ymes, is of the same
construction as that found in the Jubilee Songs. A perfect rhythm is
there. If while reading them you miss it, read yet once again; you will
find it in due season if you "faint not" too early.

As a rule, Negro Folk verse is so written that it fits into measures of
music written 4/4 or 2/4 time. You can therefore read Negro Folk Rhymes
silently counting: one, two; or, one, two, three, four; and the stanzas
fit directly into the imaginary music measures if you are reading in
harmony with the intended rhythm. I know of only three Jubilee Songs
whose stanzas are transcribed as exceptions. They are--

(1) "I'm Going to Live with Jesus," 6/8 time, (2) "Gabriel's Trumpet's
Going to Blow," 3/4 time, and (3) "Lord Make Me More Patient," 6/8
time. It is interesting to note along with these that the "Song of the
Great Owl," the "Negro Soldier's Civil War Chant," and "Destitute Former
Slave Owners," are seemingly the only ones in our Folk Rhyme collection
which would call for a 3/4 or 6/8 measure. Such a measure is rare in all
literary Negro Folk productions.

The Negro, then, repeated or sang his Folk Rhymes, and danced them to
4/4 and 2/4 measures. Thus Negro Folk Rhymes, with very few exceptions,
are poetry where a music measure is the unit of measurement for the
words rather than the poetic foot. This is true whether the Rhyme is, or
is not, sung. _Imaginary measures either of two or four beats, with a
given number of words to a beat, a number that can be varied limitedly
at will, seems to be the philosophy underlying all Negro slave rhyme
construction._

As has just been casually mentioned, the Negro Folk Rhyme was used for
the dance. There are Negro Folk Rhyme Dance Songs and Negro Folk Dance
Rhymes. An example of the former is found in "The Banjo Picking," and of
the latter, "Juba," both found in this collection. The reader may wonder
how a Rhyme simply repeated was used in the dance. The procedure was as
follows: Usually one or two individuals "star" danced at time. The
others of the crowd (which was usually large) formed a circle about this
one or two who were to take their prominent turn at dancing. I use the
terms "star" danced and "prominent turn" because in the latter part of
our study we shall find that all those present engaged sometimes at
intervals in the dance. But those forming the circle, for most of the
time, repeated the Rhyme, clapping their hands together, and patting
their feet in