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Wake snakes and come to Taw

Posted by Mugball-us on January 31, 2005

In Reply to: Wake snakes and come to Taw posted by Shae on January 31, 2005

: : This is the first line of a funny little ditty my Grandmother would recite. Her ancestors came to Georgia from England. I know there is a Taw River in Devon. I don't see one in Georgia. Is this line a part of something else- a poem, song, etc.? I do not bother to give the rest of the ditty as it has nothing to do with this one line. Thanks.

: It might have a Biblical origin. The Tau (Taw) cross and serpents feature in some of the Books of the Bible. The rest of the ditty might give us a clue.

I have no idea where the Taw is. There is a Haw River in North Carolina, and a Wake County too, but that is a stretch.

The line seems to have been pretty well known in Kentucky in the late 19th Century. I found the following reference in Irvin S Cobb's "Exit Laughing". The book speaks of a country lawyer whose shingle reads,

"WAKE SNAKES AND COME TO TAW
B.L.D. GUFFEY WILL PRACTICE LAW"

I am curious about your grandmother's ditty, too.

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