Jolly Johnny_.

"Now you needn't to expect me to know much about cotton pickings, for
you know I have already told you I was raised in North Carolina, and we
were too far up in the mountains for cotton growing, but I have lived in
a cotton growing country for forty-odd years.

"As to parties and frolics, I guess I could have kept those things in
mind, but when I realized that being on the go every night I could get
off, week in and week out, was turning my mind and heart away from
useful living, I tried to put those things out of my life and to train
myself to be content with right living and the more serious things of
life, and that's why I can't remember more of the things about our
frolics that took place as I was growing up. About all I remember about
the dances was when we danced the cotillion at regular old country
break-downs. Folks valued their dances very highly then, and to be able
to perform them well was a great accomplishment. _Turkey in the Straw_
is about the oldest dance tune I can remember. Next to that is _Taint
Gonna Rain No More_, but the tune as well as words to that were far
different from the modern song by that name. _Rabbit Hair_ was another
favorite song, and there were dozens of others that I just never tried
to remember until you asked me about them.

"My father lived in Caswell County and he used to tell us how hard it
was for him to get up in the morning after being out most of the night
frolicking. He said their overseer couldn't talk plain, and would call
them long before crack of dawn, and it sounded like he was saying, 'Ike
and a bike, Ike and a bike.' What he meant was, 'Out and about! Out and
about!'