frog in Spring during his courtship season, while
we hear a recounting of his adventures. It is to this Simple Rhyme what
stage scenery is to the Shakespearian play or the Wagnerian opera. It
seems to me (however crude his verse) that the Negro has here suggested
something new to the field of poetry. He suggests that, while one
recounts a story or what not, he could to advantage use words at the
same time having no bearing on the story to depict the surroundings or
settings of the production. The gifted Negro poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar,
has used the supplement in this way in one of his poems. The poem is
called "A Negro Love Song." The little sentence, "Jump back, Honey, jump
back," is thrown in, in the midst and at the end of each stanza.
Explaining it, the following is written by a friend, at the heading of
this poem:

"During the World's Fair he (Mr. Dunbar) served for a short time as a
hotel waiter. When the Negroes were not busy they had a custom of
congregating and talking about their sweethearts. Then a man with a tray
would come along and, as the dining-room was frequently crowded, he
would say when in need of passing room, 'Jump back, Honey, jump back.'
Out of the commonplace confidences, he wove the musical little
composition--'A Negro Love Song.'"

Now, this line, "Jump back, Honey, jump back," was used by Mr. Dunbar to
recall and picture before the mind the scurrying hotel waiter as he
bragged to his fellows of his sweetheart and told his tales of
adventure. It is the "stage scenery" method used by the slave Negro
verse maker. Mr. Dunbar uses this style also in "A Lullaby,"
"Discovered," "Lil' Gal" and "A Plea." Whether he used it knowingly in
all cases, or whether he instinctively sang in the measured strains of
his benighted ancestors, I do not know.

The Supplement was used in another way in Negro Folk Dance Rhymes. I
have already explained how the Rhymes were used in a general way in the
Dance. Let us glance at the Dance Rhyme "Juba" with its Supplement,
"Juba! Juba!" to illustrate this special use of the Supplement. "Juba"
itself was a kind of dance step. Now let us imagine two dancers in a
circle of men to be dancing while the following lines are being patted
and repeated:

"Juba Circle, raise de latch,
Juba dance dat Long Dog Scratch, Juba! Juba!"

While this was being patted and repeated, the dancers within the circle
described a circle with raised foot and ended doing a dance step call