"Hem!" said she, "school teachers don't generally know much else.
Eddicated men aint great on homelife; they want a monstrous sight of
waitin' on."
"Let us hope for the best in this case," said I. "Here comes Matthias;
he knows Mr. Dayton, I believe."
"Yas, Miss Em'ly, I does," said Matthias, who heard my last remark.
"Is he a nice man?"
"Um, um! reckin that jes' hits dat man; why, de good Lord bress us ef
dat man ha'nt done, like he was sent, fur de slaves, Miss Em'ly. He
knows jes' whar dat track is,--de down-low track, I means, whar de
'scapin' from de debbil comes good to dese yere people when dey gits
free. Mas'r Sumner an' a'heap mo' on 'em would jes' like fur to kill dat
Mas'r Dayton ef dey could cotch him. Preaches like mad his ablishun
doctrine, as he call it, an' down on rum, sure sartin. He works jes' all
de time fur de leas' pay you never heard tell of. Is he comin' up yere?"
"I hope so, some time; but he is Aunt Phebe's husband now, and we want
to know something about him."
"I reckin dat ye needn't be oneasy, honey, 'bout dat, fur Miss
Hungerford is 'zackly de one fur to take ker ob dat man; he's got his
head 'way up 'mong de stars, an' 'way down in de figgerin' mos' all de
time."
"Do you mean that he is an astronomer, Matthias?"
"Dunno nothin' 'bout dat, but he looks into de stars straight through a
shiny pipe, Miss Em'ly, dat he sticks up on tree leg; an' when dem peart
fellers In dat college where dey lives, gits into figgerin whar dey's
done stuck and can't do it no how, dey comes right down to dat man, an'
he trabbles 'em right out ob all dese yere diffikilties.
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