Some years ago archaeologists at Monticello turned up a broken shard of
slate, of the type used in the 18th and 19th centuries as a surface for
writing practice.  The shard has words that have defied identification, so
I turn to this list for help.  It has been suggested that the writing may
be part of a poem, but that is conjecture. Here it is, with a "/" mark
indicating where the text breaks off :

Beneath/
As ugly B/
Short/

Talk about cryptic.  (Reminds me of Linear B).  If we can identify a
source it could tell us a lot.  It is known that the Jefferson
grandchildren taught slaves to write and this fragment could be a survivor
of that, or not.

Henry Wiencek

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