Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1889 — “Heard It a-Crackin’.” [ARTICLE]

“Heard It a-Crackin’.”

The following story was told by Mr. C. H. Smith w'ith inimitable accent and ante-bellum unction: ►- John Thomas was an old-time darky with a dignity above his station and a shrewdness beyond the limits of his volubility. “I useter be a bad nigger, a bad nigger, sir. I useter run away an’ give ole marster a heap er trouble. “I w r as goin’ ter see a gal at another plantation about ten mile off, an’ I useter go dar Sadday night an’ stay all day Sunday. I had ter be back by time de bell ring at sun up Monday mornin’. Es I didn’t I knowed I’d git a wkippin’. “One time I stayed all night at de plantation, an’ when I got up it was daybreak. Yes, sir, I could hear it a-crackin’, an’ you know it’s just an ho*r from daybreak tell sun up, an’ I had ter be dar at sun up. “Well sir, I took my shoes in my han’ an’ run all de way. It was ten miles, an’ I had jus’ one hour ter get dar. An’ I run an’ de daybreak run, I run an’ de daybreak run, up one hill an’ dow r n de yotlier, an’ when I got ter de top er one hill de daybreak got ter de top er de hill behine me, an’ I could hear it er crackin’; I run an de daybreak run, an’ it kep’ right along behind me all de way. An’ when I got dar de bell wus ringin’ an’ de daybreak wus jus’ one hill behine me.”— Atlanta Constitution.