The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1856-11-08
From Bryant's Letters from Ira veler,"


| But YOU must hear Of the corn-shucking.
| The one at which was present was given
| on purpose that l might witness the humors
of the Carolina negroes. A huge fire OF
light. was made near the cOrn-hOuse.
Light. wood is he wood Of the long.eavsd
pine, and is SO called not because it IS light,
for it Is almost the heaviest wood in ths
world, but because it gives more light than,
any other fuel In clearing land, the pines
are girdlcd and suffered to stand; the outer
portion of the wood decays and falls oil
the inner part, which ID saturated with tur-
pentinc, remains upright Tor years, and con-
stitutes the planters provision OF fuel
When supply IS wanted, one OF these dead
trunks is felled by the axe. The abundance
Of light-wood is me Of the boasts OF South
Carolina Wherever you are, il you happen
to be chilly, you may have fire extempore;
q bit of lightwood and coal give you
bright blaze and strong heat in an instant.
The negroes make fires Of it in the fields
where they work and when the mornings
are wet and chilly, in the pens where they
are milking the COWS. At plantation,
where passed frosty night, saw fires in
q small enclosure, and was told by the lady
of the house that she had ordered them to
be made to warm the cattle.
The light wood fire was made, and the
negroes dropped in from the neighborlng
plantations, singing rs they came. The d'i'
yer of the plantation, cOored man,
| brought out baskets Of corn in the husk,
and piled it in a heap; and the negroes be-
! gan to strip the husks very lively from
the ears, singing with great glee as they
worked, keeping time to the music, and now
and then throwing ina joke and an extrava-
ant burst of laughter. The songs were se-
perally Of comic character; but one Of
them was set 10 a singuarly wild and PLAIN
tive air. which some Of our musicians would
do well to reduce TO notation. These are the
words
.,Johnny down de hollow,
Oh hollow
Johnny come down de hollow,
Oh hollow
De Niger trader got me.
o. Hollow
De ,peeuIa,or bought me,
Oi, hollow
In, sold FOR silver dollars:
On hollow
Boys, go catch de pony,
Bring him round de corner.
Oh hollo~.
I'm goin' away to Georgia.
Boys, goodbye forever.
On hollow '"
The song Of Jenny gone away" was also
piy.n. and another, called the monkey
song" probably Of African origin, IN which,
the principal singer pcr.onated monkey,
with all sorts of odd eesticulationS. and the
other negroes bore part IN the chorus,
Dan dan, who's de dandy"
One of the songs, commonly sung on
these occasions. represents the various AM
,nais of the woods belonging 10 some pro-
fesson or trade. For example
.pe coo,er S de boaiman-" -
The cooter is the tcrrapin, ALI very ex-
pert boatnan he is.
.De cooter 1. de- boa,nan,
John, JOha Cro..
De red-bird dc ,ag-r.
John, John Grow
De moc.ing bird de lawyer,
John, Join Grow.
De alligator sawyer.
John, John Grow
,r ,r,,gatur . UaCh - Iurui>uCu Win a
,oothod ridge ike the edge 0! saw, which
explalus the last iinc
When the work Of the evening was over,
the negroes adjourned to spacious Kitchen
One of them took his place as muSlrianS
whist.inr. and beating time with two sticks
= upon the floor. Several OF the men came
forward aad executed various dances, capcr-
/ ing. prancing and drumming with hce! and
/ toe upon the floor, with astonishing agility
/ and perseverance, though all OF them had
pe,formed their Gai tasks and had worked
I! alI the evening, and some had walked from
four to seven miles 10 attend the corn shuck-
/ ing From the dances transition was made
to mock military parade, sort OF bur
I,soue Of our militia trainings, IN which the
word of command and evoutions were eX-
! tr.mely lud;crous IL became necessary for
! the commander tn make a speech, and CON
Tossing his incapacity at public speaking, he
called upon huge black man, named To-
bey, to address the company in his stead
Tobey, a man of powerful frame. SIX feet
hioh his face ornamented with a beard OF
fashionable cut, had hitherto stood leaning
against the wall. looking upon the frollc with
an air Of superiority. He consented, came
forward, and demanded a bit OF paper to
hold in his hand, harangued the soldieIy.
II was evident that Tobey had listened 10
stump-spccches in his day. He spoke oi
de majority Of Souf Caroiina-dc interests
of de State-dc honor of ole Banweli dis
trict," and these phrases he connected by
various expl.tivss, and sounds OF which We
could make nothing. At length he began io
faltcr, when the captain with admirable pre-
sence of mind came 10 his relief, and inter
rupted and closed the harangue with an hur-
rah for the company. Tobey was allowed 10y
all the spectators, black and White, to have
made an excellent speech.
s.F Us,vp m