Then I said to my friend: "Suppose he'd up and stick A knife in your side for raggin' him so hard; Or how would you relish some spit in your broth? Or a little Paris green in your cheese for chard? Or something in your coffee to make your stomach froth? Or a bit of asafoetida hidden in your pie? That's a gentlemanly nigger or he'd black your eye/' Then dear old Dick made this long reply: "You know, I love a nigger, And I love this nigger. I met him first on the train from California Out of Kansas City; in the morning early I walked through the diner, feeling upset For a cup of coffee, looking rather surly. And there sat this nigger by a table all dressed, Waiting for the time to serve the omelet, Buttered toast and coffee to the passengers. And this is what he said in a fine southern way: 'Good mawnin,' sah, I hopes yo' had yo' rest, I'm glad to see you on dis sunny day.' Now think! here's a human who has no other cares Except to please the white man, serve him when he's starving, And who has as much fun when he sees you carving The sirloin as you do, does this black man. Just think for a minute, how the negroes excel, Can you beat them with a banjo or a broiling pan? There's music in their soul as original As any breed of people in the whole wide earth; They're elemental hope, heartiness, mirth. There are only two things real American: One is Christian Science, the other is the nigger. Think it over for yourself and see if you can figure Anything beside that is not imitation Of something in Europe in this hybrid nation. Return to this globe five hundred years hence-- You'll see how the fundamental color of the coon In art, in music, has altered our tune; We are destined to bow to their influence; There's a whole cult of music in Dixie alone, And that is America put into tone."