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NEGRO FOLK-SONGS |
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A little pony constitutes the inspiration for a song from Dorothy Renick, of Texas — a beast that must have been as difficult to turn as an awkward automobile in the hands of a woman driving it the first time.
I had a little pony,
I rode him down town.
And ev'ry time I turned him round,
Turn him on an acre ground I
Boots and shoe-line come down, Lady shoe-line come down; Boots and shoe-line come down, Lady shoe-line come down.
Then there is the little pony I used to hear my mother sing about — an animal beloved of the slaves on her childhood's plantation.
I had a little pony,
His name was Jack; I rid his tail
To save his back.
A certain folk-stanza occurs repeatedly in varying forms, the only elements that remain constant being a river and a horse — unsta-tionary as they both might seem. One says:
I went to the river
And could n't get across. Jumped on a Nigger-back And thought he was a hoss.
Mr. Dowd, formerly of Charleston, South Carolina, gives this version:
Sister Cyahiine
I went to de river
An' I could n't get across;
Down by de river.
I jumped on a Nigger-back
An' thought he was a hoss. |
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Cyarline, O Cyarlinel Can't you dance de pea-vine? Aunt Jemima, o-l-ol |
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