The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-11-11
'CROP-TIME IN
THE SOUTHLAND.
These are Days Of TribuIation for
Many a Negro Farmer.
MAILING UP Courthouse DOORS
A Little Piece of Board That Is Nor
Effective Than the Padlock-When
the Sheriff Pats IL on the Door
IL Stays Until the Debt is Paid.

| men acting apparently in a strange and
| Giraffe manner are seen about the cOun-
| try lanes and in out-of-the-way planta-
| ton premises. Sometimes II is only one
man thus encountered-an alert-lookihs
| person. securing the prospect with eyes
| that let nothing escape. Sometimes there
| ara two or more men together lowering
on the outskirts OF cornheld or cotton
| match. scanning things with a wide-aWake
| comprehensive gaze. They are PLAINLY
| not farmers nor backwoodsmen, nor yet
| mere travellers stopping over 10 get &C
| uuainted with the country, for the buggy
or road cart which brought them TO the
spot and is hitched nearby In the WOODS
| or 10 a fence somewhere bears no mar rs
| OF having come an oVer-lonS Wayor or the
! occupants having camped out over night
They can't be peddlers or hunters. for
they have nothing TO sell and nothing 10
shoot with. Indeed, so intent are these
| folks in their work that the most inter-
| esting and intimate OF country happen
| ings could go on right under their noses
| and they never see or know. Things that
| the gunsman and naturalist and nature
| lover would dote on-for people can love
| nature without regard to science or dis
| section-are discounted in their care Tor
what, after all. seems very humdrum
| quarry when found. a mere inanimate
| piece OF board OF staging. which some
| carpenter overlooked. when no worked
| In that spot, and which the strangers
| pounce on and appropriate as though 1t
were the one thing above others worth
having.
What are they going to do with that
| piece of board asks some one not yeTsed
| in harvest-time annals.
| BETTER THAN A LOCK.
| "Shut up some negro's cornhouse with
| IT," comes the answer. "See. there's the
| place through those trees TO the right.
| What are they going TO do that for? on,
| because the negro hasn't paid out. and
| this is the only time OF year when ne
| would be likely to have anything to pay
| out with. Those men are the Sheriff
| deputies. He has them out all over the
| county now. They will take that board
| and nail 1t across the door OF the corn
| house the fodder house or cotton bin or
| whatever is levied on. and. slight az II
| seems. that board represents tho seal of
| the law Just now. lying on the ground,
| it was rlerely discarded weather-beat-
| en- piece of scantling. bat onco put up
| across the door and hammered In place
| It has n vital meaning
| How long will II stay there? Until
| the owner Of tho corn or cotton shows a
Opposition TO pay the debt or makes
| some arrangement in regard 10 II. May
| Dfs II VIII ne taken uONl III lNO VI Aiiif'
| DAYS. maybe not for as many months or
| weeks IL depends on circumstances.
| But. however much need or desire the
| owner may have 10 get into his barn or
| how far ont Of the way he may live from
| the Sheriff. he won't dare TO lay finger
| on the board. It's n penitentiary offence
| to tamper with IL and even the most
| ignorant negro tenant understands that.
| There IS tragedy and comedy. too, abroad
in the country at this time Of year. May
| be its only a beggarly s. or so that some
| body wants to collect and takes this
1 summary means Of collecting-the bal
I ance Of payment on n sewing machine or
l.r some piece or furniture or frippery
| bought perhaps a year ago, and which
| these simple folks IN their inability to
| keep n reckoning may have thought was
| paid for Perhaps in reality II was paid
| for and they are being cheated and made
to pay over again.
DREAD THE SHERIFF.
| Sometimes II is grave matter that
| shuts up the courthouse, relating to the
| payment on a mule or a mans farm
| lands. II NAV be that tho negro has been
| caught carrying his crop off by stealth
| somewhere else 10 sell. I'm place OF paying
| his landlord or the man who has fur
nished supplies and crop-making gear
| during the year. For whatever omission
| or desert, trivial or serious. 1t is done.
| the negroes regard the Sheriff's visit with
| awe and feel themselves dsgraced and
| outlawed when the tailmanc board Is
| tackled to their door.
| Sam Harley was shut up two years
| hand runnn' gedderin time" they say
! with an ominous headshake and sugges-
| tive tone And sam Harley loses caste
in society until he does something to
| mako IN for tho pXDpripnre
| d" 'Zok Happy's good square farmer.
| There amt never been no Sheriff board
| tech his cornhouse.' is an opposite judg-
! ment And those who either through
| misfortune or duplicity ever have to
| wear the brand feel it keenly.
| ain been nowhere no more than 70 the
| branch with my bucket. or oarryin' out
do COW TO feed. since us been shut up
Mosely. a field worker. told me the other
day. She IS civil well-dlsposcd woman,
| who. together with her thick-headed hus-
/ rand, makes a pretty fair crop. but she
| can't manage even the gathering OF II
| without an Overseer. Il amt had de
| heart 70 look people in dc face since dat
| happen. nor my ole man. nuther, she
| went on. And such a onbeknownst thing
| as trap us That headrus (headresO
chair wild de high rockers to II what we
| buy from de sellin' man in February
4
| burnin' up olefier Pine out cen front de
| house Pittin' ready for corn plantn' and
| Mr. Buckra was drivn' in rusty nails in
| de peach tree trunk TO keep off de worm.
| All our bestest peaches las year was eat
| out wild worm, so we work on 'em dis
| year and save EN-. II wa that very
! time de man come along wild de head
| rus rockin' chair. | git up cen de wagon
| and set in de chair and like de feel OF it
| Him say $li was de cost. and | had six
| and more savin' since Christmas. and
] Mr. Buckra he git dollar and half on
| days work fer do white people. and de
| man take dat and left de chair next
| mornin' after he had stay all night wild
| us. The bargain stand that every time
| he send a collector round we was to pay
| s. till we was pay out. De collector come
round regular after that, and we had
| give him every bit OBJ change what we
| could raise and a paper on Mr.. Coloners
| store where we gifts credit. The colec-
| tor would write de paper out. same like
| de trial Justice would fix II. and den Mr.
| Buckra and me would put our cross
| mark Underneath. Every month do col
| lectOr come regular. Sometimes he would
| be de same man as had come he last
| time and sometimes he wouldn't De last
| two rounds he come we never had
! nothn' to give him. cause Mr. Colonel
| had give out de word rs there wasn't no
more credit to his store for nobody.
| The HEADRUS' ROCKER.
"Please. narster here the other day
| fist as was ixin' de rumplus pullet nest,
! gettin' ready 10 set her-I amt blieve
much in settin' young pulet; dey's apt