y's only right to grabble.
So w'en you sees me risin' up
To structify in meetin',
You can know I'se climbed de Knowledge Tree
An' done some apple eatin'.

THE TONGUE

Got a tongue dat jes run when it walk?
It cain't talk.
Got a tongue dat can hush when it talk?--
It cain't squawk.

BRAG AND BOAST

Brag is a big dog;
But Hold Fast, he is better.
Dem big black rough hands,
Dey cain't write no letter.

Boast, he barks an' growls loud;
But Bulger, he hain't no shirker.
Dat big loud mouf Nigger,
He hain't never no worker.

SELF-CONTROL

Befo' you says dat ugly word,
You stop an' count ten.
Den if you wants to say dat word,
Begin an' count again.

Don't have a tongue tied in de middle,
An' loose frum en' to en'.
You mus' think twice, den speak once;
Dat [49]donkey cain't count ten.

[49] The somewhat less dignified term was more commonly used.

SPEAK SOFTLY

"Wus dat you spoke,
Or a fence rail broke?"
Br'er Rabbit say to de Jay
[50]W'en you don't speak sof',
Y[=o]' baits comes off;
An' de fish jes swim away.

[50] The last three lines of the rhyme was a superstition current among
antebellum Negroes.

STILL WATER RUNS DEEP

Dat still water, it run deep.
Dat shaller water prattle.
Dat tongue, hung in a holler head,
Jes roll 'round an' rattle.

DON'T TELL ALL YOU KNOW

Keep dis in min', an' all 'll go right;
As on y[=o]' way you goes;
Be shore you knows 'bout all you tells,
But don't tell all you knows.

JACK AND DINAH WANT FREEDOM[51]

Ole Aunt Dinah, she's jes lak me.
She wuk so hard dat she want to be free.
But, you know, Aunt Dinah's gittin' sorter ole;
An' she's feared to go to Canada, caze it's so c[=o]l'.

Dar wus ole Uncle Jack, he want to git free.
He find de way Norf by de moss on de tree.
He cross dat [52]river a-floatin' in a tub.
Dem [53]Patterollers give 'im a mighty close rub.

Dar is ole Uncle Billy, he's a mighty good Nigger.
He tote all de news to Mosser a little bigger.
When you tells Uncle Billy, you wants free fer a fac';
De nex' day de hide drap off'n y[=o]' back.

[51] The writer wishes to give explanation as to why the rhyme "Jack and
Dinah Want Freedom" appears under the Section of Psycho-composite Rhymes
as set forth in "The Study----" of our volu