The light-wood fire was made, and the negroes dropped in from the neighboring plantations, singing as they came.  The driver of the plantation, a colored man, brought out baskets of corn in the husk, and piled it in a heap; and the negroes began to strip the husks from the ears, singing with great glee as they worked, keeping time to the music, and now and then throwing in a joke and an extravagant burst of laughter.  The songs were generally of a comic character; but one of them was set to a singularly wild and plaintive air, which some of our musicians would do well to reduce to notation.  These are the words: 

  Johnny come down de hollow. 
      Oh hollow! 
  Johnny come down de hollow. 
      Oh hollow! 
  De nigger-trader got me. 
      Oh hollow! 
  De speculator bought me. 
      Oh hollow! 
  I’m sold for silver dollars. 
      Oh hollow! 
  Boys, go catch de pony. 
      Oh hollow! 
  Bring him round de corner. 
      Oh hollow! 
  I’m goin’ away to Georgia. 
      Oh hollow! 
  Boys, good-by forever! 
      Oh hollow!

The song of “Jenny gone away,” was also given, and another, called the monkey-song, probably of African origin, in which the principal singer personated a monkey, with all sorts of odd gesticulations, and the other negroes bore part in the chorus, “Dan, dan, who’s de dandy?” One of the songs, commonly sung on these occasions, represents the various animals of the woods as belonging to some profession or trade.  For example—­

  De cooter is de boatman—­

The cooter is the terrapin, and a very expert boatman he is.

  De cooter is de boatman. 
      John John Crow. 
  De red-bird de soger. 
      John John Crow. 
  De mocking-bird de lawyer. 
      John John Crow. 
  De alligator sawyer. 
      John John Crow.

The alligator’s back is furnished with a toothed ridge, like the edge of a saw, which explains the last line.

When the work of the evening was over the negroes adjourned to a spacious kitchen.  One of them took his place as musician, whistling, and beating time with two sticks upon the floor.  Several of the men came forward and executed various dances, capering, prancing, and drumming with heel and toe upon the floor, with astonishing agility and perseverance, though all of them had performed their daily tasks and had worked all the evening, and some had walked from four to seven miles to attend the corn-shucking.  From the dances a transition was made to a mock military parade, a sort of burlesque of our militia trainings, in which the words of command and the evolutions were extremely ludicrous.  It became necessary for the commander to make a speech, and confessing his incapacity for public speaking, he called upon a huge black man named Toby to address the company in his stead.  Toby, a man of powerful frame, six feet high, his face ornamented with a beard of fashionable cut, had hitherto