The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-12-04
GrInding SeasOn joke.

II all OF the grinding season Jokes that
have been played at the various sugar
houses in this parish during the past ten
years. were compiled in book form they
would furnish laughable reading matter
for the world. It is 4 great pity that
Mark Twain, with his genius for anything
amusing does not spend several winters
Of his life in the sugar district. We are
sure that he would draw equally as much
humorous inspiration from our sugar
houses as be is now drawing from the
Austrian Reichrath.
One of the most successfully conceived
practical jokes we have heard Of WAS per-
petrated at the Ardoyne refinery several
years ago. The man at the rollers was a
new one, pc g ssing all of the "greensAs"
Of a man who never saw the inside Of .
sugar-housO before. ASS preliminary the
joke players cautioned the roller man to
be constantly on the qui vivs as it often
happened that II carrier hand, overcome
with sleep and fatigue would go to sleep
on the carrier and might be borne by the
carrier to the great rollers and ground to
death. Having thus %forewarned the
roller man the fan seekers proceeded to
make a dummy oflight material on which
they put a hat, coat and pair of pants.
They then put the dummy on the carrier
under the zane shed and waited develop :
ments. They had not long to wait, The
man ut the rollers saw what he thought
was a man come ia view and fall between
the rollers before assistance could be rem
dered. What u feeling o fhorrow the roll
Ter man experienced I He gave one shrek
and then sprang for the throttle valve of
the engine, In his excitement he turned
the wheel the wrong way and the engine
gniekened its speed at q dangerous rat
but the engineer who was one Of theJOkers
was on hand to stop the engine. Tremb-
ling in every limb the roller man informed
the crowd that gathered around that a
man had been crushed to death between
the rollers, The crowd laughed but wis n
the man at the rollers fOuud that he was
the victim offs sugar-house joke he was
too mad to laugh,
The introduction OF electric lights has
opened a field for new invention in the
grinding season joke line, and the joke
perpetrators fairly revel in fun galore
this season, although the consent of the
owner Of the plantation must be obtained
before the electric light Jokes can b
played. One Of the n~ew-fangled jOk es
consists in turning out the lights for the
roller man while at the same instant sew
oral parties on the otherside of the roll
ers, will strike the rollers with sheet iron
or large tin cans. The darkness, and the
fearful clamor never fail to make the mar
at the rollers desert i spast Ofduty.
Another kind of joke is played in III,
shot room" and usually one Of the men
working in the hot room will be the vic
tim. Before hand some one, with a pistO
LLEN a ri
loaded with blank cartridges, will be SO
creted near the scene of action. AS thu
hot room man is walking on aplank from
one side of cooling a to the Others,
about the time he reaches the middle Q
the plank, the electric lights ara turne'
ont and the man with his pistols begin
q rapid firing. The effect is decided
unbalancing and has never failed to Lam
the hot room man knee-deep in the warn
gummy sugar that the a contains.