Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 December 1888 — Negro Aphorisms. [ARTICLE]

Negro Aphorisms.

De candy-pullin’ kin dan de log-rollin’. * De bes’ apples float on de top o’ de peck medjer. De steel-trap know when to talk. Hailstones don’t pick hard heads to drap on. De young rooster dat crow too loud is ’lectioneerin’ for a lickin’. Tall tree make de squ’el sassy. De redbird lub to drink whar he kin tee hisse’f in de water. De top o’ de hill is harder to find dan de bottom. De wood-pile ’fraid o’ de norf wind. De s’ingle xree got to stan’ heap 0’ kickin’. Dus’ don’ settie on de meal-box. A shotgun kin out vote a good-size’ comp’ny o’ watormilion hunters. A man dat ent his finger don’t brag on his knife while de blood runnin’. De rabbit kin make de bes’ time when he trubblin’ for his health. DAr’3 a bad streak in folks dat think de whole will’ is a pentench’ry. One dead L -martin is wuf a hundred live ones. De shirt-buttons he’p de looks o’ things, but de gallus-buttons do de solid wuk. —-x De right sort e’ ’ligion heaps de halfbushel. De steel hoe dat laughs at de iron one is like de man dat is ’shamed 0’ his grand daddy. ’Tain’t wuf findin’ out who gits de bes’ of a goat swap. When de bait is wuf mo’ an’ de ’tis time to stop fishin’. Old Satan couldn’t git long plenty 0’ he’p. De buggy-whip can’t make up for light feed in de horse-trough. - A mule kin tote so much goodness in his face dat he don’t hab none lef ’ fbr his hind legs. De price o’ tame coons don’t pester many folks. Some grabble walks may lead to dke M* De bes’ bravery is de sort dat ain’t sksered o’ de hot sun. De lead steer know when de whip* cracker mended. De billy-goat gits in his hardes’ licks ▼hen he look like he gwine to back out de fight Better not pull down de empty jaiL Little hole in your pocket is wusser'n ft big one at de knee. /_ Gap in de ax show itse’f in de chip. De dog on three legs ain’t always lame. *Tis mighty cosy term de treek cbe needed BfiWWh