"Tell you 'bout 'em?" You mus' 'a' hearn

'Bout my ole white folks, sho'!

I tell you, suh, dey was gre't an' stern;
D' did n' have nuttin' at all to learn;
D' knowed all dar was to know;
Gol' ober de' head an' onder dey feet;
An' silber! dey sowed 't like folks sows
wheat.

"Use ter be rich?" Dat war n' de wud!
Jes' wallowed an' roll' in wealf.
Why, none o' my white folks ever stir'd
Ter lif' a han' for d'self;

De niggers use ter be stan'in' roun'
Jes' d' same ez leaves when dey fus' fall
down;

De stable-stalls up heah at home
Looked like teef in a fine-toof comb;
De cattle was p'digious-mus' tell de fac' !
An' de hogs mecked de hillsides look like
black;

An' de flocks ob sheep was so gre't an' white

Dey 'peared like clouds on a moonshine

night.

"What was it?" I'm gwine to tell you 'T was mons'us long ago:

"T was "Ashcake," sah; an' all on us
Use' ter call 'im jes' "Ashcake," so.

You see, sir, my ole Marster, he
Was a pow'ful wealfy man,
Wid mo' plantations dan hyahs on you
haid

Gre't acres o' low-groun' lan.

Jeems River bottoms, dat used ter stall
A fo'-hoss plough, no time;

An' he'd knock you down ef you jes' had dyared

Ter study 'bout guano 'n' lime.

De corn used ter stan' in de row dat thick You jes' could follow de balk;

An' rank! well, I 'clar 'ter de king, I'se

seed Five 'coons up a single

I stay with kisses, ere the tearful face Again is hidden in the old embrace.

THE OLD MAN AND JIM OLD man never had much to say— 'Ceptin' to Jim,

And Jim was the wildest boy he had,

And the old man jes' wrapped up in him! Never heerd him speak but once Er twice in my life, - and first time was When the army broke out, and Jim he went, The old man backin' him, fer three months;

And all 'at I heerd the old man say Was, jes' as we turned to start away, "Well, good-by, Jim:

Take keer of yourse'f!"

'Peared like he was more satisfied Jes' lookin' at Jim

'At he 'd like to go back in the calvery

And the old man jes' wrapped up in him! Jim 'lowed 'at he 'd had sich luck afore, Guessed he 'd tackle her three years more. And the old man give him a colt he 'd raised, And follered him over to Camp Ben Wade, And laid around fer a week er so, Watchin' Jim on dress-parade; 'Tel finally he rid away,

And last he heerd was the old man say, "Well, good-by, Jim:

Take keer of yourse'f!"

And the old man's words in his mind all day,

"Well, good-by, Jim:
Take keer of yourse'f!"

Think of a private, now, perhaps,
We'll say like Jim,

'At's clumb clean up to the shoulderstraps

And the old man jes' wrapped up in him! Think of him — with the war plum' through, And the glorious old Red-White-and-Blue A-laughin' the news down over Jim, And the old man, bendin' over him— The surgeon turnin' away with tears 'At had n't leaked fer years and years, As the hand of the dyin' boy clung to His Father's, the old voice in his ears, "Well, good-by, Jim: Take keer of yourse'f!"

There! little girl, don't cry !

They have broken your heart, I know;
And the rainbow gleams
Of your youthful dreams
Are things of the long ago;

But Heaven holds all for which you
sigh.

There! little girl, don't cry!

THE WAY THE BABY WOKE

AND this is the way the baby woke:

As when in deepest drops of dew The shine and shadows sink and soak,