The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1880-04-09
5onomp Polite game pohqs tho qurmt eus Of the Ban
MR.. DoDGE's SUCCESS.

Our Southern fellow citizens are accus.
} toned to assert that the colorcd man has
two glaring faults-that he will not work
and his presence casts such blight upon
chickens that no white man can proftably
engage in raising poultry in the Southern
States. Mr.. James G. Dodge, who recently
emigrated from Natick, Mass, to Laurel
Vile, Ala, has signaly refuted the popular
Southern estimate of the colored man. and
has succeeded not only in keeping chickens,
but inducing thirty-four colored men to
work for him without wages
MIR. Dodge arrived at Laurelvile last
Spring with the intention Of cultvating a
farm. The local white population received
him courteously and wished him every sue
cess, but they warned him that he could
not induce single colored man to work on
his farm except at prcposterous wages.-
Whcn he casually intrndnaad- -ihA--s-l,s--..
OF chickens, they assured him that there
was an African church within mile of his
newly purchased farm, and that ho might
as we'll try to keep icicles in hothouse as
to raise chickens in such a neighborhood.
| Mr. Dodge was stubborn man, and,
withal, an ingenious one. lie determined
to prove to the Laurelvileans that he could
do precisely what they said he could not
do. Accordingly, he offered to bet with
Judge Slemons that he would cultivate his
new farm with co!orcd labor, and that he
would raise chickens without losing a single
one by colored larceny. The bet was taken,
and Mr.. Dodge went to his farm and began
operations.
With the aid of the Laurelvillc carpcn-
ter, Mr.. Dodge built magnificent chicken
house, with accommodations for five hun
dred feathered guests. The windows were
made so small that not even a consumptive
colored boy could pass through them, and
the door was of unprecedented thickness
and strength. In one side of tho chicken
house MIR. Dodge required the carpenters
to leave round hole of about two feet in
diameter, for purpose which he declined
to explain. Much pity was felt for him by
his neighbors, on the ground that he was
wasting his money in vain attempt to strug-
gle against the chicken stealing genius of
the colorcd people; but Mr. Dodge"guessed"
he was all right, and "calc' lated" that his
chickens wouldn't be stolen to any great
extent. When the carpenters had finished
their work and had gono home, Mr. Dodge
unpacked large bundle which he had re-
coived from the North, and after dark he
filled his chcken-house with three hundred
chickens, and locking it securely, went to
bed.
About II o'clock that night a leading
citizen Of chicken proclivities made his way
into the chicken house through the hole
quietly @ at the folly E Of M. Dodge in looking
the door, and at the samo time forgetting
to close the hole in the side of the chicken
house. When he had selected dozen of
the largest chickens, he undertook to creep
stcalthily out Of the hole, but found his
egrcss impedcd by series of sharp and pro-
jectiug spikes. He then realized that he
had been caught in trap Of the same gen.
eral nature as that pleasing variety of mouse
trap into which the mouse readily enters
through wire-lined passage, the pointed
ends Of which prevent him from escaping.
The leading colored cilizen's estimate of
white intellect underwent sudden change,
and he sat down gloomily in the corner Of
the chicken-house to invont some plausible
tale which would account for his presence
when the inevitable moment Of discovery
should come.
half an hour later the minister of the
colored church entered the chicken. house,
and was warmly greeted by his predecessor,
who was beginning to feel very lonesome.
From midnight until dawn the arrivals were
almost incessant. The fact that three hun
dred chickens were in Mr.. Dodgc's chicken
house was known in every colored cabin
within radius of two miles, and the op-
pressed race had risen as one man and re-
solved to have those chickens. At half
past three there was standing room only in
the chicken house, aud gentl emen arriving
after that hour were compelled to return
home disappointed.
| After comfortable break fast, Mr. Dodge
took his shotgun and the key of the chicken
house, and proceeded to ascertain what luck
his trap had brought him during the night.
TO his great pleasure, he found thirty-four
able boiled colored men in the chicken
house, and, after the most careful invcstiga-
ton, he ascertaincd that not chicken was
missing. He put no unpleasant questions
to the colored men, whom he had caught, as
to why they had crowded into his chicken
house, but he merely informed them that
he supposed they had como to assist him in
planting, and that he was greatly obliged
to them for their kind assistance At noon
Judge Slemons and dozen white Laurel
villeans arrived at the farm, and gazed with
aniazement at the spectacle Of thirty four col
ored men working energetically in the field
When the Judge was convinced that no
chickens had been stolen during tho night
he frankly admitted that he had lost his
bet.
Since that day Mr.. Dodge has never lost
| Il, IL