25. Calling the Roll
BY ELIZABETH HYDE BOTUME (1865)
THESE children had been born and bred in troublous times. They had always been surrounded by conflict and confusion. Irrepressible ? That's
tame! They were in a constant state of effervescence. In time, after some more skirmishing, the little gang before
me was brought into a degree of order. They listened, apparently, with open mouths and staring eyes to what I had to say. But I soon
discovered my words were like an unknown tongue to them. I must first know something of their dialect in order that we might
understand each other.
Now I wished to take down the names of these
children; so I turned to the girl nearest me and said,
What is your name?"
"It is Phyllis, ma'am."
"But what is your other name?"
"Only Phyllis, ma'am."
I then explained that we all have two names; but she still replied, "Nothing but Phyllis, ma'am."
Upon this an older girl started up and exclaimed,
Pshaw, gal! What's you'm title?"whereupon she gave the name of her old master.
After this each child gave two names, most of them funny combinations. Sometimes they would tell me one thing, and when asked
to repeat it, would say something quite different. The older children would frequently correct and contradict the younger ones. I know
now that they manifested much ingenuity in invention or selection of names and titles. One boy gave his name as Middleton
Heywood, shouting it out as if it were something he had caught and might lose. Whereupon another boy started up, saying angrily, "
Not so, boy. You ain't Massa Middie's boy. I is."
All were now busily studying up their cognomens, and two or three would try to speak together before being called upon. One boy
was "Pumpkin,"another "Squash,"and another "Cornhouse."The girls were "Honey,"and "Baby,"and "Missy,"and "Tay,"with
an indiscriminate adoption of Rhetts, Barnwells, Elliots, Stuarts, and Middletons, for titles.
I thought of Adam's naming the animals, and wondered if he had been as much puzzled as I. Certainly he gave out the names at first
hand, and had no conflicting incongruities to puzzle him. In time I enrolled fifteen names, the number present.
The next morning I called the roll, but no one answered, so I was obliged to go around again and make out a new list. I could not
distinguish one from another. They looked like so many peas in a pod. The woolly heads of the girls and boys looked just alike. All
wore indiscriminately any cast-off ,garments given them, so it was not easy to tell which was which. Were there twenty-five new
scholars, or only ten ?
The third morning it was the same work over again. There were forty children present, many of them large boys and girls. I had
already a list of over forty names. Amongst these were most of the months of the year and days of the week, besides a number of
Pompeys, Cudjos, Sambos, and Rhinas, and Rosas and Floras. I now wrote down forty new names, and I began to despair of ever
getting regulated. Fortunately, the day before, I had given out two dozen paper primers with colored pictures, and had written a name
on each. So I called these names, but only two or three children came forward to claim their books. So I laid the rest one side. Then
half-a-dozen little heads were lifted up, and one boy said, "Please, ma'am, us wants one o' dem."
"I have no more, and these are given away already,"I said.
"You'na done give them to we! "they exclaimed. I asked the first boy what was his name. Then I looked over the books. No name
had been put down like the one he gave. It was the same with all the rest. But as I turned the books over, one girl exclaimed, "Dar, da
him!"And coming forward, she pointed to one of the primers with evident delight, saying, "Him's mine."I looked at the written
name. It was Lucy Barnwell. I asked her name. It was Fanny Osborne. "Pshaw, gal! "exclaimed an older girl, "Dat's youn'a mammy's
name."
Now the others came forward and picked out their own books. What marks they had to distinguish their property I have never been
able to discover.
In time I. began to get acquainted with some of their faces. I could remember that "Cornhouse "yesterday was "Primus "to-day,
and "Quash "was "Bryan."
It was months before I learned their family relations. The terms "bubber "for brother, and "titty
for sister, with "nanna "for mother, and "mother"for grandmother, and father for all leaders in church
and society, were so generally used, I was forced to believe that all belonged to one immense family. It
was hopeless trying to understand their titles. There were two half-brothers in school. One was called
Dick, and the other Richard. In one family there were nine brothers and half-brothers, and each took
a different title. One took Hamilton, and another Singleton, and another Baker, and others Smith,
Simmons, etc. Their father was "Jimmy of the Battery,"or "Jimmy Black."I
asked why his title was Black.
"Oh, him look so. Him one very black man,"they said.
These men are well settled, and have families growing up in honor and respectability who are as tenacious of their titles as any of
the F. F. V's.
One boy gave the name of Middleton, but afterwards came to me, wishing to have it changed, saying, "That's my ole rebel master's
title. Him's nothing to me now. I don't belong to he no longer,
an' I don't see no use in being called for him."But when I asked what other name he would choose, the poor fellow was much puzzled.
He evidently supposed I could supply a proper cognomen as I supplied new clothes, picking out something to fit. In time he decided
upon Drayton, as "that was a good name in secesh times, and General Drayton was a friend to we, an' no mistake. He fight on our side
'gainst his own brother when the first gun shoot."
That was the beginning of time for these poor freed people, "when the first gun shoot."
