The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-04-09
PREY OF PEDDLERS.
,souThERN oARkiEs WcTlMIzED Bv
Willy "SALESMEN."


n Fancy Ciock--Muies and One Armed
Rocking Chairs Taken ~ Security.
Charged Extravasant Prices.
A clock seems to the average American
citizen commonplace, everyday affair. an
institution that he would miss certainly
IL deprived of Its warning signals, but
which It would never occur to him to
make sacrifices to obtain. To the planta-
tion baokwoods darky, who has bem
won't for LONG years to tell tho time pretty
accurately by the sun, as his father did
before him, a olook Is regarded as sort
Uf idol, a priceless possession to obtain
which he would mortgage the very bed on
which he sleeps or the cow upon which he
depends for sustenance. Certain astute
and onterprising clook dealers have dis
covered this fad, this foiblo Of the back
woods darky, havo taken advantage OF
their discovery and have made q lot OF
money out Of 10.
1t is now regular business. One man
Is placed In charge of large territory, say
threo or four counties. He hires "a num-
Der OF subordinates, furnishes each with
q buggy or road cart and sends them out
into tho country TO traverse remote pine
woods lanes and "neighborhood' roads IN
the most sequestered regions In search OF
customers. Tho soliciting agents go round
In the spring when the seed is being put
into tho ground, whom the world looks
its best and when the financial outlook
seems most promising to the improvident
negro, who has wiped out all his last
years debts (from sheer inability to pay
thcm) and has begun over afresh. These
clocks arc large, tall. imposing. There Is
great deal of newness and shininess
about them and some gilt. Those who
know calculate that they are worth from
So to 81 They are sold TO the negroes for
$i2 or Sl4, to be paid for In the fall when
the crop is gathered, but before they are
sot up on the clumsy shelf over the big
fireplace In the dingy cabin tho buyer
must sign his name (or his cross mark IL he
cannot writc) to a certain paper which the
agent draws up for the nogro's approval
and his own advantage The agent takes
an inventory Of the buyers possessions.
II no owns mule yet unmortgaged to
the owner OF tho land he Is planting or to
the storekeeper who has agreed to supply
him with groceries during the summer
groceries in this instance being largely
interpreted as bacon, -four, sugar and mo-
lasses), tho clock man will take mort
gage on the mule, or il the buyer possesses
cow or hog he will take q mortgage on
the cow or hog; but, falling <hese largo
and easily traced possessions, the agent
IL quite willing to accept bedsteads and
mattresses feather beds, hide bottomed
chairs, pitchers, even teaoups and cancers
of the commonest variety, as security. He
drives away pleased ut having made a SALE
leaving his customer overcome with de-
light at his new possession, which Ia the
observed of all observers when neighbors
come In, aud its constant ticking and
ability TO strike with loudness and aban-
donis a source Of Oft recurring pleasure.
On one of these papers which the clock
dealer held and which was bought by
land owner in order to prevent worthy
colored woman on his place from having
to give up all.her scanty store OF worldly
possessions the writer saw among the ar
tiolos enumerated lone rocking chair,
with the arm of, given to me by Miss
Anna Davis; one glass pitcher, bought
from Mrs. Warren Heed; feather bed
and two quilts, one log cabin pattern
and tho other odd pieces; one photograph
album, one Plymouth Rock rooster"
and had the landlord not paid the $40 yet
due on her elaborate clook the good wom-
an would have seen her domestic valua-
bles sold to some fortunate farmers wife
for little cotton or corn and been left
with nothing to comfort her during the
droary winter nights, when chill airs blew
through the chinks and knotholes of her
cabin, but to keep the tawdry, glass faced
clock up against the clay chimney. In
one instance cow which had plowed tho
crop and at the same time furnished milk
for tho family was sacrificed for q clock.
The owners of these SNOWY timepieces can
Judge the hour accurately by the sun
mark they are accustomed TO notice on
tho floor OF their house. When the patch
of sunlight reaches a certain uneven place
or perhaps notch in plank Of the floor,
they know that IL is ~ o'clock, and so on.
They do not know the significance OF the
letters ON the white face of their much
priced ornament or the meaning of the lit
Ito slender hands going round and round
but these clocks have o.fe superlative
charm I'm the eyes, or rather the ears, Of
their owners. They can strike with OK
traordinary harshness and loudness, and
when this startling sound is heard re-
sounding through the two bare rooms Of
his house tho listener feels that he has q
now claim TO respectability. 1t was this
charming attribute of the tall clock which
induced the worthy "auntie" to mortgage
all her comforts and necessities for its pos
session.
The average plantation darky makes be-
tween 80 and 40 cents day during the
months that no works His wife, II she
is smart and industrious, can earn this
amount also part OF the time. During tho
cotton picking season they con make 90
cents a day ana ofttimos moro. As a rule,
they have a great many children, who
work in tho side crop planted near the
house, but who arc unable TO add much
TO tho income OF the family. 1t is plain,
then, that tley have little il any money to
spend for anything that Is not strictly
necessity, yet tho agents and peddlers who
pcrsocute them 70 buy their wares do a
fairly good business among them. New
York Tribune.