"Go 'long, chile, I done got 'nough to do 'thout makin' no hoppergrass-houses."
"Please, mammy, only one, and then I can make them for myself. I'll watch you just as close. Won't you, mammy?"
"Pick me some grasses, then; I 'low I has to, but don't yo' come pesterin' me no more after this time.
"Seed-top grasses, honey, seed-top grasses; don't git me none of them blade kind. Ketch hol' near the top and pull 'em up slow like, then they'll come out nice and smooth, an' leave they ole rough skins behind, just like a eel does when you skins him. That's it, you got 'nough now; bring 'em 'long here an' we'll make the hoppergrass-house.
"Hol' your own hand, honey, you'll learn best that-a-way. Can't forgit the feelin' of it once you build it on yo' fingers.
| Fig. [62].—Put the grass around your middle finger with the end inside. | Fig. [63].—Lay the next grass across the first. |
| Fig. [64].—Bend back the ends of the first grass. | Fig. [65].—Put the next grass across your hand. |
Fig. [66].—Bend back the second grass ends like the first.
"Take one piece o' grass an' put it round yo' middle finger with the ends inside like this ([Fig. 62]). Now lay the next piece right across the first ([Fig. 63]), an' bend back the ends of the first grass over the tother an' tuck 'em 'tween yo' fingers just like that ([Fig. 64]). Put the next grass across yo' hand ([Fig. 65]), an' take up the second grass-ends, bendin' 'em back to keep company with first grass-ends. That makes another bar ([Fig. 66]). Now yo' do it an' let mammy see how yo' git along. That's right, lay the grass across an' put the under ends back ev'ry time. How many bars has yo' got now? Six? That's 'nough fo' any hoppergrass, an' is as many as yo' little hand can hol' anyway.
"Now slip it offen yo' fingers, bring the ends together an' tie with a blade o' grass just above these here blossom ends (see illustration). There now, yo' done made a hoppergrass-house, an' don' yo' come askin' yo' ole mammy to stop her work no more."