Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-28
Chicago Grain and Provfsion Markets.
Reported by Silsby & Co, bankers ane
brokers. Metropolitan Bank building.
CLOCKS AND NEGROES DOWN SOUTH
The Expensive Amnity the one Has
for the Other.

CLOCKS AND NEGROES DOWN SOUTH.
The Expensive Annuity the One Has
for the Other.
From the Philadelphia Times.
''over $4,000 has passed through my
hands already this season for that man
over there" said the cashier Of one OF the
banks in an interior southern town.
Il was about to ask who he was" re-
sponded his companion. regarding with in
te-ested eyes the prosperous-looking person
across the street. What is his business?
i always see him strolling about In the most
leisurely fashion"
The man referred to was well known az
'the clock man." and his mode OF conduct
ing his profitable business is unique and in
teresting. He employs a large number OF
men, furnishes each with a horse and road
cart, and sends them out into the highways
and byways, through remote country lanes
and pine woods roads where the trace OF
wheels is so dim as almost to be undiscerni-
ble to sell clocks to the negroes and such
of the white backwoodsmen as can be in
duced to buy them. These clocks are esti-
mated as being worth only about 81, but
are sold at from sl2 to s14 apiece. The
agents go round in April or May and sell
them, taking a mortgage on q COW or an OK.
a wagon, a hog. poultry of various kinds,
anything which can be sold and converted
into mcney-even bedsteads bed clothes,
cups and saucers and mattresses are ac-
cepted as security. and in the fall the coll
lectors follow and receive the payments.
One thing is noticeable-the man who pre-
sents the claim for payment is never the
same who sold the clock the previous
spring. Thus any little Irregularities in the
papers drawn up at the time OF the sale are
unknown to him; he only demands what
was agreed upon. Every negro house. no
matter If the only other articles in IL are q
wooden bench or two.a hide-bottomed chair
cooking utensils and the water pail with
the most meage- provisions for sleeping.
boasts one of these showy-looking time
pieces on the rude shelf over the clumsy
chimney place. OF commonest wood, shiny
as long as new. and ornsmented with a lit
tie cheap gilt, these clocks possess one de-
lightful charm in the eyes. or rather ears.
of their owners-they can strike. They az
ford but little knowledge as to the fight OF
time, because their owners do not know the
meaning OF the letters on the white face OF
their much-prized ornament or the eignifi-
canoe OF the little slender hands" going
ever round and round. The possessors OF
these clocks can tell the time much more
accurately by the sun mark they have
grown accustomed TO notice on the floor Of
their cabin, but the tall timepiece over the
fireplace can strike every hour with a loud
ness and an abandon unrivaled by any
ing this its mission is fulfilled
Il kin yere him strike cen de night" said
one old aunty In defense of her extrava-
gance when asking her landlords assistance
In paying the clock man, TO whom she had
given mortgage the previous spring on the
only feather bed and all the quilts she pos
sessed. Had not her benefactor advanced
her the money the old woman would have
seen her precious and most necessary be-
lodgings TRADED" for a little cotton or corn
to her neighbors. and would have had MOTH
ing TO comfort her during the long cold
nights of the approaching winter. but the
knowledge that she Possessed just as fine
and tall a clock as anybody of her acQuaint-
ance. IL the clock seller finds a rare in
stance where the besieged hesitates about
investing, and claims that he won't make
corn enough to do" him. or cotton enough
TO get him out Of debt. and doubts II he can
aford to give sl4 for a useless ornament
the shrewd persuader has but to suggest
that were any OF the family taken sick and
a doctor summoned, there would be no time
piece in the house by which TO administer
the various powders and doses 10 be given
according to directions every hour or two.
and his task Is an easy one. The head Of Q
family cannot longer hold out against such
an urgent reason and a paper is quickly
made out and signed, with his "X' mark,
or. perhaps. with his name IL he has learned
to write IL. in which document he agrees 10
part with some household article or do
mestic animal. now much priced. should he
be unable when a certain day comes 70 pay
to him an indispensable article
A cow which had plowed the entire crop
of one small farmer. and had at the same
time afforded milk as nourishment for the
family. was once sacrificed i'm order to pos
sess this fashionable article of bric-a-brac,
which would, apparently, remind its pos
SCISSORS how long IL was since they had had
milk to drink. Meanwhile the head Of these
various agents lives a life of indolent ease
drives a f1ne team. wears flashing diamonds
on breast and finger and regards the world
about him with satisfaction and himself as
person OF consequence and distinction.
Down on Jehossee and other islands on the
Carolina coast. densely populated with ne
groes who but seldom have communication
with the mainland. thousands of doilars
have been made from the sale OF these
cheap but dear clocks. The land owners
who rent their acres 10 the victims Of these
CLOCK men feel a resentment toward them
or their employer, for many a pound OF cot
ton or bustel OF corn goes TO them which
should be devoted to the payment OF the
Ian dlord who has provided them all summer
with provisions and farming tools and seen
TO II that their families did not want for
bread. Many family gathered around the
supper table hears the sound OF wheels out
side and the familiar 'halloa" which ap-
prises them of an arrival, and upon inquiry
learns the somewhat unwelcome fact that
one of these clock men must be afforded
entertainment for himself and horse for the
night. Ii being too far 10 any town. hospi-
tally must be extended. This business 10
somewhat new. but apparently most sue
cessful.