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 to Gawd to forgive all dat sin you been havin. Ask Him to help you thu you trouble. E would do it. Gawd is a merciful Gawd."

"Gwinen down don' worry me none 't all," Mary boasted. "I can birth a child easy as I can pop my finger. You know dat, Auntie. How-come you tryin to scare me so dis mornin?"

"I ain' tryin to scare you, gal, but nobody, excusin Gawd, knows what's ahead o you. Nobody. An' when a 'oman turns e back on Gawd an' Jedus like you done, who you gwine to pray to when you needs help? Gawd's got de power to turn dat same child upside down right now. Den you would be in trouble, fo-true. An' who'd you pray to? Don' brag too fast, gal."

A shadow passed over Mary's heart as Maum Hannah spoke, but she smiled in spite of it. "I'm gwine to settle down, Auntie, soon as I birth dis same child."

"I hope so, honey. I hope so. But you ought to settle down befo de time comes to birth dat child. You stays too wild an' wicked. If you keep on a-settin such a bad pattern to live by, befo you know it, one o you gals will walk straight in you tracks."

"I'd lick de hide off em too," Mary burst out. "My gals ain' to do like I do, but do like I say. Enty, Budda?"