Topsy

slave-girl character in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852), immortal in cliche for her response to a question about her origin put to her by the pious Northern abolitionist Miss Ophelia:

"Have you ever heard anything about God, Topsy?"

The child looked bewildered, but grinned, as usual.

"Do you know who made you?"

"Nobody as I knows on," said the child, with a short laugh.

The idea appeared to amuse her considerably; for her eyes twinkled, and she added--

"I spect I grow'd. Don't think nobody never made me."

In addition to being often misquoted by the addition of a "just" (or "jes'"), the line is sometimes used inappropriately in 20c. writing to indicate something that got large without anyone intending it to.