E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Topsy.
A slave-girl, who impersonates the low moral development but real capacity for education of the negro race. Her reply to Aunt Ophelia, who questioned her as to her father and mother, is worthy Dickens. After maintaining that she had neither father nor mother, her solution of her existence was “I ’spects I growed.” (Mrs. Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin.)
