UC-NRLF 
 
 B 3 S7b 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 CHRISTMAS NIGHT 
 IN THE QUARTERS 
 
 AND OTHER POEMS 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 Balance all! now, step out rightly" 
 
 
 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 IN THE QUARTERS 
 
 AND OTHER POEMS 
 BY 
 
 IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS 
 
 AND AN HISTORICAL SKETCH BY 
 
 MAURICE GARLAND FULTON 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 E. W. KEMBLE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE CENTURY CO. 
 
 1917 
 

 Copyright, 1888, 1917, by 
 THE CENTURY Co. 
 
 I 
 
 
EDITOR S NOTE 
 
 In my editorial work on this book, I am chiefly 
 indebted to Miss Mary Elizabeth Russell of Los 
 Angeles, California. She has not only placed at 
 my disposal valuable manuscript material left by 
 her brother, Irwin Russell, but she has furnished 
 important biographical information, thus making 
 it possible to put straight several matters which 
 have been confused in other sketches of the poet. 
 
 I am also largely indebted to Mrs. Maggie 
 Williams Musgrove of Port Gibson, Mississippi, 
 who has placed all lovers of Irwin Russell under 
 obligations by her faithfulness in gathering recol 
 lections of him from those who knew him per 
 sonally in his native town. I have derived much 
 help from articles by those who in the past have 
 been interested enough in making the work of 
 
 Russell better known to write about him. Espe- 
 
 vii 
 
 
 M170823 
 
SS:S?5^^^^M 
 
 EDITOR S NOTE 
 
 cially should I mention several recent articles by 
 Professor Alfred Allen Kern of Millsaps Col 
 lege, Jackson, Mississippi. 
 
 Of the new poems appearing in this volume; 
 The Mocking-Bird," "Summer Idyllers" and 
 "Pot-liquor" are from Russell s unpublished 
 
 manuscript; "Ships from the Sea" and "Dat Pe- 
 
 . 
 ter" first appeared in local newspapers of the 
 
 poet s home town; "The Kingdom Gate" and 
 "Uncle Caleb s Views" were found in the files of 
 The New Orleans Times; and "A Mississippi 
 Miracle" was printed originally in Puck. 
 
 M. G. F. 
 Davidson College, 
 Davidson, N. C. 
 
 via 
 
 

 INTRODUCTION 
 
 THERE are books that are written and pub 
 lished with high hopes and ambitious long 
 ings, but this volume is in the nature of a memo 
 rial to its author. It represents the results of 
 the brief literary career of IRWIN RUSSELL, of 
 Mississippi, who was born at Port Gibson, Missis 
 sippi, on the 3d of June, 1853, and who died at 
 New Orleans on the 23d of December, 1879. 
 
 He possessed, in a remarkable degree, what has 
 been described as the poetical temperament, and 
 though he was little more than twenty-six years 
 old at the time of his death, his sufferings and his 
 sorrows made his life a long one. He had at his 
 command everything that affection could suggest ; 
 he had loyal friends wherever he went; but, in 
 spite of all this, the waywardness of genius led 
 continually in the direction of suffering and sor- 
 
 IX 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 row. In the rush and hurly-burly of the practi 
 cal, every-day world, he found himself helpless; 
 and so, after a brief struggle, he died. 
 
 IRWIN RUSSELL was among the first if not 
 the very first of Southern writers to appreciate 
 the literary possibilities of the negro character, 
 and of the unique relations existing between the 
 two races before the war, and was among the first 
 to develop them. The opinion of an uncritical 
 mind ought not to go for much, but it seems to me 
 that some of IRWIN RUSSELL S negro-character 
 studies rise to the level of what, in a large way, 
 we term literature. His negro operetta, "Christ 
 mas-Night in the Quarters," is inimitable. It 
 combines the features of a character study with a 
 series of bold and striking plantation pictures that 
 have never been surpassed. In this remarkable 
 group, if I may so term it, the old life before 
 
 the war is reproduced with a fidelity that is mar- 
 
 , 
 velous. 
 
 But the most wonderful thing about the dialect 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 poetry of IRWIN RUSSELL is his accurate concep 
 tion of the negro character. The dialect is not 
 always the best, it is often carelessly written, 
 but the negro is there, the old-fashioned, unadul 
 terated negro, who is still dear to the Southern 
 heart. There is no straining after effect indeed, 
 the poems produce their result by indirection; but 
 I do not know where could be found to-day a hap 
 pier or a more perfect representation of negro 
 character. 
 
 JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS. 
 
 
 
 XI 
 


 IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 To the brief but generous introduction by Joel 
 Chandler Harris, which accompanied the first edition 
 of Irwin Russell s poems, and which is appropriately 
 retained in this enlarged edition, it seems desirable to 
 add further details regarding his life and work. 
 
 When it is remembered that the great majority of 
 volumes of poetry fall stillborn from the press, that 
 but a few are salable for a year, and that still fewer 
 are remembered at the end of five years, the continued 
 demand for Russell s poems after almost thirty years 
 since they were first collected in 1888, nine years after 
 his death, is evidence that his poems possess the vitality 
 of genius. This lapse of time has brought also a defi 
 nite appreciation of his significance in American Litera 
 ture as one of the first to realize the literary value of 
 Negro character and dialect. The distinction of being 
 the leading pioneer in this field belongs to him not 
 merely because he first caught the general attention of 
 the reading public by his Negro dialect poems published 
 in the eighteen seventies, but because he also stimulated 
 others to work in this rich new field of literary mate- 
 xiii 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 I 
 
 
 rial. A striking instance of this is Thomas Nelson 
 Page. When the latter published in 1888 a collection 
 of Negro dialect poems which he and his friend, Arrni- 
 stead Gordon, had prepared under the title, "Befo de 
 War Echoes in Negro Dialect" he acknowledged his 
 obligation by dedicating the book "To the Memory of 
 Irwin Russell, who awoke the first echo." On an 
 other occasion, Mr. Page has given more emphatic as 
 cription of influence, saying, "Personally I owe much to 
 him. It was the light of his genius shining through his 
 dialect poems, then and still first, that led my feet in 
 the direction I have tried to follow. Had he but lived, 
 we should have had proof of what might be done with 
 true Negro dialect; the complement of Uncle Remus. 
 Clearly, then, from Russell s work in his short life of 
 twenty-six years, dates one of the striking phases of 
 American literary history, the faithful and sincere 
 delineation of Negro character. 
 
 Irwin Russell was born in Port Gibson, Mississippi, 
 June 3, 1853. His father, Dr. William McNab Rus 
 sell, though of Virginia extraction, was a native of 
 Ohio. While still a young man, he had removed to 
 Port Gibson and established himself in the practice of 
 medicine. The poet s mother was a native of New 
 York, but of New England ancestry. As Miss Eliza 
 beth Allen, she taught for several years in the Port 
 Gibson Female College. A few months after Irwin s 
 xiv 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 birth, the Russell family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, 
 where they lived until the outbreak of the Civil War. 
 Then, as Dr. Russell sympathized with the South and 
 wished to throw in his lot with the Confederacy in 
 the impending struggle, he returned with his family to 
 Port Gibson. 
 
 While the Russells were living in St. Louis, Irwin 
 had been placed in school. He was a remarkably 
 precocious boy, having learned, so it is said, at the age 
 of four to read as well as a grown person, and being 
 able at the age of six to read and understand Milton s 
 poems. After his father returned to Port Gibson, the 
 boy s education was continued in the local schools. So 
 wide and general was his information, that he earned 
 among his companions the nickname, "the walking en 
 cyclopedia." When the war was over, Dr. Russell 
 went again to St. Louis where he remained until Irwin 
 finished his course at the University of St. Louis, then 
 a Jesuit college. In college Irwin showed remark 
 able aptitude for study and evinced particular ability 
 in the higher mathematics. After graduating in 1869, 
 he returned with his parents to Port Gibson and with 
 out much heartiness began studying law in the office of 
 Judge L. N. Baldwin. He was admitted to the bar at 
 the early age of nineteen ; but, discouraged by the un- 
 congeniality of this profession, he gave it up in a few 
 months. Then began the quest of the career best suited 
 xv 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 to his special faculties, a quest which was hardly termi 
 nated at the end of his life. 
 
 During these years of finding himself he continued 
 to live in Port Gibson, then a quiet village thoroughly 
 typical of the South. Its leading citizens were plant 
 ers, who had their plantations in the near-by country, 
 a few lawyers and politicians, the ministers of the 
 several churches, and two or three physicians. Though 
 impoverished by the war, these planters and profes 
 sional men (among them were the Humphreys, the 
 John Taylor Moores, the Ellets, and a score of other 
 well-known families of southern Mississippi) still pre 
 served much of the delightful culture and social life 
 that had marked the antebellum South. To the rna- 
 turer element of the community, Irwin Russell, like 
 many another youth of brilliant gifts and versatile 
 attainments standing irresolute on the threshold of 
 manhood and uncertain of his chief faculty, must have 
 seemed the very pattern of an idler. But his, like the 
 idleness of Stevenson, consisted not "in doing nothing, 
 but in doing a great deal not recognized in the dog 
 matic formularies of the ruling classes." 
 
 As might be expected, ru spent much time in w r ide 
 and miscellaneous reading. In poetry he covered a 
 wide range, from the older English poetry as found 
 in Chaucer and Percy s "Reliques," through the Eliza- 
 bethan dramatists and Herrick, and down to the later 
 xvi 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 poetry of Burns, Byron, and Shelley. Novels of ad 
 venture he also read eagerly the sea tales of Marryat 
 and the Indian tales of Cooper being favorites. To his 
 naturally keen sense of humor, the writings of Sterne, 
 Fielding, Smollett, Dickens, Thackeray, Moliere, and 
 Rabelais made a strong appeal. But books did not oc 
 cupy his life altogether. His versatility and artistic 
 talents led him to various accomplishments. An inter 
 est in printing resulted in his owning a small printing 
 outfit with which he produced very tasteful specimens 
 of typography. Though this work never became more 
 than a means to furnish amusement and novelty, yet he 
 was inclined for a while to take it up seriously as a pro 
 fession and did make himself a connoisseur in type 
 setting. Literary genius, in his case, went hand in 
 hand with artistic skill in other directions. He had a 
 talent for drawing which had been cultivated to a 
 slight extent. As would be expected, his sense of the 
 humorous made his work largely caricature. So con 
 genial to him was this facility with his pencil that at 
 one time he thought of becoming an architect. He 
 was also gifted with rare musical ability. His talent 
 in this direction was entirely uncultivated, but even as 
 a child he was expert on the banjo and the piano. 
 
 Though his health was never robust and his tem 
 perament inclined him to a studious and contemplative 
 life, yet he was not unsocial. His many attractive per- 
 xvii 
 

 IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 sonal qualities and accomplishments made his friends 
 insist that he come out among them. In the social life 
 of the town he took a conspicuous part. He was the 
 leading spirit in amateur theatricals and other enter 
 tainments, not only serving as the organizer of such 
 affairs, but as one of the leading participators. The 
 vein of fun and love of foolery that was an ingrained 
 part of his nature led to vagaries and practical jokes 
 that must have added greatly to the gaiety of life in 
 Port Gibson, especially among the younger element. 
 
 Interesting points regarding his appearance and dis 
 position are given in the following passage : * 
 
 His disposition was remarkably gentle, his voice low and 
 musical, and his smile exceedingly winning, with an inde 
 scribable expression of sadness and resignation. . . . His car 
 riage was erect, with a slight stoop of the shoulder and in 
 clination of the head; and he walked with a swinging gait, 
 apparently gazing afar off, his long arms dangling by his 
 side. Yet though apparently not observant of his surround 
 ings, and handicapped by the blindness of one eye and near- 
 sightedness of the other, he saw much that was not obvious 
 to the ordinary observer, and there were few of his walks 
 that did not reward him with suggestion. ... He would 
 carry home with him in his mind s eye everything that was 
 grotesque. . . . His love of nature was a passion, and no one 
 enjoyed more or described better a splendid sunset, a gor 
 geous Southern forest, or any natural scene. He saw every 
 
 1 This and the other quotations in this article are taken, 
 unless otherwise noted, from a valuable personal account 
 of Irwin Russell contributed by his cousin and intimate 
 friend, C. C. Marble, to The Critic for October 27 and 
 November 3, 1888 (Vol. XIII, pp. 199, 213). 
 
 xviii 
 
m 
 
 IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 bird, took note of every conformation of nature, was familiar 
 with the names of trees and plants, had an eye for prospects, 
 and an ear for sounds and exquisite sensitiveness for nature s 
 perfumes, and a rollicking enjoyment of the country. . . . But 
 illness made him moody, and a reaction always followed 
 what seemed to be physical exhilaration. 
 
 During this period in his life, Russell showed a rest 
 lessness and fondness for new scenes and adventures 
 that led to his leaving home on several occasions, some 
 times with, and sometimes without, the sanction of his 
 parents. When he was about nineteen and under the 
 spell of Marryat s sea stories, he disappeared from 
 home, and after a search of six weeks was found living 
 in a sailors boarding house in New Orleans. He had 
 even endeavored to carry his wanderings farther and 
 had rowed out to a ship about to sail for the Medi 
 terranean to interview the captain in regard to shipping 
 as a sailor. But becoming aware of the probability of 
 hard and long service without the opportunity he 
 craved to see life, he had thought better of his de 
 termination and given it up. At other times he felt 
 keenly the call of the West. Once he started to Cali 
 fornia, where an uncle was living, but after running 
 through foolishly in Tennessee the money with which 
 he was provided, and becoming ill, he returned home. 
 On another occasion, he went to Texas and spent sev 
 eral months there, but again an empty purse and illness 
 sent him back to Port Gibson. 
 
 xix 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 Like many another among men of letters and artists 
 with the sensitive organization of genius, Russell had 
 his defects of temperament. The moods of depression 
 and the attempts to establish himself anew in other 
 parts already mentioned werg undoubtedly to some ex 
 tent due to his realization of the losing struggle be 
 tween his higher nature with its many attractive and 
 lovable qualities and his lower nature which particu 
 larly manifested itself in a craving for stimulants. 
 Even if space permitted, there w r ould seem to be no 
 need after the lapse of years to dwell on the details of 
 this struggle. Suffice it to say that his was an instance 
 where one should be charitable to a young man floun 
 dering through the stormy seas of adolescence, and 
 judge in the spirit of those gentle words of Carlyle in 
 regard to Burns, "Granted, the ship comes into harbor 
 with shrouds and tackle damaged; the pilot is blame 
 worthy; he has not been all-wise and all-powerful; 
 but to know how blameworthy, tell us first whether his 
 voyage has been round the Globe, or only to Ramsgate 
 and the Isle of Dogs." 
 
 By his contributions to the local papers, Russell very 
 early drew the attention of his friends to his gift for 
 humorous poetry. His first poem a clever but juve 
 nile skit on the origin of footbinding in China, entitled, 
 "A Chinese Tale" appeared about 1869. The verses 
 entitled, "Ships from the Sea," published in the Port 
 XX 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 Gibson Standard of October 13, 1871, received greater 
 attention locally. They were a graceful reply to a 
 poem in a preceding number of the Standard by Miss 
 Sallie Massie, one of the young ladies of the town and 
 a friend of Russell s, who had signed it "Ishmael," 
 because, as she explained, it would share the fate of 
 Ishmael every man s hand would be against it. It 
 is impossible now to determine with what poem he 
 began the use of Negro dialect. Very likely the earlier 
 dialect poems were published in local papers, but those 
 contributed to the Bric-a-Brac department of Scrib- 
 ners Monthly represent the earliest at present known. 
 The first of these " Uncle Cap Interviewed" ap 
 peared in January, 1876, and during the next four 
 years most of Russell s other better known poems ap 
 peared in the same magazine. His work also appeared 
 in Appletons Magazine, Puck, and other periodicals. 
 As much of his poetry was published anonymously or 
 under various pen names ("Job Case" being one of 
 these), it is probable that many of his poems still elude 
 collection. 
 
 How Russell began to make use of Negro dialect 
 and Negro character may fortunately be given substan 
 tially in his own words: 
 
 It was almost an inspiration. You know I am something 
 of a banjoist. Well, one evening I was sitting in our back 
 yard in old Mississippi "twanging" on the banjo, when I 
 
 xxi 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 heard our colored domestic, an old darky of the Aunt 
 Dinah type singing one of the outlandish campmeeting 
 hymns of which the race is so fond. She was an extremely 
 " ligious" character, and, although seized with the im 
 pulse to do so, I hesitated to take up the tune and finish it. 
 I did so, however; and in the dialect I have adopted, whicli 
 I then thought and still think is in strict conformity to their 
 use of it. I proceeded as one inspired, to compose verse after 
 verse, of the most absurd and extravagant, and, to her irrev 
 erent rime ever before invented, all the while accompanying 
 it on the banjo and imitating the fashion of the plantation 
 Negro. ... I was then about sixteen, and as I had soon 
 after a like inclination to versify, was myself pleased with 
 the performance, and it was accepted by a publisher, I 
 have continued to work the vein indefinitely. 
 
 Thus the years were passed until the epidemic of 
 yellow fever in the summer of 1878 brought days of 
 sterner stress profoundly influencing the subsequent 
 year and a half of Russell s life. When the fever 
 reached Port Gibson, every one who could afford to 
 do so promptly "refugeed." This left in the town a 
 remnant to suffer the ravages of the disease. With the 
 heroism of his profession, Dr. Russell stayed to serve 
 the sick, and Invin, who felt immunity because of 
 having survived an attack of the fever when he was 
 but a few weeks old, stayed with his father to help in 
 the nursing. Vivid accounts of how he cared for the 
 fever-stricken victims and buried the dead are con 
 tained in Russell s letters of this period. In one of 
 them, written on September 13, 1878, he says; 
 xxii 
 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 I am worn out from nursing night and day, and perform 
 ing such other duties as were mine as a "Howard" and 
 simply as a man. Four days ago I for the first time in a 
 month sat down to a regularly cooked and served meal. I 
 have been living as Doctor Wango Tango of Nursery fame, 
 "on a biscuit a day" when I could get it. Between six and 
 seven hundred people (out of sixteen hundred) remained in 
 town to face the fever. Out of these there have been about 
 five hundred and seventy cases, and one hundred and eighteen 
 deaths, up to this time. I will not attempt to give you an 
 idea of the awful horrors I have seen among which I have 
 lived for the past five or six weeks besides which I have 
 seen or heard nothing whatever. Hendrick Conscience, Boc 
 caccio, and Defoe tried to describe similar scenes, and I now 
 realize how utterly they failed. No descriptions can convey 
 a tithe of the reality. 
 
 Probably wishing to get away from scenes so heavily 
 charged with sadness as well as desiring to go where 
 his literary work could be done under more favorable 
 circumstances, Russell left Port Gibson in the latter 
 part of December, 1878, and went to New York. In 
 this move he had his father s help and encouragement, 
 and on his arrival in New York, he met with a cordial 
 welcome from those w r ho knew him through his maga 
 zine contributions. Such men as Henry C. Bunner, 
 the editor of Puck, Richard Watson Gilder, and Rob 
 ert Underwood Johnson of the staff of Scrtbners 
 Monthly, took great interest in him and gave every 
 encouragement to his work. Under such auspices it 
 would seem that all was to be fair sailing. But the 
 gods willed it not so. The environment was clearly 
 xxiii 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 not propitious to his best work. As some one has ex 
 pressed it, "the balmy breezes of the South were needed 
 
 to inspire him and the simple Negro folk could not 
 
 t 
 
 speak through him while he was away from the South 
 land." His heart became heavy laden because of the 
 death in May, 1879, of his idolized father from over 
 work in the yellow fever epidemic of the preceding 
 summer. His funds became exhausted but pride held 
 him back from asking assistance of his friends. Illness 
 came, and before he was really convalescent, he formed 
 a determination to return at once to the South. 
 
 In August, 1879, Russell reached New Orleans, 
 having worked his way thither from New York as a 
 fireman on the Knickerbocker. In speaking of this ex 
 perience afterwards to a friend, he said: "Gaunt and 
 weak and wretched as I was, they took me, and I did 
 a coal heaver s and fireman s duty almost all the way 
 down. Landed here, I had no money, no friends, no 
 clothes." But in New Orleans he quickly found, as 
 he always did everywhere, friends willing to do all in 
 their power for him. He easily secured a position on 
 the staff of the New Orleans Times and made to it 
 such contributions in prose and verse as his health per 
 mitted. But the hardships of the trip to New Orleans 
 as well as temptations unsuccessfully withstood had 
 told severely on the frail physique and he seemed to 
 realize that the sands of his hour-glass were running 
 xxiv 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 low. By a strange premonition, his last published 
 verses were upon the subject of his own grave. In the 
 poem entitled "The Cemetery," published anonymously 
 in the Times barely ten days before his death, his 
 thought pathetically reverted to his childhood home and 
 the old cemetery where his father was buried and where 
 he hoped to lie. But pride and sensitiveness kept him 
 from appealing in his last illness for help to any of his 
 own or his father s many friends in New Orleans, any 
 one of whom would gladly have made provision for his 
 needs, or from making his plight known to his mother, 
 who had removed after the death of Dr. Russell to 
 California. On December 23, 1879, in an unpreten 
 tious boarding house at 73 Franklin Street, attended 
 in his last moments by his Irish landlady, Russell s life 
 came to an end. "True it was," as the Times expressed 
 it in an editorial tribute published the day after his 
 death, "that few men ever got so many buffets from 
 the hand of fate, and still fewer, so little benefit. His 
 existence was a struggle with necessity from the time 
 he left his home, and although his prospects were al 
 ways fine, he never lived to establish himself any 
 where." 
 
 Russell s career closed just as he was beginning to 
 
 make writing a serious occupation. Up to the last few 
 
 years of his life he had cared little for the products of 
 
 his pen save as they might amuse his friends. He com- 
 
 XXV 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 posed with abandon when the mood was upon him, and 
 left his work largely as it first came into being. Even 
 what is generally considered his masterpiece, Christ 
 mas Night in the Quarters," was not carefully con 
 structed, but was written on the spur of the moment. 
 The poem that Russell himself considered his best pro 
 duction, "Nebuchadnezzar," was written immediately 
 after watching an altercation between a Negro and his 
 mule on one of the streets of Port Gibson. The cir 
 cumstances of the composition of "Dat Peter" were 
 probably characteristic of much of his work. As Rus 
 sell was loafing one day about the office of the Port 
 Gibson Reveille, whither his fondness for processes of 
 printing frequently led him, the editor casually asked 
 him to furnish something to fill up space in the forth 
 coming number. Russell seized a piece of proof paper, 
 and, holding it against the door of the office, produced 
 in a few minutes a poem which ranks among his best. 
 In the files of this newspaper the poem remained buried 
 until discovered a few years ago. If it had not been 
 for the zeal of his friends in New York, who nine 
 years after his death collected into a volume most of 
 the poems that had appeared in Scribner s Monthly and 
 in other periodicals, it is likely that all of his work 
 would have remained buried in the dusty files of maga 
 zines and newspapers. 
 
 Russell s humorous poems in plain English and in 
 xxvi 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 so-called Irish are unusually clever in their way. His 
 imitations of the English poets show his remarkable 
 gift for catching the style of other writers, and, if he 
 had lived to carry out his purpose of continuing these 
 imitations until he had represented all of the chief 
 English poets, he would have established himself as an 
 American parodist worthy of ranking with the English 
 Calverley. The poems in serious vein to which he 
 largely devoted himself in the latter months of his life 
 show that his work in this new direction was worthy 
 of his genius. But the great value of his work lies in 
 the faithfulness of his portrayal of the Negro. In this 
 f eld he has had no superior. 
 
 In his treatment of the Negro Russell aimed not at 
 using him as a means of enhancing old Southern life, 
 as has been done by so many who have made literary 
 use of the Negro, but at giving the Negro s charac 
 teristics. The result is a portrayal that is not only 
 more than usually realistic, but correspondingly fuller 
 and more detailed. The Negro thus presented was 
 neither the slave nor the modern type, but that which 
 Russell s opportunities for observation fitted him espe 
 cially to portray, the "old time darky," that is, the 
 free Negro, who, having been trained in slavery, re 
 tained much of the deference of the old regime in his 
 attitude toward the white people. The characteristics 
 of this type are to be seen in a remarkably broad way in 
 xxvii 
 
|gfo^^>ww$^ 
 
 IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 Russell s poems. In them may be found the Negro s 
 personal affection for his master and his devoted al 
 legiance to the master s family even after being freed; 
 his general respect for white people, especially those 
 who belong to the "quality"; his religiousness with its 
 anthropomorphism, its naive treatment of Biblical 
 events, and its use of every-day things and facts in 
 teaching ethical truth; his superstition; his faculty for 
 observation and shrewdness in the combination of the 
 facts he sees, shown by the pithy sayings uttered in his 
 moods of philosophizing, sometimes, perhaps, with only 
 himself or his mule or dog as audience; his love of 
 music and the dance and special festivities; his igno 
 rance of the world and awe of legal customs ; his pecca 
 dillos, such as dishonesty and deceitfulness, which his 
 traits of good-nature and kindness condone; his com 
 mon sense and his homely precepts of wit and wisdom. 
 In its various phases Russell has accurately reproduced 
 the childlike spirit of the Negro, an understanding of 
 which is the key to so much in his character. 
 
 The dialect of Russell s poems is that spoken by the 
 Mississippi Negroes. Although he is sometimes said 
 to be inaccurate in dialect, the charge seems unjust. 
 The nicety of feeling for language so frequently evi 
 denced in Russell s work would be strong a priori 
 ground for believing he had faithfully reproduced the 
 speech of the Mississippi Negroes. Moreover, to this 
 xxviii 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 must be added his own claim that the dialect used by 
 him was "in strict conformity to their use of it." 
 Negro speech in the South had in the seventies, and 
 still has, though of course to a less extent, local dialectic 
 peculiarities. The speech of the Mississippi Negroes 
 differed somewhat from those of Virginia or Georgia. 
 Russell s ear was keen enough to detect this fact, as 
 one of his letters shows. On the whole, it seems that 
 Russell was a close student of dialect and that he used 
 it with reasonable accuracy. 
 
 His sympathetic portrayal could only come from a 
 poet s deep sense of the \vorth of Negro character. 
 Russell s words on this point are deserving of note : 
 
 Many think the vein a limited one, but I tell you it is in 
 exhaustible. The Southern Negro has only just so much civ 
 ilization as his contact with the white man has given him. 
 I e has been only indirectly influenced by the discoveries of 
 science, the inventions of human ingenuity and the general 
 progress of mankind. Without education or social intercourse 
 with intelligent and cultivated people, his thought has been 
 necessarily original, and that has done more to prove the 
 proximate truth of the now common saying, Vox populi, vox 
 Dei, than anything in the history of the white man. He has 
 not been controlled in his convictions by historic precedent, 
 and yet he has often manifested a foresight and wisdom in 
 practical matters worthy of the higher races. You may call 
 it instinct, imitation, what you will; it has nevertheless a 
 foundation. I am a Democrat, was a rebel, but I have long 
 felt that the Negro, even in his submission and servitude, was 
 conscious of his higher nature and must some day assert it. 
 The white master alone stood in the way of it. I have felt 
 that the soul should not be bound and must find a way for 
 
 xxix 
 

 
 
 IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 itself to freedom. The Negro race, too, in spite of oppres 
 sion, has retained qualities found in few others under like 
 circumstances. Gratitude it has always been distinguished 
 for; hospitality and helpfulness are its natural creed; bru 
 tality, considering the prodigious depth of its degradation, is 
 unusual. It does not lack courage, industry, self-denial, or 
 virtue. The petty vices, it is true, are common, and perhaps, 
 inevitable, and are the best assurance of the absence of those 
 that are more formidable and dangerous. Surely the Anglo- 
 Saxon, deprived of the ordinary helps and stimulants of civ 
 ilization, would have degenerated into the beast of the field. 
 So the Negro has done an enormous amount of thinking, and 
 with only such forms of expression as his circumstances fur 
 nished him, he indulges in paradox, hyperbola, aphorism, sen 
 tentious comparison. He treasures his traditions, he is en 
 thusiastic, patient, long suffering, religious, reverent. Is 
 there not poetry in the character? I say there is. But it is 
 a despised and humble race, and is not contemplated in this 
 aspect. 
 
 This deep sense of the possibilities of Negro charac 
 ter in literature led Russell to form plans for using 
 it in works of larger compass than short poems. He 
 attempted a play in Negro dialect. This was written 
 under agreement with a theatrical manager in New 
 York for its production. But being anxious to try it 
 out before sending it on, Russell secured the cooperation 
 of his friends in Port Gibson for an amateur perform 
 ance. Rehearsals were in progress at the time of the 
 yellow fever outbreak, but in the resulting confusion 
 all the parts were lost by those to whom roles were as 
 signed, and hardly any details regarding the play can 
 now be recovered. He also contemplated writing a 
 
 XXX 
 
IP 
 
 JRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 Negro novel. In regard to this scheme he wrote in 
 1877, enthusiastically: 
 
 I have just found something and I can t help showing it 
 to you right away, and asking what you think of it. I am 
 not much given to emotion of any sort, yet this thing excites 
 me a little (only a few degrees, however, and not to the 
 gushing point). Just this minute I have stumbled over a 
 rarety, if not a valuable: the same being more particularly 
 known and described as an idea. . . . 
 
 In short it occurs to me to write a Negro novel. It is a 
 thing entirely new nobody has ever tried it. Negro lovers 
 negro preachers Negro "literary and malevolent" "sie- 
 ties" Negro saints and Negro sinners think of what mines 
 of humor and pathos, plot and character, sense and nonsense, 
 are here awaiting development! I shall take my little dibble 
 and scratch away on the surface. Though I may not do 
 more than strike "color," I shall still work con amore. 1 
 will at least have all the advantages of opportunity as I 
 have lived long among the Negroes (as also long enough 
 away from them to appreciate their peculiarities) ; under 
 stand their character, disposition, language, customs and hab 
 its; have studied them; and have them continually before me. 
 I shall begin immediately, and I think that I can finish the 
 manuscript in sixty days. 
 
 It really seems odd that nothing of the kind has yet been 
 attempted. Nothing ever has, that I know of. "Uncle Tom s 
 Cabin," powerfully written as it is, gives no more true idea 
 of Negro life and character than one could get from the Nau 
 tical Almanac and like most other political documents, is 
 quite the reverse of true in almost every respect. The book 
 I purpose making shall be true, if nothing else is, and politics 
 shall have no part in its substance or its spirit. There is 
 another point that is novel, in an American novel. 
 
 It is believed that Russell had completed some of the 
 chapters of this proposed novel, but if so, they have been 
 xxxi 
 
. 
 IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 lost. There exists, however, an outline drawn up by 
 him for a novel in which it is evident that as early as 
 1875 he was contemplating using Negro character to a 
 considerable extent in connection with a story dealing 
 mainly with a group of white persons. Another out 
 line in existence shows that later he thought of pre 
 paring a volume of prose sketches under the title, 
 "Cotton Bolls Gathered in Mississippi." Had such a 
 book been finished the gift of dramatic portrayal that 
 Russell showed in such poems as "Christmas Night in 
 the Quarters" would have made it a valuable picture 
 of the life of his times among the Negroes and the 
 white people of Southern Mississippi. 
 
 This evident desire to try his ability in prose sketches 
 and stories indicates that, had Russell lived, he would 
 have produced work that would have entitled him to 
 rank as pioneer in this field as well as in dialect 
 poetry. During his life, only two short stories were 
 published, and owing to the fact that they appeared in 
 a juvenile magazine, did not command the attention 
 they deserved. But it must be remembered that there 
 was not then among the magazines the demand for 
 material of this kind that came later, and that even 
 so striking a story as Thomas Nelson Page s "Marse 
 Chan" remained, in the early eighties, in the hands of 
 The Century Magazine four years before it was timidly 
 used. Among Russell s unpublished manuscripts are 
 xxxii 
 
IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 several stories showing convincingly many of the quali 
 ties essential to success. If Russell had lived to develop 
 this side of his genius, he would perhaps have proved 
 well-founded the statement made of him by Joel 
 Chandler Harris in a private letter, "Had he been 
 spared to letters, all the rest of us would have taken 
 back seats so far as the representation of life in the 
 South is concerned." 
 
 Although Russell s work must remain a fragment, a 
 mere foretaste of what he might have achieved, it is 
 evident that the loss to literature by his early death was 
 assuredly not small. Had his life been longer, he 
 might have made a deeper mark on American litera 
 ture though he could not have made a more original 
 impress than he had already done through that deep 
 poetic vision that saw pathos and humor and beauty 
 in the humble life that others had contemned. 
 
 [After the foregoing sketch had been put into type, 
 an interesting series of nearly seventy letters by Irwin 
 Russell came to hand. Extending from the early au 
 tumn of 1875 to the end of 1878, they cover the period 
 of his rapidly developing genius and present valuable 
 material concerning his personal history and literary 
 plans. 
 
 In the light of these letters, it is necessary to modify 
 the previous statement regarding Russell s abandoning 
 xxxiii 
 
 

 IRWIN RUSSELL 
 
 the profession of law. In the autumn of 1877, he re 
 commenced practice in association with his old pre 
 ceptor, Judge Baldwin, who had one of the most exten 
 sive civil practices among the Mississippi lawyers of 
 that time. The fact that Judge Baldwin, who was 
 getting on in years, selected Russell as his assistant and 
 entrusted the management of important cases to him 
 was a flattering testimony to Russell s ability. Russell 
 was very busily engaged at his profession until the out 
 break of yellow fever at the end of the summer of 1878. 
 This calamity coming on the heels of the troublous 
 reconstruction times brought financial hardships to the 
 entire section that were most discouraging, and Russell, 
 feeling that his prospects were destroyed, decided to 
 go to New York. 
 
 This modification of the previous statement regard 
 ing Russell s relation to his profession would be inconse 
 quential were it not that the new view shows convinc- 
 ingly that he was finding himself more and more as he 
 approached mature years. The increasing steadiness 
 of purpose which is emphatically shown by this fact and 
 in other ways in this series of letters compels belief 
 that had Russell s life been longer his achievement in 
 literature would have been proportionately greater, and 
 intensifies the regret that, as it is, he is one of the 
 "inheritors of unfulfilled renown" whose life was of 
 singular promise and tragedy.] 
 
 . 
 XXXI V 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHRISTMAS-NIGHT IN THE QUARTERS .... 3 
 
 NEBUCHADNEZZAR 25 
 
 BUSINESS IN MISSISSIPPI 28 
 
 SELLING A DOG 34 
 
 UNCLE NICK ON FISHING . . . 37 
 
 NORVERN PEOPLE 42 
 
 ^WHEREFORE HE PRAYS THAT A WARRANT MAY IS 
 SUE 45 
 
 THE MISSISSIPPI WITNESS 53 
 
 BLIND NED 57 
 
 MAHSR JOHN 63 
 
 PRECEPTS AT PARTING 69 
 
 HALF-WAY DOIN S 74 
 
 A SERMON FOR THE SISTERS 79 
 
 UNCLE CAP INTERVIEWED 84 
 
 THE OLD HOSTLER S EXPERIENCE 90 
 
 REV. HENRY S WAR-SONG 94 
 
 LARRY S ON THE FORCE 96 
 
 THE IRISH ECLIPSE 102 
 
 /A PRACTICAL YOUNG WOMAN 105 
 
 THE POLYPHONE 108 
 
 THE FIRST CLIENT 114 
 
. 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE KNIGHT AND THE SQUIRE 119 
 
 v/ NINE GRAVES IN EDINBRO 125 
 
 HOPE 130 
 
 STUDIES IN STYLE 13 2 
 
 ALONG THE LINE 137 
 
 HER CONQUEST H3 
 
 NELLY H5 
 
 COSMOS H7 
 
 AN EXCHANGE H9 
 
 THE CEMETERY 1 5 
 
 >/ GOING 152 
 
 DAT PETER *55 
 
 SUMMER IDYLLERS *5 8 
 
 THE KINGDOM GATE 1D 4 
 
 THE MOCKINGBIRD ^6 
 
 SHIPS FROM THE SEA *68 
 
 UNCLE CALEB S VIEWS l l l 
 
 POT-LIQUOR X 75 
 
 THE MISSISSIPPI MIRACLE J 7 8 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 "Balance all! now step out rightly" . Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "O Mahsr! let dis gath rin fin a blessin in yo 
 
 sight!" 7 
 
 "Georgy Sam" 1 1 
 
 Aunt Cassy 16 
 
 "Ol Noah kep a-nailin "... 19 
 
 "De ha r s so long an thick an strong" ... 22 
 
 "Wuz dat a cannon shot me*?" 27 
 
 "What ! de cotton ain t de same" 30 
 
 "You mus keep yo cork a-bobbin " 40 
 
 "Las spring I foun a little chicken runnin in de 
 
 road" 46 
 
 "An me an Phyllis had important bizness at de 
 
 doah" 49 
 
 "Yoah Honah, an de jury" 52 
 
 "Is dat you, Mahsr Bob?" 59 
 
 Dat Bill 62 
 
 Mulatter Bill a dribin 65 
 
 A-stretchin an crowin 70 
 
 "But nebber git airy" 72 
 
 "Keep a-hoein an a-scrapin : 77 
 
 "I s fust clumb up de knowledge-tree" . . . .81 
 
 "Good-mornin , Mahsr ; I s tol able myself" . . 86 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "An now I simply vises you" 92 
 
 "And ain t ye dhrissed!" 97 
 
 "He houlds his shtick convanient to be tappin some 
 
 wan down" 100 
 
 He sat him down and wrote in rhyme . . . .106 
 
 Professor Jones 109 
 
 Sir Mortimer rode with his banner displayed . .122 
 
 The sexton 127 
 
 "There come a break, and his office call" . . . 140 
 
 "Some of em z long as that" 161 
 
 "Dat s glorified music he s singin " .... 167 
 "Go in dat bresh, and dribe de possums king out" 176 
 
 I 
 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 IN THE QUARTERS 
 
 AND OTHER POEMS 
 
 
 
 
ssssssss 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 CHRISTMAS-NIGHT IN THE QUARTERS 
 
 WHEN merry Christmas-day is done 
 And Christmas-night is just begun; 
 While clouds in slow procession drift, 
 To wish the moon-man "Christmas gift," 
 Yet linger overhead, to know 
 What causes all the stir below; 
 At Uncle Johnny Booker s ball 
 The darkies hold high carnival. 
 From all the country-side they throng, 
 With laughter, shouts, and scraps of song, 
 Their whole deportment plainly showing 
 That to the Frolic they are going. 
 Some take the path with shoes in hand, 
 To traverse muddy bottom-land; 
 Aristocrats their steeds bestride 
 Four on a mule, behold them ride! 
 
 3 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 And ten great oxen draw apace 
 The wagon from "de odder place," 
 With forty guests, whose conversation 
 Betokens glad anticipation. 
 Not so with him who drives: old Jim 
 Is sagely solemn, hard, and grim, 
 And frolics have no joys for him. 
 He seldom speaks but to condemn 
 
 Or utter some wise apothegm 
 
 , 
 Or else, some crabbed thought pursuing, 
 
 Talk to his team, as now he s doing: 
 
 Come up heah, Star ! Yee-bawee ! 
 
 You alluz is a-laggin 
 Mus be you think I s dead, 
 
 An dis de huss you s draggin 
 You J s mos too lazy to draw yo bref 
 
 Let lone drawin de waggin. 
 4 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 Dis team quit bel rin , sah ! 
 
 De ladies don t submit at 
 Dis team you ol fool ox, 
 
 You heah me tell you quit at*? 
 Dis team s des like de Nited States; 
 
 Dat s what I s try in to git at ! 
 
 
 De people rides behin , 
 
 De pollytishners haulin 
 Sh u d be a well-bruk ox, 
 
 
 To foller dat ar callin 
 
 M 
 An sometimes nuffin won t do dem steers, 
 
 But what dey mus be stallin ! 
 
 Woo bahgh ! Buck-kannon ! Yes, sar, 
 Sometimes dey will be stickin ; 
 
 An den, fus thing dey knows, 
 Dey takes a rale good lickin . 
 
 De folks gits down : an den watch out 
 For hommerin an kickin . 
 

 vS 
 
 CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 Dey blows upon dey hands, 
 Den flings em wid de nails up, 
 
 Jumps up an cracks dey heels, 
 An pruzently dey sails up, 
 
 An makes dem oxen hump deysef, 
 By twistin all dey tails up ! 
 
 That held that books were born of thought. 
 We form our minds by pedants rules, 
 And all we know is from the schools; 
 And when we work, or when we play, 
 We do it in an ordered way 
 And Nature s self pronounce a ban on, 
 Whene er she dares transgress a canon. 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 |fjn 
 
 In this our age of printer s ink 
 
 T is books that show us how to think 
 
 The rule reversed, and set at naught, 
 

 O Mahsr! let dis gath rin fin a blessin in yo sight! 1 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 Untrammeled thus the simple race is 
 That "wuks the craps" on cotton places. 
 Original in act and thought, 
 Because unlearned and untaught. 
 Observe them at their Christmas party: 
 How unrestrained their mirth how hearty ! 
 How many things they say and do 
 That never would occur to you! 
 See Brudder Brown whose saving grace 
 Would sanctify a quarter-race 
 Out on the crowded floor advance, 
 To "beg a blessin on dis dance." 
 
 
 
 O Mahsr! let dis gath rin fin a blessin in yo 
 
 sight ! 
 Don t jedge us hard fur what we does you know 
 
 it s Chrismus-night ; 
 8 
 
 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 An all de balunce ob de yeah we does as right s 
 
 we kin. 
 Ef dancin s wrong, O Mahsr ! let de time excuse 
 
 de sin! 
 
 We labors in de vineya d, wukin hard an wukin 
 
 true; 
 Now, shorely you won t notus, ef we eats a grape 
 
 or two, 
 An takes a leetle holiday, a leetle restin - 
 
 spell,- 
 Bekase, nex week, we 11 start in fresh, an labor 
 
 twicet as well. 
 
 Remember, Mahsr, min dis now, de sinfull- 
 
 ness ob sin 
 Is pendin pon de sperrit what we goes an does 
 
 it in: 
 An in a righchis frame ob min we s gwine to 
 
 dance an sing, 
 
 9 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 A-feelin like King David, when he cut de 
 pigeon-wing. 
 
 It seems to me indeed it do I mebbe mout be 
 
 wrong- 
 That people raly ought to dance, when Chrismus 
 
 comes along; 
 Des dance bekase dey s happy like de birds hops 
 
 in de trees, 
 De pine-top fiddle soundin to de bowin ob de 
 
 breeze. 
 
 
 We has no ark to dance afore, like Isrul s prophet 
 
 king; 
 We has no harp to soun de chords, to holp us out 
 
 m 
 
 to sing; 
 But cordin to de gif s we has we does de bes 
 
 we knows, 
 An folks don t spise the vi let-flower bekase it 
 
 ain t de rose. 
 
 10 
 

 
 
 "Georgy Sam" 
 
 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 You bless us, please, sah, eben ef we s doin 
 
 wrong to-night; 
 Kase den we 11 need de blessin more n ef we s 
 
 doin right; 
 An let de blessin stay wid us, untel we comes to 
 
 S aie i 
 
 An goes to keep our Chrismus wid dem sheriffs 
 in de sky ! 
 
 m w 
 
 Yes, tell dem preshis anguls we s a-gwine to jine 
 
 em soon: 
 Our voices we s a-trainin fur to sing de glory 
 
 tune ; , 
 
 We s ready when you wants us, an it ain t no 
 
 matter when 
 O Mahsr ! call yo chillen soon, an take em home ! 
 
 Amen. 
 
 12 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 The rev rend man is scarcely through, 
 When all the noise begins anew, 
 And with such force assaults the ears, 
 That through the din one hardly hears 
 Old fiddling Josey "sound his A," 
 Correct the pitch, begin to play, 
 Stop, satisfied, then, with the bow, 
 Rap out the signal dancers know : 
 
 Git yo pardners, fust kwattilion! 
 Stomp yo feet, an raise em high; 
 Tune is: u Oh! dat water-million! 
 Gwine to git to home bime-bye." 
 S lute yo pardners! scrape perlitely 
 Don t be bumpin gin de res 
 Balance all! now, step out rightly; 
 Alluz dance yo lebbel bes . 
 
 13 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 Fo wa d foah! whoop up, niggers! 
 
 Back ag in! don t be so slow! 
 
 Swing cornahsl min de riggers! 
 
 When I hollers, den yo go. 
 
 Top ladies cross ober! 
 
 Hoi on, till I takes a dram 
 
 Gemmen solo! yes, I s sober 
 
 Cain t say how de fiddle am. 
 
 Hands around! hoi up yo faces, 
 
 Don t be lookin at yo feet! 
 
 Swing yo pardners to yo places! 
 
 Dat s de way dat s hard to beat. 
 
 Sides for w d! w*hen you s ready 
 
 Make a bow as low s you kin ! 
 
 Swing acrost wid opposite lady! 
 
 Now we ll let you swap ag in: 
 
 Ladies change! shet up dat talkin ; 
 
 Do yo talkin arter while! 
 
 Right and lef ! don t want no walkin 
 
 Make yo steps, an show yo style ! 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 And so the "set" proceeds its length 
 
 Determined by the dancers strength; 
 
 And all agree to yield the palm 
 
 For grace and skill to "Georgy Sam," 
 
 Who stamps so hard, and leaps so high, 
 
 "Des watch him!" is the wond ring cry 
 
 u De nigger mus be, for a fac , 
 
 Own cousin to a jumpin -jack!" 
 
 On, on, the restless fiddle sounds, 
 
 Still chorused by the curs and hounds; 
 
 Dance after dance succeeding fast, 
 
 Till supper is announced at last. 
 
 That scene but why attempt to show it? 
 
 The most inventive modem poet, 
 
 In fine new words whose hope and trust is, 
 
 Could form no phrase to do it justice ! 
 
 When supper ends that is not so soon 
 
 The fiddle strikes the same old tune; 
 
 The dancers pound the floor again, 
 
 With all they have of might and main; 
 
 15 
 

 CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 
 Old gossips, almost turning pale, 
 Attend Aunt Cassy s gruesome tale 
 Of conjurors, and ghosts, and devils, 
 That in the smoke-house hold their revels; 
 
 
 
 Aunt Cassy 
 
 Each drowsy baby droops his head, 
 Yet scorns the very thought of bed: 
 So wears the night, and wears so fast, 
 All wonder when they find it past. 
 And hear the signal sound to go 
 From what few cocks are left to crow. 
 Then, one and all, you hear them shout: 
 "Hi! Booker! fotch de banjo out, 
 16 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 An gib us one song fore we goes 
 One ob de berry bes you knows!" 
 Responding to the welcome call, 
 He takes the banjo from the wall, 
 And tunes the strings with skill and care, 
 Then strikes them with a master s air, 
 And tells, in melody and rime, 
 This legend of the olden time: 
 
 Go way, fiddle! folks is tired o hearin you 
 
 a-squakin . 
 Keep silence fur yo betters! don t you heah de 
 
 banjo talkin 2 
 About de possum s tail she s gwine to lecter 
 
 1_J!__ 1 * .L. t 
 
 About de ha 
 
 ladies, listen! 
 
 /r whut isn t da, an why de ha r is 
 
 missin 
 
 
 
 

 
 CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 "Bar s gwine to be a oberflow," said Noah, 
 lookin solemn 
 
 Fur Noah tuk the "Herald," an he read de ribber 
 column 
 
 An so he sot his hands to wuk a-cl arin timber- 
 patches, 
 
 And lowed he s gwine to build a boat to beat the 
 steamah Natchez. 
 
 . 
 OP Noah kep a-nailin an a-chippin an a- 
 
 sawin ; 
 An all de wicked neighbors kep a-laughin an a- 
 
 pshawin ; 
 But Noah did n t min em, knowin whut wuz 
 
 gwine to happen: 
 An forty days an forty nights de rain it kep a- 
 
 drappin . 
 
 f 
 
 Now, Noah had done cotched a lot ob ebry sort 
 o beas es 
 
 18 
 

 "Ol Noah kep a-nailin " 
 
 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 Ob all de shows a-trabbelin , it beat em all to 
 
 pieces ! 
 He had a Morgan colt an sebral head o* Jarsey 
 
 cattl 
 
 An druv em board de Ark as soon s he heered 
 de thunder rattle. 
 
 Den sech anoder fall ob rain ! it come so awful 
 
 hebby, 
 
 De ribber riz immejitly, an busted troo de lebbee; 
 De people all wuz drownded out cep Noah an 
 
 de critters, 
 An men he d hired to work de boat an one to 
 
 mix de bitters. 
 
 De Ark she kep a-sailin an a-sailin an a-sailin ; 
 De lion got his dander up, an like to bruk de 
 
 pal in ; 
 r 
 
 De sarpents hissed; de painters yelled; tell, whut 
 wid all de fussin , 
 
 20 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 You c u d n t hardly heah de mate a-bossin roun 
 
 an cussin . 
 
 Now, Ham, de only nigger whut wuz runnin on 
 
 de packet, 
 Got lonesome in de barber-shop, an c u d n t stan 
 
 de racket; 
 An so, fur to amuse he-se f, he steamed some 
 
 wood an bent it, 
 
 An soon he had a banjo made de fust dat wuz 
 
 A :; i 
 
 invented. 
 
 He wet de ledder, stretched it on ; made bridge an 
 
 screws an aprin; 
 An fitted in a proper neck t wuz berry long an 
 
 tap rin ; 
 
 He tuk some tin, an twisted him a thimble fur to 
 
 . 
 ring it; 
 
 An den de mighty question riz: how wuz he 
 gwine to string it? 
 
 21 
 

 
 
 CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 De possum had as fine a tail as dis dat I s a- 
 
 singin ; 
 De ha r s so long an thick an strong, des fit 
 
 fur banjo-stringin ; 
 
 "De ha r s so long an thick an strong" 
 
 Dat nigger shaved em off as short as wash-day- 
 dinner graces; 
 
 An sorted -ob em by de size, f om little E s to 
 basses. 
 
 He strung her, tuned her, struck a jig, t wuz 
 "Nebber min de wedder," 
 22 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 She soun like forty-lebben bands a-playin all 
 
 togedder ; 
 Some went to pattin ; some to dancin : Noah 
 
 called de figgers; 
 An Ham he sot an knocked de tune, de happiest 
 
 ob niggers! 
 . 
 
 Now, sence dat time it s mighty strange 
 
 dere s not de slightes showin 
 Ob any ha r at all upon de possum s tail a- 
 
 growin ; 
 An curi s, too, dat nigger s ways: his people 
 
 nebber los em 
 Fur whar you finds de nigger dar s de banjo an 
 
 de possum ! 
 
 The night is spent; and as the day 
 Throws up the first faint flash of gray, 
 The guests pursue their homeward way: 
 And through the field beyond the gin, 
 23 
 
CHRISTMAS-NIGHT 
 
 Just as the stars are going in, 
 See Santa Claus departing grieving 
 His own dear Land of Cotton leaving. 
 His work is done; he fain would rest 
 Where people know and love him best. 
 He pauses, listens, looks about; 
 But go he must: his pass is out. 
 So, coughing down the rising tears, 
 He climbs the fence and disappears. 
 And thus observes a colored youth - 
 (The common sentiment, in sooth) : 
 "Oh ! what a blessin t wud ha been, 
 
 Ef Santy had been born a twin ! 
 
 J 
 
 We d hab two Chrismuses a yeah 
 Or p r aps one brudder 5 d settle heah !" 
 
 

 NEBUCHADNEZZAR 
 
 YOU, Nebuchadnezzah, whoa, sah! 
 Whar is you tryin to go, sah? 
 I d hab you fur to know, sah, 
 
 >dj 
 
 I s a-holdin ob de lines. 
 You better stop dat prancin ; 
 You s pow ful fond ob dancin , 
 But I 11 bet my yeah s advancin 
 
 Dat I 11 cure you ob yo shines. 
 
 
 
 Look heah, mule! Better min out; 
 Fus t ing you know you 11 fin out 
 How quick I 11 wear dis line out 
 
 On your ugly stubbo n back. 
 You need n t tr} to steal up 
 An lif dat precious heel up; 
 25 
 
NEBUCHADNEZZAR 
 
 You s got to plow dis fiel up, 
 
 You has, sah, fur a fac . 
 Dar, dat s de way to do it ! 
 He s comin right down to it; 
 Jes watch him plowin troo it! 
 
 Dis nigger ain t no fool. 
 Some folks dey would a beat him; 
 Now, dat would only heat him 
 I know jes how to treat him: 
 
 You mus reason wid a mule. 
 
 He minds me like a nigger. 
 
 If he wuz only bigger 
 
 He d fotch a mighty rigger, 
 
 He would, I tell you ! Yes, sah ! 
 See how he keeps a-clickin ! 
 He s as gentle as a chickin, 
 An nebber thinks o kickin - 
 Whoa darl Nebuchadnezzah! 
 
 26 
 
 
NEBUCHADNEZZAR 
 
 Is dis heah me, or not me ? 
 Or is de debbil got me? 
 
 
 "Wuz dat a cannon shot me? 
 
 Wuz dat a cannon shot me? 
 
 Hab I laid heah more n a week? 
 Dat mule do kick amazin ! 
 De beast was sp iled in raisin - 
 But now I s pect he s grazin 
 
 On de oder side de creek. 
 
 

 
 BUSINESS IN MISSISSIPPI 
 
 WHY, howdy, Mahsr Johnny ! Is you 
 gone to keepin store? 
 Well, sah, I is surprised ! I nebber heard ob dat 
 
 afore. 
 
 Say, ain t you gwine to gib me piece o good to 
 bacco, please? 
 
 I s long wid you in Georgia, time we all wuz 
 refugees. 
 
 I know d you would; I alluz tells the people, 
 
 white an black, 
 Dat you s a r al gen l man, an dat s de libin 
 
 fac 
 Yes, sah, dat s what I tells em, an it s nuffin else 
 
 but true, 
 An all de cullud people thinks a mighty heap ob 
 
 you. 
 
 28 
 
BUSINESS IN MISSISSIPPI 
 
 Look heah, sah, don t you want to buy some cot- 
 
 ton? Yes, you do; 
 Dere s oder people wants it, but I d rader sell to 
 
 you. 
 How much? Oh, jes a bale dat on de wagon 
 
 in de street 
 Dis heah s de sample, dis cotton s mighty hard 
 
 to beat ! 
 
 You 11 fin it on de paper, what de offers is dat s 
 
 made; 
 Dey s all de same seditions, half in cash, half 
 
 in trade. 
 Dey s mighty low, sah; come, now, can t you 
 
 prove upon de rates 
 Dat Barrot Brothers offers only twelb an seben- 
 
 eights? 
 
 Lord, Mahsr Johnny, raise it! Don t you know 
 dat I s a frien , 
 
 29 
 
 
 

 
 
 What! de cotton ain t de same" 
 
BUSINESS IN MISSISSIPPI 
 
 An when I has de money I is willin fur to spert ? 
 My custom s wuff a heap, sah; jes you buy de 
 bale an see. 
 
 Dere did n t nebber nobody lose nuffin off ob me. 
 Now, what s de use ob gwine dere an a-zaminin 
 
 ob de bale? 
 When people trades wid me dey alluz gits an 
 
 hones sale; 
 I ain t no han fur cheatin ; I beliebes in actin 
 
 fa r, 
 An ebry-body 11 tell you dey alluz foun me 
 
 squar . 
 
 I is n t like some niggers; I declar it is a shame 
 De way some ob dem swin les What! de cotton 
 
 ain t de same 
 As dat s in de sample ! Well, I m blest, sah, ef 
 
 it is! 
 
 31 
 
BUSINESS IN MISSISSIPPI 
 
 Dis heah must be my brudder s sample Yes, sah, 
 dis is his. 
 
 
 If dat don t beat creation ! Heah I ve done been 
 
 totin round 
 A sample different from de cotton! I will be 
 
 consound ! 
 Mahsr Johnny, you must scuse me. Take de 
 
 cotton as it Stan s, 
 
 An tell me ef you re willin fur to take it off my 
 han s. 
 
 I 
 
 Sho! nebber min de auger! tain t a bit o use to 
 
 bore; 
 De bale is all de same s dis heah place de baggin s 
 
 tore; 
 You ought n t to go pullin out de cotton dat a- 
 
 way; 
 It spiles de beauty ob de What, sah ! rocks in dar, 
 
 you say ! 
 
 32 
 

 BUSINESS IN MISSISSIPPI 
 
 Rocks in dat ar cotton! How de debbil kin dat 
 be*? 
 
 I packed dat bale myse f hoi on a minute, le 
 me see 
 
 My stars ! I mus be crazy ! Mahsr Johnny, dis 
 is fine! 
 
 I s gone an hauled my brudder s cotton in, in 
 stead ob mine! 
 
 
 33 
 
SELLING A DOG 
 
 H YAR, Pot-liquor! What you at? You 
 heahmecallin you? 
 H yar, sah! Come an tell dis little gemmen 
 
 howdy-do ! 
 Dar, sah, ain t dat puppy jes as fat as he kin roll? 
 
 Maybe you won t b liebe it, but he s only six 
 mon s oP ! 
 
 Coon dog? Lord! young marster, he s jes at 
 
 em all de while; 
 
 I b liebe dat he kin smell a coon fur half-a-mile. 
 I don like to sell him, fur he 5 s wuf his weight in 
 
 goP; 
 
 If you did n t want him, sah, he nebber should be 
 
 If you takes him off wid you, I 11 feel like I wuz 
 lost. 
 
SELLING A DOG 
 
 He s de bes young fightin -dog I ebber come 
 
 acrost. 
 Jes look at dem eyes, young marster; what a sab- 
 
 bage face! 
 He won t let no stranger nigger come about de 
 
 place. 
 
 You know Henry Wilson s Bob, dat whipped 
 
 your fader s Dan 4 ? 
 Pot-liquor jes chucked dat dog so bad he could n t 
 
 stan ! 
 Well, sah, if you wants him, now I 11 tell you 
 
 what I 11 do, 
 You kin hab him fur a dollar, seein s how it s 
 
 you. 
 
 Now, Marster Will, you knows it he s wuf 
 
 mo n dat, a heap; 
 
 R al y, I s a-doin wrong to let him go so cheap. 
 Don t you tell nobody, now, what wuz de price 
 
 you paid 
 
 35 
 
 
SELLING A DOG 
 
 My ol oman s gwine to gib me tits, sah, I s 
 afraid ! 
 
 T anks you, sah ! Good-mornin , sah ! You tell 
 
 yo ma, fur me, 
 
 I has got de fines turkeys dat she ebber see; 
 Dey is jes as good as any pusson ebber eat. 
 If she wants a gobbler, let her sen to Uncle Pete. 
 
 Dar! I s done got rid of dat ar wretched dog 
 
 at las ! 
 
 
 
 Drownin time wuz comin fur him mighty pre 
 cious fas ! 
 
 Sol him fur a dollar well ! An goodness 
 knows de pup 
 
 Is n t wuf de powder it d take to blow him up ! 
 
 
I 1 
 
 UNCLE NICK ON FISHING 
 
 IT alluz sets me laughin , when I happens to be 
 roun 5 , 
 To see a lot ob gemmen come a-fishin from de 
 
 town! 
 Dey waits tell arter bre kfus fore dey ebber 
 
 makes a start, 
 
 An den you sees em comin in a leetle Jarsey 
 kyart. 
 
 Now, Jarsey kyarts is springy- so, to hab a 
 
 studdy seat, 
 De gemmen s bliged to ballus her wid suffin good 
 
 to eat; 
 An Jarsey kyarts runs better so de gemmen 
 
 seems to think 
 By totin long a demijohn of suffin good to 
 
 drink. 
 
 37 
 

 
 UNCLE NICK ON FISHING 
 
 When dey gits at de fishin place, it s stonishin 
 
 indeed 
 
 Sech tricks to go a-fishin wid nobody nebber seed ! 
 Dey poles is put togedder wid a dozen j ints ob 
 
 tin, 
 An has a block-an -tickle fur to wind de fishes in ! 
 
 De gemmens makes a heap o fuss, an skeers de 
 
 fishes off; 
 An den dey takes an sots de poles, some place de 
 
 bankissof; 
 An den dey hunts a shady place, an settles on 
 
 de grass, 
 An pruzently you heahs em: "Dat a spade? I 
 
 has to pass!" 
 i 
 
 St. Petah wuz a fisherman, an understood his 
 
 trade; 
 He staid an watched his cork, instid ob laz in in 
 
 de shade. 
 
 38 
 
UNCLE NICK ON FISHING 
 
 De gernmen is copyin arter him dey better be ! 
 Q r i> s a science fisherman t u d do to copy 
 me. 
 
 When I starts out a-fishin , I puts on my ol est 
 clo es 
 
 Dey age is putty tol able, you d nat rally sup 
 pose! 
 
 I gits up in de mohnin , long afore de sun has riz, 
 
 An grabbles wums, I tell you! like the yurly 
 bird I is. 
 
 I s alluz berry tic lar bout de season ob de moon : 
 De dark ob it is fishin time an time for huntin 
 
 coon ; 
 An I s be n fishin nuff to know, as notus mus 
 
 be tuk 
 Ob vari s leetle sarcumstances bearin on de luck: 
 
 39 
 
UNCLE NICK ON FISHING 
 
 You has to spit upon de bait, afore you draps 
 
 it in; 
 Mus keep 3-0 cork a-bobbin , des as easy as you 
 
 kin; 
 
 "You mus keep yo cork a-bobbin " 
 
 Ef some one steps acrost yo pole, yo luck is 
 
 shorely broke, 
 Widout dey steps it back ag in, afore a word is 
 
 spoke. 
 
 1 
 
 Untel you quits a-nshin , don t you nebber count 
 
 yo string; 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 
 
1 
 
 I 
 
 UNCLE NICK ON FISHING 
 
 Fur ef you do, you s sartin not to cotch anodcr 
 thing; 
 
 But ef a sarpent-doctor bug sh u d light upon de 
 
 pole, 
 You knows you s good fur cotchin all de fishes 
 
 in de hole. 
 
 Dar, now ! you s got de 1 arnin what a fisherman 
 
 sh u d know; 
 So, when you s ready, all you has to do s to up 
 
 an go, 
 An f oiler dem instruckshums ef you does it, to 
 
 de notch, 
 Good Marster! won t it s prise de folks to see de 
 
 mess you cotch ! 
 
 
 
 
NORVERN PEOPLE 
 
 DEM folks in de Norf is de beatin est lot! 
 Wid all de brass buttons an fixin s dey 
 
 got 
 
 You need n t tole me ! dey all dresses in blue: 
 I seed em de time at Grant s army come froo. 
 
 Dey libs up de country, whar ellyphunts grows, 
 Somewhar bout de head ob de ribber, I s pose; 
 Whar snow keeps a-drappin , spring, winter, an 
 
 fall, 
 An summer-time don t nebber get dar at all. 
 
 I 
 
 Up dar in dey town dar s a mighty great hole 
 Dey dug fur to git at de silber and gol : 
 I reckon heah lately it mus ha cabed in 
 I wish I c u d see a good two-bits ag in! 
 

 NORVERN PEOPLE 
 
 Dey puts up supplies for us Christuns to eat, 
 De whiskey, de flouah, de meal, an de meat ; 
 Dey J s dreffle big-feelin , an makes a great fuss, 
 But dey can t git along widout wukin for us. 
 
 I would n t be dem, not fur all you c u d gib: 
 Dey nebber tas e possum as long as dey lib! 
 Dey w u d n t know gumbo, ef put in dey mouf 
 Why don t dey all sell out an come to de Souf ? 
 
 But lawsy! dey s ign ant as ign ant kin be, 
 An ain t got de presence ob min fur to see 
 Dat ol Marsissippi s jes ober de fence 
 Dat runs aroun hebben s sarcumferymence ! 
 
 Now, us dat is fabored wid de wisdom an grace, 
 An had de fus pick fur a sirable place, 
 We ought fur to member de duty we owes, 
 To sheer wid our brudders as fur as it goes. 
 
 43 
 
NORVERN PEOPLE 
 
 So sometime in chu ch I s a-gwine to serjes 
 Dat some-un be sent what kin talk to em bes 
 (An mebbe dat s me) fur to open deir eyes, 
 Recomstmc de pore critters, an help em to rise. 
 
 We 11 fotch em down heah, de las one ob de 
 
 batch, 
 
 An treat em like gemmen, an rent em a patch 
 Why, dat s de Merlennium ! Dat s what it am ; 
 An us is de lion, an dey is de lamb ! 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 XTV 
 
 44 
 
Su (M 
 
 1 I 
 
 I 
 
 WHEREFORE HE PRAYS THAT A 
 WARRANT MAY ISSUE 
 
 TS you de jestis ob de peace? I has a little case 
 
 I 
 
 About a little matter, sah, what happened on 
 
 de place, 
 I s nuffin but a nigger, but has feelin s, all de 
 
 same, 
 An de way dat Mahsr Henry went an done me 
 
 wuz a shame. 
 
 Las spring I foun a little chicken runnin in de 
 
 road; 
 
 I tuk it to de quarters, an kep it till it growed. 
 I nebber stole it; kase de law sez ebrythin you 
 
 fin 
 Belongs to you; an so, ob co se, dat chicken, he 
 
 wuz mine. 
 
 45 
 

 
 Las spring I foun a little chicken runnin in de road 
 
WHEREFORE HE PRAYS 
 
 A week dis comin Thu sday, I was comin from de 
 
 fid , 
 An happened fur to member I wuz out ob meat 
 
 an meal ; 
 So I begins to study bout what I s a-gwine to 
 
 do 
 An thinks, sez I, "Dat chicken s shorely big 
 
 enough to stew." 
 
 When I gits to de quarters, den I sez unto my 
 
 wife, 
 I would n t tell a lie to you, sah, not to sabe my 
 
 life, 
 "Hey, Phyllis, gal," sez I, des so, "run out dar in 
 
 de lot, 
 An cotch dat Dominica fur to bile him in de pot." 
 
 Sez she to me, "I low myse f, he would eat tol ble 
 
 good; 
 But how I gwine to cook him, when I is n t got 
 
 no wood 9" 
 
 47 
 

 WHEREFORE HE PRAYS 
 
 Dat wuz de conbersatiorm, sah ; I gibe it word fur 
 
 word, | 
 
 An Phyllis she can testify as dat wuz what oc 
 curred. 
 
 Sez I, "You kill de chicken. Does you think I s 
 
 los my sense?" 
 An I went to Mahsr s wood-pile, in de corner ob 
 
 de fence. 
 I looked an did n t see nobody, heard nobody 
 
 speak, 
 
 //vl 
 
 An so I toted off enough to do me fur a week. 
 
 I nebber thought ob steal in when I tuk dat wood 
 
 
 awa, 
 
 For ebry stick I spected to return some oder day; 
 An ef a man cain t borry wood what s layin out 
 
 ob nights, 
 I d like fur you to tell me what s the good ob 
 
 swivel rights? 
 
 
 
"An me an Phyllis had important bizness at de doah" 
 
 
WHEREFORE HE PRAYS 
 
 Well ! Phyllis picked de chicken, an she soused 
 
 him in de pot; 
 
 De fire wuz burnin an de water gittin hot; 
 When somefin went boo-room ! boo-room ! right in 
 
 de chimney-place, 
 An all de fire an ashes come a-scootin in my 
 
 face. 
 
 I thought it was de debbil, an it skeered me mos 
 
 to defT; 
 De smoke puffed out so hebby I could skacely 
 
 draw my breff ; 
 De wood, de pot, de chicken, dey went flyin crost 
 
 de floah, 
 An me an Phyllis had important bizness at de 
 
 doah. 
 
 De folks dey come a-runnin ; dar wuz Bob an 
 
 Pete an Bill; 
 An heah come Mahsr Henry des a-laughin fit 
 
 to kill- 
 
 50 
 
WHEREFORE HE PRAYS 
 
 Sez he, "I knowed, you rascal, you wuz takin 
 
 wood away, 
 An I put a poun o powder in a holler stick to- 
 
 day." 
 
 Dat s why I want a warrant, sari; my rights is all 
 
 I ax, 
 
 An I has lots o witnesses to summons to de fac s. 
 I scorns to be imposed on; an I peals unto de law 
 To go fur Mahsr Henry, sah, an bring him up 
 
 to taw. 
 

 "Yoah Honah, an de jury" 
 
 
Y 
 
 THE MISSISSIPPI WITNESS 
 
 "OAH HONAH, AN DE JURY: Ef you ll 
 JL listen, now, to me, 
 I s gwine to straighten up dis case jes like it 
 
 ought to be. 
 Dis heah s a case ob stealin hogs a mighty 
 
 ser ous fense 
 An you 11 know all about it, when I gibs my 
 
 ebbydence. 
 
 Dis Peter Jones, de plainter, is a member ob de 
 
 chu ch, 
 But Thomas Green, de fender, goodness knows 
 
 he s nuffin much; 
 A lazy, triflin nigger is dat berry Thomas 
 
 Green 
 Dese is de dif rent parties you is called to jedge 
 
 atween. 
 
 53 
 

 THE MISSISSIPPI WITNESS 
 
 Now gib me stric contention while I lucidates de 
 
 *"" 
 
 Dere s two whole sides to eberyt ing, de front 
 
 one an de back, 
 What J s dat de little lawyer say? To talk about 
 
 de case? 
 Dat s jes what I wuz comin to; you makes me 
 
 lose de place. 
 
 Whar wuz I? Oh! I members; I wuz jes about 
 to say, 
 
 I heered a disputation bout a p int of law to 
 day; 
 
 Bout how to turn State s ebbydence dat s 
 what dey s dribin at 
 
 Now ain t it strange some niggers is so ignorant as 
 dat? 
 
 Why, when you wants to turn it, you jes has 
 to come to town, 
 
 54 
 
m-r-r-r* * ir TO O TO O T T-TT \ t TTT XT T7C C 
 
 THE MISSISSIPPI WITNESS 
 
 I 
 
 An find de Deestric Turner he 11 be somewhar 
 
 loafin roun 
 An J den sez you, "Mahsr Turner, sah, I zires my 
 
 compliments ; 
 I s come in town to see you, fur to turn State s 
 
 ebbydence." 
 
 As soon s you tells him dat, he knows perzackly 
 
 what you mean, 
 An takes you to his office, whar he s got a big 
 
 mersheen, 
 An dar you cotches hoi de crank, an den you 
 
 turns away, 
 Untel at las dar s somefin clicks, an den you s 
 
 come to A. 
 
 "Is dat der letter of de thing de feller done? sez 
 
 he; 
 Ef you sez no, you turns ag in untel you comes 
 
 to B; 
 
 55 
 
THE MISSISSIPPI WITNESS 
 
 An so you keep a-turnin , tell de right one gits 
 
 aroun , 
 An dar de Deestric Turner looks, an dar de law 
 
 is foun . 
 
 I 1 
 
 An den you gibs de fac s, an den he reads the law 
 
 to you, 
 An axes you to vise him what you t ink he ought 
 
 to do; 
 An den he say "good-mornin ," an he gibs you 
 
 fifty cents, 
 An dat s de way you has to do to turn State s 
 
 ebbydence. 
 
 Well, gemmen ob de jury, dis heah case is under 
 stood. 
 
 I does n t knoiv de hog wuz stole, but Peter s word 
 is good. 
 
 He up an sesso manfully, dout makin any bones; 
 
 An darfore, sahs, ef I wuz you, I t ink I d cide 
 
 for Jones. 
 
 56 
 
BLIND NED 
 
 WHO is dat ar a-playin ? Shucks ! I wish 
 Iwuzn tblin ; 
 But when de Lord he tuk my eyes, he lef my 
 
 yeahs behin . 
 Is dat you, Mahsr Bob? I fought I reco nized 
 
 your bowin ; 
 
 I said I knowed t was you, soon s I heered de 
 fiddle goin . 
 
 Sho! dat ain t right! jes le me show you how to 
 
 play dat tune; 
 I feel like I could make de fiddle talk dis arter- 
 
 noon. 
 Now don t you see that counter s jes a leetle bit 
 
 too high? 
 Well, nebber min ; I guess you 11 learn to tune 
 
 her by an by. 
 
 57 
 
BLIND NED 
 
 You s jes like all musicianers dat learns to play 
 
 by note : 
 You ain t got music in you, so you has to hab it 
 
 wrote. 
 Now dat ain t science why de debbil don t you 
 
 play by yeah? 
 For dat s de onlies kin ob music ntten fur to 
 
 heah. 
 
 Do you suppose, when David wuz a-pickin pn 
 
 de harp, 
 He ebber knowed de difference atwixt a flat an 
 
 sharp? 
 But any tune you called fur, he could pick it all 
 
 de same, 
 For David knowed de music, dough he did n t 
 
 know de name. 
 
 Now what shall I begin on? Somefm lively, fas , 
 an quick? 
 
 58 
 
 

 
 
 1 
 
 
 "Is dat you, Mahsr Bob?" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BLIND NED 
 
 Well, sah, jes pay attention, an I 11 gib you 
 
 "Cap n Dick." 
 Yah! yah! young mahsr, don t you feel jes like 
 
 you want to pat? 
 You 11 hab to practice fur a while afore you ekals 
 
 dat! 
 
 Dere ain t nobody roun dis place kin play wid 
 
 Uncle Ned; 
 Dey is n t got it in dere fingers, neider in deir 
 
 head; 
 Dat fiddler Bill dey talks about I heered him 
 
 play a piece, 
 An I declar it sounded like a fox among de 
 
 geese. 
 
 A violeen is like an ooman, mighty hard to guide, 
 An mighty hard to keep in order arter once it s 
 
 buyed. 
 Dere s alluz somefin bout it out of kelter, more 
 
 or less, 
 
 60 
 
BLIND NED 
 
 An tain t de f ancles -lookin ones dat allus does 
 de bes . 
 
 Dis yer s a splendid inst ument I spec it cost a 
 
 heap; 
 You r al y ought to let me hab dis fiddle fur to 
 
 keep. 
 It ain t no use to you, sah; fur, widout it s in de 
 
 man, 
 He cain t git music out de fines fiddle in de Ian . 
 
 It quires a power ob science fur to fiddle, sah, you 
 
 see, 
 An science comes by natur ; dat s de way it is wid 
 
 me. 
 But Lord! dat Bill! It muses me to heah him 
 
 talkin big; 
 You never heered a braggin fiddler play a decent 
 
 jig! 
 
 61 
 

 
 
 
 BLIND NED 
 
 Dat Bill, he is a caution, sah ! I wonder now 
 whar he 
 
 An oder folks I knows of 
 yes, I wonder whar 11 
 dey be 
 
 In hebben, when de music s 
 playin , an de angels 
 shout 
 
 If Bill should jine de chorus, 
 k\ dey would hab to put 
 
 him out. 
 
 Dat Bill 
 
 Well, good-by, Mahsr Bob, sah ; when you s nuffin 
 
 else to do 
 Jes sen fur dis ol darky, an he 11 come an play 
 
 fur you; 
 An don t gib up your practisin you s only 
 
 sebenteen, 
 An maybe when you s ol as me you 11 play the 
 
 violeen. 
 
 62 
 
^aajy^yyVyv^Sj^^ 
 
 MAHSR JOHN 
 
 IHEAHS a heap o people talkin , ebrywhar I 
 goes, 
 Bout Washintum an Franklum, an sech gen uses 
 
 as dose; 
 I s pose dey s mighty fine, but heah s de p int 
 
 I s bettin on : 
 
 Dere wuz n t nar a one ob em come up to Mahsr 
 John. 
 
 He shorely wuz de greates man de country ebber 
 
 growed. 
 You better had git out de way when he come long 
 
 de road! 
 He hel his head up dis way, like he spised to see 
 
 de groun ; 
 An niggers had to toe de mark when Mahsr John 
 
 wuz roun . 
 

 MAHSR JOHN 
 
 I only has to shet my eyes, an den it seems to me 
 I sees him right afore me now, jes like he use 
 
 to be, 
 
 A-settin on de gal ry, lookin awful big an wise, 
 Wid little niggers fannin him to keep away de 
 
 flies. 
 
 He alluz wore de berry bes ob planters linen 
 
 suits, 
 
 An kep a nigger busy jes a-blackin ob his boots; 
 De buckles on his galluses wuz made of solid gol , 
 An diamon s! dey wuz in his shut as thick as 
 
 it would hoi . 
 
 You heered me! twas a caution, when he went 
 
 to take a ride, 
 To see him in de kerridge, wid ol Mistis by his 
 
 side 
 
 Mulatter Bill a-dribin , an a nigger on behin , 
 An two Kaintucky bosses tuk em tearin whar 
 
 dey gwine. 
 
Mulatter Bill a-dribin 
 
MAHSR JOHN 
 
 OP Mahsr John wuz pow ful rich he owned a 
 
 heap o Ian : 
 Fibe cotton places, sides a sugar place in 
 
 Loozyan ; 
 He had a thousan niggers an he wuked em, 
 
 shore s you born ! 
 De oberseahs u d start em at de breakin ob de 
 
 morn. 
 
 
 I reckon dere wuz forty ob de niggers, young an 
 
 or, I 
 
 Dat staid about de big house jes to do what dey 
 
 wuz to? ; 
 
 . 
 
 Dey had a easy time, wid skacely any work at 
 
 ail- 
 But dey had to come a-runnin when ol Mahsr 
 
 John u d call! 
 
 >*y 
 
 Sometimes he d gib a frolic dat s de time you 
 seed de fun: 
 
 66 
 
MAHSR JOHN 
 
 De ristocratic fam lies, dey u d be dar, ebry one; 
 Dey d hab a band from New Orleans to play 
 
 for em to dance, 
 An tell you what, de supper wuz a tic lar sar- 
 
 cumstance. 
 
 Well, times is changed. De war it come an sot 
 
 de niggers free, 
 An now ol Mahsr John ain t hardly wuf as much 
 
 as me; 
 He had to pay his debts, an so his Ian is mos ly 
 
 gone 
 An I declar I s sorry for my pore ol Mahsr 
 
 John. 
 
 But when I heahs em talkin bout some sully- 
 
 brated man, 
 I listens to em quiet, till dey done said all dey 
 
 can, 
 
MAHSR JOHN 
 
 An den I lows dot in dem days at I remembers 
 
 on, 
 Dat gemman war n t a patchin onto my ol Mahsr 
 
 John! 
 
 68 
 
PRECEPTS AT PARTING 
 
 WELL, son, so you s gwine for to leab us, 
 yo lubbin ol mammy an me, 
 An set yo se f up as a waiter, aboa d ob de Robbut 
 
 E. Lee, 
 Along wid dem fancy young niggers, what s 
 
 shamed fur to look at a hoe, 
 An acts like a passel ob rich folks, when dey 
 is n t got nuffin to show. 
 
 You s had better trainin dan dey has I hopes 
 
 at you 11 zibit more sense; 
 Sech niggers is like a young rooster, a-settin up 
 
 top ob a fence: 
 He keeps on a-stretchin an crowin , an , while 
 
 he s a-blowin his horn, 
 Dem chickens what ain t arter fussin is pickin 
 
 up all ob de corn. 
 

 
 
 PRECEPTS AT PARTING 
 
 Now listen, an min what I tell you, an don t 
 
 you forgit what I say; 
 Take advice ob a sperienced pussen, an you 11 
 
 git up de ladder an stay: 
 Who knows? You mought git to 
 be Pres dent, or jestice, per 
 haps, ob de peace 
 De man what keeps pullin de 
 grape-vine shakes down a few 
 bunches at leas. 
 
 Dem niggers what runs on de 
 ribber is mos ly a mighty 
 sharp set; 
 Dey d find out some way fur to beat you, ef you 
 
 bet em de water wuz wet; 
 You s got to watch out for dem fellers; dey d 
 
 cheat off de horns ob a cow. 
 
 I knows em; I follered de ribber fore ebber I 
 follered a plow. 
 
 70 
 
 A-stretchin an 
 crowin 
 
 
 
 
 
PRECEPTS AT PARTING 
 
 You 11 easy git long wid de white folks, de 
 
 Cappen an steward an clerks, 
 Dey won t say a word to a nigger, as long as dey 
 
 notice he works; 
 An work is de onlies ingine we s any casion to 
 
 tote, 
 To keep us gwine on troo de currents dat pesters 
 
 de spirichul boat. 
 
 I heered dat idee from a preacher; he lowed at 
 
 dis life wuz a stream, 
 An ebry one s soul wuz a packet dat run wid a 
 
 full head ob steam; 
 Dat some ob em s only stern-wheelers, while 
 
 oders wuz mons ously fine 
 An de trip wuz made safes an quickes by boats 
 
 ob de Mefodis line. 
 
 I wants you, my son, to be tic lar, an sociate 
 only wid dey 
 
PRECEPTS AT PARTING 
 
 Dat s titled to go in de cabin don t neber hab 
 nuffin to say 
 
 
 "But nebber git airy" 
 
 To dem low-minded roustabout niggers what 
 
 han les de cotton below 
 Dem common brack rascals ain t fittin for no 
 
 cabin-waiter to know. 
 
 72 
 
PRECEPTS AT PARTING 
 
 But nebber git airy: be spectful to all de white 
 
 people you see; 
 An nebber go back on de raisin you s had from 
 
 your mammy an me. 
 It s hard on your mudder, your leabin I don 
 
 know whatebber she 11 do; 
 An shorely your fadder 11 miss you I 11 alluz 
 
 be thinkin ob you. 
 
 Well, now I s done tol you my say-so. Dar ain t 
 nuffin more as I knows 
 
 Cept dis: don t you nebber come back, sah, 
 
 . , 
 widout you has money an clo es. 
 
 I s kep you as long as I s gwine to, an now 
 
 you an me we is done 
 An calves is too skace in dis country to kill fur 
 
 a prodigal son. 
 
 
 . 
 
 73 
 
HALF-WAY DOIN S 
 
 B 
 
 ELUBBED fellah-trabelers : In holdin 
 
 forth to-day, 
 I does n t quote no special verse fur whut I has to 
 
 say; 
 De sermon will be berry short, an dis here am 
 
 de tex : 
 Dat half-way doin s ain t no count fur dis worP 
 
 or de nex . 
 
 Dis worP dat we s a-libbin in is like a cotton- 
 
 row, 
 
 Whar ebery cullud gentleman has got his line to 
 
 , 
 hoe; 
 
 An ebery time a lazy nigger stops to take a nap, 
 De grass keeps on a-growin fur to smudder up 
 his crap. 
 
 74 
 
HALF-WAY DOIN S 
 
 When Moses led de Jews acrost de waters ob de 
 
 sea, 
 Dey had to keep a-goin jes as fas as fas could 
 
 be; 
 Do you s pose dat dey could ebber hab succeeded 
 
 in deir wish, 
 An reached de Promised Lan at las if dey had 
 
 stopped to fish? 
 
 My frien s, dar wuz a garden once, whar Adam 
 libbed wid Eve, 
 
 Wid no one roun to bodder dem, no neighbors 
 fur to thieve; 
 
 An ebery day wuz Christmus, an dey got deir 
 rations free, 
 
 An ebery t ing belong to dem except an apple- 
 tree. 
 
 You all know bout de story how de snake come 
 snoopin roun , 
 
 75 
 

 
 HALF-WAY DOIN S 
 
 A stump-tail rusty moccasin, a-crawlin on de 
 
 groun , 
 How Eve an Adam ate de fruit an went an hid 
 
 deir face, 
 Till de angel oberseer, he come an drove em off 
 
 de place. 
 
 Now, s pose dat man an ooman had n t tempted 
 
 fur to shirk, 
 But had. gone about deir gardenin , an tended to 
 
 deir work, 
 Dey would n t hab been loafin whar dey had no 
 
 business to, 
 
 An de debbil nebber d got a chance to tell em 
 
 b 
 
 whut to do. 
 
 No half-way doin s, bredren ! It 11 nebber do, 
 
 I say! 
 Go at your task an finish it, an den s de time 
 
 to play; 
 
 r 
 
 76 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 HALF-WAY DOIN S 
 
 Fur eben if de crap is good, de rain 11 spile the 
 
 bolls, 
 Unless you keeps a-pickin in de garden ob yo 
 
 souls. 
 
 Keep a-plowin , an a-hoein , an a-scrapin ob 
 
 de rows, 
 An when de ginnin s ober you can pay up whut 
 
 you owes ; 
 But if you quits a-workin ebery time de sun is 
 
 hot, 
 
 Keep a-hoein an a-scrapin 
 
 77 
 
 

 HALF-WAY DOIN S 
 
 De sheriff s gwine to lebby upon eberyt ing you s 
 got. 
 
 VVhuteber tis you s dribin at, be shore an dribe 
 
 it through, 
 An don t let nuffin stop you, but do whut you s 
 
 gwine to do; 
 Fur when you sees a nigger foolin , den, as shore s 
 
 you re born, 
 You s gwine to see him comin out de small eend 
 
 ob de horn. 
 
 I thanks you for de tention you has gib dis aft 
 ernoon 
 
 Sister Williams will oblige us by a-raisin ob a 
 tune 
 
 I see dat Brudder Johnson s bout to pass aroun 
 de hat, 
 
 An don t let s hab no half-way doin s when it 
 comes to dat! 
 
rggggS^gya^ywvww^ 
 
 A SERMON FOR THE SISTERS 
 
 T NEBBER breaks a colt afore he s old enough 
 
 I 
 
 to trabbel ; 
 I nebber digs my taters tell dey plenty big to 
 
 grabble. 
 An when you sees me risin up to structify in 
 
 meetin , 
 I s fust dumb up de knowledge-tree an done 
 
 some apple-eat in . 
 
 I sees some sistahs pruzint, mighty proud o whut 
 
 dey wearin : 
 It s well you is n t apples, now, you better be 
 
 declarin ! 
 Fur when ye heerd yo market-price, t d hurt 
 
 yo little feelin s: 
 You would n t fotch a dime a peck, fur all yo 
 
 fancy peel in s. 
 
 79 
 
A SERMON FOR THE SISTERS 
 
 sistahs! leetle apples (fur you re r ally 
 
 mighty like em) 
 
 1 lubs de ol -time russets, dough it s suldom I 
 
 kin strike em; 
 An so I lubs you, sistahs, fur yo* grace, an not 
 
 yo graces 
 I don t keer how my apple looks, but on y how 
 
 it tas es. 
 
 
 Is dey a Sabbaf-scholah heah? Den let him 
 
 form his mudder 
 How Jacob-in-de-Bible s boys played off upon 
 
 
 dey brudder ! 
 Dey sol him to a trader an at las he struck de 
 
 prison; 
 
 Dat corned ob Joseph s struttin in dat streaked 
 coat ob his n. 
 
 My Christian frien s, dis story proobs dat eben 
 
 men is human 
 
 
 80 
 

 
 
 i 
 
 faff 
 
 I s fust dumb up de knowledge-tree" 
 
 
 
 

 A SERMON FOR THE SISTERS 
 
 He d had a dozen fancy coats, ef he d a been 
 a ooman! 
 
 De cussidness ob showin off, he foun out all 
 
 about it; 
 An yit he wuz a Christian man, as good as ever 
 
 shouted. 
 
 It 1 arned him ! An I bet you when he come to 
 
 git his riches 
 Dey did n t go fur stylish coats or Philadelphy 
 
 breeches ; 
 He did n t was e his money when experunce taught 
 
 him better, 
 But went aroun a-lookin like he s waitin fur a 
 
 letter! 
 
 Now, sistahs, won t you copy him? Say, won t 
 
 you take a lesson, 
 An min dis sollum wahnin bout de sin ob fancy 
 
 dressin ? 
 
 82 
 
A SERMON FOR THE SISTERS 
 
 How much you spen upon yo self ! I wish you 
 
 might remember 
 Yo preacher ain t been paid a cent sense some- 
 
 whar in November. 
 
 I better close. I sees some gals dis sahmon s 
 
 kinder hittin 
 A-whisperin , an sturbin all dat s near whar 
 
 dey s a-sittin ; 
 To look at dem, an listen at dey onrespec ful 
 
 j abber, 
 It turns de milk ob human kin ness mighty nigh 
 
 to clabber! 
 
 A-A-A-MEN ! 
 

 UNCLE CAP INTERVIEWED 
 
 GOOD-MORNIN , Mahsr thank you, sah; 
 I s tol able myself, 
 Considerin dat it s almos time I s laid upon de 
 
 uu 
 
 shelf; 
 
 De onlies t ing dat bodders much is right aroun 
 
 in here, 
 Dis mis ry in my back dat won t recease to 
 
 persevere. 
 
 An so you come to see me, sah, beca se you hab 
 
 been tol 
 Dat I s de oldes man about ^ Yes, I is mighty 
 
 oP! 
 A hundred an eleben years dis comin Christmas- 
 
 day- 
 I could n t tell ezzackly, but dat s whut people 
 
 say. 
 
 
 
UNCLE CAP INTERVIEWED 
 
 When I come to dis country fust dar wa n t no 
 
 houses roun , 
 An me an my ole mahsr had to camp out on de 
 
 groun ; 
 De fust house dat was rected, sah, I helped in 
 
 raisin it 
 Sometimes I tries to member whar it sot, but I 
 
 forgit. 
 
 1 1 
 
 You Liza! ain t you nebber gwine to set dat pot 
 
 to bile ! 
 Niggers nebber was so lazy when your fader was 
 
 a chile. 
 Dat ar s my youngest daughter, sah, a-washin ob 
 
 de greens; 
 She was born de year dat Jackson fit de battle ob 
 
 Orleans. 
 
 Dey ain t wuf shucks, dese young folks dat s a- 
 growin up now days; 
 
 85 
 

 UNCLE CAP INTERVIEWED 
 
 I nebber seed no niggers yit dat had such triflin 
 
 ways. 
 I b lieve dis country s gwine to smash I knows, 
 
 at any rate, 
 
 "Good-mornin , mahsr; I s tol able myself" 
 
 Dat t ings ain t like dey used to wuz in ole 
 Virginny State. 
 
 
 So you thought t was Souf Ca lina, sah, whar I 
 was born an raised? 
 86 
 
UNCLE CAP INTERVIEWED 
 
 No ! I m from ole Virginny, an fur dat de Lord 
 
 be praised! 
 Virginny niggers always wuz de best dat you 
 
 could buy; 
 Poor white trash could n t git em, ca se de prices 
 
 wuz so high. 
 
 Yes, sah, I s from Virginny, an I reckon dat you 
 
 mout 
 Have heerd of folks I knowed dey re often 
 
 talked about. 
 Bar s Ginnle Washin ton, fur one; he lived 
 
 acrost de road; 
 I s pect you ve heerd of him, sah 4 ? He* wuz one 
 
 ob dem I knowed. 
 
 He rode about de country on a big old dapple- 
 
 gray, 
 
 An used to come an dine with mahsr bout ebery 
 udder day ; 
 
 s? 
 

 De hymn says: "John de Baptis , he wuz nuffin 
 
 but a Jew, 
 But de Holy Bible tells us dat he wuz a preacher 
 
 t00 " 
 
 An if a ligious Jew can mong de chosen few 
 
 advance, 
 Dere shorely ain t no question but a nigger 11 hab 
 
 a chance. 
 
 
 UNCLE CAP INTERVIEWED 
 
 De fines -lookin gentleman dat I mos eber seed 
 He tried to buy me; but old mahsr told him, "No, 
 indeed!" 
 
 Whut do I t ink of freedom? I dunno; it s true 
 
 I s free, 
 But now I s got so awful old, whut good is at 
 
 to me? 
 I nebber bodders bout it much to tell the troof, 
 
 my min 
 Is tuk up now in t inkin bout de place whar I s 
 
 a-gwine. 
 
UNCLE CAP INTERVIEWED 
 
 I done been had religion now fur gwine on sixty 
 
 year, 
 An my troubles is mos ober, fur de end is 
 
 drawin near; 
 An I know dat when I mount de skies de Lord 
 
 will make ob me 
 A young an likely nigger, sah, jus like I use 
 
 to be. 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
THE OLD HOSTLER S EXPERIENCE 
 
 I 
 
 Ah, Christians, in my foolish days 
 
 
 GITS up heah like good oP Paul, 
 Obed ent to de Mahsr s call 
 
 
 To tell my sperunce, tell it all ! 
 OP SHAME s put up; 
 
 An I s led GLORY out de stall, 
 
 To win de cup. 
 
 Den, all you sinnahs, cl ar de track! 
 I s mounted on ol GLORY S back; 
 
 Her hufs is gwine ta-click-ta-clack, 
 
 Daf s how dey s gwine ! 
 An Satan s rattlin , shacklin hack 
 
 Is lef behin . 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 I rid de debbil s blooded bays, 
 90 
 
THE OLD HOSTLER S EXPERIENCE 
 
 PERSUMPCHUS PRIDE, an WORL LY WAYS, 
 
 An made em lope; 
 But now I s turned em out to graze 
 
 Widout a rope. 
 
 Yah ! Yah ! Oh! how I used to Well, 
 De tic lars tain t no use to tell, 
 But oncet I rid de road to hell 
 
 Wid nar a bit, 
 An went two-forty on the shell 
 
 Toward de pit. 
 
 Like Balaam, when he rid de ass, 
 
 I sisted on a-trablin fas ; 
 
 But t wuz a pace at c u d n t las , 
 
 An I got th owed. 
 I cotch RELIGION, trottin pas , 
 
 An back I goed. 
 
 An now I simply vises you, 
 You deblish boys I s talkin to, 
 91 
 

 
 An now I simply Vises you" 
 

 THE OLD HOSTLER S EXPERIENCE 
 
 Don t nebber hab a thing to do 
 
 Wid Satan s bosses; 
 Dey 11 buck an fling you in de sloo, 
 
 Fus one you crosses. 
 
 But git RELIGION well in ban , 
 An ride her like a little man 
 Dere ain t no boss in all de Ian 
 
 Kin run agin her 
 An you 11 come by de jedges stan 
 
 A easy winner. 
 
 
 
 93 
 

 
 
 REV. HENRY S WAR-SONG 
 
 WHO J S gwine to fight in de battle, in de 
 battle? 
 Who s gwine to march wid de army ob de 
 
 King? 
 
 Listen at de drums, how dey rattle, rattle, rattle: 
 Hark to de bullets, how dey sing! 
 Close up, saints, in de center ! 
 
 Fall in, sinnahs, on de flanks ! 
 Tention ! right dress ! eyes front ! steady ! 
 All stand quiet in de ranks. 
 
 Dat s right, men keep a-standin , keep a-standin 
 
 Not a bit o danger ob an inimy behin : 
 De ahmy s at de front, an ouah Gineral Com- 
 
 mandin 
 Has got out a pow ful pickit-line ! 
 
 Wait for yo orders till dey come, den ; 
 94 
 
REV. HENRY S WAR-SONG 
 
 Keep up patience; rendah thanks 
 Dat you has nuffin fur to do onless it s 
 
 suffin 
 To stan up waitin in de ranks. 
 
 T won t be so long fore de orders, fore de 
 
 orders 
 
 Soon we 11 be gittin em de orders to ad 
 vance ; 
 
 Den, ebry man in de column to his duty; 
 Show what s de value ob de chance ! 
 Fight! an we 11 oberturn de debbil ! 
 
 Fight ! an we 11 hab de country s thanks ! 
 An all 11 git a pension an a honorable 
 
 mention, 
 What stood up steady in de ranks! 
 
LARRY S ON THE FORCE 
 
 . 
 
 WELL, Katie, and this is yersilf 4 ? And 
 where was you this whoile? 
 And ain t ye dhrissed! You are the wan to illus- 
 
 thrate the stoile; 
 But niver moind thim matthers now, there s 
 
 toime enough for thim; 
 
 And Larry that s me b y I want to sphake to 
 you av him. 
 
 Sure, Larry bates thim all for luck! t is he will 
 
 make his way, 
 And be the proide and honnur to the sod beyant 
 
 . 
 
 the say. 
 We ll soon be able whisht! I do be singin 
 
 till I m hoorse, 
 For iver since a month or more, me Larry s on 
 
 the foorce! 
 
 06 
 
 
And ain t ve dhrissed! 
 
 

 
 LARRY S ON THE FORCE 
 
 There s not a proivate gintlemen that boords in 
 
 I 
 
 all the row 
 
 Who houlds himself loike Larry does, or makes 
 as foine a show: 
 
 Thim eyes av his, the way they shoine his coat, 
 
 ^ 
 and butthons too 
 
 He bates them kerrige dhroivers that be on the 
 avenue ! 
 
 He shtips that proud and shtately-loike, you d 
 
 think he owned the town, 
 And houlds his shtick convanient to be tappin 
 
 some wan down. 
 Aich blissed day I watch to see him comin up 
 
 the shtrate, 
 For, by the greatest bit av luck, our house is on 
 
 his bate. 
 
 The little b ys is feared av him, for Larry s 
 moighty shtrict, 
 
 98 
 
LARRY S ON THE FORCE 
 
 And many s the litthle blagyard he 5 s arristed, I 
 
 expict; 
 The beggyars gits acrass the shtrate you ought 
 
 to see thim fly ! 
 And organ-groinders scatthers whin they see him 
 
 comin by. 
 
 I know that Larry s bound to roise; he ll get a 
 
 sergeant s post 
 And afther that a captincy widhin a year at 
 
 most; 
 And av he goes in politics he has the head to 
 
 throive 
 I 11 be an Aldherwoman, Kate, afore I m thirty- 
 
 f oive ! 
 
 What s that again? Y are jokin , surely 
 
 Katie! is it thrue? 
 Last noight, you say, he married? and Aileen 
 
 O Donahue? 
 
 99 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 He houlds his shtick convanient to be tappin some 
 
 \van down 
 
 
 

 
 LARRY S ON THE FORCE 
 
 O Larry! c u d ye have the hairt but let the 
 
 spalpeen be: 
 
 Av he demanes himsilf to her, he s nothing more 
 to me. 
 
 The ugly shcamp! I always said, just as I m 
 
 tellin you, 
 That Larry was the biggest fool av all I iver 
 
 knew; 
 And many a toime I ve tould mesilf you see it 
 
 now, av coorse 
 He d niver come to anny good av he got on the 
 
 f oorce ! 
 
 101 
 

 
 
 
 THE IRISH ECLIPSE 
 
 IN Watherford, wanst, lived Profissorr Mac- 
 Shane, 
 
 The foinest asthronomer iver was sane; 
 For long before noight, wid the scoience he knew, 
 Wheriver wan shtar was, sure he could see two 
 
 Quoite plain, 
 Could Profissorr MacShane. 
 
 More power to him! ivry claare noight as would 
 
 pass, 
 He d sit by the windy, a-shoving his glass; 
 
 A poke at the dipper, that plaised him the laist, 
 But a punch in the milky way suited his taste, 
 
 Small blame 
 
 To his sowl for that same ! 
 102 
 
THE IRISH ECLIPSE 
 
 Now, wan toime in Watherford, not long ago, 
 They had what the loike was not haard of, I know, 
 Since Erin was imdher ould Brian Borrhoime : 
 The sun was ayclipsed for three days at wan 
 toime ! 
 
 It s thrue 
 As I tell it to you. 
 
 J T was sunroise long gone, yet the sun never rose, 
 And ivry one axed, "What s the matther, God 
 
 knows?" 
 
 The next day, and next, was the very same way; 
 The noight was so long it was lasting all day, 
 
 As black 
 As the coat on yer back. 
 
 The paiple wint hunting Profissorr MacShane, 
 To thry if he d know what this wondher could 
 
 mane. 
 He answered thim back: "Is that so? Are ye 
 
 there? 
 
 103 
 
THE IRISH ECLIPSE 
 
 T is a lot of most iligant gommachs ye air, 
 
 To ax 
 For the plainest of facts! 
 
 "Ye re part of an impoire, yez must n t forget, 
 Upon which the sun s niver able to set; 
 Thin why will it give yer impoire a surproise 
 If wanst, for a change, he refuses to roise? 
 
 Siz he, 
 "That is aizv to see!" 
 
 
 
 104 
 
A PRACTICAL YOUNG WOMAN 
 
 Y 
 
 OUNG Julius Jones loved Susan 
 
 Slade; 
 
 
 
 And oft, in dulcet tones, 
 
 He vainly had besought the maid 
 To take the name of Jones. 
 
 "Wert thou but solid, then, be sure, 
 T would be all right," said she, 
 
 "But Mr. J., whilst thou art poor 
 Pray think no more of me." 
 
 Poor Jones was sad; his coat was bad; 
 
 His salary was worse; 
 But hope suggested: "Jones, my lad, 
 
 Just try the power of verse." 
 IOC 
 
 
A PRACTICAL YOUNG WOMAN 
 
 He sat him down and wrote in rhyme 
 How she was in her spring, 
 
 He sat him down and wrote in rhyme 
 
 And he in summer s golden prime 
 And all that sort of thing. 
 
 The poem praised her hair and eyes, 
 Her lips, with honey laden. 
 
 He wound it up up in the skies 
 And mailed it to the maiden. 
 106 
 
A PRACTICAL YOUNG WOMAN 
 
 She read it over, kept it clean, 
 
 Put on her finest raiment, 
 And took it to a magazine 
 
 And got ten dollars payment. 
 
 
 107 
 

 THE POLYPHONE 
 
 PROFESSOR Jones was very wise, 
 And wore green goggles on his eyes, 
 Or, t would be better, I suppose, 
 To say he wore em on his nose, 
 And was so very tall and slim 
 The street-boys made a jest of him, 
 And to his garments would attach 
 The label: "Here -s a walking match." 
 Yet this ungainly friend of ours 
 Made daily gain in mental powers. 
 To him, each coming moment brought 
 Some thing of moment fact or thought 
 And he could bid the boys defiance 
 When rambling in the paths of science. 
 
 For many weeks Professor Jones 
 Made study of the law of tones. 
 108 
 
 
THE POLYPHONE 
 
 Of phonographs and telephones 
 And megaphones he had a store 
 That filled up half his study floor. 
 
 
 Professor Jones 
 
 The number of his tools, indeed, 
 Would make a work too long to read 
 With any sort of satisfaction; 
 109 
 
THE POLYPHONE 
 
 But magnets were the chief attraction. 
 With these he labored, much intent 
 On making a new instrument 
 Which should, by means of sound-vibrations, 
 Make both "transmissions" and translations. 
 Said he: "For speech, we must have tone, 
 And every language has its own, 
 Our high-toned English such-and-such, 
 And so-and-so the lowest Dutch, 
 Its given rules to guide inflection 
 In some particular direction. 
 There s philologic evidence 
 That our languages commence 
 In some lost parent tongue, each root 
 Each nation modifies to suit, 
 And languages, t is clearly found, 
 In no way differ but in sound. 
 Now, diaphragms may well be trusted, 
 If once they re properly adjusted 
 For language A and language B, 
 ! According to the phonic key 
 
 1 J- 110 
 
THE POLYPHONE 
 
 (And then connected in a circuit 
 
 By persons competent to work it), 
 
 To transpose these root-derivations 
 
 Which differ with the tones of nations. 
 
 So if one sends an English sermon 
 
 T will sound a sound discourse in German, 
 
 And our Italian learned at home 
 
 Can be well understood at Rome." 
 
 
 So saying, the Professor toiled, 
 And hammered, polished, filed, and oiled, 
 Until, adjusted and connected, 
 Behold the polyphones perfected! 
 One stood upon the study table, 
 And one was downstairs in the stable, 
 Where curious neighbors might not spy it, 
 And naught remained to do but try it. 
 A boy placed at the sending-station, 
 III 
 
m 
 
 THE POLYPHONE 
 
 To speak (for a consideration) 
 
 . 
 
 The noble language of our nation, 
 
 Professor Jones hied up the stair 
 
 To listen to the sounds up there, 
 
 Which would at once, no doubt, determine 
 
 If English could be changed to German. 
 
 
 That boy below, sad to relate, 
 
 Was not in a regenerate state: 
 
 8 
 His language did not smack of schools, 
 
 Or go by proper laws and rules. 
 His speech was very shrill, but oh ! 
 Its tone was most exceeding low ! 
 So then and there the stable rang 
 With slang, and nothing else but slang, 
 Which, having no equivalent 
 In German, clogged the instrument, 
 And while the disappointed Jones 
 Stood quaking at the horrid tones 
 That came from the receiving plate, 
 1 112 
 

 
 THE POLYPHONE 
 
 Discordant, inarticulate, 
 The boy began the last new song 
 There was a clang, as from a gong, 
 And shattered were the polyphones, 
 And eke the intellect of Jones! 
 
 L\ 
 
 
 i 
 i 
 

 THE FIRST CLIENT 
 
 A LEGAL DITTY TO BE SUNG WITHOUT CHORUS 
 
 JOHN SMITH, a young attorney, just ad 
 mitted to the bar, 
 Was solemn and sagacious as young attorneys 
 
 are; 
 And a frown of deep abstraction held the seizin 
 
 of his face 
 
 The result of contemplation of the rule in Shel 
 ley s Case. 
 
 One day in term-time Mr. Smith was sitting in 
 
 the Court, 
 When some good men and true of the body of the 
 
 county did on their oath report, 
 114 
 
 

 THE FIRST CLIENT 
 
 That heretofore, to wit: upon the second day of 
 
 May, 
 
 A. D. 1877, about the hour of noon in the county 
 and state aforesaid, one Joseph Scroggs, late 
 of said county, did then and there feloni 
 ously take, steal, and carry away 
 
 One bay horse, of the value of fifty dollars, more 
 
 or less 
 (The same then and there being of the property, 
 
 goods, and chattels of one Hezekiah Hess), 
 Contrary to the statute in such case expressly 
 
 made 
 And provided, and against the peace and dignity 
 
 of the state wherein the venue had been laid. 
 
 
 
 The prisoner, Joseph Scroggs, was then arraigned 
 upon this charge, 
 
 And plead not guilty, and of this he threw him 
 self upon the country at large; 
 

 THE FIRST CLIENT 
 
 And said Joseph being poor, the Court did gra 
 ciously appoint 
 
 Mr. Smith to defend him much on the same 
 principle that obtains in every charity hos 
 pital, where a young medical student is often 
 set to rectify a serious injury to an organ or 
 a joint. 
 
 The witnesses seemed prejudiced against poor Mr. 
 
 . 
 Scroggs ; 
 
 And the district attorney made a thrilling speech 
 in which he told the jury if they did n t find 
 for the state he reckoned he d have to "walk 
 their logs." 
 
 Then Mr. Smith arose and made his speech for the 
 defense, 
 
 Wherein he quoted Shakspere, Blackstone, Chitty, 
 Archbold, Joaquin Miller, Story, Kent, Tup- 
 
 per, Smedes, and Marshall, and many other 
 
 . 
 
 writers, and everybody said they "never 
 heerd sich a bust of eloquence." 
 
 116 
 
 

 
 THE FIRST CLIENT 
 
 And he said: "On this hypothesis, my client 
 
 must go free;" 
 And : "Again, on this hypothesis, it s morally 
 
 impossible that he could be guilty, don t you 
 
 see? " I 
 
 And: "Then, on this hypothesis, you really 
 
 act;" 
 
 And so on, with forty-six more hypotheses, upon 
 none of which, Mr. Smith ably demonstrated, 
 could Scroggs be derelict. 
 
 But the jury, never stirring from the box wherein 
 they sat, 
 
 Returned a verdict of "guilty" ; and his honor 
 straightway sentenced Scroggs to a three- 
 year term in the penitentiary, and a heavy 
 fine, and the costs on top of that ; 
 
 And the prisoner, 1 * in wild delight, got up and 
 danced and sung; 
 
 117 
 

 THE FIRST CLIENT 
 
 And when they asked him the reason of this 
 strange behavior, he said : "It s because I 
 got off so easy for if there d ha been a 
 few more of them darned hypothesises, I 
 should certainly have been hung!" 
 
 
 
 
 118 
 
 
S 
 
 THE KNIGHT AND THE SQUIRE 
 
 IR MORTIMER EUSTACE FITZ CLAR 
 ENCE DU BROWN 
 
 Sat drinking his ruby wine; 
 And he called: "What ho! Here somebody 
 
 go 
 And summon that squire of mine, 
 
 Young Patrick de Wachtamrhein." 
 
 They passed the word for young Patrick, who 
 
 came 
 
 And entered the castle hall. 
 "Good master," said he, "and what now might it 
 
 be 
 
 You d have me be doing, at all? 
 I 11 do it, whatever befall." 
 119 
 
THE KNIGHT AND THE SQUIRE 
 
 "Now hie thee up to the palace, good squire, 
 And get thee speech with the King; 
 
 For fain would I know if this news be so 
 The palmers and peddlers bring 
 Of a new crusade this spring." 
 
 Young Patrick rode forth and young Patrick rode 
 back; 
 
 Sir Mortimer gave him go d-den; 
 "Sir, war is declared, and a draft prepared, 
 
 For his Majesty must have men : 
 
 And gold has gone up to ten," 
 
 Then good Sir Mortimer straightway went 
 
 To his merchant-tailor man, 
 And bought for a groat a new tin coat, 
 
 Which, cut on the latest plan, 
 
 Looked stylish as any tin can. 
 
 . 
 
 "I sell you dot pair brass pants so sheap 
 No? Mebbe you comes again? 
 120 
 

 
 THE KNIGHT AND THE SQUIRE 
 
 Puy a rubber shtamp for to use in camp 
 For to marg your clodings plain*?" 
 But the merchant talked in vain. 
 
 "Come hither, now, Patrick de Wachtamrhein, 
 Said the knight; "thou art bold and stanch; 
 
 No wight in the castle with thee can wrestle : 
 I leave thee in charge of the ranch 
 
 Take care of my lady Blanche." 
 
 m 
 
 //r 
 
 Sir Mortimer rode with his banner displayed, 
 
 cod-fish saltier-wise, 
 But he did not go to crusade oh, no ! 
 But in search of army supplies, 
 Expecting the market to rise. 
 
 /M 
 
 Said he: "In the army I will not go, 
 
 And they cannot impress me ; 
 T were a vain attempt, for I am exempt, 
 As my age is fifty-three. 
 
 A contractor I will be." 
 121 
 
Sir Mortimer rode with his banner displayed 
 

 THE KNIGHT AND THE SQUIRE 
 
 So he rode abroad, and he found, with joy, 
 That his neighbors sheep looked well, 
 
 And their oxen stout went straying about 
 So fat that they nearly fell; 
 And he drove them off to sell. 
 
 Young Patrick de Wachtamrhein heard these 
 things, 
 
 And his eyes with tears grew dim ; 
 "This castle should not," he observed, "God wot, 
 
 Belong to a chap like him, 
 
 For his moral sense is slim." 
 
 So he seized Sir Mortimer s wealth and wife 
 
 (Divorced by a chancery suit) ; 
 Of the house he was head in Sir Mortimer s stead, 
 
 And he sent off the latter, to boot, 
 
 To crusade as his substitute. 
 
 123 
 
THE KNIGHT AND THE SQUIRE 
 
 And, knights, moral ye all may learn 
 From the tale that is here rehearsed : 
 
 Before you start for a foreign part 
 T is best to provide for the worst, 
 And mortgage your property first. 
 
 124 
 
 
 
 

 NINE GRAVES IN EDINBRO 
 
 T N the church-yard, up in the old high town, 
 J_ The sexton stood at his daily toil, 
 And he lifted his mattock, and drove it down, 
 And sunk it deep in the sacred soil. 
 
 "Just three for women, and three for men, 
 And, to fill the number, another three 
 
 
 And then as he delved he sang right lustily, 
 Aye as he deepened and shaped the graves 
 
 In the black old mold that smelled so mustily, 
 And thus was the way of the sexton s staves : 
 
 "It s nine o the clock, and I have begun 
 The settled task that is daily mine ; 
 
 By ten o the clock I will finish one, 
 By six o the clock there must be nine : 
 
 
 125 
 
NINE GRAVES IN EDINBRO 
 
 For daughters of women and sons of men 
 Who men or women shall never be. 
 
 "And the first of the graves in a row of three 
 Is his or hers who shall first appear ; 
 
 All lie in the order they come to me, 
 
 And such has been ever the custom here." 
 
 The first they brought was a fair young child, 
 And they saw him buried and went their way 
 
 And the sexton leaned on his spade and smiled, 
 And wondered, "How many more to-day 4 ?" 
 
 The next was a man ; then a woman came : 
 The sexton had loved her in years gone by; 
 
 But the yean had gone, and the dead old dame 
 He buried as dee^ in his memory. 
 
 
 
 At six o the clock his task was done ; 
 
 Eight graves were closed, and the ninth pre 
 pared 
 
 
 126 
 
NINE GRAVES IN EDINBRO 
 
 Made ready to welcome a man what one 
 T was little the grim old sexton cared. 
 
 The sexton 
 
 He sat him down on its brink to rest, 
 
 When the clouds were red and the sky was 
 
 And said to himself: "This last is the best 
 And deepest of all I have digged to-day. 
 127 
 
NINE GRAVES IN EDINBRO 
 
 "Who will fill it, I wonder, and when 4 ? 
 
 It does not matter: who 3 er they be, 
 The best and the worst of the race of men 
 
 Are all alike when they come to me." 
 
 They went to him with a man, next day, 
 
 When the sky was gray and the clouds were red, 
 
 As the sun set forth on his upward way; 
 
 They went and they found the sexton dead. 
 
 Dead, by the open grave, was he ; 
 
 And they buried him in it that self-same day, 
 And marveled much such a thing should be ; 
 
 And since, the people will often say: 
 
 
 // ye dig, no matter when, 
 Graves to bury other men, 
 Think it never can be known 
 When ye // chance to dig your own. 
 128 
 
NINE GRAVES IN EDINBRO 
 
 Mind ye of the tale ye know 
 
 Nine graves in Edinbro. 
 ]jj\ 
 
 NOTE. The following is related concerning the death of 
 Jemmy Camber, one of the jesters of King James I. 
 
 "Jemmy rose, made him ready, takes his horse, and rides to 
 the church-yard in the high towne, where he found the sexton 
 (as the custom is there) making nine graves three for men, 
 three for women, and three for children; and whoso dyes next, 
 first come, first served. Lend me thy spade, says Jemmy, and 
 with that digs a hole, which hole hee bids him make for his 
 grave; and doth give him a French crowne. The man, willing 
 to please him (more for his gold than his pleasure), did so; and 
 the foole gets upon his horse, rides to a gentleman of the towne, 
 and on the sodaine within two houres after dyed; of whom the 
 sexton telling, he was buried there indeed." ROBERT ARNIM, 
 "The Nest of Ninnies." (A. D. 1608.) 
 
 
 12Q 
 
HOPE 
 
 NO matter where we sail, 
 A storm may come to wreck us, 
 A bitter wind, to check us 
 
 In the quest for unknown lands, 
 And cast us on the sands, 
 No matter where we sail : 
 
 
 Then, when my ship goes down, 
 What choice is left to me 
 From leaping in the sea 
 And willingly forsake 
 All that the sea can take, 
 Then, when my ship goes down? 
 
 Still, in spite of storm, 
 From all we feel or fear 
 130 
 
 
HOPE 
 
 A rescue may be near : 
 
 Though tempests blow their best, 
 A manly heart can rest 
 Still, in spite of storm! 
 
D 
 
 STUDIES IN STYLE 
 
 BURNS. An Epistle to John Howard. 
 
 EAR SIR : I never saw your face 
 But yet, for some few moments space, 
 To tak a friend s familiar place 
 
 Is my design: 
 
 The friend o a the human race 
 Is surely mine. 
 
 1 
 
 Here is my han , sir; will ye tak it? 
 An honest man may safely shake it, 
 For, spite o Fate, nae powers shall mak it 
 
 Be stained wi crime 
 May a its little force forsake it 
 
 Afore that time ! 
 
 T is little that I hae to offer 
 My humble muse expects you 11 scoff her, 
 132 
 
STUDIES IN STYLE 
 
 And scarce she daurs to mak the proffer, 
 
 It is sae sma : 
 My best guid-will : pray tak it of her, 
 
 For that s my a . 
 
 I hae nae flatt rin words to gie you; 
 
 I only say, sir, God be wi you ! 
 
 And whan from life He wills to free you, 
 
 
 May you repair 
 
 
 
 To His ain house I hope to see you 
 Whan I am there ! 
 
 
 
 This warld, I hope you may improve it, 
 But yet I doubt the de il could move it 
 Except in tracks already grovit 
 
 Howe er, if sae, 
 There is nae harm to try to shove it 
 
 Anither way. 
 
 The warld, they say, is gettin auld; 
 Yet in her bosom, I ve been tauld, 
 133 
 

 
 STUDIES IN STYLE 
 
 A burnin , youthfu heart s installed 
 
 I dinna ken, 
 But sure her face seems freezin cauld 
 
 To some puir men. 
 
 In summer though the sun may shine, 
 Aye still the winter s cauld is mine- 
 But what o that? The manly pine 
 
 Endures the storm ! 
 Ae spark o Poesy divine 
 
 Will keep me warm. 
 
 134 
 
STUDIES IN STYLE 
 
 But I am takin up your time 
 
 Worth sae much mair than my puir rhyme 
 
 That ye will hear sic verses chime 
 
 And no cry "hark!" 
 Sae, wussin ye success sublime, 
 
 I mak my mark. 
 
 HERRICK. A Preachment. 
 
 OMAN ! if hard thy" fortune, 
 However fate importune, 
 Turn not to wrong none find, or will, 
 Their good enlarged by doing ill. 
 
 As boats that row in Venice 
 
 Just so the life of men is: 
 Our course goes crooked o er the tide, 
 With but a broken oar to guide. 
 135 
 
 1 e^\Qo>^>X^^=^>i>^>aM^ 
 

 
 STUDIES IN STYLE 
 
 Thy heart of oak then cherish, 
 Or sure thy soul will perish 
 The soul is but a boat that goes 
 Whatever way the heart hath chose. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 136 
 
 
 

 ALONG THE LINE 
 
 WHAT say? A song or a story? Draw 
 up a box r a chair, 
 All them that is wantin to listen; but boys, I m 
 
 a-tellin you fair. 
 See this? It ll go for the feller what takes a 
 
 notion to laugh, 
 
 And him or me will be t our folks a man or a 
 foretograph ! 
 
 You did n t know Jim of course not I m tellin 
 
 you now of him : 
 
 
 
 A fearful chap on his muscle, a wild old boy, was 
 
 Jim; 
 But, boys, now don t you forgit it, he was as 
 
 good and square 
 As any man that the country held and plenty 
 
 o men was there. 
 
 13? 
 
 
sssssss 
 
 ALONG THE LINE 
 
 Jim was a lightnin -jerker of course you know t 
 
 I mean : 
 He sot at his little table and rattled the Morse 
 
 machine. 
 And did n t it rattle ! I bet you ! He d studied 
 
 it down so fine, 
 There wasn t a one that could "send" with him, 
 
 
 not all along the line. 
 
 One time Jim sat in the office, a-smokin and 
 
 gazin out, 
 When in come a feller was lookin skeered and 
 
 miff to be skeered about ! 
 
 . 
 
 He told his news in a minute, and, man as he 
 was, got cry n ; 
 
 And "Taller fever is broken out!" went clickin 
 along the line. 
 
 I think that line was connected with every soul 
 in the land, 
 
 138 
 
 

 ALONG THE LINE 
 
 From what was sent t us Howards I m one, 
 
 d ye understand? 
 Of all the parts o the Union, no tell n which 
 
 helped us most; 
 And we was a-workin , we was, sir! And Jim 
 
 he kep to his post. 
 
 The air got full o the fever; grass growed up in 
 
 the street ; 
 Travel the town all over, and never a man you d 
 
 meet, 
 
 139 
 
 
 All day long he was settin pushin away at the 
 
 key, 
 Or takin off from the sounder, just as the case 
 
 might be; 
 And most of the night a-nursin . And what was 
 
 bracin 5 his heart 
 Was knowin his only sister n him was seventy 
 
 miles apart. 
 

 
 I 
 
 There come a break, and his office call" 
 
 
ALONG THE LINE 
 
 Cept, maybe, some feller a-runnin , who d say, 
 
 as he passed you by : 
 "I m tryin to find the doctor," or "Billy is bound 
 
 to die." 
 
 When folks went under they might be the very 
 
 best in the land 
 We thro wed em into a white-pine box, and drayed 
 
 em out off-hand, 
 To wait their turn to be planted, without a word 
 
 or a prayer; 
 There wa n t no chance and there wa n t no time 
 
 for prayin or preachin there. 
 
 Well, Jim, he minded his duty, and stuck to the 
 
 work oh, yes 
 But, boys, one Saturday night, when he was busy 
 
 sendin the press, 
 There come a break, and his office call, and soon 
 
 as he d time to sign, 
 141 
 
ALONG THE LINE 
 
 "Your sister s took the fever and died" come 
 flashin along the line. 
 
 Throw up the winder and let in air ! How can I 
 
 breathe or speak 
 With Jim? Oh, certainly; news like that was 
 
 bound for to make him weak; 
 But Jim sot straight at the table he wa n t the 
 
 man to shirk! 
 And, calmer and cooler than I am now, he finished 
 
 the company s work. 
 
 But then he dropped; and in four days more all 
 
 that was left of him 
 Was the wasted body that once had held the 
 
 noblest soul poor Jim ! 
 
 boys! that brother and sister was brother and 
 
 sister o mine! 
 
 1 wonder if ever we 11 meet ag in, somewheres 
 
 along the line. 
 
 142 
 IS&SMMM^^ 
 
1 
 
 HER CONQUEST 
 
 MUSTER thy wit, and talk of whatsoever 
 Light, mirth-provoking matter thou 
 
 canst find : 
 
 I laugh, and own that thou, with small endeavor, 
 Hast won my mind. 
 
 Be silent if thou wilt; thine eyes expressing 
 
 Thy thoughts and feelings, lift them up to 
 mine: 
 
 Then quickly thou shalt hear me, love, confessing 
 My heart is thine. 
 
 And let that brilliant glance become but tender 
 Return me heart for heart then take the whole 
 
 Of all that yet is left me to surrender: 
 Thou hast my soul. 
 
 H3 
 

 
 HER CONQUEST 
 
 Now, when the three are fast in thy possession, 
 And thou hast paid me back their worth, and 
 more, 
 
 I 11 tell thee all whereof I ve made thee cession 
 Was thine before. 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 144 
 
 
N 
 
 NELLY 
 
 OT long ago perhaps not long 
 My soul heard no discordant tone, 
 
 For love and youth s sweet matin song 
 
 - 
 It hearkened to, and that alone; 
 
 
 But now the song is hushed, it hears 
 Strange music, in a harsher key. 
 
 For every sound a dirge appears 
 Since Nelly died, who lived for me. 
 
 
 The summer of my life is past; 
 
 Eternal winter reigns instead; 
 For how, for me, could summer last, 
 
 When she, my only rose, is dead 4 ? 
 
 Sweet Nelly ! would thou couldst be yet, 
 As once, my day, my only light! 
 H5 
 
sssssssssss 
 
 NELLY 
 
 But thou art gone the sun has set 
 
 
 And every day, to me, is night. 
 
 Yet, be the darkness e er so deep, 
 Let no more suns arise for me: 
 
 For night can soothe my heart to sleep, 
 And, Nelly, then I 11 dream of thee ! 
 
 
 146 
 
 

 W 
 
 COSMOS 
 
 HAT to me are all your treasures? 
 Have I need of purchased pleas- 
 
 u res, 
 
 Croesus, such as thine 4 ? 
 Come, I 11 have thee make confession 
 Thou hast naught in thy possession, 
 And the world is mine. 
 
 I have all that thou hadst never; 
 Though I m old, I m young forever, 
 
 And happy I, at ease; 
 All I wish I can create it; 
 Wing my soul, and elevate it 
 
 Where and when I please. 
 
 Of my secret make but trial : 
 Seest thou this little vial 4 ? 
 
 H7 
 
COSMOS 
 
 Dost thou not, then, think 
 Magic power to it pertaining, 
 All the world itself containing, 
 
 Though it holds but ink? 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 148 
 
 
AN EXCHANGE 
 
 D 
 
 EATH seizeth not the soul; 
 
 When life is past control 
 No power left to hold it, 
 When we have lost or sold it 
 Why care we for the loss of lives 
 
 Of suffering and sinning, 
 Well knowing that, for what survives, 
 A life is just beginning*? 
 
 So, when our day arrives, 
 Why cling we to our lives ? 
 
 Though they be clean and fair, 
 Or stained with sin and care, 
 The bargain cannot be adverse; 
 
 An old life for a new one; 
 Death cannot make a false soul worse, 
 Or ever change a true one. 
 
 i 
 
 

 THE CEMETERY 
 
 I STAND within this solemn place 
 And think of days gone by; 
 I think of many an old-time face; 
 Here s where those faces lie. 
 
 I think of when, what time God please, 
 The hour shall come to me, 
 
 That, covered by the clay, like these, 
 My face shall masked be. 
 
 No marble monument will rise 
 
 Above that grave of mine ; 
 No loving friends will wipe their eyes 
 
 When life I shall resign. 
 
 But when I leave my life have left 
 150 
 
THE CEMETERY 
 
 My every present care 
 I 11 find a home of care bereft; 
 My friends are living there ! 
 

 
 GOING 
 
 DRAW de curtain wider wider let me 
 see de sun; 
 
 I 11 be trab lin higher n it is, fore de day is done. 
 Prop a cheer ag in de door, an le me heah de 
 
 breeze, 
 
 Soundin like a runnin ribber, mong de china- 
 trees. 
 
 Sing de "Rock of Ages," Phillis sing it soft an 
 
 low; 
 
 Dat s de tune I wants to heah ag in afore I go. 
 Don t you choke an sob, ol ooman sing it 
 
 brave an bol : 
 Ah, dat music ! seems to me it s singin in my 
 
 soul! 
 
 Listen! don t you hear de dog*? I knows what 
 makes him howl. 
 
 152 
 
 I 
 
 
 

 GOING 
 Las night, up on top de house, dere sot a whoopin 
 
 owl; 
 Den dat whip-poor-will, you knows you se f you 
 
 heerd it cry- 
 Mi dem things has knowledge ob a pusson gwine 
 
 to die. 
 
 I s a-gwine to glory, Phillis, way up in de sky, 
 Whar de houses is ob goP an you 11 come by 
 an by ! 
 
 I ain t gwine to settle down yit; dey will le me 
 
 . 
 wait 
 
 Tell you comes to jine me troo de nebber-shettin 
 gate. 
 
 Take me easy as you kin, an lif me up in bed; 
 Fotch an extry pillow heah, to put beneef my 
 
 head; 
 Dar I s ready, now, to hab de paf to Hebben 
 
 showed 
 Dem ar guidin angels mus be stoppin on de 
 
 road! 
 I 153 I 
 
GOING 
 
 Phillis, do you reckon dat a harp is hard to play? 
 Spose I 11 1 arn to pick it, ef I practise eb ry day? 
 Hark! de angels is a-comin heah em fly, ker- 
 
 swush! 
 Dere mus be a mons ous covey, comin wid a rush ! 
 
 Heah em flyin down de chimbly ! No dat ain t 
 
 de win 
 You kain t heah em, kase yoah ears is stoppered 
 
 up wid sin. 
 Glory! Glory! Glory! I s a-gwine yes, I s 
 
 a-gwine ! 
 I s de one dat s taken, you s de oder lef behin ! 
 
 Angels is a stan in roun me, hoi in out dey 
 
 han s! 
 
 Now I sees de ribber Jordan, running in de san s. 
 Don t you see dat angel, p intin at it wid his 
 
 sword ? 
 Hush! don t sturb me talkin I s a lookin fer 
 
 de ford ! 
 
 154 
 
DAT PETER 
 
 " 
 
 I 
 
 S been a-watchin people an deir doings all 
 
 my life, 
 An sometimes I obsarves to Sophonisby dat : s 
 
 my wife 
 
 Dat nuffin seldom happens what I does n t spect 
 to see: 
 
 But Peter, 
 Dat Peter ! 
 
 He gits away wid me. 
 
 You see he s been to Oakland, an his larnin is 
 
 profound; 
 I heered him sayin yes day dat de yearth kep 
 
 turnin round! 
 Dat pears to me ridiculous but I nebber wuz 
 
 to school 
 
 155 
 

 
 DAT PETER 
 
 And Peter, 
 Dat Peter ! 
 
 He lows dat I s a fool. 
 
 Well, mebbe so; I mout be, but I doesn t think 
 
 it s true; 
 I ain t so wise as Peter, but I knows a thing or 
 
 two: 
 
 Ef I kain t run as fast as some, I manages to 
 crawl- 
 But Peter, 
 Dat Peter ! 
 
 He thinks he knows it all. 
 
 
 
 
 He wears a suit ob store-clo es, an a fine fibe 
 
 dollar hat ! 
 Who eber heered de like afore ob sich gwine on 
 
 as dat? 
 
 He iles his har, he do; an goes a-sparkin eb ry 
 night; 
 
 Why Peter, 
 156 
 
 
 
DAT PETER 
 
 Dat Peter ! 
 
 I guess he thinks he s white. 
 
 I really think ef Peter would rent a leetle patch 
 
 ob land, 
 An settle down to crappin , dat he d hold a better 
 
 hand; 
 
 De debbil J s gwine to set him back afore his game 
 is done; 
 
 But Peter, 
 Dat Peter ! 
 
 He say he s twenty-one. 
 
 Well, let de nigger slide I could say suffin ef 
 
 I mout, 
 
 But I has oder matters to be projeckin about. 
 I s jubious how he 11 come out hab to wait 
 a while an see. 
 
 But Peter, 
 Dat Peter ! 
 
 He s most too much for me. 
 157 
 
 

 SUMMER IDYLLERS 
 
 . 
 
 f | 1 
 
 JL 
 
 WAS in the heart of Dixie s Land 
 (Not where the lime and orange grow, 
 Not where the palm-tree waves ah, no; 
 
 But where the soil is reddish sand, 
 
 . 
 And pines, as thick as they can stand, 
 
 On every side are seen : 
 
 That s the kind of place I mean) 
 
 Upon a certain afternoon 
 
 . 
 In June, 
 
 Beneath the shed before the door 
 Of Thomas Carey s cross-roads store, 
 Sat whittling there some six or more. 
 
 The sun appeared a brazen shield, 
 
 Or some great pumpkn in a field ; 
 
 All moving things their course pursued 
 
 
 158 
 

 SUMMER IDYLLERS 
 
 With languid Summer lassitude 
 The very breezes felt it so 
 They scarcely mustered strength to blow. 
 Upon such days, it seems, 
 Our thoughts did dwell on streams : 
 And by a natural sequence, then, 
 (I here inform the would-be joker 
 No reference is meant to Poker) 
 Comes fishing to the minds of men. 
 
 William Smith observed that he 
 Had lately been, with two or three, 
 A-fishing and that "he would be 
 
 Kersmashed if he did ever see 
 
 [p 
 The like of peearch and cat 
 
 Some of em z long as that:" 
 
 And "hoped he might" (an awful wish,) 
 
 "Onless they caught six thousand fish!" 
 
 I 
 
 There came a round of deep applause, 
 And then there fell a solemn pause 
 
 159 
 
 ig 
 
SUMMER IDYLLERS 
 
 For treats were due, by cross-road laws. 
 
 None could gainsay it, 
 
 But who was to pay it 4 ? 
 
 No one stirred, no one invited. 
 
 Jackson Flint became excited, 
 
 Returning William Smith s defiant glance, 
 
 Said he : "That minds me of a sarcumstance 
 
 I b lieve I never told you on afore. 
 
 It happen let me see in fifty-four. 
 
 I lived down on Big Sandy, then, 
 
 .And, gentlemen, 
 
 The fish they was so awful thick 
 
 In that ar crick, 
 
 That people heered em breathing twenty-six mile 
 
 off. 
 Jack Harris, take some sugar, ef you re 
 
 troubled with a cough. 
 As I was savin , 
 Them fish a-playin , 
 
 Made sech a noise, they had me prayin 
 
 160 
 
 
"Some of em z long as that" 
 
SUMMER IDYLLERS 
 
 The whole night long. I could n t get a nap 
 
 Not nohow, 
 
 For the row 
 
 They jest kep up one everlastin slap. 
 
 One big one got to makin sech a fuss, 
 
 A-jumpin and a-splashin , wuss and wuss, 
 
 And kep on that-a-way 
 
 
 
 Every night and every day, 
 
 That bye-and-bye 
 
 I thinks, says I, 
 
 It s time this here was done with, master cat, 
 
 And I am goin to hev you out of that. 
 
 And so I sot a line for him, 
 
 And tied it to a swingin limb. 
 
 
 I caught him. Oh yes. 
 
 How big? Well guess. 
 His size I m kinder bashful for to state, 
 For fear you 11 think thet I exaggerate. 
 I kain t say 
 
 What he might weigh 
 I was n t never thinkin bout his weight 
 
 162 
 
 
SUMMER IDYLLERS 
 
 But, boys, I used that fish s ribs for rails, 
 And shingled four log cabins with his scales" 
 
 Then William Smith breathed forth a sigh, 
 And passed his sleeve across his eye, 
 And whistled soft then called aloud: 
 "Fetch out the cider for the crowd." 
 
 
 
 163 
 
N 
 
 THE KINGDOM GATE 
 To H. L. F. 
 
 EBBAH knocked on de Kingdom Gate be- 
 
 foah, 
 
 Yet dey comes for to let me in 
 Come, frow yo traps on de gal Try floah, 
 Ef dey does n t hold no sin ! 
 It ain t bery fur to de Kingdom Gate, 
 An de doah, it s right inside ; 
 But e zamine yo baggidge for dey 11 make you 
 
 wait, 
 Ef it s sin what you s try n fur to hide ! 
 
 You kain t smuggle nuffin froo de Kingdom Gate 
 What ain t got de right to go; 
 You kin get up arly, you kin get up late, 
 But you ll nebbah do dat, I know! 
 
 164 
 
THE KINGDOM GATE 
 
 De greenhohn angels is de be y las kind 
 What s detailed dar fo de gyard 
 O bruddah sinnahs, what s a-stringin long be 
 hind 
 You gwine to git knocked mighty hard ! 
 
 But n m mind de trouble 
 
 In de Chrismus good ol way! 
 
 An da s what we s sartinly workin fer to do 
 
 Workin by de job an de day. 
 
 Halleluyah! nuffin but de solid goP 
 
 In de gate, and dey ain t no brass. 
 
 De lambs inside does n t cumber up de place 
 
 Sinnahs! when you comin fur to pass? 
 
 I 
 1 
 
 165 
 

 N 
 
 THE MOCKINGBIRD 
 
 OW, is n t dat mockin -bird cunnin"? 
 
 Jes listen ! He s workin dat th oat 
 
 Like he wuz some canderdate runnin 
 For sheriff, or dark ob de coaht ! 
 
 H9H 
 
 Look at him, a-settin 5 dar swingin 
 Way out on de eend ob de limb 
 Dat s glorified music he s singin : 
 Some angel is taught it to him. 
 
 ,66 
 
KSKMfrECfl^^ 
 
 
 Dat s glorified music he s singin " 
 

 B 
 SHIPS FROM THE SEA 
 
 To "Ishmael" 
 
 WITH a trembling hand she launched them 
 On the ever-shifting tide, 
 And she stood on the beach and watched them 
 
 Far out on the ocean glide, 
 Till their shadowy shrouds had mingled 
 
 With the mists they sailed to meet, 
 And the rainbow-tinted masses 
 Received her fairy-fleet. 
 
 ft \ 
 
 Her dearest hopes were their cargo, 
 
 Her fancy furnished the chart, 
 And to guide them upon the voyage 
 
 The compass was her heart. 
 With their gossamer pennants flying 
 
 And their silken sails outspread, 
 168 
 
SHIPS FROM THE SEA 
 
 O er a strange, mysterious ocean 
 The goblin vessels sped. 
 
 When the years had passed, she waited 
 
 On the golden sands of the beach 
 That her long expected flotilla 
 
 Was never destined to reach ; 
 And she asked of the murmuring sea-breeze, 
 
 And again of the waves around, 
 The question often repeated, 
 
 "Are my vessels homeward bound?" 
 
 And there came to her never an answer, 
 
 She asked in vain of the waves 
 And the sighing breezes swept past her 
 
 And never an answer gave ; 
 But she patiently watched and waited 
 
 For the coming home of her ships, 
 Till the bloom of her beauty had faded, 
 
 And the smile had forgotten her lips. 
 i6g 
 
SHIPS FROM THE SEA 
 
 At last, when its fetters were broken, 
 
 Her spirit fled over the sea, 
 In search of her long-missing vessels 
 
 Wherever these vessels might be. 
 In the country of dreams and of spirits, 
 
 All wrecked on a treacherous strand, 
 She found her good ships and their cargo, 
 
 Her hopes, buried deep in the sand. 
 
 Never we know when we launch them 
 
 The way that our vessels will roam, 
 Nor know we when to expect them, 
 
 If ever, returning home. 
 To some they come preciously laden 
 
 From short and from prosperous trips, 
 But the most of us vainly are waiting 
 
 For the coming home of our ships. 
 
 170 
 

 
 UNCLE CALEB S VIEWS 
 
 I AIN T no hand for readin , so ob co se, it J s 
 hardly squar 
 When bus ness comes to writin , for to spect me 
 
 to be dar 
 But I kin tell repo tahs all de wisdom dat dey 
 
 please, 
 
 Kase wisdom don t depend upon yo knowin 
 abycees. 
 
 You re one de gemmen writin fo de independent 
 
 press 
 It ain t mo independent dan yo sef, sah! So I 
 
 guess 
 And dem ar kind o papers needs dey items bol 
 
 and free, 
 An so I sees de reason why you s come to talk wid 
 
 me. 
 
 171 
 

 UNCLE CALEB S VIEWS 
 
 I allus tells my min stret out, no mattah what I 
 
 think, 
 As nateral as "Thank you, sah," when asked to 
 
 take a drink. 
 So, now, des ax me questions, an I 11 gib you 
 
 solid news 
 Bout any kin ob subject you is pleasin for to 
 
 choose 
 
 
 
 Dis trade of yours ? Well, hit, sah, is a berry 
 gallus-trade, 
 
 Hit s dis a way an dat a way, accordin as you s 
 
 i 
 paid. 
 
 You has to do yo bus ness on the profitable 
 
 plan- 
 Dey ain t no room for conscience in a daily papah 
 
 man. 
 
 I knows; I swep an office out for more a seben 
 years, 
 
 172 
 
 
 
UNCLE CALEB S VIEWS 
 
 An mixed de paste, and sharpened up de aidges of 
 
 de shears, 
 An all dat time, dem editors, I m tellin you tor 
 
 shore, 
 Was nebber men enough to lose two bits upon de 
 
 floor. 
 
 But you, sah ! Laws a mussy, you s a ception 
 
 to de rule 
 
 I nebber seed no potah yit so little like a fool, 
 An if you keeps a marchin on, who knows but 
 
 what yo course 
 Mought bring you up to wear a unicorn upon de 
 
 force w ? 
 
 Well, mash r, as you say so, I believe I will take 
 
 in 
 A little ob de rig nal see here, Johnny, gib me 
 
 gin! 
 
 173 
 

 UNCLE CALEB S VIEWS 
 
 Ahoomh ! dat s hot an hearty ! When you wants 
 
 to know some mo 
 Just come to Uncle Caleb, an he 11 gib it to you, 
 
 sho! 
 
 174 
 
 

 POT-LIQUOR 
 
 POT-LICKAH, sah, consound you, 
 Why don t you smell around you? 
 Be libely, now I m bound you 
 
 Come across em 
 Dey s a kin ob sensuation 
 In dis niggah s copperation, 
 Like a in ard rebbylation 
 Ob a possum. 
 
 Come, go ahead, Pot-lickah! 
 Dis ain t no time to fiickah; 
 So moobe a little quickah 
 If you please, sah ! 
 Go in dat bresh, an bring out, 
 Or dribe de possums king out 
 An don t forgit to sing out 
 
 175 
 
/, ,, I, 
 
 "Go in dat bresh, and dribe de possums king out" 
 
 
 1 
 
POT-LIQUOR 
 
 What you sees, sah. 
 
 Kain t be eaten? 
 By you, you pizen rebel, 
 For meanness, straight an lebel, 
 I clar de berry debble 
 
 Would be beaten! 
 
 
 
 rm 
 
 Pw 
 
 i 
 
 
 It s gin ally de custom 
 
 To train your dogs an trust em 
 
 But sometimes you mus bust em 
 
 For dey own good 
 An so wid people which has 
 Misused dey moral riches : 
 Mus punish dem: not sich as 
 
 Nebber known good. 
 
 
 
 
 177 
 
 1 
 
THE MISSISSIPPI MIRACLE 
 
 I S let up on preachin . I s truly 
 De Rev rind Dick Wilkins, D.D.; 
 I know I heerd Gabr el a-callin 
 
 An thought he was callin on me: 
 "You Wilkins, go preach me de gospel !" 
 
 Dat, sah, was de way dat he went; 
 But now, sah, I s mightily jubous 
 T was some oder Wilkins he meant. 
 
 Yes, sah, dat ar matter you knows of 
 
 Has cleaned me plumb out of my grace ! 
 What! ain t nebber heard of it? Nebbah ? 
 
 Seed nobody in from de place ? 
 Den set down an listen; an when, sah, 
 
 I s tol you de mizable tale, 
 You 11 low dat religion, out ou way, 
 
 Is mighty low down in the scale. 
 
 178 
 
ssssss 
 
 THE MISSISSIPPI MIRACLE 
 
 I started to work wid good prospects : 
 
 My field, you mought call it, was good ; 
 I tried fur to keep up de fences, 
 
 An worked it de best at I could; 
 De site wuz n t much fur to brag on : 
 
 T wus mos ly clay gullies an sand 
 But de craps, in de way ob collections, 
 
 Wuz good fur dat scription ob land. 
 
 Well, sah, we got up a revival, 
 
 To last a consid able while, 
 An greed, as we s gwine fur to hab it, 
 
 T wuz best fur to hab it in style. 
 We started her goin at sun-up, 
 
 An kep her a-bilin till night, 
 When forty-odd mo nahs wuz shoutin , 
 
 An forty more comin in sight. 
 
 Des den it come into my min , sah, 
 
 To gib dem ar niggahs a trile; 
 An so I riz up, an I says, sah 
 179 
 
THE MISSISSIPPI MIRACLE 
 
 I says with a beautiful smile : 
 "My frien s, I m a-gwine to propose you 
 
 A small, onsignificant test, 
 To proobe out ob all ob de virtues 
 
 Which ob you has Charity best. 
 
 "Now, hush up a minnit ! I tell you, 
 
 An den you kin go on an shout. 
 De short ob de mattah is : Friday 
 
 My barrel ob whiskey gub out; 
 It happens, too, des at dis moment, 
 
 I has n t de money to buy 
 An so I propose to you-a\\ 
 
 Dat you shill make up de supply. 
 
 "To-morrow I 11 hab me a barrel 
 A-settin out dar on the bluff ; 
 
 An eb ry good Christian s expected 
 To fotch long a pint o good stuff: 
 
 So I 11 git my barrel ob whiskey, 
 An you 11 get the feeling dat you 
 180 
 
THE MISSISSIPPI iMIRACLE 
 
 Is got CHARITY down till you re ekal 
 To gibbin de debbil his due! " 
 
 
 Nex mohnin sah, dar wuz de barrel ; 
 
 An eb ry man fotched up a flask, 
 An t put de neck down in de bunghole, 
 
 An emptied it into de cask. 
 I thought at I d try how it swallowed, 
 
 An held a gourd under the spout, 
 An den gib a turn on de fossit 
 
 When nuffin but WATER come out! 
 
 "A miracle!" shouted de sistahs. 
 
 "A miracle nuffin !" says I; 
 "I see froo de mattah it s easy 
 
 To tell you des how it come by: 
 "Each man fotched a bottle of water, 
 
 "An thought, when the cask wuz complete, 
 "By eb ry one else bringin* whiskey, 
 
 "Nobody would notice de cheat!" 
 181 
 
 
 
THE MISSISSIPPI MIRACLE 
 
 Dat sort o broke up the revival 
 
 An raly I think it wuz time, 
 Wid all de head brudders convicted 
 
 Ob such a contemptible crime ! 
 Dey is n t no good in purfeshins; 
 
 Dat s one think I hope at you sees. 
 But, sah, it 3 s so late I mus leab you 
 
 To pick out what moral you please. 
 
 Note. Such an incident as the one above described is said 
 to have actually happened in a country parish of France wine, 
 of course, having been the subject matter, and no whiskey 
 spoken of. In that case, however, M. le Cure suspected very 
 well what would happen had made the request as a trap 
 and had ready a terrible sermon on the premises, which he 
 preached with great effect. I. R. 
 
 THE END 
 
 182 
 
 
RETURN C.RCULAT.pN DEPARTMENT 642 
 
 202 Main Librar 
 
 is due brfor. closina Mm. on th. lo. del. s.ompl b.l.w 
 
 nngASSTAMPEDBblOW 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOKNIA, BERKELEY 
 FORAA NO. DD6A, 20m, 1 1 /78 BERKELEY, CA 94720 ^ 
 
U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY