no small-fry officers, mine you, de was de biggest dey is;

an’ de way dey made dem sojers mosey roun’! De Gen’l he tole me to boss

dat kitchen; an’ he say, ‘If anybody come meddlin’ wid you, you jist make

’em walk chalk; don’t you be afeared,’ he say; ‘you’s ‘mong frens now.’

“Well, I thinks to myse’f, if my little Henry ever got a chance to run

away, he’d make to de Norf, o’ course. So one day I comes in dah whar de

big officers was, in de parlor, an’ I drops a kurtchy, so, an’ I up an’

tole ’em ’bout my Henry, dey a-listenin’ to my troubles jist de same as

if I was white folks; an’ I says, ‘What I come for is beca’se if he got

away and got up Norf whar you gemmen comes from, you might ‘a’ seen him,

maybe, an’ could tell me so as I could fine him ag’in; he was very

little, an’ he had a sk-yar on his lef’ wris’ an’ at de top of his

forehead.’ Den dey look mournful, an’ de Gen’l says, ‘How long sence you

los’ him?’ an’ I say, ‘Thirteen year. Den de Gen’l say, ‘He wouldn’t be

little no mo’ now–he’s a man!’

“I never thought o’ dat befo’! He was only dat little feller to me yit.

I never thought ’bout him growin’ up an’ bein’ big. But I see it den.

None o’ de gemmen had run acrost him, so dey couldn’t do nothin’ for me.

But all dat time, do’ I didn’t know it, my Henry was run off to de Norf,

years an’ years, an’ he was a barber, too, an’ worked for hisse’f. An’

bymeby, when de waw come he ups an’ he says: ‘I’s done barberin’,’ he

says, ‘I’s gwyne to fine my ole mammy, less’n she’s dead.’ So he sole

out an’ went to whar dey was recruitin’, an’ hired hisse’f out to de

colonel for his servant an’ den he went all froo de battles everywhah,

huntin’ for his ole mammy; yes, indeedy, he’d hire to fust one officer

an’ den another, tell he’d ransacked de whole Souf; but you see I didn’t

know nuffin ’bout dis. How was I gwyne to know it?

“Well, one night we had a big sojer ball; de sojers dah at Newbern was

always havin’ balls an’ carryin’ on. Dey had ’em in my kitchen, heaps o’

times, ‘ca’se it was so big. Mine you, I was down on sich doin’s;

beca’se my place was wid de officers, an’ it rasp me to have dem common

sojers cavortin’ roun’ in my kitchen like dat. But I alway’ stood aroun’

an kep’ things straight, I did; an’ sometimes dey’d git my dander up, an’

den I’d make ’em clar dat kitchen mine I tell you!

“Well, one night–it was a Friday night–dey comes a whole platoon f’m a

nigger ridgment da was on guard at de house–de house was head quarters,