I went aroun' to the front gate, where the woman
of the house was a-standin' talkin' to somebody, an' I jus' bowed
to her, for I didn't feel like sayin' anything, an' walked past
her.
"'Hello!' said she, jumpin' in front of me an' shuttin' the gate.
'You can't go out here. If you want to walk you can walk about in
the grounds. There's lots of shady paths.'
"'Can't go out!' says I. 'Can't go out! What do you mean by
that?'
"'I mean jus' what I say,' said she, an' she locked the gate.
"I was so mad that I could have pushed her over an' broke the gate,
but I thought that if there was anything of that kind to do I had a
husband whose business it was to attend to it, an' so I runs aroun'
to him to tell him. He had gone in, but I met Mrs. Jackson an' her
brother.
"'What's the matter?' said she, seein' what a hurry I was in.
"'That woman at the gate,' I said, almost chokin' as I spoke, 'wont
let me out.'
"'She wont?' said Mrs. Jackson. 'Well, that's a way she has. Four
times the Bank of the United States has closed its doors before I
was able to get there, on account of that woman's obstinacy about
the gate. Indeed, I have not been to the Bank at all yet, for of
course it is of no use to go after banking hours.'
"'An' I believe, too,' said her brother in his heavy voice, 'that
she has kept out my team of little oxen. Otherwise it would be
here now.'
"I couldn't stand any more of this an' ran into our room where my
husband was.
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