be done de same. Dat uz a thick steak, an' I jes' got hit browned
thoo nice. What mo'd you want?

"You didn't want it fried at all? Now, Mis' Ma'tin, 'clah to goodness!
Who evah hyeah de beat o' dat? Don't you know dat fried meat is de
bes' kin' in de worl'? W'y, de las' fambly dat I lived wid--dat uz ol'
Jedge Johnson--he said dat I beat anybody fryin' he evah seen; said I
fried evahthing in sight, an' he said my fried food stayed by him
longer than anything he evah e't. Even w'en he paid me off he said it
was 'case he thought somebody else ought to have de benefit of my
wunnerful powahs. Huh, ma'am, I's used to de bes'. De Jedge paid me de
highes' kin' o' comperments. De las' thing he say to me was, 'Ca'line,
Ca'line,' he say, 'yo' cookin' is a pa'dox. It is crim'nal, dey ain't
no 'sputin' dat, but it ain't action'ble.' Co'se, I didn't unnerstan'
his langidge, but I knowed hit was comperments, 'case his wife, Mis'
Jedge Johnson, got right jealous an' told him to shet his mouf.

"Dah you goes. Now, who'd 'a' thought dat a lady of yo' raisin' an
unnerstannin' would 'a' brung dat up. De mo'nin' you come an' ketch me
settin' down an' de brekfus not ready, I was a-steadyin'. I's a mighty
han' to steady, Mis' Ma'tin. 'Deed I steadies mos' all de time. But
dat mo'nin' I got to steadyin' an' aftah while I sot down an' all my
troubles come to my min'. I sho' has a heap o' trouble. I jes' sot
thaih a-steadyin' 'bout 'em an' a-steadyin' tell bime-by, hyeah you
comes.

"No, ma'am, I wasn't 'sleep. I's mighty apt to nod w'en I's
a-thinkin'. It's a kin' o' keepin' time to my idees. But bless yo'
soul I wasn't 'sleep. I shets my eyes so's to see to think bettah. An'
aftah all, Mistah Ma'tin wasn't mo' 'n half an houah late dat mo'nin'