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Johnston, Annie Fellows, 1863-1931

"Ole Mammy's Torment"


The boy's first waking thought was that there had been an earthquake and
that the cabin had caved in. He never could rightly remember the order
of events that followed, but he had a confused memory of a shriek, a
scratching of matches, and the glimmer of a candle that made him sit up
and blink his eyes. Then something struck him, first on one ear, then
the other, cuffing him soundly. He was too dazed to know why. Some blind
instinct helped him to find the bed and burrow down under the clothes,
where he lay trying to think what possible fault of his could have
raised such a cyclone about his ears. He was too deep under the
bedclothes to hear Mammy's grumbling remarks about his "tawmentin' ways"
as she rubbed her skinned elbow with tallow from the candle.


CHAPTER III.

Standing in the back door of Sheba's cabin one could see the red gables
of the old Chadwick house, rising above the dark pine-trees that
surrounded it. A wealthy city family by the name of Haven owned it now.
It was open only during the summer months.


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