Тhe use of expressive means and stylistic devices
In order to portray the characters and describe the setting vividly and convincingly the author of the analyzed story resorts to various expressive means and devices.
Lexical devices are very diverse in the text.

Epithets are found heavily in the text and perform various functions: render the atmosphere (“irresolute steps”, “disconsolate family”, “hasty and convulsive leave - the shrill”, “glad voices of the children”); describe the main character (“ruddy cheeks”; “a determined eye”; “a critical eye”); describe the children (“the chubby Elodie”; “affectionate and exuberant nature”).
 Similes are very bright: they indicates the initial attitude of Mamzelle Aurélie towards the children: “very small children who… might have fallen from the clouds, so unexpected and bewildering was their coming, and so unwelcome”(with parallel construction); “She surveyed with the same calculating air Marcélette mingling her silent tears with the audible grief and rebellion of Ti Nomme” (implicit simile);“determining upon a line of action which should be identical with a line of duty”; “it seemed to her a million miles away” ; “they snapped like ox-whips”. The following simile is indicative of the change in the behaviour of the main character: “the little one's warm breath beating her cheek like the fanning of a bird's wing”.
Metaphors perform important functions in the story: provide description to the setting (“the white sunlight was beating in on the white old boards”; “the sound of negroes' laughter was coming across”);describe the characters (“the young woman's beaming face indicated”); underline the inner change of Mamzelle Aurélie (“But this coming, unannounced and unexpected, threw Mamzelle Aurélie into a flutter that was almost agitation”). There is one example of synecdoche, used in a sentence together with antithesis, which contribute to the understanding of the extremely positive attitude towards the children, developed by the
 protagonist: “the little tired, dusty, sunbrowned feet had every one to be washed sweet and clean”.
 Cases of personification are found in the story, they make the atmosphere of the story be more ironic and warm: “she dragged Ti Nomme by an unwilling hand”; “Ti Nomme's sticky fingers compelled her to unearth white aprons”. But there are also negatively charged instances of personification: “She had been summoned to a neighboring parish by the dangerous illness of her mother”.
Hyperbole characterizes the initial attitude of Mamzelle Aurélie to the children, she is rather critical of them:“me, I'd rather manage a dozen plantation' than fo' chil'ren.” Oxymoron characterizes Odile, the neighbour: “disfigured from tears and excitement.”

Syntactical devices are also numerous in the story and are represented by various means.
Repetition of conjunctions is used to render the feeling of warmness, which the children create: “the story of Croque-mitaine or Loup-garou, or both; or that Elodie could fall asleep”.
Antithesis characterizes the characters: “If Mamzelle Aurélie's responsibilities might have begun and ended there, they could easily have been dismissed”; “who had "raised five an' bared (buried) six" (about Aunt Ruby). Anticlimax is crucial in the understanding of the change, which happenes inside Mamzelle Aurélie,when it comes to the moment of them leaving and her parting with the children:”The excitement was all over, and they were gone. How still it was when they were gone! Mamzelle Aurélie stood upon the gallery, looking and listening. She could no longer see the cart; the red sunset and the blue-gray twilight had together flung a purple mist across the fields and road that hid it from her view. She could no longer hear the wheezing and creaking of its wheels.”Тo create an ironic atmosphere and to reveal the main message of the author numerous cases of irony are found in the text: “some chickens were scratching in the grass at the foot of the steps, and one had boldly mounted, and was stepping heavily, solemnly, and aimlessly across the gallery”; “During those few contemplative moments she was collecting herself, determining upon a line of action which should be identical with a line of duty. She began by feeding them.”