The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-09-16
COTTON PICKING BEGINS
Negroes in the south FIockinE To the
Fields

| Fields.
| MARLIN. Texas. Sept 16-Nature is
| calling 10 her children. TIE sunshine. the
( warm winds, the waving cotton fields.
| call aloud to the black man and all those
| who are next Of kin 90 Mother Nature
| cotton picking time is here Few black
| men can hear the call unmoyed-
| Cotton picking tire is a romp with nat
| ure. p.aytime with the sunshine and
| the warm winds, a holiday Of song and
| laughter and an forms OF mcrriment. II
/ IS The time when the negro returns to his
own
To the dweller in town cotton picking
! time is a period of uncertainty and uuac-
customed labor. IL is the one time in all
the year wheE the proud. white lady
bares her dimpled arms and fries the pork
and bakts the cOrnbredd herself This is
humihatiug, Of course. but white folks
must live, even in the time Of picking
cotton. Cooks. chambermaids, laun-
dresses, and other domestic help think
nothing of leaving the breakfast dishes
unwaShed and the beds unmade and go
ms; on in a wagon 20 the cotton fields. TO
be gone several weeks or even three OF
four months
4 big wagon. filled with men. women
and children or all ages and compilations.
VIII halt in front Of a white mans house.
and the cook back in the kitchen will
hear something like this. You. Susan,
amt yer a-gwine ter de cotton pickin'c 90
Susan throws back her wooIIy head and
listens. Then again the call. Here We is
;t-waitin' fer yer Come a-rUnnin susan.
Yves all right we're" The mistress Of the
house, returning from q neighbor's. fin
lshes the dishes herself. and puts on the
pork and cornbread for the days dinner.
During the day the laundress will send
back the unwashed clothes. with the mes
sage that she did not have time TO do the
family wash before leaving for the cotton
fields.
Speak to the table waiter bow about
something 10 be done two days later and
he viii say 4 do hit Of Use here. boss
Then in reply to a question he viii say.
asslr; 1 thinkin bout gOin' ter pick
cotton" There viii be "a note Of yearuins
IN his voice, and perhaps a PARKWAY look
IN his black eyes. He has heard the call
a little faint and FAR OF perhaps, but
when 1t comes TO him. You. sam: de
Vaughn am a-waitin'.T the guest may
serve the food himself and clean his own
boots for all that sam cares. The board
Inghouse Keeper says: Yes sir: I have
vacant rooms, and 1 should like 10 take
you; but, YOU see, I have neither cook nor
chambermaid today. Both left for the
cotton fields without a moments warn
ing"
Usually the planter sends a big wagon
to town 10 gather up the cotton pickers.
As many men. women, and children as
can be crowded into the double wagon
box are piled in. and then the wagon
heads for the plantation Few of the ne
groCs have any idea where they are s-a-
ing A woman VIII say 60 a passing ac-
qUaintauCe- 4 dunno where So1ne-ers
out hyer bout 70 teen mile. reckon
That Is enough Only CaDtiOus white
trash would ask where they were going.
II is enough that they are going to the
cotton picking. and that an in good sea-
son they VIII return. rich in money and
surfeited with merrymakiug.
The bis wagons have been leaving Mar
lin for a fortnight or more Now and tLen
negro VIII take his entire family in his
own wagon. if he is 50 fortunate as 10
have one \ venerable old freedman.
with a coastlinc Of white wool around his
WTinkicd face. drove through Live OAK
Street this afternoon with his whole
family in rickety wagon. bound for the
cotton fields The wagon svds Grap-E by
a mule SO forlorn and pony that il actual
~ "a ifl--f.-A h-''N' .t+ L--ra-A Us ll
STOOD waiting LQr d nance % Cr1SS the
railroad track To be sure. the mon had
nothing else 10 do, as tEay We're pIti-ars
at the mineral wei - ud-0riIUl~- bus the
mule was really curiosity.
Good points about he E'-le. uncle
said one OF the men
''HasSir. replied the IA 3a-Ey his face
lighting up with this .uloO.Iad for aIpre-
citation Of his mule. '-Yassir. NY. sir.
DAT ar mule
some OF them you could hang your hat T
on"
Then the train pulled out and the old
man drove on toward the cotton fields. .
3 0t knowing exactly what the crowd
laughed at At the corner Of the next
street man on crutches hailed him
Say Old man. asked the cripple, are
you going 10 have "A new mules
New mule. sab / rCCOkn L do know
Nha' YOU mean BIZ dat. sab
w ny. ! thought YOU were going 10 have
a new mule l see you have the frame +.
You. julius Caesar" called out the
Old man. rise and fly Dere IS shore /
some cur Gus white e men in dis yere
IOWH.
There is one plausible excuse for this
exodus 10 the cotton fields each year. In
the case OF 4 white man the excuse might .
hold good. but with the negro il is merely I
an excuse The excuse IS that the negro
can make more money IN the cotton fields I
than he can possibly make at anything
else This Is undoubtedly true. buJ the 3
negro does NOT place the same value on
money that the white man places mon ff
II IS the holiday. the merryma king in the /
r"idS, tbs music and dancing at night /
that appeal 10 the uCgrO. To laugh and Z
sing and pick cotton Out under the blue
sky all day and To play the guitar and {
banjo and sing and dance half the night
that Is a condition that appeals more /
strongly 20 the negro than The mere prUs-
pect OF gin
i Is true. however. that more money is /
20 be made picking cotton than in ary I
other way Even a ''ShiftIeSS, trifiIn' Z
town niger may earn s. a day. 4 first /
class cotton picker may make as much as I
s. a day For a Texas negro this is an
enormous income. Cotton pickars are
paid by the hundred pounds The average /
rate or pay is 81 q hundred pounds. In /
the Language Of a white Texan who picks /
his own cotton: Hit shore DO take a heap
: - - IL IL