Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-09-27
PREY OF pEDDLERs.
SOUTHERN pARKIEs vcTlMIzEo BY
Willy "SALESMEN."
Mortgaging Everything on the Place For
. Fancy Clock-Mules and One Armed
Rocking Chairs Taken as Security.
Charged Extravagant Prices.

- 1890
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
II deprived Of its warning signals, but
which 1t would never occur to him to
make sacrifices to obtain. To the planta-
ton backwoods darky, who has been
won't for long years to tell the time pretty
accurately by the sun, as his father DID
before him, a clock Is regarded as sort
of 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. OeTidan astute
and enterprising clock dealofs have dis
covered this fad, this foible of the back
woods darky, have taken advantage OF
their discovery and have made lot Of
money out Of it.
1t Is now regular business. One man
Is placed In charge Of a large territory, say
three or four counties. He hires num-
Der Of subordinates, furnishes each with
q buggy or road cart and sends them out
into tho country to traverse remote pine
WOOdo idDto
tho most sequestered regions in search OF
customers. The soliciting agents go round
in the spring when the seed is being put
into the ground, when the world looks
its best and when the financial outlook
seems most promising to the improyident
negro, who has wiped out all his last
years debts (from sheer inability to pay
thcm) and has begun over afresh. These
clocks are large tall, imposing. There Is
o great deal Of newness and shininess
about them and some gilt. Those who
know calculate that they arc worth from
SO to 81. They are sold to the negroes for
$12 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 (or his cross mark II he
cannot write) to certain paper which tho
agent draws up for the negroes approval
and his own advantage. The agent takes
an inventory of the buyers possessions.
II he owns n mule yet unmortgaged to
the owner OF the land he Is planting or to
tho storekeeper who has agreed to supply
him with groceries during the summer
(groceries In this instance being largely
interpreted as bacon, flour, sugar and mo-
lasses), the clock man will take mort
gage on the mule, or il the buyer possesses
n COW or hog no will take mortgage on
tho COW or hog; but, failing these large
and easily traced possessions, the agent
Is quite willing to accept bedsteads and
mattresses, feather beds, hide bottomed
chairs, pitchers, oven teacups and saucers
Of the commonest variety, as security He
drives away pleased at having made n sale,
leaving his customer overcome with de-
light at his new possession, which Is the
observed OF all observers when neighbOrs
come in, and its constant ticking and
ability to strike with loudness and aban-
don Is "a source of oft recurring pleasure.
On ono Of these papers which tho clock
dealer held and which was bought by
land owner in order to prevent a worthy
oolored woman on his place from having
to give up all her scanty store of worldly
possessions tho writer saw among tho ar
tioles enumerated lone rocking chair,
with tho arm Off, 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, ono Plymouth Rock rooster"
and had tho landlord not paid tho $40 yet
due on her elaborate clock tho 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
dreary winter nights, when chill airs blew
through the chinks and knotholss of her
cabin, but to keep the tawdry, glass faced
clock up against the clay chimney. In
ono instance COW which had plowed the
crop and at the Same time furnished milk
for the family was sacrificed for q clock.
Tho owners of these snowy timepeces can
judge tho hour accurately by tho sun
mark they are accustomed to notice on
the floor of their house. When the patch
of sunlight reaches a certain uneven place
or perhaps notch In "a plank of the floor,
they know that 1t Is 10 O'Clock, and so on
They do not know the significance of tho
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 one superlative
charm In tho eyes, or rather the ears, of
thoir owners. They can strike with ex-
harshness and loudness, and
when this startling sound is heard re-
through the two bare rooms of
his house the listener feels that he has
new claim to responsibility. 1t was this
attribute of tho 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 he works. His wife, if she
IS smart and industrious, can earn this
AMOUNT also part of the time. During the
,otton picking season they can make 90
cents day and ofttimes more. As rule,
they have n great many children, who
work in the 'side crop" planted near the
house, but who are unable to add much
TO the income Of the family. 1t is plain,
then, that they have little IL any money to
spend for anything that is not strictly
necessity, yet the agents and peddlers who
prosecute them to buy their wares do
fairly good business among them. New
York Tribune.