It is painful to record that Mammy, encouraged by immunity from inquiry and
investigation, no doubt, was tempted, as thousands of her betters have been
and will be, and yielded under subsequent and similar circumstances.
My affairs took an unexpected turn now, and circumstances which have no
place here made it possible for me to go to New York, with the intention of
studying for my long-cherished purpose of making art my calling.
I heard from Mammy from time to time--occasionally got a letter dictated by
her. They opened with the same formula, beginning with the fiction that she
"took her pen in her hand," and continuing, "these few lines leaves me
tollerbul, and hoping to find you the same." My friend, the amanuensis,
took great pleasure in reporting Mammy verbatim and phonetically. The times
were always hard for Mammy in these letters, but she "was scufflin' 'long,
thank Gawd, an' ain't don' forgot my duty to the 'state 'bout them fif's."
On my periodical visits home I always called upon her, and had a royal
reception. I had casually said in a message to her in one of my letters
that I never would forget her black tea and brown sugar.
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