Her Guardian Angel

Printed on reverse of card:Angels is a mindin’ you, my baby,Keepin’ off de Bad Man in de night.What’s de use o’ bein’ skeered o’ nuffin?You don’ fink de da’kness gwine to bite?Curl yo’ little toes up so, my possum,Umph, but you’s a cunnin’ one fu’ true!Go to sleep, de angels is a watchin’An’ yo’ mammy’s mindin’ of you, too. —“Lullaby” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1901The lines are quoted for their humanness, not for their dialect—for that one touch of nature that makes all the tongues of Babel one. Some children are irksome when left to the care of the angels unless the flesh-and-blood angel stays near. One devoted Mamma left little Ruby upstairs with the angels while she entertained a dozen happy friends in the parlor below. Before long a little night-gown tripped down the front stairs and little Ruby made her plea before the delighted guests: “Mamma, ow do up to the angels and let me be here!” (“15 Minutes: Exposing Dimensions of Fame,” curated by undergraduate members of Cornell’s History of Art Major’s Society and presented at the Johnson Museum April 16 – July 24, 2016)