Old Josh, in: Camp-fire by Acorn Bluff (Pure Nigger: 2nd Series))Episdoe #15))

Old Josh, in:
Camp-fire by Acorn Bluff (1869)
(Episode #15)

(Josh, Jordan and Silas, are down at Acorn Bluff, fishing along side Goose Creek, with a small fire going on; it is about 7:00 PM)


Josh: Wey Jordan? (to Silas)
Silas: I ain’ known fir sho’, I think he went to git some wood downa-way, by along de creek
Josh: Who wid him?
Silas: He twentynine yer ole pa, he ain’ wid nobody, he by his lonesome
Josh: He sho’ not wonder ‘bout dese here woods by his lonesome, de alligator gits him, or de moccasin, or de rattler… or de wildcat! I recken he must er had some trouble, or else he come back (?)

(All of a sudden Jordan appears and is all muddy)

Josh: You’ sho’ looks like de tramp, liken you fightin’ wid de fish or de alligator, or de bear.
Jordan: De alligator! Pa… (Silas and Josh start to laugh); he as big as you’ ego pa!
Josh: Uuh! You stink to my nostril! You cant fool no nigger.
Silas: Look er pa, wes got to wash dat dere vomick off Jordan!
Jordan: De big snake tackle me pa, long as de alligator he was, an’ I crawl around him like de buzzard pa, yous knows how dem big one are!
Josh: back in de slavery time, way back wen Toby wuz aliven (old Josh stops to think)—‘efer Toby, back in Af’’ica, dere was a nigger boy likes me, he falls into a snake trap, fall deep down ‘bout twenty foot deep, den with folks catch me and you’ grandma…do one sees de boy

(all of a sudden Josh forgets what he wants to say, a tear comes to his eyes, and he wipes it…)

…yessum, I forgets his name, wonder if hes’ still a livin’… I done made me a poem back den for him (he memorized it and tells it to Silas and Josh as they all sit quietly around the fire):

Josh’s Poem

An’ for deep in de ground
De lonesome boy lay
I hears de singing
Of his lonesome spirrit…
Wuh’ de boy, wuh’ de boy!
He roam the countryside now
For near fifty-year’
Looking for ole Josh
But ole Josh change his looks;
But he roam de Afr’ica
Looking for ole Josh, still,
For fifty-year’…!

#1672 2-4-2007