MR. RAM AND HIS FIDDLE 
“One time, des ’bout Christmas, Miss Meadows en Miss 
Motts en de gals, dey up’n say dat dey’d sorter gin a blowout, en 
dey got wud ter ole man Benjermun Ram w’ich dey ’speckted ’im 
fer ter be on han’. W’en de time done come fer Mr. Benjermun 
Ram fer ter start, de win’ blow cole en de cloud ’gun ter spread 
out ’cross de elements — but no marter fer dat; ole man Ben¬ 
jermun Ram tuck down he walkin’-cane, he did, en tie up he 
fiddle in a bag, en sot out fer Miss Meadows. He thunk he know 
de way, but hit keep on gittin’ col’er en col’er, en mo’ cloudy, 
twel bimeby, fus’ news you know, ole Mr. Benjermun Ram done 
lose de way. Ef he’d er kep’ on down de big road fum de start, it 
moughter bin diffunt, but he tuck a nigh-cut, en he ain’t git fur 
’fo’ he done los’ sho’ ’nuff. He go dis a-way, en he go dat a-way, 
en he go de yuther way, yit all de same he wuz done los’. Some 
folks would er sot right flat down whar dey wuz en study out der 
way, but ole man Benjermun Ram ain’t got wrinkle on he hawn 
fer nothin’, kaze he done got de name er ole Billy Hardhead long 
’fo’ dat. Den ag’in, some folks would er stop right still in der 
tracks en holler en bawl fer ter see ef dey can’t roust up some er 
de neighbors, but ole Mr. Benjermun Ram, he des stick he jowl in 
de win’, he did, en he march right on des ’zackly like he know he 
ain’t gwine de wrong way. He keep on, but’t wa’n’t long ’fo’ he 
’gun ter feel right lonesome, mo’ speshually w’en hit come up in 
he min’ how Miss Meadows en de gals en all de comp’ny be bleedz 
ter do de bes’ dey kin bidout any fiddlin’; en hit kinder make he 
marrer git cole w’en he study ’bout how he gotter sleep out dar in 
de woods by hisse’f. 
“Yit, all de same, he keep on twel de dark ’gun ter drap down, 
en den he keep on still, en bimeby he come ter a little rise whar dey 
wuz a clay-gall. W’en he git dar he stop en look ’roun’, he did, 
en ’way off down in de holler, dar he see a light shinin’, en w’en 
he see dis, ole man Benjermun Ram tuck he foot in he han’, en 
make he way todes it des lak it de ve’y place w’at he bin huntin’. 
37 
