Elijah of Buxton

“Well, Elijah, seem to me what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.” 

Pa responds to Elijah when Elijah asks Ma how she could have pranked him with the snake in the cookie jar. Elijah does not think his trick (putting the toad in Ma’s sewing basket) equaled the one played on him; if anything, getting “switched” would have been more fitting. Elijah’s reaction shows that he’s not ready to own up to mistakes yet.

“They’ll tell you I throwed up on Mr. Douglass a whole half a hour afore Ma came and snatched me away and pointed me out the schoolhouse window.” 

Elijah reflects on this detail from the story about Frederick Douglass’s visit to Buxton. He wishes the folks of Buxton would exaggerate about his rock-throwing abilities instead of his throwing-up abilities. Ma tells Elijah that he must learn to not believe everything he hears.

“I figured out that this chore fit right in with the Buxton Settlement Creed: ‘One helping one to uplift all.’ It’s the way all us in the Settlement look out for one the ’nother. We don’t expect nothing in return […] Good things always come from that.” 

Elijah refers to his chore of swatting horseflies from Flapjack the mule, which he tends along with other animals at Mr. Segee’s barn. He uses the flies as bait for fishing and then gives the fish to his parents and to neighbors for dinner.