During the last ginning season they had gone down once with Mammy to
"ride on the gin," but had soon abandoned that amusement to play
housekeeping on the lumber, and have the little squares for rooms.
They had often since thought of that evening, and had repeatedly
begged Mammy to let them go down to the lumber pile; but she was
afraid they would tear their clothes, or hurt themselves in some way,
and would never consent.
So one day in the early spring, when Mammy and Aunt Milly were having
a great cleaning-up in the nursery, and the children had been sent
into the yard to play, Chris suggested that they should all slip off,
and go and play on the lumber pile.
"Oh, yes," said Dumps, "that will be the very thing, an' Mammy won't
never know it, 'cause we'll be sho' ter come back befo' snack-time."
"But something might happen to us, you know," said Diddie, "like the
boy in my blue book, who went off fishin' when his mother told him not
to, an' the boat upsetted and drownded him."
"Tain't no boat there," urged Dumps; "tain't no water even, an' I
don't b'lieve we'd be drownded; an' tain't no bears roun' this place
like them that eat up the bad little Chil'en in the Bible; and tain't
no Injuns in this country, an' tain't no snakes nor lizards till
summer-time, an' all the cows is out in the pasture; an' tain't no
ghos'es in the daytime, an' I don't b'lieve there's nothin' ter happen
to us; an' ef there wuz, I reckon God kin take care of us, can't he?"
"He won't do it, though, ef we don't mind our mother," replied Diddie.
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