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Show ()10 ROEBUCK. asked Dainty D:tve ho,v he \\"'":ts living in Washing .. ton. This \Vas n. king a renewal of his sorrow,, an<l tho :flooclg:ttcs of complaint broke loose. It appoare 1 that fron1 the time he loft l~oobuck-and he \V:t~ nmong tho fir, t to desert-until th:tt 1noment, his experience had been bitter. " 0 de fool~, de fools ns 11iggcrs i '''-,vas his own cotnment at several stages of hi' story. "I's n1i 'able, JUiss Julia, I's starvin', I ain't got no place to sleep dis night, but dis 'ere p::t\'0- ment." ""\Vhy did you leave us, Dave?" she asked in a compas ionate voice. "'Case I '\V:ts a fool, liko do othm· ni()·gors. ~faster spiled me, I reckon. lie 1vas too good to dis 'ere nigger. I thought I -..va::S a gwine to be free ·when I done rnn aw:ty. I hadn't got no sonso to soc I was free afore, ntH1 111:1stor \V:ts \Vorkin' for rne as of he ·was n1y sarvant. l\ly blessed old n1:1ster! All do nigger~ l1ere is might.y bad off, J\Iiss Jnli:t, and dm·e's heapR of 'c1n. Dey is piled in coll:trs and place , and kcp in dcn1 barracks till dey strn:vc. , and giLs sick ancl dies, and sich dirty niggcrs. I can't stay wid '01n. I ain't used to it. But dore dey is, 1uen and won1en and children, all '\vretched, mis'ablo boin's, and nobody kcers cf dey lives or dies." ''Poor creatures! What can I do to relieve thCJn! But '\vhy do I ask? I do not know \vhero to lay n1y own head to-night?" "What you say, 1\.fiss Julia?" Dainty Dave ox:c1ainled, jn astoni~lun!nt, for his attention '\vas now, for tho fir t tin1e, turned from his own n1isery to the condition of his young tnistress. "You don't know whar to go?" "No, Dave, I a1n alone, and a stranger in tho city. ROEBUCK. 311 Ihavoj).1St nrriverl, and I an1 not willing to go to a hotel. I a1n in distre. s, rtncl I do not know a man or woman in all this grortt town." ""\Vhy, '\Vhar's your cousin Clara, den? She lives here." "Con~in Clara~,, " JHrs. "\Vest, yon kno,v." Jnlia then rcmen1bered that the hdy whom l1o namc<l, n distant relative of her father, had onco visitorl J{ocbuclc It '\vas '\Vhen Julia '\vas n child, and she had nln1ost forgotten the 1acly. She had quito forgotten that she lived in vVashington. But Dave, ·who wns older th:tn his young n1istress, l"Cincmbered tho visit of Cousin Clara very 'veiL She had importnncc in his eyes, not because she came to the country from the capital, but because she '\vas ' ' kin to de Fairfhxes." I{eccntly he h:td been inquiring abo"t!t her, with son1c intention of clain1ing !;:iii to keep himself from starving. Sh:-tiHe bad hitherto held hirn off fron1 he~: 1tonse, but lw know ·where it stood, and had walked by it 1nore than once 'vith longing eyes. 'Vhen Julia recollected her distant cousin, and considered that l\Irs. 'Vest ·was the only person in the city upon 'vho1n she had the slightest clain1, she accepted Dave's offer to conduct her to the lady's honsc. They '\vall~ed on together, Dave keeping his proper place ns a servant, but near enough to her for convernation. lie chattered a'\vay continually. But little of Lis chat is 'vorth recording. "No, l\Iiss Julia, frecdon1 ain't for niggers. Dey can't •c- -,r it de hano0- of it, and it don't do 'en1 no good . Free nio-o-ers ain't o-ot no fr.iends. De rale friends of bb b de nioo-<oY ers is de good masters and mistresses ·what takes keer of 'em. It's de ole Virginny blood dat's |