Arkansas weekly mansion., 1883-09-29
THE NEGRO SHARE FARMER

The changes wrought by the civil wal
in the south have produced one character
whom We found one Of the most interest,
ing studies of q recent trip through the
south. We allude to the negro share lar
mer. At home, in his ramshackle cabin,
among his lean pigs, his bony cattle and his
aiways numerous family, OR in the market
place, with mis- spike team, often composed
of a mule and y cow, which he has driven
long days journey to sell dollars worth
of wood or q couple of bushels of potatoes,
he presents a grotesque and interesting &
type. 1t would be difficult, probably, to
get down to poorer and less profitable ag-
ricujturc than the share farmer practices.
But he manages to scrape living out of
sometimes find it difficult to explain him.
self.
You come upon his cabin among the
pine woods, with patch of craggy corn be-
hind it. and the ground around strewn
with fagots. among which pick struggling
crew OF rusty fowls. A couple of ours bark
furiously at you, and a couple of pigs,
which look like dogs, they are SO bony and
long legged, trOt grunting away into the
brush. The mOssy roof is saggii 6 on Its
yielding beams: there are great assures in
the mud-plastered chimney, apd the vino
finds ingress through the cracks between n
the slabs and logs of the walls, from which
the mud has fallen. The commotion your
approach has aroused brings troop OF
to the road, to which you with wide open
mouth and eyes, and shrinking back when
you look at them. A sturdy negress, with
a cob Pipe, gives you courtesy In the
doorway; behind her you see figure like
the witch of fairy tale covering in the
big fireplace; the figure of some old grand
mother or grandfather, carrying the weight
of nearly century on q bent back. AS
you ride on, you perhaps come upon the
farmer, sturdy and uncouth, hoeing in his
potato patch, or wandering among his corn
cotton.
The share farmer obtains his title from
fIo ton NV h :oh ho hnl ia "a
rents it at the simple price OF half OF It's
yield. 1t is commonly portion OF some
large plantation, often of the same one on
which he once labored.
The system OF share farming has gwen
existence to another type besides the far
mer himself. This is the banker, as he
calls himself; the usuriOus money lender as
he really is. This worthy like the class
he thrives OF of, is negro. He is In
small way capitalist, and his business Is
simply lending money on the security OF
the share farmers crop. Few OF the thrift
less blacks can resist the temptation OF an
ucipating their gains, and the banker Is an
Obliging friend, when he considers 1t sa1e
to do SO. In business he is, by all accounts,
desperately hard and grinding. otherwise
he is eminently respectable, and not un1
frequently a preacher of no little local
fame. Between the money he owes this
creditor and his store ascount for molasses'
tobacco, ETC., also secured by his crop, the
share farmer is often saved the trouble of
has been gathered.
Such as 1t is, the existence of the negro
OF the share farmer is not devoid of ele-
ments of picturesqueness His labor Is hard
and his fare coarse, but he is a tough. rude
man, and has no craving tor unknown lux
uries. Among the fogs of early day he Is
at work. when night fails he fiddles or
croons his simple melodies before the yawn-
ing fireplace of the cabin. He generally
has an old gun and wages war upon such
game as the woods around him shelter.
What little leisure he enjoys he spends in
sleep. In the scale of education he ranks
very low. He cannot read or write, HIS
ideas frequently clouded by supersti-
tion, though quite often he exhibits pc
culiarly Keen native wit and cunning.
which makes him great bargainer, and
stands him in good stead in his dealings
with men of better knowledge. His dress
is y mass of patches and of rags. Blu: be is
we'll dressed as his neighbOrs, and has
no ambition to out do them. His children
weara single garment. shirt of coarse
cotton, apparently never washed. The
women folks own a dress of calico each
and 4 snowy cotton handker chief and shoes
for state occasions. If the farmer has any
money he ties it up in an old rag and hides
it in holes in his fireplace or under the
hearth. Raking out his money at night
and counting it by the Arelighr is his great
est perhaps only luxury.-( American Agri-
culturist for October.