Newspaper Page Text
THE SOUTHERN WORLD, AUGUST 15, 1882.
7
1
[
i
i
Cora Husking la the Mouth.
Twenty years ago removing husks from
corn was protracted, though not a laborious
occupation upon large plantations where
vast quantities of the cereal were consumed.
Barrels of corn were ground into meal and
Issued weekly to the laborers as a portion of
their rations, thousands of bushels were used
as provender for stock, and choice varieties
were saved by the wholesale as seed for the
ensuing crop. To expedite the labor of
husking corn planters usually gave at stated
intervals unpretentious entertainments in
which their slaves and those residing upon
contiguous plantations participated. In ac
cordance with Ethiopian dialect such enter
tainments were called “cornsshuckings,”and
were as much in vogue among the blacks as
were sumptuous levees among the whites.
A “ corn-shucking” was invariably a season
of jubilee with the dusky inhabitants of the
South, and the nocturnal orgy was usually
prolonged until one o’clock, a. m.
The time to give a corn-husking at Oak
Grove plantation arrived. The first thing
upon the programme was the igniting of a
bright fire in the inclosure near the colossal
double corn cribs (known in more elegant
phraseology as barns or granaries) which
were a sine qua*non upon every plantation.
Every precaution was used, and the blaze
was not in sufficient proximity to the barn
as to incur the risk of wisps of hay coming
in contact with the myriads of sparks which
ever and anon shot upward like lurid pyro
technics. No solid wood wus used for the
Are. Pine-knots, which the negroes called,
and still call, "light-ard,” (a corruption of
light-wood, so-called, not because it is light
in weight, but because it emits a brighter
light than any other fuel,) formed an admir
able substitute.
At 7 o’clock, p. x., in November 18—, the
negroes from several plantations (each of
which was several miles distant) came whist
ling and singing towards the theater of the
prospective convivial gathering—the enorm
ous “cribs”—and at the same time the
colored foreman of Oak Grove plantation
superintended stalwart black men as they
brought baskets of corn, and piled it in
heaps. All being ready the negroes stripped
the husks from the com with ambidexteri ty,
singing gleefully, or venting their mirth in
laughter as they worked. The songs were
interspersed now and then with some
such plaintive air as “Massa’s in de
Cold Ground,” or the pathetic ballads of
“Boys Carry Me Long,” and “Ole Vir-
ginny," or “ Nellie Gray.” As a rat e the
negroes are correct ti mists, and possess an
accurate ear for music. They are also good
imitators, and readily parody not only tone
but expression. As the untutored soprano
voices joined in harmonious concord the
sympathy was so sweet that a disciple of
Gottschalk might well have felt inclined to
reduce it to notation. The favorite songs
seemed to be "Zip Coon,” and “The Monkey
Married the Baboon’s Sister.” In the latter
song the first soprano personated Punchi
nello with many a ludicrous contortion of
his jovial visage, while a young woman,
black as the ace of spades, represented the
“sister” referred to in the song.
When the husks were removed from the
last ear of corn the crowd adjourned to a
spacious log-cabin, and four musicians (?)
took alloted seats. One of the quartette
thrummed a banjo, another beat upon a
tamborine, another vigorously exercised his
hands by a simultaneous striking of bones
held between the fingers of both hands, and
another seemed as well pleased with the dis
cordant strains which be played upon a
cracked violin os Ole Bull would have been
with his most successful performance,
dozen of the men secured partners among
dusky females, and entered with zest into
various African dances designated as the
“pigeon wing," the jig, the back-step, etc.
The participants capered and skipped with
surprising agility and persistency consider-
that they had performed their daily labors,
had walked several miles to the frolic, and
had husked corn for two hours. Those who
had chanced to find the red ears were entl
tied to the highest honors. If a female, she
was overwhelmned with invitations to
dance; if a male, no matter how unpopular
he might be upon ordinary occasions, bis
lack of popularity vanished for the time
being.
A transition caused the male devotees of
Terpsichore to esposue the cause of Mars,
and they became soldiers pro tern. In the
parade—a burlesque upon the Mulligan
guards—the wordsof command afforded good
exercise for the lungs, and the evolutions
exercised in obeying military tactics were
absurd caricatures of a well-drilled infantry
company,
When the time for the captain to address
his subalterns came he seemed physically or
mentally incapacitated to speak. A bright
idea penetrated his cranium, he resolved to
talk to them by proxy, and requested a
Goliah-like sub-officer to act in his stead.
The impromptu orator mounted an impro- •
vised rostrum (an empty pork barrel), and if
his remarks lacked eloquence they were re
dundant in verbosity. He spoke at length
upon the necessity for military organization,
not that his race ever expected to engage in
warfare, except ns a source of pleasant farocs.
He proposed that they should have mock
battles—the consent of the most prominent
planters in the community having already
been gained for the participation in such di
versions. The remarks were profuse with ex
pletives and vehement gesticulations, and
culminated in prolixity which he had not
sufficient tact to avoid. Wisely concluding
that he must end his harangue he said:
Time tells me how it is time for me stop.
I sees a heap’ of sand a failin’ from a hour-
s way up in the ar’ and, and—and
ahem—’’ as he continued to falter the captain
with praiseworthy presence of mind came
“So Ncsr'iind Yet No I'ar.”
The illustration on this page conveys a
useful lesson and is susceptible of several
allegorical applications. Brer Fox it will
be noticed rests his fore feet on a barrel and
looks with longing gaze upon the fowls se
curely perched upon their roosts—“so near
and yet so far”—out of his grasp.
Taking the fowls to represent the farming
class and the Fox insidious extravagance
and general untbriftiness the engraving sug
gests that farmers should ever be in such
condition os to be above the power of debt,
and to see to it that their resting place—their
home—is secured from its destroying at
tacks.
As this is the season of political excite
ment, when farmers are beset with candi
dates on every side of them, the illustration
may prefigure Brer Fox as the candidate
with a face ever beaming with smiles urging
his claims upon the tjhmble voters who oc
cupy a higher position to come down to the
polls and elevate him to office.
Brer Fox too may represent the flatterer
who for sinister purposes is filling the air
with panegyric after panegyric upon the
he planted a kind of corn noted (or its pro
lific qualities and for maturing early, but
not a good corn to keep in this section, as it
is too soft. The corn being fully matured,
was gathered last Mouday and measured, by
ascertaining the number of barrels and then
shelling enough of the barrels to get at the
yield. The yield was a little over one hun
dred and twenty-eight bushels. The gentle
men who signed the certificate are perfectly
reliable and understood what they were do
ing. We do not believe this yield has ever
ever been beaten in the State, and we know it
has not in this section.
Gkoboia—Thomas county. We the under
signed certify that we have this day carefully
measured an acre of corn raised by W. B.
Hambleton and find the amount to be one
hundred and twenty-eight (128) bushels,
twenty-four (24) quarts and one (1) pint.
Witness our hands this July 25tli, 1882.
Robbbt Alexander,
N. E. Tubnkb.
SO NEAR, AND YET 80 FAR.
to the rescue, and proposed three cheers for
the speaker. The air resounded with a loud
hurrah 1 in the midst of which the disciple
(?) of Demosthenes descended from his ele
vated position evidently highly elated that
his trust in “the inspiration of the moment”
had not been misplaced.
A substantial supper of beef, pork, corn-
bread, biscuit, pumpkin and apple pies, gin
ger cakes, coffee, cider, and persimmon beer
was in readiness for the voracious appetites
of the audience. The blacks assembled en-
masse around the bountifully spread tables,
and partook of the edibles and beverages
with gusto, after which the tap of the plan
tation bell signalized the hour for departure.
The revelers were rapid pedestrians, and
soon reached their respective homes where
they basked in the quintessence of Ethiopian
delight, dreamland until daybreak.
Linda Walton.
Fayette, Mittittippi.
Some men can get more fun out of a $5,000
income per annum than others can out of a
$10,000 one.
beauty and grace of the unsophisticated
fowls.
Moral—Ever keep above the reach and in
fluence of Brer Fox.
IVhnt Can be Done by Good Farming.
TliomosvUIe (Qa.) Enterprise.
Mr. W. B. Hambleton lives four and a half
miles east of Thomasville, on what was
known for years as the “old Gatlin place,”
because it was farmed by a man named Gat
lin so long ago that only the oldest inhab
itants of the county remember the time
when the Gatlin family moved to Texas.
The place has been in cultivation probably
fifty years, yet when it was proposed last
winter to form a club of twenty or twenty
five farmers, each one of whom, would plant
an acre of corn, the one that made the larg
est number of bushels on the acre to receive
a bushel of corn from every other member
of the club, Mr. Hambleton went into the
arrangement. We have not been able to
learn anything about what manures he used
nor how he cultivated the land, except that
An Important ltailroml Hatter.
Instead of the associated lines dissolving,
as was rumored a few weeks ago, they are
more solid than ever. On the 1st of August
Mr. Sol. Haas, who has filled the office of
General Freight Agent of the associated
lines with such signal ability will take
charge as traffic manager A Richmond
State reporter called on Mr. Haas to learn the
details of the new arrangement, and was in
formed that there would be a General
Freight and a General Passenger Agent un
der him, but that the persons to fill these
offices had not yet been selected. The roads
under the traffic manager will be the Sea
board and Roanoake, Raleigh and Gastoti,
Raleigh and Augusta Air Line, Carolina
Central, Richmond and Petersburg, and
Weldon, Wilmington, Columbia and Au
gusta, Northeastern of South Carolina, South
Carolia Central, Cheraw and Darlington,
Cheraw and Salisbury, Richmond and Dan
ville, Virginia Midland, Western North
Carolina, Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line,
Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta, Green
ville and Columbia, Northeastern of Geor
gia, Elberton Air Line.
Few Traffic Managers in the United States
have a greater mileage than is included in
the above list of roads. Mr. Haas has been
connected with the Richmond and Danville
for the past nine years—from 1873 to 1875 as
agent in Baltimore, and from 1875 to the
present time as General Freight Agent. Mr.
A. Pope, who has filled the position os Gen
eral Passenger Agent of the associated lines,
is one of the most accomplished roilroad offi
cials in the South. He is not only an able pas
senger man, but a fine freight man as well,
und is recognized as such yi Southern rail
way circles. He is withal a courteous gen
tleman, and has been uniformly popular
with the press and public.—Augusta News,
A Wheat Fair.
F. & H. Fries, of Wachovia Mills, Salem,
N. C., have inaugurated “A Wheat Fair," to
come off at Pace’s Warehouse, in Winston,
N. 0., on August 26th.
Col. L. L. Polk, of Raleigh, N. C„ will de
liver an address on agriculture, after which
the premiums will be awarded as follows:
$25 in cash, for 5 bushels best white wheat.
3 bushels best white wheat to person hav
ing second quality white wheat.
2 bushels best white wheat to person hav
ing third quality white wheat.
$25 in cash, for 5 bushels best red wheat.
3 bushels best red wheat to person having
second quality red wheat.
2 bushels best red wheat to person having
third quality red wheat.
Decisions will be rendered first, by the
cleanliness. Second by the yield per acre.
Third by weight of five measured bushels.
Messrs. Hinshaw <fc Bynum, also, offer the
following additional premiums to farmers
using Allison & Addison’s star brand wheat
manure:
No. 1. For tho largest yield and best wheat
on 10 acres, 4 sacks Star Brand Wheat Ma
nure; 5 bushels to be exhibited.
No. 2. For the largest yield and best wheat
on 6 acres, 3 sacks Star Brand Wheat Ma
nure; 5 bushels to be exhibited.
No. 3. For the largest yield and best wheat
on 3 acres, 2 sacks Star Brand Wheat Manure;
5 bushels to be exhibited.
No. 4. For the largest yield and best wheat
on one acre, 1 sack Star Brand Wheat Ma
nure; 5 bushels to be exhibited.
We commend this example as worthy of
imitation throughout the South.
A man never knows what a weak, fickle
and uncertain master he has in himself until
he is at liberty to govern his own life and do
as he pleases.