The Atlanta constitution., 1897-02-08

| Ter than the others. and some of the hands
were quicker. So that it rarely happened
| that they all came al reast down the fur
| rows. But what difference did that make
Let them come one by enc, or two by two,
or twenty abreast. it was all the same
when the Little Master was in sight 1t
was hats off and ''howdy" with Gee,
| Beck," and "Haw, Rhodyr' and "Whar
you been, Little Marster, dat we amt seed
you since day fo' yistiddy?" And SO until
they had all saluted the child on the gray
! pony.
And why did Susy's Sam hang back
and want to turn his mule around before
he had finished the furrow? 1t was easy
to see. Susy's Sam. though he was the
most expert ploughman in the gang. had
only one good hand, the other being a mere
stump. and he dislil1ed to be singled out
from the rest on that account But 1t was
useless for him to hang back. Little
Crotchett always called for Susy's Sam.
Sometimes Sam would say that his mule
was frisky and wouldn't stand. But the
word would come, "Well, drive the mule
out in the bushes" and then Susy's Sam
would have lcng resting spell that did
him good. and there would he nobody to
complain. And so IL was with the rest.
Whoever was sick or tired was sure to
catch the Little Masters eye. How did
he know? Well. don't ask too many ques-
tions about that. You might ask how the
gray pony knew the poison vines and
grasses. 1t was a case of just Knowing
without knowing where the knowledge
came from.
But it was not only the plough hands and
the hoe hands that Little Crotchett knew
about. At the close of summer there were
the cotton pickers and reapers to be looked
after. In fact this was Little Crochett's
busiest time. for many of the negro chill
dren were set to picking cotton. and the
lad felt called on to look after these more
carefully than he looked after the grown
hands. Many a time he had half n dozen
holding the gray pony at once. This made
the older negroes shake their heads and
say that the little master was spelling the
children. but you may be sure that they
thought none the less of him on that ac-
count.
And then there WEI ne reapers. the
men who cut the oats a.. the wheat. and
binders that followed after. At the head
of the reapers was Randall. tall. black and
powerful. 1t was fun to see the blade of
his cradle flashing in the sun and hear II
swing with a swish through the golden
grain He led the reapers always by many
yards, but when he was making the pace
too hot for them he had a way of stopping
to sharpen his scythe and starting up a
song which spread from mouth to mouth
until It could be heard for miles. Aaron,
hiding I'm the wildwoods could hear II,
and at such times he would turn to one
of his comprehensive White Pig or Ram
bier. or that gay Joker, the Fox Squirrel
and say: That's RandalPs song. He sees
the Little Master coming"
The White Pig would grunt, and Ram
bier would say he'd rather hear a horn;
but the Fox Squirrel would chatter like
mad and declare that he lost one of his
ears by sitting on a limb and singing when
he saw man coming.
But the reapers know nothing about the
experience of the Fox Squirrel. and so
they went on singing whenever Randall
gave the word. And Little Crochet was