The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-10-07

dew and the rain, so should the melon
be, he argues, as it has grown through
these agencies, combined with an jnci.
dental occupation of some ones rich
and cultivated soil. So he proceeds to
gather his share of it in. He loves to
reap it in the dark of the moon. when
he can not be told from the shadows
that Turk in the field, for he has a well.
rooted objection to giving entertainment
in his soOty person to a well-directed
load of bird-shot. He selects about ten
or eleven p. m. as the time and oener-
ally goes alone. In such an enterprise
more than one is an unwieldly crowd.
He cautiously skirts the field first t o see
if any one is on the skirmish line. Find
ing no pickets out in the shape of speci-
mems of the canine race, he lightly
chambers over the fence and is in the
garden of Eden. The negro is an ex-
pert in melons. He rarely makes a
mistake. He can tell the ripe from the
unripe with an almost certainty of
touch. If he does make a mistake he
cares nothing for it. There is nothing
small about Sambo, and to obtain one
perfect n he will break twenty others
without a pang. This, too, is of prac.
teal benefit to the farmer, for it saves
him the labor of breaking them up for
his swine and cattle. There has al
ways been a doubt in my mind, how
ever, whether he fully appreciates it.
Sambo rarely eats the melon in the
field where he obtains it. He generally
retires and devours it along the road
side, ''to hab de law on his side," as he
sagely remarks. If his appetite is not
satiated he climbs back again and helps
himself to another, and so on ad nau-
scum. He rarely takes a stolen melon
home. Cause whyp He amt 'sgwine
ter 'cou'age de chillen in s~tealin'.n He
is very thoughtful in his paternal and
family relations. AS he very truly re-
marks: '.Ef de ole oman want one, she
know whar ter git hit"
Somewhere in the white sand by the
solemn sea there grows a melon called
way of the transgressor, and unfit for
any purpose that l know of. But it in
outward appearance is the perfect pat
tern of a splendid watermelon, and
many there be that have been fooled
thereby. A friend of mine, who keeps
a place where the worm that lever
uieGu Is given local ndD.CaIlOn ana q
name, had n given unto him and he
placed it at his front door. 1t was
about a month before the most venture
some melon could possibly hope to get
ripe. Of course, it attracted. an i'm
mense crowd, with Africans largely in
the majority. Big and little, of all
shapes and sizes, all %colors, from mud
to molasses and from clay to ink, the
negroes gathered around it. They
gazed at it with respectful awe, mingled
with wistful alteration. They patted il
on the back and petted it with tremb-
ling hands. They talked to it and to
each other. what you dom dar,
melonP Don you know faint yo' sun
up yitP" WINNER eff OATS real mill
yum, Mariarp" ''Bless my soul! Don
1 wish 1 had 'im!" At nightfall, when
my friend went to take it in. it was
gone. Some coon, slyer and holder
than the rest, had gathered it in as 8
hen gathereth her chickens, and it was
known of that place no more What
tableau it must have been when the
captor put knife to his prize.-Hami.
tom Jay, in Chicago He' aid.