The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1879-05-20
A Vlrginian Tobacco Mart.

A Virginian Tobacco Mart.
THE James River winds in erratic
i mood through Midland Virginia,
and upon its banks, one hundred twenty
miles above tide-water, which reaches
Richmond, is located Lynchburg. Here
is the heart of Tobaccodom. The
visitor to this picturesque city will find
much that is provincial and quaint
along the streets and about the
breaks" Hobbling old negroes -
veritable prototypes of Uncle Tom''-
whose possession of freedom has not
eradicated their obsequious servility;
swarthy, well-built young Virginians
mounted upon handsome horses 1ank,
loose jointed "poor whites" whose
chief ambition in life is to get into town
for day; groups of athletic negroes
waiting, with good-humored indiffer-
ence, for job. Every day an appari-
tion appears upon street corner-an
ebony Gabriel armed with a tin horn
longer by half than himself He exc
cutes fanfare which for unmitigated
discordance is without parallel in the
history of acoustics. 1t is the signal for
the breaks.
The breaks, by -the-way, is the auc-
ton, the name originating in the prac-
tice of breaking open and exposing the
contents of the bales and hogsheads pre-
vious to the sale.
The breaks take place in shed of
wide proportions, beneath which the
tobacco wagons have been waiting,
many of them all night, their occupants
cooking their frugal breakfasts at small
fires built near the vehicle, drawing
their supplies from the tail boxes with
which each is equipped.
By nine o'clock the street in front of
the shed is alive with teams, the drivers
impatient to unload. Each lot, as it is
removed to the building, is weighed and
given separate space upon the floor,
being ticketed with its weight and
owners's name.
Soon buyers begin to come in, samp-
ling here and there with practiced eye
and scent. After these comes the auc-
tioneer- o business-like-looking man,
whose manner indicates that he has no
time to waste; and lastly, after him
comes the clerk, with portable desk and
book of sales. Then it is that Gabriel,
clothed with brief authority, rends the
morning air with the notes of his terri
BILE horn.
Rapidly the auctioneer proceeds to
"knock down" the invoices of weed.
When all are sold, the farmers get their
cash, and go their way, let us hope, re-
joicing.
Plug and smoking tobaccos are made
at different factories. The former re-
quires considerable manipulation. The
| green leaf is strewn upon floor and
sprinkled with sirup of enriching in
gradients, compounded to suit the fancy
of the manufacturer. Then it goes, for
q time, into room where the temera-
ture is 1909.
Long tables are occupied by negro
workers of both sexes, who twist the
leaf into traids with skillful hands,
singing almost constantly some refrain
in cadence sweetly melancholy. They
are encouraged to sing by employers, as
it has been observed that under the in
spiration of their own music they work
better, and are apparently more content
ed, than when silent.
The braids are placed in iron cells, s,and
pressed into compact cubes, bearing a
| polish worthy of mahogany. They are
then packed into cases by hydraulic
pressure, and the finishing touch given
by adding snowy label.