Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-07-26
.AULD LANG SYNE !
SOME PERSONAL RECOE-
LECTIONS OF INCIDENTS
AND MEN YEARS AGO.
BY AN OLD sTAGER.

AN OLD s1<ANSN'
Back in the thirties. and forties
Hamburg was an important cotton
market. There was but one rail-
road in the State, and it ran from
Augusta to Charleston. Cotton,
from the several districts of Edge
feld, Abbeville, Newberry, Ander-
son, Laurens, and Greenville was
hauled in wagons to Hamburg for
sale. The public highways were
much travelled through the winter
season with cotton wagons, inter:
mixed at times with those laden
with apples and chestnuts or With
-four and bacon, The roads as you
can well imagine were not, could
not he kept in good travelling con-
dltion with these daily professions
of market seekers going over them.
This was a joyous time with the
children, perched upon the yard
fences, watching the passing wag-
ons. Il was a more delightful
time with the small boy when per-
mitted to go along with his fathers
wagon and other neighbor boys
with their fathers wagons (they
generally went in groups) to Ham
burg, and to camp out, to sit around
the campfire at night, partake OF
their meals Es-tly prepared at
home and the o!her part cooked at
the campfire, aud 10 listen to the
amusing anecdotes and jokes of
the older ones, and to witness the
Jolly good cheer among them. The
small boy used to be told that he
upon his first visit to this notable
cotton mart, would have "to kiss
the old blobber-lipped woma,."
So he would not lnfrequentlyget in
TO the wagon and cover up to avoid
being seen by her. As the wagons
neared the town the drivers would
gather up wood by the wayside
and throw into their wagons to
make fires with whilst encamped
in the town.
It was not an infrequent occur
renee to meet cotton buyers on the
road who had come out to get the
promise of an option of the first
cut and bid on your cotton, upon
arrival in town, or would make
bid son the wing" and a bargain
was sometimes struck that way.
Among the buyers, we remember,
were Dunbar & Burnsides, Cash
Mcdonald, Gentri,-Col. Johr son,
Smith, Hammond.
DIR. Stokes was president of the
Hamburg Bank whose money was
good almost anywhere. The State,
banks in those days issued their
own bills. founded upon gold and
silver basis-the issue was in the
proportion of three to one, and we
do not remember any failure in
this State under that system of
bank circulation. Remove the 1C
per cent. tax upon State banks by
the Federal government, and a
similar system might be adopted
again.
But how the little boys enjoyed
eating sugar wien they got into
town. After the cotton had been
sold they were allowed free access
to the sugar hogshead at the store
where their parents traded, and
also allowed to fill a little satchel
to sweeten their coffee with on
their way home. Obi those days go
full Of happiness and enjoyment to
the boys, we could sigh to live
them over againl
Cotton gins (and they were all
run by horse power) wore not nu-
merous in our section of country in
that day. Our father had a pub
lie gin and cotton raisers for miles
around Farmers did not raiae big
cotton crops like they do now
brought their cotton to his gin to
be ginned. To keep up with the
demand for ginning twas neces-
sary to operate till 9 or 10 o'clock
at night. AS we were either en-
ployed in filling the baskets for
the ginner or in driving the horses
around the circle, whose power
moved the machinery, the task be-
came distasteful to US, and we re-
solved in our mind that if We ever
attained to manhood and possessed
a ginnery of our own that we would
not operate it after night.
But these pleasant recollections
of Hamburg trips had their sad
memories also. When quite