FOLKS FROM DIXIE
hit 's me dat 's a-sta'vin' to tek keer of yo' chile."
"Doggone de chile; I 's tiahed o' hyeahin' 'bout huh."
"You done get tiahed mighty quck when you ain't nevah even seed huh yit. You done got tiahed quick, sho."
"No, an' I do' want to see huh, neithah."
"You do' known nothin' 'bout de chile, you do' know whethah you wants to see huh er not."
"Look hyeah, ooman, don't you fool wid me. I ain't right, nohow!"
Just then, as if conscious of the hubbub she had raised, and anxious to add to it, the baby awoke and began to wail. With quick mother instinct, the black woman went to the shabby bed, and, taking the child in her arms, began to croon softly to it: "Go s'eepy, baby; don' you be 'f'aid; mammy ain' gwine let nuffin' hu't you, even ef pappy don' wan' look at huh li'l face. Bye, bye, go s'eepy, mammy's li'l gal." Unconsciously sh talked to the baby in a dialect that was even softer than usual. For a moment the child subsided, and the woman turned angrily on her husband: "I don' keer
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