The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-06-01
e. 81 s.; 8. =.
THOMPSON.

in such sentence he simply con-
tracted misery. mispronounced my
through and head and used the ola Eng NJ,
lish pronunciation of chest. can slE1 ne
and "dah he" are samples OF CONT s az ,. ~
sentences among them. They sometlm Is
add syllable to comparative as DAT $
de bestes' chile O. de family In 8 ny!
manner they would use "worstes. TOT
mentenes'' and many others OF Hke cileil
cater. But this is not strictly NEGRO
trait for I find such words IN the oiu
English literature. cannot Keep pacA
the thought that tho negro lealaeu s .ls
from the white race. as nave pelol.
shown He will often use op !. io ~, a.
else like his white neighbor omit the 4
making It o. ."Tine O. day, sab, Is
fair sample of contracted sentence, as
we'll as his use -of the proposition. "
co'se. OBJ co'se, sah,' will serve to Illus
trate his other use Of the preposi tlon. nc
word boss used SO much by the lae.ei i.
day negro, is a Dutch word ano " do . ~
common among the negroes Until s
the Civil War. II used at al. ~ was
applied to some one nos hasa a.e,. Rider
over him, never to his master. hioei
Haeeard uses it IN his South African
tales, spelling it haas.
A few words taken at random VIII snow
the negros utter indifference as 20 pro pro
nunciation SubstldiKi ,an Used for
certificate, like, do not remember. sassa,
fras and department.. These Words We're
taken from the actual conyersation ~
be bee ie eng he Indefinitely. It must not
be supposed that the negro's yocabuiaiIy
differs materially from the white man rs :,
They use the same words ana W., Tt.ii 1,, rT
the two races are one IN Speech Anou IS;
popularity of the Negroes speech Is ms
fancy for using hgh,so e,l rls Moq Hi,,
as to whether he will use them correct
sly or pronounce them properly. but thls
does not in the least deter him from the
attempt = have heard a aignih IS co oru
sumo de sponsibility o. de obligation O
dis resemblin' in de chu'c oh dis ebenin, on
meh own shoulde's." It is senseiess oar ar
common people but every white man ana
negro present knew exactly what was
meant
is an eclusive negro trait I find William
Claxton Q471) in speaking of publishing
his books speaking Of The = great ehaage
his neighborhood.. said She is very
domesticated in her considerations A
famous American journal has this ac-
is an officer in a cathedral similar to
sexton in an American church. The &C.
count accredited to an English Journal nal
OF the nlS1eSf StdlluilS lelsiteS thd 10y
new dean in fpeaking to the verger with
reference to the children who came to
the. cathedral to attend Sunday SCHOOL;
asked. what routine 90 you follow"
tracts from the gospels then gives EN-
a little cataplasm and generally winds
up with a few interesting antidotes. But
of course, sir, I always tells em in bibu-
lous language Even southern darkey
could not excel that. I find the. negro
very fond of ALTERATION. In taking, a
walk I saw an old mans oxen stumble
and fall on the bridge over the river. I
asked him if they were hurt and his reply
was. Nav. sab, dey done dat derse
yes" Besides the ALTERATION there is
another word which is common in their
tongue as well as that of the common
whites. namely "naw." This is the mega
tive adverb whose Anglo-Saxon form is
ma I suspect that it has fingered from
those far-off times among the people. of
whom 7 am speaking The negro in slave
times was not taught to read. There
were exceptions to the rule it is true but
this did not affect the bulk Of the race.
So it happens that the negro more than
his white neighbor has retained the Eng
lish he first learned. He with the inlet
tered whites of the South hedged in by
the wall of our conservatism and isola-
ton has preserved more of the old Eng
ljsh and Scotch words and recommendations
than any other section of the Union.