The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-10

This is the time of year down south
when most things happen and even tcs
humblest country citizen develops an
enthusiasm for business. TO dwellers
in bustling centers used TO business ev-
cry day in the year it may have its
humdrum aspects. Not so to the cot
ton grower who, since February. has
been thinking hard about the soil. the
weather and the particular depths of
ploughing.
| With October days and the high tide
of the cotton harvest he gets his hands
on actual cash and enjoys the feeling
of being able to buy from whatever
store he pleases. and of being indepen-
dent of the merchant from whom he got
his advances. The whole country
shows the effect of these loosened purse
strings and the black plantation folk
most of all enjoy being free to indulge
their fads.
Just now the possession of a bank
| book is the latest pet foible of the
country darby. To start an account of
few dollars and have a passboOk
which he can display to neighbors and
| keep in his inside coat pocket. TO be
looked at as often as he chooses. is
| bliss unspeakable. At the most. after
his land rent is paid in cotton and the
rent for his mule is settled and the ac-
count Of his years advances with the
| storekeeper made straight. he may
| have a matter of thirty or forty dollars
| left with which to get winter clothing
and supplies for himself and his family.
He may mean to devote a part o: this
sum to payment on a buggy or to pay
it out on a cow or an OK, or far cane
grinder and boiler or other farm neces-
Stiles But before he uses it at all he
must first put it in the bank. Whatev-
err the sum or however soon he intends
to withdraw it after the deposit is
made, the deposit must be made in or
der that that precious handbook may be
his to show and to thumb over for a
certain number of days.
The taking out of life insurance pa
pers is another fad that has lately
spread among the plantation hands
In the fall in the cotton selling season
is the time that they have money to de-
vote to the purpose and the agents
make new converts in this hotherto un-
worked field every day. The possession
of papers, legal documents that put the
possessor somehow in touch with big
things, is the bait that catches them.
And those who have made the first
payment on their policies and have the
vouchers to show are as happy as
child in the possession of a new toy.
There is something odd in the fact
that these hand-to-mouth scramblers
for a living should take precautions for
the future. The very next year after
they have taken out their policy their
address may be changed, or they be so
far withdrawn from post-office or from
public knowledge as to be beyond the
| agents finding.
Besides the custom of changing
names, which prevails in plantations
another agent. the fact that it is diff
cult to establish the legality of the av-
erage negro marriage. Policies taken
out in favor of wife or children would
naturally lapse for lack of such proof
But the buyer of the policy is un-
thoughtful of all SUCH incidentals, and
goes cheerfully on his way conscious of
cutting an important figure in the bus
mess world by reason of those fine doc
uments.
False teeth have become a fad with
the corn and cotton field negroes, They
of all people-for they have by nature
the whitest and snundest teeth-have
Developed partiality for the dentists
wares And artificial sets of tomb
stone-like whiteness and unnatural
size and shape are seen in mouths of
young and Old
The rain undergone in the drawing
out of perfect teeth that others may be
substituted is more than compensated
for by the pleasure OF being envied by
ones acquaintances and having them
exclaim admiringly at the dazzling new
possession. Young girls and men who
cannot haise the six dollars necessary
for securing whole false sets, follow the
fad as far as may be by having their
front teeth filled with yellow metal or
even composition stuff. Cavities are
drilled in perfectly sound teeth in order
to admit of the coveted ornamentation,
And this even when the dental work is
procured at the sacrifice of much-need-
ed clothing and essentials. Thus does
the negro adopt the sophistres of civili-
cation.
To have a bank book and life insur-
ance papers and gold-filled teeth is
happinesh indeed, but to go an an eX-
cursion or 1.-The 'scursion." as it is pop
ularly known, is to put browning
touch to the autumns jollifcation The
'scussion'' is fast taking the place of
the fall camp-meeting in popular esti-
j nation. Baskets of goodies are pre-
pared for it. New garments and be-
longings are made ready and gaudy
handbags and travelling gear make
their appearance in the cabins. To
get to ride on the train" is to realize
the utmost heaven of anticipation.
And the black man and his wife and
children, the stranger who is visiting
him, and the helpers who have helped
him get out his crop, all get tickets
days beforehand for this advent ure into
wonderland.
The excursion, exclusively for colored
people is something new under the sun.
1t is run very cheap. 1t does not go as
rule over one hundred miles and it
takes care that its goal shall be some
town or city where there are trolley
cars for the eXcursionists to ride on, ex-
hibitons of trained animals, cheap
on nc nd nth &c tn he