Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1893-05-18

calico or I'll pull my razor, dye
see3"
With such remarks, and g hun.
dred like them the wagon load was
at last made up. Then there was
a,pause while the load got settled
and while Brother Cornelius pre-.
pared to have every passenger also
settle with him for the fare. There
was much talk about the nnoney
that was needed, and the most as.
torishing disclosures of the anan-
cial condition of the passengers
were made. Some of the men did
not hesitate to borrow of their fe.
male companions. aLiz, you know
you got to put up der spondulix. ]
amt got a dam cent to my name.'
"Whar's Maria2 Maria, you done
got to lend me ten cents, or else ]
dom see you to no ball tonight. !
only got forty cents" Whether
these men blushed or not it was
impossible to see. This was partly
because it was a dark night. There
were many calls to Brother Corne-
lus that he must trust this one or
that for fifty cents, but those were
iests, and Cornelius knew it, for he
paid no heed to the suggestions.
The seating arrangements were
peculiar. One girl declared she
would sit on her mans lap. 81
'shamed?" she asked; 81 amt
'shamed O. nothin' 80 long as my
conscience is clear" One of the
men folded his girl in his arms
and announced that he was going
to love her all the way to Red
Bank, at which she fought and
writhed for freedom like cap
tured cat, and said that if he
didn't "leave off his foolishness
she'd jump out of der wagon"
Except for her display of temper,
all were as merry as a chime of
marriage bells. There was one
fellow, he with the red necktie,
who kept grooming one line of a
song in the way that is peculiar to
negroes.
Some folks say dat preacher won't steal.
This line he kept chanting
monotonously, evidencing perfect
and complete happiness. 1t rose
above all other sounds, sharp and
clear, in a high falsetto tone. Once
another darky took up another line
of the same song and repeated that
again and again. The effect was
like this:
"Ann Maria, is dat you leg or
is it miner"
Some folks say dat preacher won't steal.
"You know whose tits, an you
better look out for yo'self."
"IEell, then, I can't find e'ny
one of my legs"
Lord G6d knows dat a preacher won't lie.
In the course of time Mr.. Sid
Cornelius mounted the ladder, and
surveying the almost solid mass
of passengers on the straw, cleared
his voice and made the following
announcement:
"Ladies and gentlemen, please
fork out yo' seventy-6ve centses,
De fare am a-going to be seventy
five cents
"Wha-a-a-t?" from a dozen
throats.
"Dat's what it am" said Mr.
Cornelius. ''Dis yere amt half a
dollar side show. Dis am seventy
five cents or walk"
There was an instant and pre-
cipitate scramble for the ground
No words were wasted. The men
leaped over the sides of the wagon
some of the women threw them.
selves off the straw and into the
mems arms, and others came Ia
borlously down the ladder, front.
ways as women will with theil
skirts clinging to the frame behind
them and being pulled higher and
higher to their knees. No one o1
the colored folks seemed to see the
humor of this sudden and genera.
scramble. To the white lockers
on it was almost unendurably
funny. At one moment the Wagon
was heavily loaded with twenty
light-hearted persons going to 6
ball. The next moment no one
was going to the ball and the Wagon
was empty. A raise of a quartz,
of a dollar in the fare had occa
stoned the transformation. It wal
evident that fiftv cents Was The