Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1896 — “Calvin Echoes.” [ARTICLE]

“Calvin Echoes.”

James Edwin Campbell, a negro poet, who recently died in Ohio, was born and educated in Virginia. Among his unpublished papers are “Calvin Echoes,” a fund of plantation philosophy gathered from the “uncles” and “aunties” of plantation homes. The Chicago TimesHerald publishes a selection. De o? hen nebber foun’ dat bug ’twel she scratched. De mule cyawn’ sing lak de red bu’d, but neider kin de red bu’d kick so high an’ so ha’d. Dars many a good gyurl gibs up ur hun’erd-dollar dadder fur ur ten-cent husban’. Good cookin’ keeps lub in de house much longer ’an good looks. De man ain’ done been bo’n dat kin lib and lub on bad bread. Coaxin’ sometimes he’ps yo’ mule ur long w’en yo’ blacksnake (long whip) falls. De ’possum is des lak some folks I knows; he tinks he kin fool you wid ur grin.