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Show 304 UNCLE TOM'S CA DIN: 01t1 "But to have no time, no place, no ordcr,- all going on in tLis shiftless wa,y ! " " My dear Vermont, you natives up by the North Pole set an extravagant value on time! 'Vhat on earth is the usc of time to a fellow who has twice as much of it as he knows wbat to do with? As to order and system, where there is nothing to be done but to lounge on the sofa and rcacl, an hour sooner or later in breakfast or dinner isn't of much account. Now, there 's Dinah gets you a capital dinncr,soup, ragout, ro.."lst fowl, dessert, icc-creams and. all,- and she creates it all out of chaos and old night down there, in that kitchen. I think it really sublime, the way she nwnagcs. But, Heaven bless us ! if we are to go down there, and view all the smoking and squatting a.bout, and hurryscurryation of the preparatory process, we should never cat more! My good cousin, absolve yourself from that! It 's moro than a Catholic penance, and docs no more good. You '11 only lose your own temper, and utterly confound Dinah. Let her go her own way." "But, Augustine, you don't know how I found thjngs." "Don't I ?- Don't I know that tho rolling-pin is under her bed, and the nutmeg-grater in her pocket with her tobacco,-that there arc sixty-five different sugar-bowls, one in every hole in the house,-that she washes dishes with a dinnernapkin one day, and with a fmgmcnt of an old pattieoat tho next? But the upshot is, she gets up glorious dinners, makes superb coffee; and you must judge her as warriors and statesmen n.rc judged, by her success., ''But the waste,-thc expense!" "0, well! Lock everything you can, and keep the key. Give out by driblets, and never inquire for odds and ends, - it isn't best." LIFE AMONG THE 1-'0WLY. 305 "~rbat troubles me, Augustine. I can't help feeling as if these servant.~ were not strictly honest. Arc you sure they cnn be relied on?'' Augustine laughed immoderately at tho grave and anxious faco with which Miss Ophelia propounded the question. " 0 , cousin, that's too good,-ltonest!-us if that 's a. thing to be expected! Honest ! -why, of course, they arn't. Why should they be? What upon earth is to make them so?'' " 'Vhy don't you instruct?" " Instruct! 0, fiddlestick ! What instructing do you think I should do? I look like it! As to Marie, she has spirit enough, to be sure, to kill ofi a whole plantation, if I 'd let her manage i but she wouldn't got tho cheatery out of them." " Are there no honest ones? " " 'Vc11, now and then one, whom Nature makes so imprac~ ticably simple, truthful and faithful, that the worst possible influence can't destroy it. But, you sec, fl'om the mother's breast tho colored child feels and sees that there arc none but underhand ways opon to it. It can get along no other way with its parents, its mistress, its young master and rnissie play~ fc1lows. Cunning and deception become necessary, inevitable habits. It isn't fair to expect anything clso of him. He ought _not to be punished for it. As to honesty, the slave is kept m that dependent, semi-childish state, that there is no making him realize the rights of property, or feel that his master's goods arc not his own, if he can get them. For my part, I don't sec how they can be honest. Such a fellow as ~l.'om, hero, is- is a moral miracle ! " "And what becomes of their souls?" said Miss Ophelia. " That isn't my affair, as I know of," said St. Clare ; " I 26* |