his neighbors, had joined the listening
children who surrounded him under the fig-tree, and perhaps he
unconsciously deferred to them in his accent of their common possession
in length of days, although he gave no sign of heed to any audience,
when he said:

"Dey's mighty few facts de same behind an' befo', not to say inside an'
outside, and a man can go roun' an' roun' de blackberry bush an' not git
nowhar. 'Spe'unce is a thorny bramble, an' yer 'bleeged to go _th'ough_
it, to _draw blood_, an', I tell yer, _de blood is de life_!"

Although this tribute brought grunts of approval from the gray heads,
Daddy was soon off at a tangent in playful fancy, hitting off a foible
or "celebrating truth and justice" in one of the unconscious epigrams
which it is sought herein to preserve, even when having occasionally to
hammer them into shape, for, while Daddy was almost unerring in rhyme,
his rhythm, never at fault in delivery, was strictly a temperamental
matter, not adequately renderable in cold print.

But more than as philosopher, satirist or seer was the old man
distinguished as a social factor on the place. Wherever his chair was
set, there were the children gathered together, both black and white,
eager listeners to his quaint pictorial recitals, even seeming to
cherish the "Wisdoms" which fell from his tongue, as is not a common way
with children, who seem instinctively to spurn the obviously didactic.

But Daddy's moralizing, besides its saving grace of imagery, was
generally sequential and convincing; while his repartee, to use a word
which seems almost a misfit in this rural setting, had a way of hitting
the mark and striking fire, as when, in reply to the question from a
forth-putting youngster on one occasion, "Where do you keep all your
wisdoms, Daddy?" he snapped:

"In my ole toof holes, dat's whar! Wisdoms don't ripen good tel yo'
toofs is ready to drap out. Ev'rybody knows dat Gord A'mighty ain't
nuver is set but one live Wisdom-toof in a man's mouf--an' dat comes
late an' goes early."

And then he added with a mischievous smile:

"You-all smarty undergrowth, you ain't chawed life yit. You jes
'speramintin' wid yo' milk-toofs.

"Now's yo' havin' time, chillen, but _to have an' to lose, dat's life_!

"Study wisdom now an' minch on it good wid yo yo'ng baby toofs an' hol'
fas' to it, so's it'll meller down ripe, time de caverns opens for it.

"But look out! I knows a lot o' ole vacant wisdom caves for r