Show o THE NIGHTS OF MY CHILDHOOD The nights of my childhood might have been passed in the heavy sleep which belongs belongs belongs be be- longs to that period but for one cause cause my my father snored His lis was none non of that gentle gentle gentle gen gen- tle ripping sound which spends itself in measured breathing No Rather it bled hIed the playing of different airs by rival ival of unison The only suggestion b bag pip ag ers lay lai in the heavy cr crescendo passages that the agitated woke woe I me Then terrorized by rumblings I r would creep over to my illy Mammy's Mam Mani- my mys my's pallet But the time came when I r did not have Mammy's i companionship and mother bade me sleep with sister Mary l Father upon upon learning of this arrangement exclaimed nse Nonsense Kitty is a brave little girl She will not be afraid to sleep alone when I am right at the end of the hall to That was just it He was at the end nd of the hall all right b and no one else slept near us but rather than forfeit my fathers father's s good opinion I J answered N No 0 sir I am not afraid And thus I entered upon my long martyrdom Ours was a large wide-galleried wide rock rockhouse rockhouse house hous erected by an early Virginian settler a tree lover who chose an oak grove sprinkled sprinkled sprinkled sprin sprin- kled with black walnuts for his homesteads homestead's site Mother never never liked the high civilized deep rooms and frequently re remarked remarked remarked re- re marked that father bought hought the trees rather than th the house to live in since one wing was qui quilie e beyond repair and great oak arms reached into its galleries Yet without without without with with- out sacrificing any of the large trees or the thesy sy symmetry of the building father built an extension to the unsafe ell that we might have large sunny bed rooms A stairway running funning through th the old wing connected th these se with the rest of the house Thus fa father father father fa- fa ther and I were isolated at night from the others in our household for mother and my sisters preferred the ground floor rooms The negroes told awful tales of the hants pants in the old wing and as the r red red- d- d stained floors were not improved by any scrubbing I r readily believed the following story Old Massa Phillip McGee l grandson of the builder of the house honse was very jealous jealous jealous jeal jeal- ous o of any attention paid his daughter When he lie learned that she was receiving attentions attentions attentions at at- from Allan Lucas son of his overseer overseer overseer over over- seer the father shut her up in a large closet in the hall until she would promise not to sp speak ak again to Allan On the second day of her incarceration she failed to answer her father On the third day he lie opened the thedoor thedoor thedoor door and discovered the girls girl's body hody hanging from a wardrobe hook The old man became became became be be- came insane and before his son overpowered overpowered overpowered ered him inflicted deep wounds in his own breast After living a few years behind b barred windows he succeeded in burning himself to death Old darkies in the neigh neigh- od claimed to have heard him raving b many years later and they also affirmed that hat they hey had seen a white-robed white girl walking walk walk- ing in In the old galleries before and since father bought the McGee place And nd so in the fall when waked by fa fathers father's fa- fa ther ther's s snoring g I could hear faintly the winds groaning in the throated deep-throated chim chim- n s. s I firmly believed the Old Boy and Phillip McGee l were abroad in the old wing Sometimes the winds i dislodged Vh whole Oe I co co onies of f screech owls 1 owls 1 omes 0 whose awful 1 y u drove me to the bottom of the bed f CrIe f for Or dared darer I not go to mothers mother's side of th the the e of 01 staircase and I could not to go father wit WItH out a admitting d my cowardice About election times the bu ers remnants ers remnants of Mosby's 1 men men wool VOlt I clash dash past our our house discharging their nj pi and voicing the rebel yell 71 Th The never failed to cr create ate a panic among th the n negroes e groes whose fears of old McGee l palled palle into into- insignificance beside those of th bushwhackers for whole black famili poured into the old wing imploring father protection Long after quiet would be restored restored rl re- re stored in our house the heavy showers o j acorns on oil the roof the baying of hounds al at al some treed possum or th the frosted waln walnut walnut d pelting the ground would keep me in a state of creepy smothered half-smothered in the feathery billows of my great of old fashioned bed j Of course I have been awake on nigh when father did not snore and when reels reH ret re els did not ric ride e. e Then it was mother w vh waked me to listen with her to the mock mocking mockingbirds mockingbird's mockingbirds mockingbird's mocking mocking- birds bird's songs Th The birds were my delight and I f cheerfully surrendered most of m n AI sweet meats to black Abe for his prowess in killing the snakes which had threatens the birds bird's eggs Midnight was their favor favor- favorit favorite it ite time for t teaching aching their young and th tilt old oak arm in the gallery was their studio After the little ones had practiced their the timid notes for a short time a parent bit bin would begin a solo which was scarcely fin finished before an answer cane came from a neighboring neigh boring oring rose-covered rose glen These notes 0 liquid fullness borne to us on sweet breezes W were re answered again and agai agar agail from the studio Mother rocked me gentl gent as we listened to the birds and watcher the antics of the oak leaves on moon 1 walls When the birds became becam sleepy ar an anI incoherent in their songs the winds r nl n longer carried challenging notes and th tl shadow dances on the walls were without the bird music Then I allow allowe moth mother r to place me in b bed d. d Although many years have slipped b be between between tween me and my childhood and moth now rests near the old oaks I r have but t catch a whiff of wild rose-laden rose air to reca recal memories of of- her her of moon-lit moon halls Balls and o 0 mocking-birds' mocking songs K p PALM AL I. 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