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Old 'unt Martha Joww was a color*! woean who lived in a aback oa the river beak*
:’>he ma a "hunch back,® and, aora® people w«po afraid of *or becauoe she looked/^peculiar*
On® ni ht a boat, fhe	>{ov»	caught	fir© and the scene Of the flsaea in tho d&rknoea
was really spectacular. Aunt Martha ran out of her ahaak bo fast and was ao oral tad, aha stood sp, straight ae an arrow* I’eopie Tald it was the only tine during ter lifb when oho was not a lunch bnck#
iAta in the afternoon* the ohildrcn in town began -mtohing ’’^Id -<'ea% their colored friend* «oa rsade a frsosr of ice crcan and on® of sherbert each day, aai was a opulnr peddlor with his little v or so—drawn oart* "ho cliidren lie toned for the sound of the tirSciinc bol^s, attached to t!'« horao*a hornaaa* Aa >ea car,® down the street, they ran out to > ee t hia *ith a .mi cor find apoon. In thooo day9, childron could buy a large aervln& of dolViou* loo oroara for a nickle*
in tho evening when old .aum, the cook, waa prtiparin^ supper fo>* tlx* white fclka, aha waa raover too busy to engage in a gone of *?k.t«*Q*£a O'j Ji^" tfith tho ohildren* To ploy this ^aao, they would form a circle, join hstnda, crvi skip around sir^;ia-,
*i-’nt-o-fancy jig, pav-o-fancy jig, that’s the acn^ «o uaed to sing* i^sto-tooi* i1»y all oat. dotm on the floor, and the last one down 'fas a "pop-oyod ape**
Juat aa the gaae was at its height, foot-otepa wero heard, and the childron raced out tho beck door, into tho yard* 3y tho t ao the niatrosa talked into the kitchen* usura was b ally on^jaged in et£rrln& tho pota on tho atove, aa ol» lifted her voice to oin; ” vin- Uiv, 3we«st Jhariot1**
i’h® childron of today no longer use the exprossiona, 'ploying on tho banquette"* ’oiVing on tho gallery*, or *in the parlor1*, and "give rao lagniappo** -hey havo miaoed the pungent ojter of the oavduat and the fVeahly cut lutaber in the hot auassertise* »
They have not heard tho shrill sound of the mill whiatlo, nor tho piercing shriek of the boat wfcietloa on the rivor* -here is no bell to ring to hnaton tho tardy ■tudenta, pinying on thoir way to oohool*