"
"How de debble yer come ter sign sech a paper, Berry?" said Nimbus.
"Dod burned ef I know, Cousin Nimbus. Jes kase I don' know no better,
I s'pose. How I gwine ter know what's in dat paper, hey? Does you
read all de papers yer signs, Squar' Nimbus? Not much, I reckons;
but den you keeps de minister right h'yer ter han' tu read 'em for
ye. Can't all ob us afford dat, Bre'er Nimbus."
"Yah, yah, dat's so!" "Good for _you,_ Berry!" from the crowd.
"Wal, yer orter hev a guardian--all on us ought, for dat matter,"
said Nimbus; "but I don't s'pose dere's ary man in de country dat
would sign sech a paper ef he know'd it, an' nobody but Granville
Sykes that would hev thought of sech a dodge."
"It's jes so in mine," said one of the bystanders. "And in mine;"
"an' mine," added one and another.
"And has any one else offered to turn men off for comin' here?"
asked Nimbus.
To his surprise, he learned that two thirds the men in the crowd
had been thus threatened.
"Jes let 'em try it!" he exclaimed, angrily. "Dey dassent do it,
nohow. They'll find out dat a man can't be imposed on allus, ef he
_is_ pore an' black. Dat dey will! I'se only jes a pore man,
but I hain't enny sech mean cuss ez to stan' roun' an' see my race
an' kin put on in dat ar way, I hain't."
"All right, Cousin Nimbus, ef Marse Sykes turns me outen house an'
home, I knows right whar I comes ter, now.
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