"
To a Jamaican youth;
"How many people live in this room?"
"Three persons live here, sir."
"I stand grammatically corrected. When did you move here?"
"We remove here in April."
"Again I apologize for my mere American grammar. Now, Henry, what
is your room-mate's name?"
"Well, we calls him Ethel, but I don't know his right title.
Peradventure he will not work this evening [afternoon] and you can
ask him from himself."
"Do his parents live on the Zone?"
"Oh, yes, sah, he has one father and one mother."
An answer: "Why HIMSELF [emphatic subject pronoun among
Barbadians] didn't know if he'd get a job."
To a six-foot black giant working as night-hostler of steam-
shovels:
"Well, Josiah, I suppose you're a Jamaican?"
"Oh, yes, boss, ah work in Kingston ten years as a bar-maid."
"Married?"
"No, boss, ah's not 'xactly married. Ah's livin' with a person."
A colored family:
Sarah Green, very black, has a child named Edward White, and is
now living with Henry Brown, a light yellow negro.
West Indian wit:
A shop-sign in Empire: "Don't ask for credit. He is gone on
vacation since January 1, 1912."
Laughter and carefree countenances are legion in the West Indian
ranks, children seem never to be punished, and to all appearances
man and wife live commonly in peace and harmony.
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