Fairfax, "dat I has de turkey all ready foh de oven."
A faint red crept through the Colonel's skin, but he met the darky's
eyes squarely. "Thank you, Uncle Noah!" he said, and the negro
shuffled hurriedly away.
In his old rocking-chair by the kitchen fire Uncle Noah, alert and
excited, waited until he heard the Colonel and Mrs. Fairfax go up to
bed; then, chuckling to himself, he extinguished the kitchen lights,
and, carrying one of his Christmas bundles, plodded across the field to
Job's nocturnal hermitage. The light of a match revealed the tyrant
roosting glumly on the summit of a ruined plowshare.
"I'se brought yoh a Christmas surprise, Massa Job Fairfax," said Uncle
Noah, and he sprinkled the floor of the hut thick with corn that the
turkey might find it in the morning.
With his heart full of thanksgiving the negro plodded homeward through
the snow. As he reached the old barn the great clock in the library
struck twelve and faintly through the snowy air floated the distant
silvery chimes of the Cotesville bells, clear and sweet, ringing in a
Christmas morning.
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