" "Ef you feel lak you'd ought to go to wuck," suggested one astonished hearer, "you done got my p'mission, black boy, to hit yo' natchel gait to de fust job in sight.

"But whut's de use doin' hit ef we kin manage to shy roun' some o' dat wuck an' keep on libin' anyhow, specially wid wages so high?"

"Ef this weather don' ever break," he observed sagely, "we sho am in fuh a dry spell.

" "You kin ca'y 'em ef you don' keep 'em hid," explained the ex-soldier in a wooden voice.

"I wonder would dey exchange pris'ners; wonder ef I could go up an' serve out Cissie's term.

" "Oh, Tump!" gasped the woman, "ef you only could!"

" "Whut you goin' do 'bout po-o-o' Cissie?" "Goin' to see ef the sheriff won' take me 'stid o' Cissie.

"Weh-ul," dragged out Nan, with a long face, "of co'se now it's lak dis: ef Cissie goin' to stay in dat ja-ul, she's goin' to need some mo' clo'es 'cep'n whut she's got on,specially lak she is.

"Don' speak lak dat uv dem as is in trouble, Sally," reproved old Parson Ranson, solemnly; "anybody can say 'Ef.'" "Sho am de troof," agreed Jerry Dillihay.

An' as the ler-law had been used per-pretty ha'sh toward Mark, I th-thought I'd see ef 'twa'n't per-possible't some mistake had ben made.

" "Ef so be Squire Ker-Kinloch was alive, I could tell you ber-better; or rather, I shouldn't have to go to yer-you about it.

Th-that's all we can handily do; an' ef that'll arnswer, we should ler-like to have you give word to stop the suit.

Ef I don't, it isn't because you don't mum-make the matter plain.

"I knew th-that ef Squire Clamp hed anythin' to do against me, he wer-would sneak into the shop sus-some time when I'd ger-gone to dinner.

As ef you wa'n't tryin' to turn me out of wer-work altogether!

"You don't intend, Mister Hardwick, assault and battery, do you?" "Yer-yes, ef you don't leave in q-q-q-quick time."

"Yes, seh, I's had champagne, and it's a nice kind of lickeh sho enough; but, Misteh Stuhk, seh, I don' want any of them high-tone drinks to-night, an' ef yo' don' mind, I'd rather amble off 'lone, or mebbe eat that po'k-chop with some otheh cullud man, ef I kin fin' one that ain' one of them no-'count Carolina niggers.

Course I guess our master might not of been so good and kind ef we had been mean and lazy, but you know none of us ever got a whippin' in our life.

The wife would come out, her face ablaze from the oven, with an anxious charge about that butter; the old man would hail her from the barn to know "ef she'd thought toh look in th' mail yes'rday"; and one or the other was sure to add, "Jes' time for breakfast, Lois."

Ef I had my choice, I'd ruther be a slave.

I watched him, 'n' he rid, very slow, all raoun' by the Institoot, 'n' acted as ef he was spyin' abaout.

May-be he's all jest 'z he ought to be,I caan't say that he a'n't,but he's aout late nights, 'n' lurkin' raoun' jest 'z ef he wuz spyin' somebody; 'n' somehaow

ef he don't do nuffin else,an' dat's de fus' commandment wid promise, Ma'am; an' to see him a-settin' up ebery day in prayer-time, so handsome, holdin' Missus's han', an' lookin' right into her eyes all de time!

" "I'd like to help him out ef he wuz in, mighty well.

I can't kill a drownin' man, but blamed ef I gin him a leetle finger of help.