The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-04-20
QUAINT NEGRO PROVERBS.
"A DOleful Fatalit, the Keynote Of
Many OF Them.

of expression.
1 recall the daily farewell of one old
house woman who for a time served
me faithfully and we'll. She always
bade me adieu as if the waters of eter-
nal parting would roll between us ere
the dawn Of tomorrow. At evening
it would be: Good night, miss, if I
DON'T never see you no mo- try to git
quainted wild de Lord" or "Good-bye
miss; if I amt wild you in de mornin'
I'll be wild my Maker" Despite this
quivering balance on the border Of the
great unknown, she still lives. This
was her cynical definition of home;
"De place what I'm best known, least
though on"
I'm goin' to do somethin' now de
devil amt never done for you," she
said once to a fellow servant. whats
that?" asked the young servant, not
so familiar with old plantation jargon.
"Go off and let you 1one," said the old
woman. De devil amt never done that
for you!'
A fixed fatality, one not to be argu-
ed with or fought agaist, lives in the
old negro sayings, as:
Better let we'll do done.
Live, learn, die and forget all.
Des so de tree falls de so it lie.
Hard times set in de road for you
both gwine and comm.
What's comin's comm up de road
or down de road, you can't travel pas
it.
You may save all yo' days, but yo'
can't save yo' life!
You can turn de stream around, but
you can't twist it back.
Some sayings have reference to GER
tain superstitions of the race, for in
stance:
''Tain't no good to kill de crane af-
ter lie done fly over de roof er de
house and call fer a corpse.
Whickerin' mares don't halter ak de
road to de cabin whar de old folks
live.
None but a fool III hang a horse
shoe on de limb Of belted tree.
1t is an old belief that it is a death
sign for some member Of the family
dwelling in the house over which
crane flies. uttering his doneful note,
which to the negro ear spells corpse!
corpse. corpse!
The whickering mares are little
brown birds known by that name to
the plantation hands. They are said
to fly in flocks and to come about a
cabin only when some old dweller
therein approaches DEATH At such
times they fly and wicker a-near and
can not be driven away.
A horseshoe hung on a tree is said
to make it grow faster and bear fruit.
OF the rapid passage of time we
have these:
Day is short as ever, times long
as 1t has been.
Days des a arm long you can reach
clean across it.
Nights shadow, days a shine.
Gone 10 you catch it gwine.
Some odds and ends of wisdom are
garnered in these:
Mistakes amt haystacks. or dar'd
be mo- fat ponies dan dar is.
Burn up de ak helve dat can't hold
up de blade
Let the fiat iron rust dat puts cat
faces on de cloze.
Don't fly so high dat you hit on a
candle.
Trouble follers sin as sho' as fever
follows a chill.
Fire don't crack a full pot.
Des hold up yo' end er de beam and
de worldIl roll on.
De fool'll hang a horseshoe on
dead mans do for luck
A fool m his ways
Like donkey m his neighs-
Des like sense to gaze
And Craze.
Wild bird smell de woods in de
midst er de gyarden.
That we grow wise with labor and
sorrow the following sayings teach:
Troubles is val'able; every bile on
yo' flesh it wo'th good five dollars to
you.
Workin' in de cotton patch amt
easy, Dry bread amt greasy
Others treat OF the better part OF
content:
De --LATEST man can make de biggest
fire.
A po' ride is bettern a proud walk.