The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-24
The Southern Plantation of To-day. South Carolina Correspondence Boston
 Transcript,l

Jho southoru flauthtion or To-dny.
 South Carolina Correspondence Boston | Transcript
 l Plantations of the present day are conducted very differently from the way
 they were managed under the old re-
 gime, The one l have in mind com prises something over i've thousand
 acres. The proprietor reserves about 25o acres for his own planting and rents out the remainder to small farmers
 who give him so many pounds or bales of cotton for the rent In proportion 10 the quantity and quality of the partic- ular piece Of ground they cultivate. the size Of house and corn-house of which | they have tho use etc Much discrim- nation Is required in the selection Of tenants for defective or indifferent farming will impoverish the land or en- danger the landlords chances of col. lecting his rent. Most of the tenants are negroes. forty families of that race residing on the place.
 Of these. there are number who arc excellent farmers. thrifty. industrious. prompt in paying their obligations. and thoroughly interested in everything that pertains 10 their business, the wife working as hard as the husband harder in fact because when her field work Is over she cooks the simple meals. washes the clothes. and patches the garments for her numerous family by the blaze of wood-light torch. after the members of the household are rolled in their respective quilts" and voyag- ing in slumberland. She does more than this. for she raises chickens and turkeys sometimes geese and ducks, using the eggs for pocket money and to obtain the tobacco which is as neces- sary to her comfort as to that of her husband and sons.
 The majority of the negroes go to work in the early morning with no breakfast. or perhaps only a crust to nibble on; when they come In at l2 o'clock, stirabout Is made Ia dish con cocted of cornmeal. salt and water. and looking very much as the name sug- gestsD of which all the family partake the elder members eating an allow ance" of bacon. Any luXuries they may enjoy appear at the evening meal, such as coffee. flour. etc; usually, how ever, their fare is of the simplest, and cold water their beverage, except on Sundays and high days, celebrated usu- ally with reference to some religious festival. Too much credit cannot be given these hard-working wives and mothers, who hoe, rake, cook. wash, chop. patch and mend from morning until night; very often garments will be patched until scarcely trace of the original foundation material can be seen and there are many cases where the wife is much the best cotton chop per of the two. and her work far more desirable than her husbands.
 About one-third of the plantation ne- groes are good respectable citizens, liv- ing in harmony with their wives and honoring the sanctity of the marriage relation; but the majority-though de- vout church members and punctual in their attendance in all services by day and by night, Sundays and through the week-violate the seventh command ment in the most fragrant manner, even though they obey number of the other ten. Nor does their behavior in this respect injure their social standing among their fellows. A colored minis ter undertook to turn all such delin- quents out of the church, but found his congregation would be too much depleted, so he kept the wanderers in the fold. Their falling from grace" so often may create gossip, but seldom incurs censure, though the church mem- bers. even the perpetrators themselves, would be shocked at the idea of cutting a stick of wood on Sunday or perform ing any other trivial task that could with some forethought be accomplished as well on the previous day.