Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-04
PREY OF PEDDLERS.
SOUTHERN DARKiES WcTlMlzED BY
 WILLY "SALESMEN."

Rocking Chairs Taken as Security.
 Charged Extravagant Prices.
 A clock seems to the average American citizen a commonplace, everyday affair, an institution that he would miss certainly if deprived of it's warning signals, but which 1t would never occur to him to mako sacrifices to obtain. To the planta- tion baokwoods darky, who has been wont for long years to tell the time pretty accurately by tho sun, as his father did before him, Il clock is regarded as sort of idol, priceless possession to obtain which ho would mortgage the very bed on which he sleeps or tho COW upon which he depends for sustenance. Certain astute and entorprising clock dealers have dis covered this fad, this foiblo of tho back woods darky, havo taken advantage of their discovery and have made lot of money out of it.
 It is now a regular business. One man is placed in charge of alargo territory, say thrce or four coun tics. Ho hires num- Der of sabordnates, furnishes each with buggy or road cart and sends them out into tho country to traverse remote pino woods lanes and ncighborhood roadsin the most scqucsterod regions in search of customers The soliciting agents go round in the spring when tho seed is being put into the ground, when the world looks it's best and when tho financial outlook seems most promising to tho improvidont negro, who has wiped out all his last years debts (from shcer inability to pay them) and has begun over afrosh. Theso clocks are large tall, imposing. Thero is q great deal of ncwncss and shniness about them and soma gilt. Those who know calculate that they arc worth from $3 to $4. They are sold to the negroes for $1e or $14, to be paid for in the fall when the crop is gathered, but before they are set up on tho clumsy shelf over the big fireplace in the dingy cabin the buyer must sign his name Cor his cross mark If he cannot write) to a certain paper which the agent draws up for the negro's approval and his own advantage. Tho agont takes an inventory of tho buyer's possessions If ho owrs a mule yet unmortgaged to tho owner of the land he is planting or to the storekecper who has agreed to supply him with groceries during tho summer (groceries in this instance being largely interpreted as bacon, four, sugar and mo lasses), tho clock man will take mort gage on tho mule. or if tho buyer possesses a COW or hog ho will take mortgage on the COW or hog; but, failing these large and easily traced possessions, the agent is quite willing to accept bedsteads and mattresses, feather bods, hide bottomed chairs, pitchers, even teacups and saucers of tho commonest variety, as security. Ho drives away pleased at having made sale, leaving his customer overcome with do- light at his new possession, which is tho observed of all observers when neighbors como in, and its constant ticking and ability to strike with loudnoss and aban- don is source of oft recurring pleasure.
 On one of these papers which the clock dealer held and which was bought by a land owner in order to prevent worthy colored woman on his place from having to give up uil her scanty store of worldly possessions tho writer saw among the ar ticles enumerated "one rocking chair, with the arm off, given to mo by Miss Anna Davis; ono glass pitcher, bought from Mrs. Warren Hoed; feather bed and two quilts, ono log cabin pattern and the other odd pieces; one photograph album, ono Plymouth Rock rooster,' and had the landlord not paid tho $10 yot duo on her elaborate-Cf0ck the good wom- an would haye seen her domestic valua- bles sold to some fortunate farmers wife for a little cotton or corn and been left with nothing to comfort her during tho dreary winter nights, when chill airs blew through tho chinks and knotholes of her cabin, but to keep the tawdry, glass faced clock up against the clay chimney. In ono instance COW which had plowed tho crop and at the same time furnished milk for tho family was sacrificed for a clock. The owners of these showy timepieces can judge tho hour accurately by the sun mark they are accustomed to notice on the floor of thoir house. When the patch of sunlight reaches q certain uneven place or perhaps notch in plank of the floor, they know that it is 12 o'clock, and so on. They do not know the significance of tho letters on the white faco of their much prized ornament CT the meaning of the lit tlo slender hands going round and round, but these clocks have one superlativo charm in the eyes, or rather the ears, of their owners. They can strike with ex- traordinary harshness and loudness, and when this startling sound is heard re- sounding through the two bare rooms of his house the listener feels that he has a new claim to responsibility. It was this charming attribute of the tall clock which induced the worthy "auntie'' to mortgage all her comforts and necessities for it's pos session.
 The average plantation darky makes be- tween 30 and 40 cents day during the months that he works His wife, if she is smart and industrious, can earn this amount also part of the time. During the cotton picking season they can make 50 cents day and ofttimes more. AS rule, they have great many children, who work in the ''side crop' planted near the house, but who arc unable to add much to the income of the family. It is plain, then, that they have little if any money to spend for anything that is not strictly necessity, yet the agents and peddlers who persecute them to buy their wares do a fairly good business among them. New York Tribune.
 Desperate Measures.