The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1883-12-20
CChambers' Journal.l
Florida ssCrackerS.3

Florida s'Crackers.'
A Cracker is a poor white native Of
Florida. How this strange apellative
came into existence does not seem
clear. The Floridians say it originat-
ed in the habit the poor white wan
derers had Of cracking their cattle
whips, as sort Of recall for the stray
ed members Of their herds. But the
usage has disappeared, if it ever exist
ed; to-day, the native stock-master
goes through the forest and ham
macks in search of wandered calves,
with a curious lowing whoop, that
rings like weird bell in the immense
solitudes. Cracker" has fallen to a
term Of irritating contempt, and is
applied to the mean whites, as mig
GER is to the blacks. And strange is
the effect of this opprobrious word
upon the negroes.
One day passing along the quay at
Jacksonville-which has become the
virtual capital of Florida-I observed
two black men quarrelling. Amid the
shower Of epithets, the word "Crack-
err struck my ear. The man thus
called became furious, and fell upon
his antagonist literally with tooth and
nail He evidently had been supreme
ly insulted, and no verbal retaliation
could satisfy him.
The first of the Cracker race that [
saw was during a voyage up the St.
Johns River. It was near sundown;
and the last flare of yellow rays was
blazing upon bare and lonely savan-
ma, making its sterile desolation the
more melancholy, from the glare. AL
most suddenly, the light waned and
faded out, giving place to a sombre
blear-gray, as the steamer swept round
a promontory. Standing rigid as eff
gies upon this promontory were four
human figures man, two women,
and a girl. Their eyes seemed to be
fixed upon the westering sun; yet the
lack-lustre vacancy Of the stare had
no Speculation" in it. A far-off, half
distraught gaze it was, such as | had
never observed before. A party among
our passengers were making the air
ring with loud talk and louder laugh
ter; but the four figures remained mo-
tionless, peering westward, as if utter
ly unconscious Of the rushing steamer
and its noisy merry-makers. The
swirl of the water rose into great,
curved pillows at their feet; the dense
smoke of the pine wood from the fun
mel swept by them; yet the four re-
manned passive, giving no more sign
Of consciousness than the sheaf of
palmetto-trees behind them. From
the place where I stood, on the upper
deck, to these people, was not more
than twenty-five or thirty feet; so
that had the fullest opportunity of
noting their queer imperturbability,
as the speed of the steamer was lessen
ed in working round the point. Their
clothing seemed much worn; and
haggard, weary expression seemed to
rest upon their thin faces. This liv-
ing apparition lasted but minute;
for after rounding the cape, the steam
er quickly shot into canal-like reach
Of the river; and the four silent, un-
moved beings were left in the dim,
falling, tropical night.
"Who are those singular people?" |
asked the captain, who happened to
be standing by. Crackers" said he,
as indiferently as if they had been
turtles.
saw much of these people subse-
guently; but the remembrance Of the
lonely family standing Oh the brink
of the shadowy river, surrounded by
deadly swamps, swarming with rep
tiles fierce and subtle, has continued
among the most vivid Of my Cracker
souvenirs. Somewhere in the forest
behind them doubtless was the den
they called home. How rude and ele-
mentary Cracker habitation can be,
I found the next day, in my journey
across the peninsula.
I had lost my way in going from
one recent settlement to another few
miles distant. On every side dark
pine-trees extended, varied now and
then by little coverts of oaks, where
fires or the age had made a small
clearing. Through the thin crowns
of the pines, the fervid heat Of mid
day seemed to descend more oppres-
sively than in an exposed plain. Now
and then blast Of balsamic and burn
ing air coming from the gulf Of Mex
leo swept through the woods, making
them hum in a strange, thrilling dia-
pason. Huge butterflies wavered about
the cactus plants; great yellow hum
ble-bees doomed lazily among the
scrub; dragon-aies of many sizes shot
across the path like prismatie meteors.
A sort Of starting, inky black, scream
ed harshly and fitfully from the top
most branches Of the pines; and float
ing high in the. palpitating ether was
a pair Of buzzards sweeping in vast
curves, without any apparent motion
Of their rigid wings.
The prostrating heat, the dismal
uniformity of the pine trees, the fierce
energy of nature, and the Indifference
Of the living things about me, were
oppressive to the last degree. For
the insects that were settled upon the
flowers remained quiescent under my
observation. Chameleons and lizards
gamboled round the trunks of the
trees, and distended their green throats
until they became scarlet, as if in elf
ish mockery Of man. The loneliness
grew more than depressing-it became
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