'Annie's Visit,' an I'm tired of makin' up books; Chris, can't you
make up that?"

"I dunno hit," said Chris, "but I kin tell yer 'bout'n de tar baby, el
dat'll do."

"Don't you think that'll do jes as well, Dumps?" asked Diddie.

'Certingly!" replied Dumps. So Diddie drew her pencil through "Annie's
Visit," and wrote in its place,

"THE TAR BABY,"

and Chris began:

"Once pun a time, 'twuz er ole Rabbit an' er ole Fox and er ole Coon:
an' dey all lived close togedder; an' de ole Fox he had him er mighty
fine goober-patch, w'at he nuber 'low nobody ter tech; an' one mornin'
atter he git up, an' wuz er walkin' 'bout in his gyarden, he seed
tracks, an' he foller de tracks, an' he see wahr sumbody ben er
grabhin' uv his goobers. An' ev'y day he see de same thing; an' he
watch, an' he watch, an' he couldn't nubber catch nobody! an' he went,
he did, ter de Coon, and he sez, sezee, 'Brer Coon, dar's sumbody
stealin' uv my goobers.'

"'Well,' sez Brer Coon, sezee, 'I bet yer hit's Brer Rabbit.'

"'I lay I'll fix 'im,' sez Brer Fox; so he goes, he does, and he
tuck'n made er man out'n tar, an' he sot 'im, he did, right in de
middle uv de goober-patch. Well, sar, soon ez eber de moon riz, Brer