The times., 1898-01-09
A coIoRED WOMAN HER MODEL
Mrs. Jeannette Robinson Murphyss
New MaY TO Earn q Living

New Way TO Earn Living.
New York, Jan. Sit might seem
that woman's ingenuity in deyising
ways and means for earning her living
had been exhausted when she turned
her attention to the duties of game
keeper and street-car conductor. but
she is constantly making new discov-
cries. This time it is an occupation
which does not trench upon mans do
main ia the slightest degree. On the
contrary, it is one which the veriest
prude could not regard as beyond the
borders of woman's traditional
sphere. 1t is something that no man
has ever attempted before as a distinct
profession. 1t is the society woman in
new role-namely that of rendering
the negro folklore and songs exactly
as they are sung and told by the old
Southern mammies, a class of Ameri-
cans who are rapidly becoming fewer
and fewer as the years progress from
that dark and mysterious period from
which everything in the negro history
dates, de time befo' de wah''
1t is an entirely new field in which
there are as yet no rivals. New York
fashionables, ever on the watch for
new diversions, have taken up the idea
as fad, and the ingenious little wo-
man who gave it to them is being pass
ed around by them from musicale to
musicale and is being petted and prais-
ed as much as if she were not earning
daily bread thereby for herself and two
little ones.
This new discovery of a means of
livelihood is only another case in which
the society woman has turned her ex-
perience and talents to practical ac-
count upon finding herself reduced in
circumstances with no one TO provide
for her or hers
Such WAS the experience of Mrs.
Jeanette Robinson Murphy. who is
cousin of Lew Wallace and be-
fore her marriage was one of the bellies
of Louisville society down in "Old
KaintUcky." After her marriage she
was pursued by the ravages of sick
ness and death until the idea of turn
ing her talents into money forced it
self upon her. As Jeanette Robinson.
the daughter of Southern college
president she had been nursed and
fondled by one of the old rnamnies
who clung to the families that pro-
Nided for them years after the war
and as she grew up she had been care
fully educated-giving particular at
tentiOn to her naturally fine soprano
voice
The combination of good voice and
a lifelong association with the real
Southern negro. who has not forgotten
dem slave days" added to a natural 1
faculty of imitation, has enabled Mrs. /
Murphy to give q representation which /
is as entertaining as it is unique and 1
To the Northerner. accustomed to re-
gard such songs as My Old Kentucky
Home, Little Alabama Coon" and
a Want Yer. Ma Honey" as first-class
1arkey songs, the rendition of the real
negro music which is actually compos-
ed by themselves, comes like a reye-
ation. and excites interest in the ne
gro sayings and doings which has ney-
ar been inspired by any but Joel
Chandler Harris himself in his famous |
Tales of Uncle Remus"
AS Mr.. Harris is said to have recount
I'd the stories to which he actually lis
.ened when little boy in the constant
,ompanionship of old Uncle Remus. so
Mrs. Murphy faithfully depicts the col
,red nanny in her superstitions and
lei songs, interspersing the while brief
of the origin and mean
ng of both.
To sing a real negro song. with all
he almost imperceptible ouavers
which render its reduction to white |
mans notes and bars impossible. is a
ooh Nhosc uiibcullg no N0rtherner ,
an appreciate until he tries it. In
eco, At is Mrs. Murphyis expressed be-
LEI thai no white man or woman is
apaple OF composing a real negro song
IND this. Notwithstanding the fact that
he has written two or three herself
which are very creditable limitations !
f the genuine article.
The stories which she tells and the |
ongs which she sings are gathered di-
ectly from, the negroes themselves
nd none of them were ever published
.fter she introduced them Most of
he songs are of the religious order.
ne OF the most interesting in her rep-
rtoire is 'Gawd Bless Dem Yankees.
We 1uV EN- Sweet" a faVorite with /
many old nlammies long before they
lad any realization of the true mean ,
ng OF the words they were singing
IN old Virginia nanny (whose mas
er had moved to kentucky, taking his
la nurse along to bring up his own
who had sang this melody as
lullaby TO several generations is quo s
ed by Mrs. Murphy in her exact ex- ,
ressi9ns and maDnerisn1s:
"Yo' want me ter sing dat song? ,
AVID bless yo', honey. Use rocked all ,
e babies asleep on his heah plantation .
IA dat same. Oar was Marse John /.
ZEN he war III baby way back in
'arginny, he woan' go sleep less / u
ng Yankee. He kick, an he yell an =
oiier. Nanny. sing Yankee twel I s
rs d9ne had ter sing it. Wal, bine-
Y. after we alls come down ter Kahn s.
lex. long come de wah, an ole Marse q