“Did her mama let her go down town?”
“Tishy done got so mean, her ma can’ do nuthin’ wid her. She tell her ma she gwine ter see how John Mockin’bird gittin’ ’long wid de sociable.” She added with a confidential air: “Tishy want ter act in de sociable, an’ she wanter give John er chanct ter ax her.
“Oh, I tell yer John have er heap er trubble wid de diffunt kine er fokes ov’r dat sociable. Dar wus de Sparrer fambly dat yer can’ keep out no way yer fixes hit, dey’ll eb’n git ter parties whar nobody don’t want ’em an’ den act like dey wus de bigges’ fokes ax’d.”
“How, Mammy?” Mary Van thought of her own birthday party where she had excluded Jim Weed.
“Oh, dey does like Miss Bizzy Sparrer done Lilly Dove whin she give er party one time. Miss Bizzy meet Lilly in de poplar tree an’ say:
“‘I heah yer ’bout ter give er party, Miss Lilly, an’ I jes’ wanter ax yer ef we got enything yer kin use?’
“Lilly, she thank her an’ tu’n de subjec’, but Bizzy she git back on ter hit ergin an’ say:
“‘Ain’t dey sumpin’ I kin do? Lemme hope yer.’
“Lilly say she doan need nobody ter do nuthin’, but she kin come ter de party ef she’s er mine ter.
“An’ Bizzy come, too, an’ whut’s mo’, her bruth’r hafter come ter bring her, an’ whut’s mo’en dat, her sist’r can’t stay at home by herse’f. Yas, Lawd, an’ ’fo’ enybody know how dey got dar, de place wus right full er Sparrers.”