The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-08-05
SATURDAY IN FLORIDA.
A DAY OF RECREATION FOR THE
NEGROES AND WHITES.
Scenes Upon the streets-BrawIs Growing
from Fiery Liquors-The Typical
''Cracker'-A Native ''FIuridyan's"
Residence-GOinR Home.

r ;
. Residence-Going Home.
Saturday comes and the close observer
can detect an air Of expectancy floating
around the marts Of trade. 1t is an eager
and nipping air. Almost as if by magic
the town becomes alive. The streets are
crowded with negroes, addressed, we'll
dressed and ragged, all jolly and good ma
tured, all bent on having good time. The
female portion are radiant with ribbons
and impossible flowers. Trade and pleas
ure join hand in hand. The peanut vendors
ply their trade and the wooden sidewalks
are covered with sheds. Red lemonade, en-
tirely innocent of lemon, sparkIes on the
| lips of dusky bellies and beauX. The stores
are full, the bar-rOoms are full and many
of the negroes are full. Strings of melan-
choly mullet change ownership. Some of
the negroes here brought chickens and eggs
to sell. Others hides of all kinds. and their
dickering Is shrewd and acknowledgements
the merchant buyer. Sometimes they
gather around the banjo player and have
a song and dance, for, Uncle Remus"
Harris to the contrary, the banjo is the IA
vOrite instrument of the negro.
In the bar-rOOm, after the seductive
fluid has taken possession of its devOtees,
the principal amusement consists of gro
| tesque and incOherent conversation. In
the stores the trading is brisk and sensi-
BILE The wiser, steadier negroes avoid the
bar-rooms. Liquid insanity has no charms
| for them. Their money goes for clothing
| for wife and little ones and the necessa-
ries and luXures of food. The negro is a
good liver and in many instances sits
| down TO a better furnished table than his
| white brother. The paleface is satisfied
| with hOminy and bacon. SambO delights
in sugarcured ham, juicy beef, canned
stuffs and the fish that swim in the great
waters He will have them, too, so long
as he has the necessary ducats. He takes
no heed TO the morrow, being only sure of
to-day. Is he not wise in his generation?
COURTING DAY.
! Saturday is a counting day also to
| SambO. Here he meets the winsOme
fascinating Dinah, redolent of hair oil
and Opulent of lip and foot. He can treat
! her to the limonade that stingeth and the
| peanut that constipateth. He can speak
| love to eyes that speak again in unmis-
| taxable language. He can give and re-
! ceive gentle presSureS of the hand. He
| can stride by the side of his darling away
! from the dusty streets to partial ObsCurity,
which permits him doing the waiSt-en-
| circling act, and sometimes the meeting
| of eager lips. Many a match has been
made on this jubilant day. As the white,
so the black marry and are given in mar
| riage. Though the bride is given away,
! casian, witness the records of the divorce
courts.
/ Early in the morning, Also does the
white man from the country make his APP
pearance. The Cracker" as he delights
to be called, is the sui generis race of the
sOtl-shOrt men, tall men, gaunt men. A
fat cracker" is an anomaly. Hard work,
spare, unhealthy diet, miasmatic cOndi-
tiOns of residency all have left their trace
Sf iEn
nOcent of razor, nearly so of comb, COM
plexion like beef tallOw, heightened with
tobacco juice (for most of them are lusty
chewers of the weed). Some of them are
diamonds in the rough, with hearts of
gold hOspitable as Arabs. Delighting in
horsetlesh and unrivaled hOrsemen
they keep their CRITTERS" swift, fat and
strong, and can ride better when drunk
than most northern men can when sober.
One can hardly blame them for drinking,
their life is so hard and fOrlOrn.
HIS IDIOsYNCRAsIES.
Let US enter this bar-rOom. 1t is full of
crackers, all trying to talk at the same
time They are all about half drunk, but
jolly and full of wild, rough fun, banter
ing one or the other for a "hOss trade" or
bOasting of their powess in field or foray,
or the value of the coming crop. Now, !
one little infamed by repeated rotations, |
lifts his hand high above his head and de-
clareS that he is a native ElOridian and !
amt "skeered" of anything tOpside the /
earth. To him, an exile of Georgia, wink |
ing at the crowd, addresses himself: "I'u |
tell you how you can alters tell a native !
Fluridyan." "How?" says the eager crowd |
drawing near. oval, you uns may be /
agoin' through old 'Fayette or Taylor |
counties some day Now, eff you runs !
across cabin with slab chimbly, rroken |
off erbOut two feet below the roof, the |
front yard full of gOurd vines Std of flow !
ers, the woman blowing the little patch of /
land with steer, the ole man gOin' out |
huntin' with a dozen hOun' dogs an the |
front door full of children-why you kin
resk hit that hit is whar a native Fluri- /
dyan lives" There - uprOarious laughter
at this and all hands take another drink. |
WANTS TO FIGHT.
Sometimes the whisky is unusually fiery !
and then the devil comes to the front
There is a tumult of wild and blasphemous
language, elimination and recrimination,
eXpOstulatiOn on the part of the bar
keeper and a surging out of the bar-room
into the street Here the quarrel is re-
newed and a crowd assemblies. Friends
plead with them, but to no purpose. The
cro,.d separates and two fierce-looking
men stand facing each other. Each has
long, sharp knife in his hand. They get
at one another like wild beasts, their faces
req WIN evil passions anu worse WHISKY.
But hesitation steps in, and the man who
hesitates is lost. Friends again intervene,
perhaps the town marshal, stalwart
man, we'll known to be ION the shoot" is
seen approaching a truce is hastily
patched up and ratified with fresh
draughts of the poison. Sometimes the
parties are unarmed, and then a rougH-
and-tumble fight is the result, ending in
vows of friendship, and huge swallows of
"old red" Generally, however, peace
reigns and the wild and staggering talk
seldom ends in fight.
LIGHTS OUT.
AS night comes on the crowds separate
and put out for home. Flasks are slowed I
away in pockets easy of access; horses are
mounted and off they go in a wild race to
the music of pistols fired in the air. On
Sunday comes the sweiled head and the
tevered tongue, but Monday finds them
bard at work again. Those who have
brought their families with them have
only paid sly visits to the bar-room. These
pow gather up the wife and children in
the wagon with the provision, mount the
patient horse or mule and disappear IN the
gathering characterization Jay in
Philadelphia Times.
If YOU talk much beware of those who