The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-01
~LAY-BY" TIME IN THE SOUTH.
The Black People All Rest and White
Ones Visit Their Cousins.
- = ~ = . q IT,
prom the New YORK Trlbuna.

me Black PEOPLE All Rest ana White
Ones Visit Their Cousins.
From the New York Tribune.
In the cotton planting districts and on
the rice plantations the interval between
the last working Of the crops and the
beginning Of the harvest is called "lay-by''
| time. It occurs in the month OF August
and is looked forward TO with pleasure
by white and black alike. "Lay-by'' time
means rest for the hoe hands. women and
children. who have chopped away endless
! hours beneath the burning sun Of May,
June anu July; rest for the men who
have followed the burrows up and down
the measureless rows since the last of
| February; rest for the mules and oxen
which have tugged at the plough each
day through all those months and now
are free 10 Craze and dOZe in turn in the
green spaces of the pasture. The last work
| has been done to the cotton; IL is now
I too strong and vigorous for the grass 10
interfere with its growth, and the wide
acreage is studded with hOlls and gemmed
with gay-cOlored blossoms. The rice is
headlng in its fretted sheath, the corn
swelling in the green-swathed ear, and
the peanut, the sorghum and the sugar
cane are all maturing in rank luXuriance.
"Pease-ripe?' the quail calls across the
fields, surveying the promising outlook,
and his mate pipes her three sweet notes
IN precise approval, thinking of proven
der Tor the brown cOVey later on.
Uncle Ned lies in the shade of his cabin,
idly smoking his corn-cob pipe, and the
breeze that skins the corn field fans his
temples as it hurries by and rufiies the
guilt patches which his wife is placing
in squares and diamonds in order to get
the best effect.
The circuit preacher looks upon clay
by time as his peculiar harvest, and the
politician likewise avails himself of this
season OF leisure and sunny weather TO
get certain arguments and schemes Of
ms own before the public. Picnics and
barbecues, held ostensibly for pleasure
but IN reality for a sterner purpose, are
the order of the day and il is then that
the populist leader harangues his audi
ence as 10 the general and particular in
competence of the existing government
and the crying need for new legislation
The south is noted for its large families
and equally noted for the strong attach
ment which binds those families together
In the rural districts and smaller towns
whole communities are related, and many
boast that for generations no single MEM
Der has married outside the pale of con-
sanguinity. 1t is in "lay-by' time that this
bond Of brotherhood, of sisterhOod. of
cousinhood, finds opportunity for express
sion. Black Billy, Boston or the gray mule
is not needed on the farm in this halcyOn
season, and can be hitched up TO take
the master and his family 10 visit "Cou-
sin Jake" or Aunt Merlina," way up in
Lexington or down on Sandy Run, as the
case may be, the time being more aus
piciOus than even the Christmas sea-
son, owing to the midsummer conditions
of the roads (and the roads in the coun-
tions).
1t is not merely human freight that Black
Billy and Boston transport to Cousin
Jakes. Pink home cured hams that were
sewed into their coarse coverings by pains
taking feminine fingers are slowed away in
the bottom Of the carryall, along with
loaves of famous llghtbread, made with
grandmOther's yeast and catsup and sweet
pickles prepared especially for this Occa-
sion. 1t Will take the visitors a day and
half to go and the same to return; but they
will spend at least two days at Cousin
Jake's and hear the news of himself and
his vicinity that has occurred since their
Il likes for Iayby time to come, cause
people keep a stlrrin' bout So" comments
Maum Dilcie, whose cabin commands a
view of the neighborhood road. Il done
see five buggies pass here to-day. Dem
chillun makes right smart. too, a opening
de gate" she continues, as a fleet footed
grandson, VINO, contrives to run even
though hampered with trousers three sizes
too big for him, filings wide the broad
barred gate to admit a waiting team.
Denis Miss Betsy Spriggins sisters
chillun gwine to spend a time wild her"
adds the old woman shading her eyes with
her hand In order TO scrutiniZe the stran-
gers and as the heavy rockaway, with it's
budgets and parcels and trunk tied on be-
hind, numbers slowly out of sight, she in
dulges in Renaissance concerning the
Sprlggins family and characteristics.
Although fond of motion and excite
ment, the negroes, as race, take their
pleasure sadly, and having funeral SER
mons preached Is conspicuous diversion
among them in "lay-by' time. de bury
in was corn-plantin' season in March, but
de funeral eWine be preach next Sunday"
they explain to one who does not under
stand this custom, and the relatives of
the dead brother or sister hunt up APP
prOpriate badges of mourning and pre-
pare to take. a conspicuous part in the
purposely delayed ceremonies.
A burying and a funeral are two distinct
occurrences in plantation etiquette. and
not at all synonymous, although the func-
- hnHr ~ L.. 90
abbreviated because the funeral at later
date is to supplement il. The dead are in
TERED precisely at the same hour of the
day or night, they expired, but the funeral
takes place on a Sunday morning, months
later, when the virtues of the dead man
are extolled or his sins expatiated on, with
more or less eloquence, the preac cher never
hesitating to indicate plainly his convic-
lions as TO the destination of the depart
ed soul.
the old slave days?' was asked of white
haired negress.
"Dey was always bound to have it while
waitin' for de cotton to open and 1ist fore
strippin fodder time" was the answer.
"All It's, de white people never let us fling
work Fam away and study bout nothin'
at all but play, like de eolored people does
now. We had to rake straw, and patch
up fence, and do light work one way
and anudder and de womens was given
our winter frock and body clothes to sew.
De white people always did have a mighty
iubilation and visitin bout 'mongst one
anuudef III ue ldy-Dy time. seem II s
SIGH a sweet season, and eberyting grow
in so prettey," and the old slave looked
approvingly at the green gourd vines at
her feet and the greener fields that spread
| beyond quite down to the banks of the
| creek
But this sweet season" is of only brief
! duration. BY Sept. 1 every hand on the
place and every vehicle and animal that
can be put in motion viii be busy gather
ing the crop of 95 and carrying it to
market or slowing IT away in courthouse
| or barn.
Australia Sees Profit in Her Plague.