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“‘Deekse?’ said the big, fat Bavarian. ‘Vas iss dass?’

“I didn’t know much German but I whistled the air and made him understand what I wanted.

” Ja wohl,‘ said he.

“‘Then, here,’ said I, handing him a cart wheel, ‘just you stay right here and give me a dollar’s worth of Dixie,–a whole dollar’s worth, mind you!’

“Well, he must have understood me all right, for the band promptly began to play Dixie. I didn’t know that the old gentleman had seen me talking to the band leader, but he had come to the front door to order the band to move on shortly after I came up.

“I simply stood there, leaning against the store in the sunshine, while the German band blowed away. Well, sir, the fellow that played the clarionet–when he got down to the lively part of the tune– certainly did make that little instrument sing. They didn’t know what Dixie meant but they played it to a fare-ye-well, just the same!

“After a while the old man came to the front door. He saw me standing there in the sunshine. There was a smile on his face as broad as Lake Michigan. Joy spread over his countenance in waves. When he saw me leaning up against the store, he came right out where I was and said, ‘Look hyah, suh; I was pow’ful uncivil to you this mo’nin’, suh. I want to beg yo’ pa’don. No gentleman has a right to insult another, but I was so infernally mad this mo’nin’ when you spoke to me, suh, that I couldn’t be civil. That confounded Yankee tune just riled me. You know, I was an old confed’rate soldier, suh. The wah is all ovah now and I’m really glad the niggers are free. The country’s lots bettah off as it is now. Since I’ve been up hyah in this country I’ve begun to think that Abe Lincoln was a good man and a fair man, and a friend to the nation; but, confound it! ever’ time I hyah ‘Yankee Doodle’ or ‘Marchin’ Through Georgia,’ suh, I put on mah unifohm again and want to fight. It’s pow’ful ha’d fo’ a man that has woh the gray, suh, to forget the coloh of his old clothes, try as ha’d as he will. I want to be broad-minded, but, confound it! it seems that I cyan’t, suh.’

“‘Well, you are ahead of me just one generation,’ said I. ‘I was born in the North and raised up here but my father was a Southern soldier.’

“‘What!’ said the old man. ‘Why didn’t yo’ tell me this befoh, suh? Hyah, I’ve been treatin’ yo’ like a dog, suh, all this time. And your father was a confed’rate soldier, suh?’

“‘Yes, sir,’ said I. ‘He was under Jackson.’

“‘What! Stomal Jackson? Why, suh, a greater man than Stomal Jackson nevah lived, suh. He was a gentleman clean to the co’. Come right in, suh, and sit down. I want to talk to yo’ some mo’.

“‘Now, you are goin’ to pa’don me, suh, fo’ my rudeness this mo’nin’. I want you to say that you will.’

“‘Why, to be sure, Colonel,’ said I. ‘I certainly wouldn’t blame you for the same feeling that I know my father had as long as he lived.’

“The little Bavarian band, according to my instructions, kept on playing Dixie so long that the fellow who blew the clarionet began to skip notes and puff. I went out and told them that that was enough of that tune and switched them onto S’wanee River. To the tune of this old air, the Colonel marched me up to his house for dinner.

“We didn’t say a word about business, of course, until after we had returned to the store. When we came back there, the old Colonel said to me, ‘Now, look hyah,–let me get yo’ first name.’

“‘Ed,’ said I.

“‘Well, yo’ll have to let me call yo’ “Ed.” Yo’re lots younger’n I am. I can’t do any business with yo’ this trip. I have my promise out. I told the man that I’ve been buyin’ dry goods from that I’d give him my o’der fo’ this fall but I don’t think as much of him as I do of you, and hyeahaftah I am going to give you my business. I know that yo’ll see that yo’ house treats me right and I would ratheh deal with a man anyway that I have confidence in, suh. Now, you needn’t hurry, Ed, about gettin’ around hyah next season, suh, because, sho’s yo’ bawn, upon the wo’d of a Southern gentleman, suh, yo’ shall have my business.'”