The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-02-22
OLD MILL SONGS.
:CH0ES Of LONG AGOSTLL HEARDM SOUTH CAROLINA


CHAsLzsToS, s. c., Feb. G.-Msny are the
curious relics Of the '.old regime to be
found In the BLACK districts Of South
Carolina. Wherever the whites are in the
majority, progress has modernized the Gus
toms, new ideas and new discoveries have
been adopted, and the good old fashions
are memories only. Bnt on many of the
old cotton and rice plantations in the
black districts'-iong since deserted by
their former owners. but still occupied by q
gray-hsadsd remnant of ex-sIayes, their
children and their children's chiIdren-the
condition Of affairs is very different. Here
there has bosn no progress-quite to the
opposite, indeed-and here many of tho
primitive usages Of thirty years ago are still
in vogue.
But before speaking further of the relics.
a word for the old plantations on which
they may be found. The old plantations
are interesting enough, because of their
former beauty, and the luxury Of their
former OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES o. their
present dilapidation and the wild pIctur-
sequences that surrounds them. To bsyiu
fttingly. here is the big gate at the en-
trance OF the long avenue. bordered by
moss'mantled century oaks-here was the
Rats-to-day it is gone like the fencing. for
only q zig-Zag ridge Of rotten plank and
posts winds through the riotous thicket
and msrks the line Of the old fence. The
avenue is knee deep in dead leaves. the
oaks are fettered by grape vines, Dropping
under tons OF moss. and from long neglect
LOOK III a company Of bushy -hesded
giants drawn up III battle array
against the 9enii Of the weird solitndes
ahnut them The ~ k4-I.-x yy.s--
at the end of the avenue 10 to.terinp to the
fan; shorn Of steps, shutters. window
panes; pIllaged of every portable ornament,
rottInR and ruined. The smoke-honse.
with It's hundred diamond shaped eyes,
through which clouds Of snowy smoke was
wont TO ooze, after enyeloping the freshly
dressed MANS hanging from the ceiling in
SIDE: and thus helping to cure them: the
Kitchen, wherein aXj feasts per anuum
were prepared III the good old days. the
stables that once harbored many a blooded
courser: the barns. the dwellings of the
fallen.
Say that a stranger 10 approaching the
quarters (which IN slavery days meant
tnat long row Of negro abius far a-tieId in
which the held hands dvsIty He wOuld see
q quaint little settlement of a~ininutive.
oiispidated houses, patched and propped in
every conceivable fashion. and Surrounded
dDDdRtS EU0
potatoes, a few fowls and pigs. q host of
gaunt ours, piles OF oyster shells. stacks of
fodder, potato banks fenced in with rails.
an occasional peach or pear tres-ail these.
with the Inhabitants, be would see at a
glance and while approaching. But what
Is the sound that he hears! That vhirring,
wnizzing. grating. rushing. yet not m
pleasant sound, accompanied by iusty voices
chanting the most monotonous of tunes.
He does not know. The initiated would
tell him lit il ths old miIl'-and 10 it il.
Not long since the writer, accompsnie,
by a photographer and two bury blacks (,
carry the Gamers and pull the oars, jour
neysd far into the country, over water AZ,
over land, for the purpose of obtaining
picture Of the only ~apte-beiIum stone mil
within many miles of the city that diIigen
inquiry could locate.
Let us examine it in detail.
FIRST, the large square frame over whicl
the two men are standing, supports tw.
heavy c~iseulsT stones. Their surfaces ar,
rough. IKE .S6arss sand paper; the bottom
Stone 10 atse7ossry, the top stone movesble