Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-02-21
IN GEoR'lGIR.
Enother Letter From Ed. Ma.
nan Giving Information
Hbout Aio Trip.

FITzGER Ga, Feb. Bird, 1896.
This has been one Of the most In
teresting days have had. got UP
at 5:15 this morning and started out
\ 10 nee Joe Young, the man that was
going to show III IN old mill sight
ana an ola plantation that they soy
can he bought for 81 per acre. We
have leu rned since that there can he
no title given. There IL Ill old mill
for grinding corn ON the place. that
they say was built 100 years ago.
/ Before we got to the mill saw
white stone that was nearly ns soft
az chalk. asked II they had ever
tried to make lime Of 1t? doc said.
..NOhody never. thought W that,
Boss" We walked across the dam
to the mill, it w.s all hOme-madeb but
the burr; all hewed ont with nm axe
and dra wing knife. l asked the
cracker how mnch toll they charged?
He said, "ReckOn bout u gallon to
one bnshel, Boss" He told me that
that mill ground year in and year
4 out, and not one cent VI money
changed hands.
I saw "a woman out III a boat fish
ing. The NJ gro called to her ana
/ asked her how much she wanted for
her tlsh, which were what they call
Jacks here, and are from 8 to 10 inches
long. She said, "Reckon / don't
want to sell them. mistah. l want
them for dinnah." But Joe bought
them for 40 cents. and she went back
tO her net. Joe said 1t was fish or
nothing with her for dinner. This
transaction between Joe aid the
cracker woman gave me little In
formation that will go to show the
relation between the negro and the
poor white trash in this section. AS
we came up to Joe's plantation. joe
was showing white man where he
wanted fence built. said, Joe It
looks pretty hard to see white
man work for II negro.' lie said.
Eyes. BOss. but 1 had to give dat
man u plug of tobacco this morning
before he went to work, and l will
have to give him snack OF bacon
and a couple Of pounds Of meal to
take home to his folks tonight"
The next outfit we saw was a
cracker family Of renters, which Com
sisted of father, son and tw" daugh-
tiers. The boy was sitting smoking,
while the girls were cutting small
brush with hoes that were hand
forged before the war, that IL. the
eyes Of them, the blade had been re-
layed a number Of times. The IA tl1er
was ploughing with one horse that
I am positive did not weigh over 500
pounds. / asked him what kind Of
Il pillow he was using. He said, dat
is a scootak, sah." l cannot find
language to describe it. 1 talked
to the old man and got him awake.
He told me, as he pointed out the old
quarries, that the one above the mill
was the one that old Nv. Brienes
(who used to own that plantntion)
kept his white wife in and the one
below the mill was where he kept his
black wife; and that the only differ
ence was that his white children
were free born. while the Others
f. .1.,x 7 ri. nj
was quite difference. AS the time
was limited and the Others were call
ing l left the old cracker and went
over to see one OF the daughters. l
took the hoe out of her hand and
Knocked out a few briars whileI was
sizing her up. She was really a
pretty girl. If she had been properly
dressed. I asked her how she liked
the country? And she said las she
gracefully sqnirted the tobacco juice
betwee her teeth that she reckOned
she liked it tOlerable well. learned
that she had had no schooling, and
just as was beginning to get her to
" lain CIIC UoyS SLiu CuCv "VuI@uoC
wait for me any longer, 80 bad to
break away or walk thirteen miles.
We next struck a crowd of twelve
negroes and Il tallyman (white,)
tapping trees for turpentinc and
rosin. 1t is very interesting to learn
how they do it. The first crew are
cutters. they have very long axe
and cut from two to four pockets
that will hold gallon of pitch; this
cutting pockets is trade and the
negroes get one and one-half cents a
piece and they make as high as $4
per day. No white men work at
this. AT the next plantation we got
l4a bunch Of peanuts. They can grow
from 50 to Is bushels of nuts and
about one ton of vines per acre, and
the vines make good fodder for ali
kinds of stock. l tasted some syrup
that was made here. 1t was very
good. / am finding out more and
more why this country was not set
tied up before. We crossed another