Bypaths In Dixie Part 1

Bypaths in Dixie.

by Sarah Johnson c.o.c.ke.

INTRODUCTION

When Thomas Nelson Page began his stories of the old South in the early "Eighties," the reading people of America suddenly aroused to the realization that a vein of virgin gold had been uncovered. There was a rush to the new field and almost every Southerner who had a story to tell told it, many of them with astonis.h.i.+ng dramatic force and power. As by magic a new department was added to American literature and a score of new writers won their way to fame. From a notably backward section, in point of expression, the South stepped easily, with the short story, into the front rank and has held her place ever since. The field once entered was explored faithfully, the eager minds of her sons and daughters running through the Ante-Bellum, Revolutionary and Colonial eras, and when Joel Chandler Harris developed the "Brer Rabbit" stories, "The Little Boy" and "Uncle Remus," it seemed as though future work must lie in refining for the ore was all in sight.

But there was one lead almost entirely forgotten or undervalued in the scramble for literary wealth and this lead was into the Southern nursery where the real black Mammy reigned. With the better lights before us now we realize the astonis.h.i.+ng fact that the very heart center of the Southern civilization had not been touched.

Mrs. c.o.c.ke in the charming stories contained in this volume is the happy pre-emptor of the new find. Every Southerner old enough will recognize the absolute truthfulness of the scenes and methods therein embalmed, and applaud the faithfulness with which she has reproduced that difficult potency, the gentle, tender, playful, elusive, young-old, child-wise mind of the African nurse in the white family; the mind to which all things appeal as living forces and all lives as speaking intelligences.

The naturally developed mind of the African slave had no leaning to violence. The influence of the wildness of nature, the monotones of forests, fields and running waters, the play of shadows and the wind voices lingered in it and the tendency to endow all life surrounding it with human or G.o.d-like powers as strong in an humbler way as with the early Greek. But the Greeks were warriors; the African slave tribes, never. Where one wors.h.i.+pped force, the other bowed to shrewdness and cunning and by these lived within a hostile environment. The rabbit that survives and multiplies was to the African slave always mightier than the lion that fell to the hunter's gun or spear, and the rabbit was and, to a large degree still is, the best personification of the negro mind in its method of approach and treatment. Brer Rabbit in the stories retold by Harris is really the child-wise, world-old mind of Uncle Remus, himself a type. The absence from them of some of the moral laws is in itself one proof of faithful reproduction.

But in the nursery we had by necessity the moral laws grafted on the African mind by master and mistress through daily a.s.sociation and the singular application of these is within the memory of many grown-up Southern children. I take issue with those who declare that the black Mammy did have equal authority in the punishment of refractory children. I have never known an instance in which punishment by her was inflicted in blows. A child might be dragged forcibly to its nursery, restrained by a turned key or remorselessly carried away to solitude, in arms, but struck, never! Blows were unnecessary with the wise-old Mammy. There were the cupboard and pantry, the fruit orchard, the kitchen stove, and there were the birds, beasts and fowls to be invoked in song and story. Thus were the children restrained, guided and taught, and doubtless many a flower in our literary gardens to-day is but an old-time seed matured. This is the best side of the picture. The seed was not always well chosen; the impression, a good one. All black Mammies were not good and superst.i.tions fertilized with fear were often sown in childish minds never to be eradicated. The writer to this day could not under any temptation bring himself to touch a spider or sleep in the dark and somehow feels that life will not be entirely complete without a chance to even up with the female Senegambian who filled his mind with weird stories Sat.u.r.day nights and prepared him for religious service Sunday mornings.

Mrs. c.o.c.ke's work speaks for itself. It is a difficult work presented with but few of the stage accessories. But I believe it is admirably done and will endure in a niche of its own. Certain it is that those to whose memories it appeals will receive it gratefully.

HARRY STILLWELL EDWARDS.

Macon, Ga., April 10, 1911.

I

THE ROOSTER TELEPHONE

The telephone had just been mended again, and the man suggested as he left that the little boy find another plaything. Phyllis indignantly protested that Willis had done no damage to the instrument, and that the frequent defects were due to the failure of the workman to put it in proper condition. Being thus defended by so strong an ally, Willis lost no time in attacking the forbidden object as soon as the door was closed.

"Let de ole telerfome erlone, baby," said Phyllis in a tone of sympathetic protest. But the boy could not resist such an opportunity.

"Dat table tiltin' right now." She caught her breath as the table righted itself. "An' dat telerfom'll bus' yo' haid wide op'n."

"I'm going to talk to my papa."

"You gwinter talk ter er bust'd haid, dat's who you--" At that moment, table, telephone, boy and all fell to the floor with a bang. "What'd I tell yer?"

Willis answered with a succession of screams that admitted of no argument or consolation. Phyllis offered none until she had satisfied herself that a b.u.mped head and a much frightened little boy were the extent of the damage.

"Mammy gwine whup dat telerfome," she continued, "an' de flo' too, caze dey hu't her baby." And she proceeded to execute the threat.

"Don't whip the telephone--whip the table!" he screamed.

"Dat's right," striking the table with a towel; "'twas dat ole table done all de mischuf--Mammy gwina rub camfer on dat telerfome's haid des like she rub'in on yorn, an' beg his pard'n too," looking for the raised place.

"Come on ov'r ter de wind'r so Mammy kin see her baby's haid good!"

"I don't want you to see it good!" And the wails redoubled.

"Lawsee! Look at dat ole rooster in de yard!" half dragging the little fellow to the window; "he's done gone an' telerfome ter Miss Churchill's rooster 'bout you holl'rin' an' kicken' up so!"

"No, he shan't!" blubbered Willis.

"He done done it, an' he fixin' ter do hit ergin!"

Another crow from the rooster: "I tole yer so! heah 'im? An' Miss Churchill's rooster done telerfome ov'r ter Miss c.o.xe's roost'r, an' dey keeps on telerfomin' ter de nex' yard tell all de roost'rs in dis whole place'll know you settin' up hyah cryin' an' yellin' like you wus Ma'y Van."

"I don't want 'em to tell," said the little boy, burying his face on her shoulder.

"I doan speck yer does, but he done tole hit!" A fresh burst followed, which Phyllis strove to quiet. "Hyah, eat dis nice b.u.t.t'r'd biskit Mammy bin savin' fur yer." Willis pushed the bread away. She coaxed, "I speck ef you eats er lit'le, an' thows er lit'le out yond'r ter ole man Roost'r, he'll git in er good humor (like all de men fokes does whin dey eats), an' he'll telerfome ter Miss Churchill's roost'r dat he jes foolin' him, an' Miss Churchill's roost'r'll keep de wurd pa.s.sin' erlong dat way tell all de roost'rs'll know our ole Shanghi jes pa.s.s er joke off on you."

"Where's his telephone?" sniffled the boy, only partly diverted by the chicken pecking up the crumbs of bread.

"He keep hit in his th'oat whar de Lawd put hit."

"How can he eat?" Willis turned from the window to gaze into the old woman's face.

"Pshaw, boy, you think er stool an' er table wid er telerfome on hit's in dat roost'r's th'oat?" and she laughed aloud. Moistening the handkerchief again with camphor, she parted the curls and tenderly pressed the cloth to the b.u.mped place. "Nor suhree! dey ain' no sich er thing in dat roost'r's th'oat. Mist'r Man put dat un in hyar fur yo' ma," pointing in the direction of the 'phone, "but de Lawd hook up dat un out yond'r in ole man Roost'r's th'oat. Yas, Lawd! He put hit in dar fur Roost'rs ter talk wid an' fur fokes ter lis'n ter whut dey talks. You 'member de uth'r night when you wus took sick in de night, an' Mammy keep er tellin' yer ter stop cryin' 'bout de cast'r oil, an' lis'n ter de roost'rs crowin'? Well, our ole roost'r wus jes gittin' news fum Peter's roost'r den."

"Who's Peter?" Willis shook the camphor cloth from his head. "Who's Peter, Mammy?" he insisted.

"Lemme see how I kin 'splain ter yer who Peter is," scratching her head under the bandana. "Lemme see--Peter wus er gent'mun de scriptur speak erbout dat trip hissef up on de 'Bridge er Trufe' an' fell er sprawlin'

flat; an' de Lawd sont er roost'r 'long 'bout dat time ter pick 'im up.

Cose you know de roost'r didn't pick 'im up wid his foots, but he raise him up wid er speeret de Lawd put in 'im fur dat 'speshul 'casion. Oh, I tell yer, de Lawd talks er heap er talk ter fokes thu fowels an' beastes, but n.o.body doan take no notice uv 'em; dey 'pears ter fergit how dat fowel hope Peter up, an' pint'd de road ter Glory fer 'im."

"Mammy, can roosters talk show nuf?"

"Roosters kin talk good es you kin,--hits jes fokes ain' got nuf speeret in 'em ter heah whut dey says. Way back yonder time whin hants an' bible fokes projeck' wid one nuth'r, beastes an' speerets confabs wid fokes, jes like me an' you talkin' now! Yas, suh, an' fokes lis'ns ter de confab dem sorter creeters talks too! Whar you speck ole man Balim wud er bin terday ef hit hadn't er bin fur dat mule er his'n? But screech owels an'

jay birds an' er heap mo' 'sides chicken roosters is got speerets in 'em in dese days too. Some fokes calls 'em hants!"

The door opened and little Mary Van, who had caught the last word, tripped quickly to the old woman's side and whispered in suppressed excitement: "Where's the hants, Mammy Phyllis?"

"Nem'ine whar de hants is terday. I'm talkin' 'bout de rooster telerfome.

Yer see Peter's rooster's settin' up in rooster heb'n keepin' his eye out fur all de news. He nuv'r do go ter sleep reg'lar; sometime at night he sorter nod er lit'le, but he nuv'r do git in bed, caze he feer'd Mist'r Sun wake up 'fo' he do. Well, whin he heah ole man Sun gap loud, an' turn hisself ov'r an' scratch, he know he fixin' ter git up, an' dat minit he flap his wings an' telerfome loud es he kin 'de break er day is c-o-m-i-n" (imitating the rooster). Ole man Diminicker down yonder on yo'

gran'pa's rice plantation, down on de aige er de oshun, is de fus ter git de news. He stir hissef erbout an' flop his wings, an' telerfome loud es he kin, 'de break er day is c-o-m-i-n'.' De rooster on de nex' plantation gits de wurd an' dey pa.s.ses. .h.i.t on tell our ole rooster gits. .h.i.t way up hyah in de mountains. Den our ole Shanghi keeps de wurd er gwine, tell ev'ry chickin fum one side de country ter de uth'r knows day fixin' ter break."

"Mammy, Mister Rooster wants some more biscuit."

"I 'speck he do; did yer ev'r know er man dat wus satisfied wid what wus give him? Yas, Lawd! dat rooster'll stan' dar an' peck vit'als long es you thows. .h.i.t ter 'im, eb'n whin he feel hissef bustin' wide op'n; he'll stretch his neck ter git one mo' bite whilst he's dyin'."

"Who's dyin?"

"n.o.body ain't dyin', caze dat rooster ain' gwina git ernuf fum me an' you ter do him no harm."

"Make him telephone again."

"Nor, he say he want ter pa.s.s er lit'le conversation wid Sis Hen, an' Miss Pullet, an' tell 'em, mebbe ef dey scratch hard ernuf, dey'll fine some crum's er his but'r'd biskit."