New-York tribune., 1880-09-26
A NOVEL OF RECONSTRUCTION.

BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW. ANovel BY ALBION W
IoURGEE. LID, Author of Fools Errand"
syo New-Yors: Fords. Howard Hubert
Those who have read with both satisfaction and
proft "a FOOLS Errand" " will be anxious to peruse
anew work, treating substantially OF the same
tonic and from the same clever pen. Bricks With
ont Straw is a book which must prove interesting
10 all who have watched with intelligent anxiety,
with hope and sometimes with doubt, the slow and
d;fcnlt process of social reconstruction In the
South 1t opens with a chapter entitled "Tri-Nom-
inate.r and with the soliloquy of coorcd man
standing before his log house in the evening in
Jpne, and who has been required by official
simmons to declare his name. The speaker thus
discourses of names:
waI,csr. now les de quarest ting OBJ bout all dis
matter O. freedom is dc way dat it soshes @ roun' De De
%Sn US eaS lGS 6S ole Mase Poem
an' de LORI a1' praps do Debbie beside. know zackly
nSw nSwe Iona n All Dat yer t@e An didn't ev no
mo neither dat wuz de one ole Nahsr gib me MS
self an nobody de bbin yairth neboer he'd no seen
name a.o' am nebber like TO agD. Dat wuz alters de
way uO Mahsrs names Dey used ,er say dat ne en-
1e poa IN DAT ole gis tWxt de din rent
Dan an an al bout war m de ore sss
ON au' pay for brngin up, at de sime time He was
Sesm,, but he speshully did beat anyIhin' fndin'
names fer nggers reckon now ef heu "a hed forty
hay 5seu no Two On em hcvin' de same OATS
what folks usel ter say bout him ennyhow Dey sea ne
ter "a gZ
mxed np via nobody else's namln, an he wouldn't
mo- low black feller calm ob anudder by emmy
nickname per notGn ub dat kline, on one o bis pauta-
t,ous dap he would oh his takln IDule nary Dit Dey
st ling he wuz gwine du wlz es ter hev em up
glb em new name, out III out an clean suit Oh close
Ter member II by an den jes DI way Oh ifle fresh
Uent, he used ter make dc Obersecr gD 'en ten or
twenty good cks jes ter make sure OBJ der ferRn de
ole un dat deyd he'd afo. Dats what my NANNY sed,
an sne alters cad dat towri de las she nebDer could
what she at de ius no morcn II she hcdnt
been de same gal
All ne wanted ter know bout Niger wuz jes III:
name an ey sey he could tell straight away when an
Whar he wuz born. whar he'd done lived an all bout
him He war "a powerful man III der way oh names,
shore Some 'cm right quare, but den aRn mos
heyn' no two ON em alike. I've heard tell heap o.
folks wuz takn' up wid his notion, an reckon dat II
De srrender ned only stood Oh long nun dar wouldn't
"a been nary two nggers In de whole state hevin dc
came names. Dat would hey been haLdy. all TOun'!
Wnen dat come, though. old Mihs'rs plan warn't
a-brin roun I'd done got kinder used ter mine, bevn'
he'd IL long, an nebber KNOWN myself by uddcr
soft didn't Ike ter change sides dat, couldn't see
no use. I'D aiIers long well nun wild It-al on y
tcs once, an long ago I'd ngn about
got It. Dat showed what debbiish cute plan dat
0shs'r's was, though
How the solIloquizer received bis own name Is
told In o way winch is Infinitely amusing. 1t IL
told in dialogue between LOrency. the strappinR
cook" and Marse Desmit." The nme of the latteI
we should say was originally Smith until increas
ing wealth and aristocratIc impulses induced hin
to change 1t. The master says: Well, Lorency
Mr.. Ware says you have made Inc g present since
was here~ She answered:
"yahi yah Marse Deswit. dat habI Jes' de nnes