The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-02-16
passed in his checks" in this wise

| When they give them out to be washed it i
y said of him, he has passed in his checks'''
After q sojourn on the frontier, am of thu
opinion that the learned professor aforesaid
would find out what is meant by the tern
: were he to go among the miners who veal
t checked Shirts" and accuse them of having
, them washed.
His explanation of the term "sugarng off, y
was another hunk of unadulterated wisdom
Said he when the sugar makers are through
they have general cleaning up of what is
left, which is called 'sugaring off," The
Cleaning up" consists in washing the thous-
and or more buckets, the pots and the pans
not much chance to burn ones mouth licking
a lade dipped in hot sugar, at such "sugar-
ing off as that
How my philanthropic soul did yearn after
that poor man long, even now, if he still
wanders in this valley
''Where the rivers of tears do flow.
Ever widening and deepening as they onward go, -
to spirit him away to the snow-clad hills Of
Verde Monte and treat him to genuine, good
Yankee "sugarng off" l would make him
lick his chops" for very gladness, such a
tempting tangle of sweetness would put be-
fore him. Hot sugar just from the boiling.
bubbing mass, so good he can't wait for it to
cool, and so hot every drop that goes into his
mouth singes the tender skin. Just as he grew
discouraged over so many burns, | would
bring him pan of snow as pure and white
as an angels wing, on which l would pour
the boiling sugar, and while he is wondering
that the snow does not disappear, the tooth
some LIQUID will be changed to clear, amber
wax, a treat eft to set before king" some
thing far better than the bread and honey, which,
rs child, l learned that the queen ate in the
kitchen.
But we must not linger too long among the
maple forests of New England, lest this letter
DRIFT out of all proportion to the space per-
mitted me in the columns of the VIRGINIAN.
So, with one bound will take you down by
the broad Mississippi, along whose borders |
the tall chimneYs of the sugar mills are very |
frequent.
My visit to the sugar plantations was made
the day following our last Thanksgiving,
Nov. 2Slh, of the year which has just been
folded away with the thousands which went
before it. There were five of us, and though
the morning was clear and crisply cold, we
were out before daylight SO as to be sure both
OF breakfast and the train We crossed the
broad Mississippi on rattle-trap ferry boat
which would have been pensoned off years
ago had 1T been running on East river The
point where we crossed was very near the
place where the steamer on which was trav-
cling in 1880 stood when struck by
another immense boat. Kingdom come did
not seem very far away for the space of ten
minutes, and the prospect of soon becoming
food Tor sharks was too promising to be- pleas
ant.
At Gretna, little town opposite New Or
leans, our party boarded the train of the Tex
as Pacific, and were swiftly carried over one of
the smoothest road beds it has been nv fortune
to ride upon for some time. En- PEASANT. |
might as well say this is ore of the links
IN the chain forming another through route
to California. 1t would seem as if, in the
cuorse OF hfteen or twenty years a sufficient
number of routes will ba open to that land of
promise to cause liberal reduction in rates,
but l wouldn't be willing to bet much on it.
Combinations will be likely to combine just
as strongly then as now, and if one man
doesn't manage to gobble up all the roads by
that time, it will not be for lack of ambition
or covet3usnes
A few miles out from Gretna and the fields
Of waving cane appear on every side its ten {
dor
manner. as if begging the sun to 6
shield them from the cold. For the cane |
leaves can no more withstand the effects OF t
the frost than can beautiful woman the cold s
breath of SANDER ;
twenty-five miles out from the city, the q
cars drop us at the plantation of the Keby /
Brothers. Having been informed of our in '
tention to visit their sugar-house that day i
they met us with carriages, and with gentle +
prevailed upon US to abandon our
plan to go at once to the sugar-house, urg- G
ing that by far the pleasantest way there lay by
the house, in which we found mother. wife y
and sisters, ready to give us "a most cordial q
greeting. #
The residence faces the broad Mississippi. e
and from the porch in front there is a most
charming view. The grounds are large and 0
are shaded with old oak and pecan trees, Il
from the branches ot which droops the long g
gray moss. Up and down the river steamers
are always plying, their shrill whistles start Ii
ling all the birds from their haunts s
On the opposite bank OF the river stands |
the first church erected in the State OF Lou y
isana. Through all the changes which time $
has wrought, through the storms of war. that U
lutte building has remained like beacon light t
for weary, toil-worn souls Years ago some b
odd FREAK caused it to be painted red, and '
its color has remained the same ever since
Far and near it is known as the 'Red Y
Church of St. Charles Parish" What Sc F
crets must be hidden in every crack and crew
ice of the place Children dip their tiny fin
gers in the same font from which their great. Y
grandmothers took the holy water pretty {
brides kneel for the benedicton where gener- L
ations of brides have knelt before them; hid I
den away in the timbers are the songs of glad !
ness and the sobbings of breaking hearts I
Priest and penitent alike have passed out {
through its doors to their last resting place |
"Beneath that low green tent
whose curtain never outward SWINGS. s
Sheltered by the trees which stretch their long t
green arms as if in benedction, lie moulder-
ing IN dust the forms of those who gave the c
trees place in the burying-ground. On the
white tombstones may be read the history of +
generations. e
OFF FOR THE SUGAR FIELDS
visit to maple sugar camp without ride
IN the big sleigh would be like eating a mince
pie with the spice lett out; so, too, would be 4
an excursion TO sugar plantation without :
frolc in the big, jolting cane-cart The :
is very similar to the dump j..
ing carts used in the construction of rail-
roads, only very much larger and stronger,
with wheels very broad and heavily ironed.- :.
To this are hitched three mules abreast, the
middle one between the thills, and the others
secured by traces. The cart was filled with
clean rice straw and the straw was soon alive t.
with humanity--as merry crowd as ever
went to corn-shucking or to a wake.
We will begin our investigation of the pro-
cess of sugar-making at the cane fields. The