The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-31
ThERO0K. SHELF
By THE BIBLIoPHILE

"BYPATHS IN DIXIE"
 FOLK TALES OF THE SOUTH" By Sarah Johnston Cooke, with an intro
 duction by Harry stillwell Edwards. Illustrations from drawings by Dun can Smith. E. P. Dutton and Com pany, New York.
 It was an old negro nanny who squared her wrinlxled hands upon her hips and looked upon a group of babi ss | she had ''nussed''-noW Grown ups | but none the less 'habies" to her-who said, her eyes filed with tenderness: "Marse Tom, dey may say what dey pleases bout de res of de chillun, an some uv dem IS better lookin' dan you,
 some has married mo times den you,
 but youh ol mammy is here to tell you,
 dat you is still de mos comfortable
 one CT de whole crowd an, youse got de
 dispersition uv de entire fambly." When the old negro nanny that has nursed you pays tribute like that to you, 1t Is safe to say there Is much truth in it. for who is there on all the green
 earth that ever knew you like your
 old nanny, to whose apton strings you
 were tied for more years than you would like to acknowledge?
 They are fast passing away now-the dear old negro mammies whom we loved so much. Now and then you will
 run across an old fashioned one with her bandanna tied around her head,
 but not often, and we are all sorry We have kissed their wrinkled old brows
 and held their wrinkled old hands, and they have wiped away our tears and helped us to enjoy our pleasures; they have taught us our prayers and our table maners, and have comforted our childish heartbreaks and soothed away our grown disappointments, and we are loathe to give them up.
 If we must do so in fact, they are estined-these negro "mammies'-to live in "song and story" and of the
 many delightful delineations we have had of their wit and humor, pathos and sorrow, none has more eloquently de- picted the REAL. "Mammy'' of the Old South than Sarah Johnson Cooke in her charming book. "Bypaths in Dixie" In the stories composing the collec- ton Mrs. Cooke presents rich supply of the most entertaining fact fiction and fancy, deliciously Southern. Man my" language, all of which is derived from nothing short of the most inti- mate insight into conditions, customs and manners of these much loved ones"-who wheedled and begged for us when we were told that we couldn't do this and couldn't do that-and which our dear "oe Nanny" finally solved for us tO lile SdtlSldcllOIl or eVeryDOQy.
 In Aunt Phyllis" Mrs. Cooke reveals a living. breathing character; her quaint sayings and her remarkable phil osophy, her kindness and her gentility, the anthor has set forth in the most entertaining manner.
 Mrs. Cocke's book, "Bypaths in Dix ie," will be read because of the abso- lutely unique manner in which it is framed There have been many negro ia 1aot cta ury.itt much negro wit and humor depicted with pen and paper, but Mrs. Cooke has done more than all this; she has visual ized the negro Nanny and her times in such a manner that the reading public will demand more from her versatile pen-more of the delicious, clear cut wit, that makes her "Bypaths in Dixie" so thoroughly clever and entertaining As Harry Stillwell Edwards has said in the introduction to Mrs. Cocke's book:
 "Every Southerner old enough will recognize the absolute truthfulness of the scenes and methods therein em- balmed. and applaud the faithfulness with which Mrs. Cooke has reproduced that difficult potency, the gentle, ten der. playful, elusive young-old, child wise mind of the African nurse in the ~~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~ invited to the ex-mayor's feast. He seems to have got there by reason of his well known Bohemianism. When his turn came to speak, he induged mostly in reciting from the English poets.
 Monks. the toastmaster, exercising his prerogative, made more speeches than anybody else, and near the midnight hour when the company was about to disperse he startled his host and all at the table by announcing that he was engaged to be married. While he did not disclose such particulars as where or when he made it clear that his fiance was one of Erins fairest daughters.
 The clock was getting ready to strike F when George Ward and his guests left Baroness. It had not been cold water dinner, but every man was able to get along without cab or auto car. It was unanimously agreed that no pleasanter