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progress, riddling and story-telling, and learning odds and ends from the three generations of the household and from their visiting friends.

First of the quilting. From its attachment by ropes and leather loops (Fig. 1) to the ceiling, where it habitually hung, the wooden frame was unfastened by the mother of the family and placed on the floor. The lining and top of the quilt had already been sewed together on one side. This side, and the other three sides of the lining, a stout, dark-blue cotton cloth, were then sewed to the wooden frame, the stitching being from right to left. An ordinary thimble was worn on the middle finger of the right hand. Handfuls of raw

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FIG. 1. Frame for Quilting.

cotton grown on the farm were brought out from the store and thrown by Mother on the cloth, where it was "beaten" with light "sticks" to separate it and get out the "trash." The girls joined in the switching, which was repeated three times; and the grandmother and little boys and I would collect the wisps of cotton as they flew about the room. Then Mother spread the cotton out evenly on the lining. She tied the frame to the ropes from the ceiling, and raised the whole about two feet and a half from the ground. The top of the quilt was spread over the lining and cotton. With a two-foot length of string, and a piece of chalk at the end, Mother "laid out" the arcs that were to be followed in stitching together lining, cotton, and top. Mother, the two girls, and a neighbor set to stitching at different points around the frame. By sundown the work was still unfinished, and the frame was raised overhead.

"Pieced up," or "done up" "with little bits," this quilt is known

as "string quilt" (Fig. 2). Other patterns are known as "crazy girl," "sweet gum-leaf," and "kukle burr or pine burr" (cone). Mother learned how to quilt from her mother, as the girls are learning now from Mother. Formerly, a decade or so ago, people would have large quilting-parties, likewise "a corn-huskin'" and "a pea-whippin'," when corn was to be husked or peas shelled. On these occasions a "big dinner" was supplied.

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Telling riddles fitted in nicely, I found, with the quilting and with the grandmother's pipe. Mother did not smoke, but chewed. She was remarkably skilful in spitting into the fire from wherever she sat at the quilting-frame. She spat through the index and middle fingers of her right hand held to her lips.

RIDDLES.

1. Whitey went upstairs, Whitey come back down, and Whitey left Whitey upstairs. -Ans. White hen went up and laid a white egg.1

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2. Red inside an' full of little niggers. Ans. Watermelon.

3. It's white, it's green. An' inside it's full of little yaller niggers. -Ans. Muskmelon.

4. Life in de middle, an' dead on each end. - Ans. Plough.2

5. First thing you see is white. Nex' thing you see is green. Nex' thing you see is black. - Ans. Bra'berry (blackberry).

1 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 204, No. 29).

2 Ibid., No. 6.

6.

Roun' as a riddle,

Deep as a spring,

Been de death of a many pretty thing.

7. Goes to water an' never drinks. —Ans. Wagon.1

Ans. Gun.

8. Runs all day, an' stands at night wid his tongue stickin' out. -Ans. Wagon.2

9. Goes all day, an' sets under de table at night an' gapes for bone. Ans. Boot.3

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II.

12.

The ol' woman pulled it an' pitted it an' patted it,
The ol' man off with his breeches an' jumped at it.

Hitty titty upstairs,

Hitty titty downstairs.

If you find hitty titty, it'll bite you.
Ans. Wasp.

Eleven pears are hangin' high,

Eleven soldiers come ridin' by,
Each man took a pear,

An' left eleven hangin' high,

Ans. Bed.

Ans. A man's name,-Each."

13. The more you cut it, the longer it gets. - Ans. Ditch.

14.

You got it, you don't want it,

You wouldn' take the wor' for it.

Ans. Bal' head."

15. What is a little boy goin' cross London Bridge a-cryin', sayin' his moder died seven years 'fo' he was born. — Ans. His moder dyed a piece o' cloth seven years 'fo' he was born.

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18. Three legs up and six legs down. - Ans. Man a-ridin' a horse, with a pot on his head.10

1 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 204, No. 20).

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22. Why does a dawg carry a curl in his tail? - Ans. So de fleas can loop de loop.1

23. What goes all over the house and sets up in the corner at night? -Ans. Broom.5

24. What goes all round the house and leave but one track? - Ans. Wheelbarrow."

25. What goes all the way 'round the house an' never comes in? Ans. Path.7

After the quilting-frame was hung up and supper eaten, storytelling by the household and two or three women visitors was in order. One of these visitors had been mentioned to me before her arrival; and as she entered, she was greeted with, "Talk of de debil, his imp appear." The stock of stories was scant, and nobody present was a good story-teller. Mother told (1) "Playing Godfather," (2) “Rabbit makes Fox his Riding-Horse," (3) "Relay Race," and (4) "Over the Ground and under the Ground." She began her tales regularly with "Said dere was," a Negro turn, — a Negro turn, — and, except for a comparative lack of vivacity, she told the tales exactly as would a Negro. Circumstances precluded taking the tales down at the time (the only

1 Comparative, Bolte u. Polívka, XXII.

? Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 202, No. 10).

3 Ibid., No. 16.

From the father of the family, who worked from 7 P.M. to 7 A.M. in an oil-factory at Maxton; wages, three dollars a night.

Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 202, No. 25).

Ibid., No. 9.

7 Ibid., No. 12.

8 Compare Natchez (JAFL 26: 195-196).

• Compare Cherokee (RBAE 19:270–271); Natchez, Creek, Hitchiti (JAFL 26: 202-203).

light was the fire, around which, on the floor, lay the children, and the talk was freer without a note-book); but subsequently I recorded a few turns in the tales, and Tale No. 4 in full.

(1) "Half 'um" was the child's name. (2) "Rabbit was goin' to see de girls."

"Carry a whip to whip

de flies off," of this point one of the little boys reminded his mother. The tale was particularly popular in the family. . . . "Told um to put spurs on, saddle on, bridle on."

(3) "Here me!" Ter'pin called out at de postés. . . . "Deer bust him up. An' dey tell me deer will kill ter'pin to dishyere day."

(4) "HOW JACK BEAT DE DEVIL.1 - Dey have a farm togeder. Jack says to de Devil, 'You take what grows in de groun', an' I will take what grow over de groun'.' Dey plant corn. De nex' year Jack says to de Debil, 'You take what grows over de groun', an' I will take what grows in de groun'.' Dey plant pertaters."

Mother had known one other tale about Jack, about "how Jack sold himself to de Debil for seven years, and de Debil was to furnish him coal," but she had forgotten it. "Tar Baby" was a familiar tale. "Dog and Dog-Head," "Escape up the Tree," and "Devil Bridegroom," — tales I had come from hearing over and over again in South Carolina, - were unfamiliar. "Little One-Eye, Little TwoEyes, and Little Three-Eyes" was told, and the school reader shown me from which it was learned, thereby throwing light on the source of the tale as I had heard it elsewhere in North Carolina and but recently in the Sea Islands. But the tales or anecdotes most enjoyed that evening by every one were about witches. I told the story of the black cat and the miller's wife. It was unfamiliar to the company, but Mother followed it up with what might be considered variants.

"Said was a woman an' her daughter tu'ned to a she-deer and young one. Man loaded his gun with quicksilver. Knowed he couldn' shoot her with nothin' but dat. Shot her in de leg. De nex' day de ol' woman was lame in de leg."

"Said that my grandfader was visitin' some girls. An' de ol' lady said she had to go fifty miles dat night. Saw a rabbit running past. 'Dat's moder,' said de girls."

Dey all had deir

Mother went on: "Witches would ride yer. bridle. Would put a broom for yer in yer bed. Des as if Will an' me would be lying in de same bed, an' dey would ride me an' leave a broom; Will wouldn' know I was gone, wouldn' miss me. Nex' mornin' I would be tired to deat', an' ma hair all done up in knots. Would use ma hair for bridle an' bit."

1 Title given by narrator. Compare Louisiana, Biloxi Indians (JAFL 6: 48); North Carolina (JAFL 30: 175, No. 7).

* Compare Cherokee (RBAE 19: 271-272); Natchez (JAFL 26: 194).

See JAFL 30: 196 (No. 54).

• Compare H. C. Davis, "Negro Folk-Lore in South Carolina" (JAFL 27 : 247).

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