with him. 'Why didn't I come home sooner?' Because I waited the coming of night to shield me from the gaze of the village constable, who has a personal enmity against tramps,—makes them saw wood. I knew that my tattered and begrimed appearance would bring me under the ban of the law. I walked home by way of the beach."
THE MISSISSIPPI MIRACLE.
I's let up on preachin'. I's truly
De Rev'rind Dick Wilkins, D.D.;
I know I heerd Gabr'el a-callin',
An' thought he was callin' on me:
"You Wilkins, go preach me de gospel!"
Dat, sah, was de way dat he went;
But now, sah, I's mightily jubous
'Twas some oder Wilkins he meant.
Yes, sah, dat ar matter you knows of
Has cleaned me plumb out of my grace.
What! ain't nebber heard of it? Nebbah?
Seed nobody in from de place?
Den set down an' listen; and when, sah,
I's tol' you de mizable tale,
You'll 'low dat religion, out ou' way,
Is mighty low down in de scale.
I started to work wid good prospects:
My field, you mought call it, was good;
I tried fur to keep up de fences,
An' worked it de best 'at I could;
De site wuzn't much fur to brag on;
'Twas mos'ly clay gullies an' sand;
But de craps, in de way ob collections,
Wuz good fur dat 'scription ob land.
Well, sah, we got up a revival,
To last a consid'able while,
An' 'greed, as we's gwine fur to hab it,
'Twas best fur to hab it in style.
