Mammy's Cracklin' Bread
Sometimes when you has done yo' bes',
But t'ings has all gone wrong,
An' troubles almos' weights you down,
As you goes walkin' 'long.
An', p'r'aps, you's got de rheumatiz,
An' pains across yo' head;
Why, all you need to fix you up
Is jis some cracklin' bread.
Dat bread it wo'ks like magic, suh;
Yo' pains all vanish 'way;
An' when you finish eatin' it
You's feelin' mighty gay.
No mattah if all day you feet
Has felt like chunks ob lead,
You jis feels like a-prancin' when
You eats dat cracklin' bread.
Now we has lots o' mode'n cooks
What t'inks dey knows a lot,
But as faw makin' cracklin' bread,
Why dey can't eben staht.
My mammy was a "old-time cook,"
So all ouah neighbo's said;
But what made me so proud ob huh
Was mammy's cracklin' bread.
Now cracklin's was de t'ings she got
When she had tried out lahd,
An' cooked de fat an' skins an' stuff
'Till dey was crisp and hahd.
And mammy said when she was young
On cracklin's she was fed,
Dat's why she was so good, you see
At makin' cracklin' bread.
An' when she took dat salt an' meal
An' put it in de pan,
Thowed in 'bout dat much cracklin's den,
An' stirred it wid her han',
Po'wed in a quaht ob souah milk,
An' had de oben red;
Why, you could smell a mile away
Dat good ole cracklin' bread.
On Satu'days my fathah would
Dat grist mill go an' seek,
An' he would bring home on his back
Co'n meal to las' a week.
'Cause Sundays, when de chu'ch was out,
An' benediction said,
Folks sho' would flock to ouah house
To git dat cracklin' bread.
Once I was bad in Sunday school
An' stomped an' kicked my feet,
When teacher come to tell on me,
Paw axed him in to eat;
He stuffed an' stuffed an' den got up,
'Thout op'nin' his head,
An' what kep' him from tellin' sho,
Was mammy's cracklin' bread.
Once when my Paw was cuttin' wood,
He got hit in de eye;
He come home in de amberlance,
De doctah said he'd die.
He wrapped his head all up in gauze,
An' propped him up in bed;
But when he called nex' mornin', Paw
Was eatin' cracklin' bread.
An' den my bruthah taken sick,
Doc said he couldn't live.
An' nothin' but raw eggs an' milk
My maw to him should give.
But mammy jis did opposite
To all de doctah said,
Dat kid got strong an' healthy, too,
On mammy's cracklin' bread.
Once when a 'oman brought her chile
To play on ouah lawn,
A bulldog run right at de kid
Befo' dat she was gone.
An' he was sho' fierce-lookin', too,
His eyes was big an' red.
He looked so bad dat mammy run
An' lef' huh cracklin' bread.
"Oh, Lord, please save dat baby, do!"
My mammy cried wid feah.
An' mammy's prayeh was answ'ed den,
Aldough no help seemed neah.
I stopped him in his head-long rush—
I th'owed an' knocked him dead!
I hit dat bulldog wid a hunk
Ob mammy's cracklin' bread!