OUT ON A "SCURDGEON" and Other Negro Stories in Dialect

Macon, Georgia: The J. W. Burke Company, 1928. 52 pages. 12mo (7" X 5 1/4"). Staple-bound pamphlet in red pictorial wraps. First edition. Collection of 3 short stories originally written for publication in magazines in Century Magazine. Evelyn Magruder De Jarnette (1841-1902) was the wife of a slaveholder who lived on at "Pine Forest," a plantation in Spotsylvania, Virginia. The stories in this collection as well as others that were published in the Atlantic Monthly and Frank Leslie's various magazines reflect the typical mythological view of Virginians at the time. In 1929 Mrs. De Jarnette's daughter described that viewpoint: "The hardship s after a cruel war and the faithfulness of the family servants served as a background for Mrs. DeJarnette's writings. She makes us live again, through the tender care of her black mammies, the feeling of deep understanding and devotion that existed between the white people of Virginia and their former slaves, and there runs a strain of gentle pathos and sweetness through all of her dialect stories." This little book is quite scarce: WorldCat locates on 12 copies, and I can find no other copies for sale at this time. The book is in very good condition: clean and tight, with minor wear and tiny closed tears on the yapp edges.. First Edition Thus. Paperback. Very Good. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. Book.