The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1903-09-12


am farmer Nothing seems quite
so fair to me as the tender green of the up
springing crops, no sound quite so pleasant
as the songs of the plough hands when the
keen shares cleave the fallows Yes.
am farmer, but in ninety-eight l tried
the turpentine business.
1t was not that | was tired of farming
| shall never tire of that, | think-but
farming money nova days is slow. very
! deliberate in coming, YOU may say and
wanted to gather wealth rapidly. had
just married, You see-my wife is the
sweetest little woman in all the Carolina
hills-and | wanted the money for her
Now turpentine making is, Of necessity.
a migratory business. No pine will stand
the steady draining of its sap for more than
four OF i've years at best At the eud Of
that time all available trees have been
worked out they are exhausted and
/ the still must be- moved.
Ny capital was much too small 10 per
init the establishment Of a camp on the
scale that usually prevails, On. after same
delay managed to pick up here aud there
a force Of twenty able bodied negroes.
1 Like most turpentine hands, these ne
I groeS were unreliable. but | had Big
I Amos for foreman, aud knew Bi. Amos
we'll TN my own farm he had bceu barn
and reared, and he had served me al the
/ days Of his life ~ a whole was salts
fed with INV force
I But from the irst the imaginative black,
were uneasy and dissatisfied To them
the wide sweep Of the eurying bib, va as
the very breath of their no,,ril~, and they
missed the long strctche, # the valley
lands and the rush Of the little streams.
/ Truly. the Sawkec gave them No welcome,
aud they loathed the place in their hearts
/ But |, seeing their condition. allowed
I lhem Ijtlle time to bn1d \ week wa-
{ consumed in getting she still into position.
aud anosher in building the rade hai~ that
we needed 10 shelter a- Afterwards lherS
va. the regular labor Of boxing and
'o,lleeting and firing
I - matters sent for 4 month. and had
{ Just e,amplet,-I 4 double r,-,n,i cabin ui
Z log, ioI she r-erpiiou a ms wife whea th,
events occurred which brought ms hu~iao>s
+ to a >aIden eio>e
T The ate aitsTal,n ii a elunllt>, dan bad
s,la4e. aud a. she r,,l sun near,-l b., setting
I the DARK shasiow. q thc ~Wsmp crept ou'
Acruzs the gray waste Il the pine land and
f the gTi-p ehyll q the coming nlght oaH.
icuss,i the Ttsias vaPors Of the marsh 'n's
srra,.ss q; trailing mist But was happy,
I Before Hc was The Hew TX iscilin-, now
ready To the las, rough clapbaspl iur the
I lttle fs.a of IT. mistress. tuT ia the ncx'
/ werk laara wuald ooasc.
SUR. il voalI BE- lonely herr iar Laura
for whilc-bai aftervArd there wgahI
T H. fall eunpensaiion fav this in ,hs
I god tine a. r,snc--whcn foil handed
returned 10 M world
Nj rryerio was broken by a blagk II
1 santc hguFr. that came loomius up uut oi
the ms,s, and nearer approach revealed
Big Ams~. E4riy in the altsruoon BE- had
{ beea -..ut O. i,zAle suiiablc timber 10y the
/ .hesi- that muss hus-s the snTpsniIur bar
I rrl-. and aos. al the cad q bis ta,k be
va coming home
What Is il, Anus | A.kct foT
F.. kDex by hls hok thai be- had .-,neghinl
/ to say ,o NE
The nrgro sat dowu and took III his hat.
/ ihea he answered. briefly
Hn sa wagon trAek up yauslrS, boat
two uslles from yrre
.Uar Of eur wagons guess, Tc
/ plisd
Amor shook hi head.
Ne, SIR he sid M, sir Oar
wagIns ain been dat rr way ~iic- hiI .
4 one horse wagln
was really troablel- wished %
work oal the entire swamp myself bat
/ tor lack Of means | had uos been able q
! lease At oncs the whole 81 the tract
had hog-d, however. that as my busin,S,
grew | could extend my holdings, aud
I thus in fii.ls obtain control Of all that Sc,
/ remained Now II seemed that uyal
mast be spying out the land, else Why a
/ one horse wagon track = Surely, the Saw
/ ker swamp VA no thorough who're meu
came 4 pleasuTing
Get a lantern. Amos, and au ak
/ said, resolving tO iiud out, il ! could, just
| what the intrusion meant. aud when the
I huge negro returned, bearing material iur
a light aud double bit,ed boxing AZ.
/ shoalIered my rife aud We at of uF
| the stream.
( |, WAS nearly dark when We arrived Al
/ the spot where Amos had seen the whee
marks. but they were there plain enough n
/ the deep. double rut on either side, with
I hoof priuts showing between, We could
I even make out a hight line an the sand
I where the driver had trailed his whip, an1
/ in places We could see where the hubs had
scraped the loose bark from the pines ih,
animal driven was mule, said Amos,
/ Judging from the size Of the hool,
Mule or horse, thought | Il u iol
low this up Bit and fnd out, If | eau,
it, errand in the swamp
So. bidding Amos light his lantern and
follow, bent my eyes to the trace no"
growing dim in the falling light, and went
onward across the open spaces aud between
the trees. Soon, however, Amos halted
me
Dis trail seb' days ole, he remarked.
How do you know that ? | asked,
for, though trail ages rapidly IN wet sand
or in clay, yet on the dry surface oi the
barrens the footprints OF today Is as that
of yesterday. How do you kno"
repeated.
In reply, the negro held his lantern
close to the scraped side Of tree,
Wagon hub hit dat tree, he SAID
IAN done knocked de bark of. Been
done a long time; see how dry dat rossum
is p
1t was true; the resin oozlng from the
wound in the bark had already had time
TO harden. In the meantime the trali had
grown erratic. The hOof-marks were no
longer parallel to the wheel lines, but they
zigzagged from side to side, and tins moved
| Amos 10 further remark.
dat mule mighty ii ahed, he NUT
| tered, indicating with his hand. lie
was mighty nigh reeEn dar, Dat foo
man, whoever he is, gwine ter Kill da'
mule eff he doan' watch out Mout be
GOOD mnle too-mout RELY be good tel