The Mena star., 1898-03-30
CHEW SUGAR CANES.
considered One of the Rare De- U ..ahts of This Life.

o,, the sugar plantations the tall
 o stalks full of goodness are being "Iled up by the roots and bundled ord on stalwart heads and shoul- IO.1 Wagon loads are being carried oe'1 r,ill Aanked by the jugs and demi- v ,us in which the sirup will be put JOun # has been cooked and a due esrr. a' of toll deducted. Many and D 4 dignifed carryall or rockaway n mating it's way along the roads has a .asbaring of stalks stoutly lashed to-
 .,ber leaning upon the back seat, and sSsstined for some boy or girl whose Nome crop of cane has not turned out
 aIl Even the sportsman who drives n his buggy to the appointed meeting rlace takes along a stalk or two of cane ton off his midday meal. The school ab;ldren all have the purplish sticks. m every juggling board in hall or Oiozza. every settle or rustic seat where tbe young people gather in the after roon or evening, the cane tipple goes Those accustomed to chewing eone are fastidious as to the kind of 
 fered them.
 q say, Charley. when did you pull m that stalk? Last week? It isn't nice bit" says girl connoisseur, throwing the strip she has been work ing on as far out among the flower beds as she can.
 Now, Miss Pussy" protests Charley, who is stripping off another joint, q pulled that stalk as I rode up from DurIand's yesterday afternoon. l. couldn't have gone off in flavor in that little time"
 "Did it have the roots on all right, or did somebody cut them off when you brought it in the house?"
 @It had the roots on until ten min utes ago. There was no chance for the goodness to escape"
 swell, then | don't like the flavor of that patch on the road to Durland's. The cane down there in the hollow back of tbe stables is twice as good; and, besides, any cane to be first-class ought to be eaten just the minute it's picked"
 The sugar cane season is leveler, inasmuch as it reminds women of their dependence upon men. The plantation girl can't cut and peel her canestalk any more than she can sharpen her pencil. If she gets hold Of a fine-look- ing stalk she waits until Jack or John or Charley is on hand to peel it for her
 Here, Miss Nancy, you chew part ners with me" says some boyish sprite of mischief to the newcomer who does not know the ropes.
 Miss Nancy agreeing, the longest joint to be found is cut, peeled and split to convenient size. A pretended measurement of the girls mouth hay- ing been taken in order that the slice may not be too wide, Miss Nancy begins chewing al one end and her partner at the other. When middle ground is reached the two faces are, of course, close together, and Miss Nancy retires, scarlet, amid peals of laughter, declar- ing that she will never, never, never speak to that odious boy again."
 If anything can approach the water melon in the darky's favor sugar cane does. Very few of the negro small farmers can afford to raise the genuine cane, as the culture requires rich ground and the product is not regarded as necessity. They all have little patches of millet. however. or of sorghum, and those who are employed aoout the places where cane is grown are in clover. The pickaninnies do not wat for knives when they want to get at the sugary fluid of either sorghum or cane. They bite pieces out of the nara rind with their teeth and then pull the remainder off somehow and ofeak the stalk eff above a icint by hitting 1t on a hard surface. The pick ahinnies demonstrate every day the aselessness of many articles that en- 'lgntened people think indispensable ugure of bliss is a black youngster Oi SIX or seven clinging to a stalk of cane Tor dear life and dancing up and 1own with satisfaction as the juice ''ichies down his throat. His elders 'nough less demonstrative. are by no means above showing their love of the sagary delicacy.
 am plant no cane myself. seein' as !. take up right smart of ground as wouio do to make cotton" says Uncle iofk' but does Tub to see it growth Sn pretty in de summer time, like dat were the cap'n raise likes to taste it, .oo seem like when you git de new asss or It in you 1t does do you q mighty s'gnt or good. ."-N. Y. Sun.