Most of the volumes were upside down, because her
untutored eyes knew no better than to replace them so, when she took
them out to dust them with loving care. They were George's greatest
treasures, and she allowed no one to touch them, not even John Jay, to
whom they had been left.
"What does a little niggah like him want of schoolin'," she had once
said to Uncle Billy, when he had proposed sending the boy to school to
keep him out of mischief. "Why, that John Jay he hasn't got any mo' mind
than a grasshoppah. All he knows how to do is jus' to keep on a jumpin'.
No, brer Billy, it would be a pure waste of good education to spend it
on anybody like him."
John Jay had always cheerfully agreed with this opinion, which she never
hesitated to express in his hearing. He had had no desire to give up his
unlettered liberty until that day on the haymow when he had his
awakening. Having heard Mammy's opinion so often, it was no wonder that
he kept his head turned bashfully aside, and stumbled over his words
when he timidly made his request.
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