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. 

Nor does my little book pretend to be any defence of slavery.  I know
not whether it was right or wrong (there are many pros and cons on the
subject); but it was the law of the land, made by statesmen from the
North as well as the South, long before my day, or my father's or
grandfather's day; and, born under that law a slave-holder, and the