DIDDIE, DUMPS, AND TOT

OR

PLANTATION CHILD-LIFE

by

LOUISE-CLARKE PYRNELLE

TO MY DEAR FATHER
DR. RICHARD CLARKE
OF SELMA, ALABAMA
MY HERO AND MY BEAU
IDEAL OF A GENTLEMAN
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
WITH THE LOVE OF HIS
DAUGHTER

PREFACE

IN writing this little volume, I had for my primary object the idea of
keeping alive many of the old stories, legends, traditions, games,
hymns, and superstitions of the Southern slaves, which, with this
generation of negroes, will pass away. There are now no more dear old
"Mammies" and "Aunties" in our nurseries, no more good old "Uncles" in
the workshops, to tell the children those old tales that have been
told to our mothers and grandmothers for generations-- the stories
that kept our fathers and grandfathers quiet at night, and induced
them to go early to bed that they might hear them the sooner.