drive a coal wagon. He worked harder than his own horses, because Eb sold coal by the ton and generally the horses only had to pull around twelve hundred pounds.
Eb was no Beau Brummel on his coal wagon, but the family used to think he could have kept his face cleaner than he did. When his day’s work was done he used to drive past a little shack on his way to the coalyards. It was always twilight at that time. On the porch of the little shanty was a beautiful girl who used to smile at Eb. She looked wonderful in the dusk on the porch in a hammock.
Now, here is what ruined Eb’s career on his coal wagon. Do you know that in the old days there wasn’t any gas or electric lights, and this girl’s family didn’t have coaloil lamps. This girl was really an African princess and she was from a royal family in that country. She was a Kaffir, I think.
But she was darker than a club flush. But Eb didn’t know it, as he never saw her in the daylight. And she was a nice girl, but she never saw Eb without the coal dust on his face. She thought that he was a Kaffir Prince Charming on his milkwhite coal wagon.
But one Summer night, as they sat on the porch,
