Why, I’d give two dollars to have it read to me; ’n’ as for the niggers that wrote it, I ’low I’d take ’n’ lash ’m t’ll — “

“People to help him, Brother Marples! Well, I reckon you’d think so if you’d ’a’ been in this house for a while back. Why, they’ve stole everything they could lay their hands on — and we a-watching all the time, mind you. They stole that shirt right off o’ the line! And as for that sheet they made the rag ladder out of, ther’ ain’t no telling how many times they didn’t steal that; and flour, and candles, and candlesticks, and spoons, and the old warming-pan, and most a thousand things that I disremember now, and my new calico dress; and me and Silas and my Sid and Tom on