("Bell a ring" may mean either "The bell is ringing" or "The bell has rung." "A yard," in the yard. The immediate surroundings of the house are called the yard. They seldom speak of going to a friend's house. They say they are going to his yard.)
Breakfast is at twelve o'clock, and after a short rest work goes on again. A shower starts a new train of thought:--
The one shirt I have ratta cut ahm, Same place him patch ratta cut ahm, Rain, rain oh! Rain, rain oh! Rain, rain oh fall down an' wet me up.]
"The rats have cut my only shirt with their teeth. I put in a patch and they bit it through again in the same place, so when the rain came down it made me very wet."
(The broad "ahm" (for him, it), is more used now by the Coolies than the Negroes. "Ratta" is both singular and plural. When I first heard the word I thought it referred to a terrier. "Same place him patch"--in the same place where it was patched, just where it was patched.)
The kindly sun comes out, the shirts are dry, and an amorous youth, with that absence of self-consciousness which is characteristic of the race, begins:--
Jessie cut him yoke suit me, Jessie cut him yoke suit me, So-so wahk him wahk suit me, Jessie cut him yoke suit me, oh suit me, oh suit me, oh suit me, Jessie cut him yoke suit me.]
Broadly this means:--"all that Jessie does is right in my eyes. She dresses perfectly, but it is enough for me to see her walk to adore her. Jessie cuts her yoke"--technical term of modistes and tailors I am told--"to suit my taste."
("So-so walk him walk," is literally:--"the mere walk that she walks with suits me." They are fond of this repetition of a word, first as noun and then as verb. Thus they will say:--Me like the play him play:--It sweet me to see the dance him dance:--The talk him talk was foolishness:--The ride him ride, him boast about it.)
"Three acres of Coffee" which follows, is more interesting musically.
T'ree acre of Cahffee, Four acre of bare lan', T'ree acre of Cahffee, Why you no come come ask fe me? Mumma ho me love the man, Mumma ho me love the man, Mumma ho me love the man, Why you no come come ask fe me?]
The boy has been telling the girl of his worldly possessions, but has not made any offer of marriage. She is thinking it all over. "So you have got three acres of coffee and four acres of bare land, then why don't you come and ask for me?"