Topsy was the slave girl in Uncle Tom's Cabin who "just growed."OPHELIA: How long have you lived with your master and mistress? TOPSY: Dunno, missis.
OPHELIA: How shiftless! Is it a year, or more, or less?
TOPSY: Dunno, missis.
ST. CLARE: She does not know what a year is; she don't even know her own age.
OPHELIA: Have you ever heard anything about heaven, Topsy?
[Topsy looks bewildered and grins] Do you know who made you?
TOPSY: Nobody, as I knows on, he, he, he! I - I spect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me.
Uncle Tom's Cabin, Act 2, Scene 2