'
"And wid dat, Brer Fox he lif' 'im up, an' tho'd 'im way-ay-ay over in
de briers. Den Brer Rabbit he kick up his heels, he did, an' he laugh,
an' he laugh, an' he holler out,
"'Good-bye, Brer Fox! Far' yer well, Brer Coon! I wuz born an' riz in
de briers!' And wid dat he lit right out, he did, an' he nuber stop
tell he got clean smack home."
The children were mightily pleased with this story; and Diddie, after
carefully writing underneath it,
"The END of The Tar Baby,"
said she could write the poetry and history part some other day; so
she closed the book, and gave it to Mammy to put away for her, and she
and Dumps went out for a ride on Corbin.
CHAPTER VI
UNCLE SNAKE-BIT BOB'S SUNDAY-SCHOOL
THERE, was no more faithful slave in all the Southland than old Uncle
Snake-bit Bob. He had been bitten by a rattlesnake when he was a baby,
and the limb had to be amputated, and its place was supplied with a
wooden peg. There were three or four other "Bobs" on the plantation,
and he was called Snake-bit to distinguish him. Though lame, and sick
a good deal of his time, his life had not been wasted, nor had he been
a useless slave to his master. He made all of the baskets that were
used in the cotton-picking season, and had learned to mend shoes;
besides that, he was the great horse-doctor of the neighborhood, and
not only cured his master's horses and mules, but was sent for for
miles around to see the sick stock; and then too, he could re-bottom
chairs, and make buckets and tubs and brooms; and all of the money he
made was his own: so the old man had quite a little store of gold and
silver sewed up in an old bag and buried somewhere-- nobody knew where
except himself; for Uncle Snake-bit Bob had never married, and had no
family ties; and furthermore, he was old Granny Rachel's only child,
and Granny had died long, long ago, ever since the children's mother
was a baby, and he had no brothers or sisters.
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