Stories by American Authors Volume VI Part 8

contemptuously. "Cain' tell de face f'om de coat I nevvah set up to be what you'd call _faih_-c.u.mplectid, but disha things iss same is that thaih ink; jess iss same. My hade do' look that a way, neitha. Naw, _seh_, 'taint s' bad 's that."

"Why, Thomas," said I, "_I_ think it a very good likeness--the complexion _is_ a little dark to be sure, but do you know I particularly admire the head. Look at that forehead; any one can see that you are a man of intellect. I tell you it isn't every one who can boast of such a forehead."

"The--the 'mahk you make 'bout me, has been made 'fo'; I may say, has been made quite frequent--quite frequent; on'y la.s.s Tuesd'y fohtni't, Sistah Ma'y Ann Jinkins--a promnunt membeh of ouh cla.s.s (that is, Asba'y cla.s.s, meets on Gay Street), Sistah Ma'y Ann Jinkins, she ups an' sez, befo' de whole cla.s.s, dat she'd puppose de motion, dat Bro' Thomas Wheatley wuz 'p'inted fus' speakah in de nex' 'Jug-breakin' an'

Jaymiah's Hamma,' by de i-nanemous vote of de cla.s.s. I'm clah to say I wuz 'stonished; but ahta cla.s.s wuz ovvva, Bro' Moss tole me de 'p'intment wuz made jes' f'on de 'peahunce of my hade, "Cause,' he sez, 'no man cain't be a po' speakah with sich a fine intellec' which we see expressed in de hade of Bro' Thomas Wheatley--but, same time, I knowed all time de fus' motion come f'om Sistah Ma'y Ann Jinkins--she's a ve'y good friend o' mine, Sistah Ma'y Ann Jinkins--thinks a sight o' me; I 'scohts heh to cla.s.s ev'y Tuesd'y--ev'y Tuesd'y, sine die."

"You do? What does your wife have to say to that?" I asked, maliciously.

He stared at me an instant, then replied:

"My wife!--oh--oh, Law bless yoh soul, seh, _she_ do' keeh. Bro'

'Dolphus Beam, _he_ sees ahta heh: you see, seh, she's I-o-n-g way 'moved f'om Asba'y cla.s.s; 'twont admit none but fus'-cla.s.s 'speience-givvahs in Asba'y, an' my wife she wa'n't nevvah no han' to talk; haint got de gif' of de tongue which Saul, suhname Paul, speaks of in de Scripcheh--don't possess. .h.i.t, seh."

"She must be a very nice person to live with," I remarked.

"Well, y-e-es, seh," replied Thomas, after reflecting awhile. "I hain't got nuth'n' 'g'in' Ailse; she's quite, an' ohdaly, a good cook, an'

laundriss, an' she's a lady,[1] an' all that, but sh' ain't not to say what you'd call a giftid 'oman."

"Like Sister Mary Ann Jinkins, eh?"

"_Egg_-zac'ly, seh. Mist' Dunkin, you put hit kehrec', seh. Ailse hain't possessed with none of the high talence, cain't exhoht, naw sing with fehveh, naw yit lead in praieh; heh talence is mos'ly boun' up in napkins--as Scripcheh say--mos'ly boun' up in napkins; foh I do' deny she kin do up all kines o' table-linen, she kin indeed. Naw, seh, I cain't say I got nuth'n' 'g'in' Ailse."

He was, I think, the worst manager of finances that I have ever known.

He cleaned all the offices in our building, and earned, as near as I could estimate, about thirty-five dollars a month. Three of his four children were self-supporting, and his wife was honest and industrious, taking in washing, and getting well paid for her work. Yet, he was perpetually in debt, and his wages were always overdrawn. Whenever I came into the office after my two-o'clock lunch, and found him seated on his wooden chair, in the corner, gazing absently out at the dingy chimneys opposite--apparently too abstracted to observe my entrance, I knew I had only to go to my desk to find, placed in a conspicuous position thereon, a very small, dirty bit of paper, with these words laboriously inscribed upon it: "Mr. Dunkin Sir cen you oblidge me with the sum of three dolers an a half [or whatever the sum might be] an deduc thee same from mi salry i em in grate kneed of thee same yours mos respecfull thomas wheatley."

The form was always the same, my name in imposing capitals and the remainder in the very smallest letters which he could coax his stiff old fingers to make, and all written on the tiniest sc.r.a.p of writing-paper.

I think his object was to impress me with his humiliation, impecuniosity, and general low condition, because as soon as he received the money--which he always did, I vowing to myself each time that this advance should be the last, and as regularly breaking my vow--he would tip-toe carefully to the mantel-piece, get down his pen and ink, borrow my sand-bottle, and proceed to indite me a letter of acknowledgment.

This written, he would present it with a sweeping bow, and then retire precipitately to his corner, chuckling, and perspiring profusely. He usually preferred foolscap for these doc.u.ments, and the capitals were numerous and imposing. Like the others, however, they were invariably word for word the same, and were couched in the following terms:

"MR. DUNKIN "SIR I have Recieved thee Sum of Three Dolers an a half from Your hans an I Recieve thee same with Joy an Grattetude.

"Yours respecfull "THOMAS WHEATLEY."

I said his applications for money were always granted. I must, however, make an exception, which, after all, will only go to prove the rule. One bright morning he met me at the office-door, his face as beaming as the weather. He hardly waited for me to doff my overcoat and hat, when he announced that he had bought a second-hand parlor organ the evening before, on credit, for seventy-five dollars, to be paid in instalments of twelve dollars and a half each. He had been very hard up for a month past, as I had abundant occasion to know, and it was therefore with a feeling rather stronger than surprise, that I received the announcement of this purchase.

"But you haven't fifty cents toward paying for it. And what on earth can you possibly want with a parlor organ? Can you play?--can any of your family play?"

"Well, naw, seh," scratching his head reflectively. "I cain't s'ay they _kin_ not to say _play_"--as if they were all taking lessons, and expected to become proficient at some not far distant day. "In fac', seh, none on um knows a wued o' music. I didn't mean, seh, I didn't 'tend the--the instrument fu' househol' puhpa.s.ses--I--I 'tended hit as a off'in' to ouh Sabbath-school. We--we has no instrument at present, an'--"

I am afraid I uttered a very bad word at this juncture. Thomas started, and retired in great discomfiture, and I thought I had made an end of the matter, but that afternoon I found the small sc.r.a.p of paper on my desk--really, I think, with a little practice, Thomas might hope to rival the man who goes about writing the Lord's Prayer in the s.p.a.ce of half a dollar. My name was in larger capitals, the rest in smaller letters, than usual, and I was requested "to oblidge him with the sum of twelve dolers an' a half." I knew then that the first organ-instalment was due, but I think it needless to add, his application was refused.

About a week afterward, I learned that the Sabbath-school was again without a musical instrument, the organ having been p.a.w.ned for twenty dollars, Thomas paying ten per cent a month on the money. It was so with everything he undertook. Once he gave me elaborate warning that I must furnish myself with another messenger at once, as he was going to make a fortune peddling oranges and apples. Accordingly, he bought a barrel (!) of each kind of fruit, sold half at reasonable rates, and then, the remainder beginning to decay on his hands, he came to me, offering really fine Havana oranges at a cent apiece.

"I'm driffin' 'em off et coss--driffin' 'em off et coss," he whispered, speaking rapidly, and waving his hands about, oriental fashion, the palms turned outward and the fingers twirling; this peculiar gesture seemed intended to indicate the cheapness of his wares. "Dey coss me mo'n that; heap mo', but I'm faih to lose um all now, en I'm driffin'

'em off, sine die."

After that, some dozen or more of the large wholesale houses engaged him to furnish their counting-rooms with lunch, and he began with brilliant prospects. He brought his basket around to me for first choice.

Everything was very nice; a clean new basket, covered with a white cloth, wherein lay piles of neatly arranged packages done up in letter-paper, with a strange-looking character inscribed upon each.

"What do these letters mean?" I asked, taking up one of the packages, and trying in vain to decipher the cabalistic sign upon it.

Thomas chuckled.

"Oh, that's to show de kine of san'wich dey is, Mist' Dunkin. You see, seh, I got th'ee kines--so I put 'B' on de beef, 'H' on de _hahm_, an' I stahtid to put 'H' on de hystehs too, but den I foun' I couldn't tell de _hystehs_ f'om de _hahm_, so den I put 'H I' on de hystehs."

"Oh, I see," said I, opening one of the "hysteh" packages. It was very good; an excellent French roll, well spread with choice b.u.t.ter, and two large, nicely fried oysters between. I ate it speedily, took another, and, that disposed of, asked the price.

"Ten cents, seh."

"For two!"

"Yes, seh; fi' cents 'piece."

"Why, Thomas," I exclaimed, "you mustn't begin by asking five cents apiece; you'll ruin yourself. These things are _worth_ at least twice as much money. Why, I pay ten cents for a sandwich at an eating-house, and it doesn't begin to have as good materials in it as yours. You ought to ask more."

"Naw, seh; naw, seh; Mist' Dunkin; as' less, an' sell mo'--that's my motteh. I have all dese yeah clean sole out 'fo' two 'clock--clean sole out 'fo' two 'clock."

I interrupted him, asking the cost of each article, and then proving to him by calculation that he lost money on each sandwich he sold at five cents. But I could not convince him--he received the twenty-five cents which I insisted on paying him with many expressions of grat.i.tude, but he left me reiterating his belief in "quick sales and small profits."

"Be back yeah clean sole out by two 'clock, sine die," he exclaimed, brightly, as he departed.

This venture brought him six dollars in debt at the expiration of a fortnight, and after that, by my advice, he abandoned peddling, condemning it as a "low-life trade," and agreeing to stick to legitimate business for the future.

One of his famous expressions, the most formidable rival of _sine die_ (which, as the reader has doubtless discovered, he intended as an elegant synonym for _without fail_), was entirely original--this was "Granny to Mash" (I spell phonetically), used as an exclamation, and only employed when laboring under great mental excitement.

As I was proceeding homeward one evening, I spied him standing on a street corner, holding forth to a select a.s.semblage of his own color, who were listening to him with an appearance of the profoundest respect.

His back was toward me, and I stopped and caught his words without attracting observation. He had a.s.sumed a very pompous, hortatory manner, and I could well believe he held a prominent position in Asbury cla.s.s.

"Yes, gentlemun; yes," he was saying, "ez Brotheh Jones 'mahks, I _do_ live in a ve'y _su_-peeiaw at-mos-pheeh--suh-roundid by people of leahnin', with books, pens, blottehs, letteh-pess, _en_ what not, ez common ez these yeah bricks which I see befo' me. But thaih hain't no trueh wued then ev'y station has its hawdships, gentlemun, en mine ah not exemp', mine ah _not_ exemp'.

"Fus'ly, thaih's the 'sponsebility. W'y, this yeah ve'y mawnin' I banked nigh on to a thousan' dollehs fu' de young boss. En w'en I tell you mo'n two hundred stamps is pa.s.sed my mouth this yeah blessid evenin', 't will give you some slight idee of the magnitude of the duties I has to puffawn. W'y, gentlemun, I is drank wateh, an' I is drank beeh, but my mouth hain't got back hits right moistuh yit."

The day of the 20th of July, 1877, was very quiet We had heard, of course, of the "strikes" all over the country, and the morning papers brought tidings of the trouble with the Baltimore and Ohio railroad employes at Martinsburg, but no serious difficulty was apprehended in Baltimore.

That afternoon I was detained very late at the office. I intended beginning a three weeks' holiday next morning, and was trying to get beforehand with my work. My senior was out of town, and Thomas and I had been very busy since three o'clock--I writing, he copying the letters.

After five, we had the building pretty much to ourselves, and a little after half past five, the fire alarm sounded. The City Hall bell was very distinctly heard, and Thomas--who had finished his work and was waiting to take some papers to the office of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for me--took down a list of the different stations, to ascertain the whereabouts of the fire.

"1--5," he counted, as the strokes fell; "that makes fifteen, and that is," pa.s.sing his finger slowly down the card, "that is Eastun Po-lice station, cawneh--naw, _on_ Bank Street. On Bank Street, seh."

I listened an instant.

"1--5--1," I said, "151; it isn't fifteen."

Another five minutes elapsed, while he searched for "151" I busily writing the while.

"Hit's--w'y, Lawd-a-ma.s.sy! Mist' Dunkin, hit's fu' de milinte'y."

"Let me see," said I. "Yes, so it is; but they only want them to go to c.u.mberland. There's a strike there, and the strikers are getting troublesome."

He made no reply, and as the bells ceased ringing soon afterward, I resumed my work, which kept me busy until seven o'clock. I then placed the papers in an envelope, and took up the letters.

"Be sure you see the Vice-President himself, Thomas," I said. "You know him, don't you?"