"Now Nance," continued the old negress, turning with an air
of authority to the tall, loose-jointed, reed-like maid,
"Now Nance, ye mind yer doin's in dese yer premises.
Don't ye go for to kick de young un round like as ef she cost
noffin'. Ef ye do, look out;" and she shook her turbaned head,
and doubled her fist in very threatening manner before the girl.
"Now we've got a baby in dis yer house, we'll see how de tings
is gwine for to go."

A baby in the Lee mansion did indeed inaugurate a new order
of things in the family. So young a servant they had not had for
many a day on the estate; and Rosa felt at once the responsibility
of her position, and played the mother to her heart's content.
All the care of the child's education seemed from that moment
to devolve upon her, notwithstanding Miss Lee's repeated assertions
that SHE designed to bring up the little one after her own heart,
and that Tidy should never wait upon any one but herself.

Between them both, Tidy had things pretty much her own way.
Such an infant of course could not be expected to comprehend the fact
that she was a slave, and born to be ruled over, and trodden under foot.
Like any other little one, she enjoyed existence, and was as happy
as could be all the day long. Every thing around her,--the chickens
and turkeys in the yard, the flowers in the garden, the kittens
and birds in the sitting-room, and the goodies in the kitchen,--
added to her pleasure. She frisked and gamboled about the house
and grounds as free and joyous as the squirrels in the woods,
and without a thought or suspicion that any thing but happiness
was in store for her. She not only slept at night in the room