"Suckers were plentiful and easy to catch but they did not give you the battle that a salmon or a red horse could put up and that was what it took to make fishing fun. We had canoes, but we used a plain old flat boat, a good deal like a small ferry boat, most of the time. There was about the same difference in a canoe and a flat boat that there is in a nice passenger automobile and a truck."
When asked if he remembered any of the tunes and words of the songs he sang as a child, John was silent for a few moments and then began to sing:
"A frog went courtin' And he did ride Uh hunh With a sword and pistol By his side Uh hunh.
"Old uncle Rat laughed, Shook his old fat side; He thought his niece Was going to be the bride. Uh hunh, uh hunh
"Where shall the wedding be? Uh hunh Where shall the wedding be? Uh hunh
"Way down yonder In a hollow gum tree. Uh hunh, un hunh, uh hunh.
"Who shall the waiters be? Uh hunh Granddaddy Louse and a Black-eyed flea. Uh hunh, uh hunh, uh hunh."
Laney reminded him of a song he used to sing when their child was a baby. "It is hard for me to formulate its words in my mind. I just cannot seem to get them," he answered, "but I thought of this one the other night and promised myself I would sing it for you sometime. It's _Old Granny Mistletoe_.
"Old Granny Mistletoe, Lyin' in the bed, Out the window She poked her head.
"She says, 'Old Man, The gray goose's gone, And I think I heard her holler, King-cant-you-O, King-cant-you-O!'
"The old fox stepped around, A mighty fast step. He hung the old gray goose Up by the neck.
"Her wings went flip-flop Over her back, And her legs hung down. Ding-downy-O, ding-downy-O.
"The old fox marched On to his den. Out come his young ones, Some nine or ten.
"Now we will have Some-supper-O, some-summer-O. Now we will have Some-supper-O, some-supper-O."
"The only riddle I remember is the one about: 'What goes around the house, and just makes one track?' I believe they said it was a wheelbarrow. Mighty few people in that settlement believed in such things as charms. They were too intelligent for that sort of thing.
"Old man Dillard Love didn't know half of his slaves. They were called 'Love's free niggers.' Some of the white folks in that settlement would get after their niggers and say 'who do you think you are, you must think you are one of Dillard Love's free niggers the way you act.' Then the slave was led to the whipping post and brushed down, and his marster would tell him, 'now you see who is boss.'