“You know the people pretty well, then?”
“I knows dem all. I knows most of ’em better dan dey knows demselves. I knows a heap of tings in dis world and in de next.”
“This is a great cotton country?”
“Dey don’t raise no cotton now to what dey used to when old Gen’rel Cresswell fust come from Carolina; den it was a bale and a half to the acre on stalks dat looked like young brushwood. Dat was cotton.”
“You know the Cresswells, then?”
“Know dem? I knowed dem afore dey was born.”
‚ÄúThey are‚ÅÝ‚Äîwealthy people?‚Äù
‚ÄúDey rolls in money and dey‚Äôse quality, too. No shoddy upstarts dem, but born to purple, lady, born to purple. Old Gen‚Äôral Cresswell had niggers and acres no end back dere in Carolina. He brung a part of dem here and here his son, de father of dis Colonel Cresswell, was born. De son‚ÅÝ‚ÄîI knowed him well‚ÅÝ‚Äîhe had a tousand niggers and ten tousand acres afore de war.‚Äù
“Were they kind to their slaves?”
“Oh, yaas, yaas, ma’am, dey was careful of de’re niggers and wouldn’t let de drivers whip ’em much.”
“And these Cresswells today?”
‚ÄúOh, dey‚Äôre quality‚ÅÝ‚Äîhigh-blooded folks‚ÅÝ‚Äîdey‚Äôse lost some land and niggers, but, lordy, nuttin‚Äô can buy de Cresswells, dey naturally owns de world.‚Äù
“Are they honest and kind?”