ought of many Negro Rhymes. In "Jaybird," the first two lines of each
stanza are a call in thought, while the last two lines are a "sponse" in
thought to it. The same is true of "He Is My Horse," "Stand Back, Black
Man," "Bob-White's Song," "Promises of Freedom," "The Town and the
Country Bird," and many others.

Then "call" and "sponse" looms up in the midst in thought between stanza
and stanza in many Rhymes. Good examples are found in "The Great Owl's
Song," "Sheep and Goat," "The Snail's Reply," "Let's Marry--Courtship,"
"Shoo! Shoo!" "When I Go to Marry," and many others.

"Call" and "sponse" even runs, at least in one case, between whole
Rhymes. "I Wouldn't Marry a Black Girl" as a "call" has for its
"sponse": "I Wouldn't Marry a Yellow or a White Negro Girl." The Rhyme
"I'd Rather Be a Negro Than a Poor White Man" is a "sponse" to an
imaginary "call" that the Negro is inferior by nature.

After some consideration, as compiler of the Negro Rhymes, I thought I
ought to say something of their rhyming system, but before doing this I
want to consider for a little the general structure of a stanza in Negro
Rhymes.

Of course there is no law, but the number of lines in a stanza of
English poetry is commonly a multiple of two. The large majority of
Negro Rhymes follows this same rule, but, even in case of these, the
lines are so unsymmetrical that they make but the faintest approach to
the commonly accepted standards. Then there are Rhymes with stanzas of
three lines and there are those with five, six, and seven lines. This is
because the imaginary music measure is the unit of measurement instead
of feet, and the stanzas are all right so long as they run in consonance
with the laws governing music measures and rhythm. In a tune like "Old
Hundred" commonly used in churches as a Doxology, there are four
divisions in the music corresponding with the four lines of the stanza.
Each division is called, in music, a Phrase. Two of these Phrases make a
Phrase Group and two Phrase Groups make a Period. Now when one moves
musically through a Phrase Group his sense of rhythm is partially
satisfied and when he has moved through a Period the sense of Rhythm is
entirely satisfied.

When one reads the three line stanzas of Negro Folk Rhymes he passes
through a music Period and thus the stanza satisfies in its rhythm.
Example:

"Bridle up er rat,
Saddle up er cat,
An' han' me down my big straw hat."

Here the first