The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-11
From the New York Sun.

<<TDoN' see how no man kin be so
 rambunctious when all de Lawd
 IL did wus to stoop down und' his foot en pick up some mud en spit on hit en make q man. Y read tell bout de spitten imagef Disher's de time"
 It was not a suffragist speaking. nor woman's rights champion. despite the complexion of the statements. No such ultra-modern or worldly element was present Reincarnating the spirit of vanished epoch of American history, a young woman was telling the tales which reveal the character of the unspoiled. primitive simple negro that was.
 Upon a raised stage. leaning forward from her arm chair. she was telling the story of the Creation. The wonders of the first day and the wonders of the sec- ond, and the miracle of how "de good Lawd schatterationed de stars all ober de sky" came in . soft, swift African gush of words, accompanied by body swayings and gesticulations not less impressive than the words The speaker was mimicking less than impersonating, impersonating less than giving out something naturally inherent.
 Now louder, now softer, now swifter. now slower. the tumble of words was but the representation of the tumble of dis cordant elements in the unspoiled negro character. Awe. reverence. uncouth ian- guage, passion for high sounding words and continuous mixture of superstitions, demonology and Christian orthodoxy were all mingled together.
 The soft light of many candles reached up to the face of the story teller as she leaned forward and peered into the faces of her auditors out in the darkened hall. Her voice took tragic and meaningful tone, for retribution was now her theme, always a fsvorite with the old negro.
 Retribution darlxly colored the words of tho tale of how Simon Peter went nshin' on de Lawd's Day." even from the open ing lines when the ill-fated hero is dis covered 'jes' settin' 'roun' loose''-it be- ing an unfortunate custom. so the warn- ing is given soiemnly to ''Jes' set 'roun' loose on dc Lawd's Day"
 To the idle one of course. came Satan, who entered Simon Peters ''pussonality'' and "kicked his feet gin ol' Simon Pe- ter's ribs'-ths unrestful feeling result ing therefrom being the token of the pres ence of the undesirable visitor. Then 1t 'transmigrated" that Simon Peter at length fell, and started off down the road. on nshin bent.
 Peter meet face to face? Dc Lawdy hisse'fl Dc Lawdy wus all dress up fum head to foot in his white duck pan'ses an . stovepipe hat on top his haid.'
 The story teller hardly takes time to explain. and indeed her manner of narra- ton makes the above description contain nothing but reverence. The childlike spirit that could conceive only in terms of its own limited. worldly experience and clothed its Deity with as gorgeous attrib- utes as 1t knew. should need no explana- ton: nor should the thoughtful assigning of the archangeis in "de Lawdy's heaven to the more comfortable rocking chairs while the mere angels had to content themselves with ordinary chairs of the split bottom variety.
 Miss Lucine Finch is ''mammy baby herself and her entire purpose and pleas ure is to re-create the vanished epoch of A simple, primitive people. among few last repreSentatlVeS or WnIcu Sn0 WaS reared Her tales have never been pub lished never written even, and Miss Finch doubts whether she herself could write them down verbatim as she tells them They are of the primitive type of folklore which does not know written language. but passes from lip to lip, changing as 1t passes.
 Such was the inspiration of Miss Finch. for the tales have all been told her by her old mammy. negro woman of royal blood, stolen away in girlhood from her African homo. and caring for three gem erations of children in Miss Finch's fami- Iv on Louisiana plantation. So this smammy baby' grew up on the weird old tales, 'ligeous stories and all. and her reteliing of them is much moro than a mimicry. The tales have become part of her. too.