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Show 162 UNCLE TOM'S CA HJN : OR, rooms with a pathetic cadence, as verse after verse was breathed out: "0, where nrc Paul and Silas ? 0, where arc Pnul nud Silas? Gone to the goodly land. They n.re dead and gone to Heaven ; They arc dead nnd gone to Heaven ; 'Rived in the goodly land." Sing on, poor souls! 11hc night is short, and the morning will part you forever ! • But now it is morning, and everybody is astir; and the worthy Mr. Skeggs is busy and bright, lor a lot of goods is to be fitted out for auction. There is a brisk look-out on the toilet; injunctions passed arountl to every one to put on their best face and be spry i and now all arc arranged in a circle for a last review, before they arc marched up to the Bourse. J)Ir. Skeggs, with his palmetto on and his cigar in his mouth, walks around to put farewell touches on his wares. ''How 's this?" he said, stepping in front of Susan and Emmeline. "'Vhcrc 's your curls, gal?" The girl looked timidly at her mother, who, with the smooth adroitness common among her class, answers, '(I was telling her, last night, to put up her hair smooth and neat, and not lmvin' it flying about in curls; looks more respectable so." ''Bother! " said the man, peremptorily, turning to the girl; '(you go right a.long, and curl yourself real smart!" lie added, giving a crack to a rattan he held in his hand, "AnJ be back in quick time, too ! " "You go and help her," he added, to the mother. '(~rhcm curls moy rnokc a hunch·cd dollars difference in the sale of her." LIFE A:'llOXG TJIE LOWLY. 163 Beneath a splendid dome were men of all nations, moving to and fro, orer the marble pave. On every side of the circular area were litt1e tdbuncs, or stations, for the usc of speakers and auctioneers. Two of these, on opposite sides of the area, were now occupied by brilliant and talented gentlemen, enthusiastically forcing up, in English and French commingled, the bids of connoisseurs in their various wares. A third one, on the otber side, still unoccupied, was surrounded by a. group, waiting the moment of sale to begin. And here we may recognize the St. Clare scrvants,-1.'om, Adolph, and others; and there, too, Susan and Emmeline, awaiting their turn with anxious and dejected faces. Va,rious spectators, intending to purchase, or not intending, as the case might be, gathered around the group, handling, examining, and commenting on their va,rious points and faces with tho same freedom that a set of jockeys discuss the merits of a horse. "Ilulloa, Alf 1 what brings you here?" said a young exquisite, slapping the shoulder of a sprucely-dresscd young man, who was examining Adolph through a.n eye-glass. "'Yell, I was wanting a valet, and I heard that St. Clare's lot wos going. I thought I'd just look at his -" "Catch me ever buying any of St. Clare's people! Spoilt niggers, every one. Impudent as the devil ! " said the other. "Never fear tba.t!" said the first. "If I get 'em, I '11 soon have their airs out of them; they '11 soon find that they ' ve another kind of master to deal with than Monsieur St. Clare. 'Pon my word, I ' II buy that fellow. I like the shape of him." " You ' ll find it ' ll toke all you ' ve got to keep him. H e's deucedly extra.vngant!" |
