Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-10-17
THE MONTH OF REST.
.LAY BYn TIME AND ITS PLEASURES
IN THE SUNNY SOUTH.

w
the Work People Do Little Work, bu
Spend the Time In Visiting and Other
wise Enjoying Themselves.
In the cotton planting districts and OF
| the rice plantations the interval between
the last working of the crops and the be-
ginning of the harvest is called LAY by
| time Ii occurs in the month of August
and is looked forward to with pleasure by
| white and black alike.
i, Lay by time means rest for the hoe
hands women and children, who have
ebopped away endless hours beneath the
burning sun of May, June and July; rest
| for the men who have followed the fur.
rows I'D and down the measnreless rows
since the last of February; rest for the
mules and oxen which have tugged at the
plow each day through all those months
and now are free to Craze and doze in turn
in the green spaces of the pasture. The
last work mas been done to the cotton; it
| is now too strong and vigorous for the
| grass to interfere with its growth, and the
wide acreage is studded with bolls and
gemmed with gay colored blossoms. The
rice is heading in its fretted sheath, the
corn swelling in the green swathed ear,
and the peanut, the sorghum and the sugar
cane are all maturinain rank and luxuri
ance. "Peas ripe?" Me quail calls across
| the fields, surveying the promising out
| look, and his mate pipes her three sweet
notes in precise approval, thinking of pro-
yender for the brown covey later on.
Uncle Ned lies in the shade of his cabin,
| idly smoking his corncob pipe, and tho
breeze that skins the cornfield fans his
| temples as it hurries by and ruflles tho
quilt patch 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 his own
before the public.
The south is noted for it's 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 many generations no single
member has married outside the pale Of
consanguipity. 1t is in clay by" time
that this bond of brotherhood or sister
hood or cousinhood finds opportunity for
expression. 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 to visit
Cousin Jake or Aunt Merlina way up III
Lexington or down on Sandy Run, as the
case may be, the time being more auspi
cious for this pilgrimage than even the
Christmas season, owing to the midsum
mer condition of the roads.
1t is not .aerely human freight thai
Black Billy and Boston transport to Cous
in Jako's Fink home cured hams that
were sewed into their coarse coverings by
painstaking feminine fingers are slowed
away in the bottom of the carryall, along
with leaves Of famous light bread made
with grandmother's yeast and catsup and
sweet pickles prepared especially for this
occasion. 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 Jakes and hear the news of him.
self and his vicinity that has occurred since
their last visit.
81 likes for lay by time to come, cause
people keep a-stirrin bout so, comments
Maum Dilcie, whose cabin commands {,
view of the neighborhood road Il done
chillun makes right smart, too, Il opening
dc gate" sae continues as u fleet footed
grandson, who contrives to run even
though hampered with trousers three sizes
too big for him, filings wide the broad
barred gate tn admit waiting team.
Denis Betsy Spriggins' chilun gwine
to spend a time wild her." adds the old
woman, shading her eyes with her hand in
opJo To i,iy h, cfp
the heavy rorkaway, with its budgets and
parcels and trunk tied on behind, numbers
slowly out Of sight, she INDUCES in rem
iniscences concerning the Spriggins family
and characteristics.
Although fond of motion and excite
mont, the negroes, as race, take their
pleasure sadly, and having funeral SER
mons preached is a conspicuous diversion
among them in clay by time. "De bury
in was corn plantin season in March, but
de funeral gwine 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 appropriate
badges of mourning and prepare to take
conspicuous part in the purposely delayed
ceremonies.
A burying and a funeral are two dis
'AiSo oNcuii'iiSto cliuuoUte,
and not at all synonymous, although the
functions of the burying are not in the
least abbreviated because the funeral at q
later date is to supplement it. The dead
are inferred precisely at the same hour of
day or night at which they expired, but
the funeral takes place on Sunday morn
ing, months later, when the virtues of the
dead man are cxtolled or his sins expatiat-
ed upon, with more or less eloquence the
preacher never Insulating to indicate plain
ly his convictions as to the destination OF
the departed soul.
Did they use to have 'lay by time
in the old slave days?" was asked of a
white haired negress
"Dey was always bound to have it while
waitin for de cotton to open and jist fore
strippin fodder time was the answer
v All It's, de white people never let us fling
work away and study bout nothin at
all but play, like de colored people does
now. We had to rake straw and patch up
fence and do light work one way and an
nudder, and de womens was give our win
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