The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-11
Atlanta Constitution.

Atlanta Constitution.
 The oldest entertainment I ever at- tended was a moonlight cotton picking on an old-fashioned plantation in the Tennessee Valley of North Alabama.
 On an ideal night in October 1t was suggested riding to the patch to see the unusual sight. cone of the negro renters on the place. whose cotton opened too rapidly and "unbeknowing- ist" to him, was the instigator of the affair. his shrewdness suggesting the wisdom of combining business with pleasure.
 To the negroes agreeing to come promptly to the fields as soon as the moon ris." and work until the moon was gettin' sleepy" he offered in pay ment for their services a cordial invi- tation "arter de pickin'." to repair to (his) Pleaz Washingtons cab'n, whar dey wuz pintedly 'vited to tend CT sup per; an arter dey partak' uv de feast. to cros' de big road to N'polean Swind- iers house, dar, eff dey want mimbers uv de Church of Zion. dey mout cline to shake dey feet, an Timber dey legs in CT brak down."
 The invitation was accepted no soon- CT than the enticing words spilled from the mouth of Uncle Pleaz." In a twinkling. as 1t were, he had gathered
 
 pickers the adjoining plantations af- forded. The thirty or forty negroes who responded to his unique request appeared almost childishly happy. From the assembled crowd peals of merry laughter and snatches of kindly greetings came to our ears. They were neighbors of long standing, the older men and women, many of them having resided on the Harris Gilchrist and 4lAv war.
 In the contented people one saw what the outside world terms "peasantry" of America But certainly their radiant faces and jolly words gave evidence they did not belong to the down-trod- den peasantry," nor any particularly abused class. To us, reared in the South, the negro field hand represents the happiest type of the negro race the sun rests upon. for winch the col ored man is busily employed tilling his own well regulated forty acres or is about the broader acres of the white piantation owners. he is contented.
 The grave problems confronting and alarming the Government and political parties have no place in his thoughts. He forgets what 1t Is best for him not to remember. His steady employment as a manual laborer keeps his hands occupied, ana where the hanuS are non estly engaged. rarely is 1t found that the head goes astray The simpler life suits him; the end of the cotton row is the turn in the lane of his existence. When the evening shadows fall, he goes back to his rude. cabin with a placid heart and never too weary in body to participate In the amusements the quarters offer. Old Pleaz Washing ton knew this when he delivered his invitation to his friends, the previous Sunday night, as they poured forth from the country church, known far and wide as the Chapel of Zion. He knew, too, the power of endurance of his race would permit his neighbors to gather his crop by the light of the moon and not interrupt gathering their own by the light of the next days sun.
 Scene Was Memorable.
 To me the scene was a memorable one; to the darkies 1t marked a glorl- ous occasion in their lives. It is eel- dom they have the opportunity to ~jNRe iR" picking cotton at nisht- othS '