The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-30

H HE birds are singing their maths. \OD The world is bathed in the
 dewey fragrance of morning, and over the field of cotton there rests haze
 which Is irridescent with the flush of
 dawn and makes a misty, shadow pie
 ture Half mile away, perhaps. winds
 belt of foliage which marks the course of a river, lending its lazy presence to the scene. Thousands of cotton bolls show in the mist, decking the stalks that
 stretch away in long regular rows to the plantation boundary lines in the distance
 To the experienced observer they prophe- sy a season of prosperity for those who are dependent upon Dixie's great staple In the trees down on the rivers banks there is A wonderful bird melody, sweet and full of cheer that tells of much &C., tivity among the feathered songsters and preparations for the day. Bluebirds are already fitting about, a woodpecker be-
 gins his monotonous tapping in dead
 oak tree, while high in the air a buzzard sails lazily.
 The sun comes up across the river in burst of flaming colors. As it's splendor
 flashes over the cotton field, the dew sparlxles like millions of diamonds. the
 birds redouble their notes and the wood-
 land chorus is augmented by the voice of
 new singer who Is pouring out the joy
 of his heart in song. It Is plantation
 "darley" on his way to work. The broad
 brimmed straw hat Hopping about his
 ears, his checked shirt, white cotton trousers and bare feet harmonize with the
 rural landscape. It is a wonderful song
 that this man sends echoing to the river,
 a song that is weird and rich in sugges- tions of savage life in the jungles of All rica At times he croons softly to him
 self, then raises his voice to Its high est pitch, rolling out a great volume of
 melody.
 Soon, other negroes appear, going to
 the field with sacks and huge split bas- kets in which the harvest is to be con- veyed to wagons There are men, women and children, all light-hearted, all laugh ing, talking and singing. Cotton picking | time means good wages for them, pleas ant work and much festivity after the l days task Is done. In short while the | pickers are bending over the rows, pick- | Ing the cotton with dexterous fingers and | dropping it into sacks suspended from
 their shoulders The contents of the sacks are emptied into the baskets.
 | The sun mounts higher, the heat be- comes more intense and the rays beat | down fiercely until the toilers mop tneir
 faces with bandannas and drop into that | peculiar intermittent wailing which IS
 a characteristic of "darkey' singing, The
 birds are not so tuneful now but some of them still give vent to song. An over
 seer rides down a road by the field, look ing out over it's fertile acres and noting
 the progress of the pickers. The witehery
 of dawn is gone but still there remains
 one of the grandest sights ip the world
 a field of cotton abloom in the sunny southl
 All things considered, 1t is probable that
 no profession brings one in touch with
 life in more varied forms than that of the | theatrical press agent. Of course circus
 press agents have the same experiences and their work is similar to that of other l advance men" While travelling salesmen | have many opportunities to observe the | idiosyncrasies of human nature, most of | them are confined to certain territories, | and those who travel at large visit only
 the principle cities. But press agent who
 remains in the business for years, con-
 stantly going from one end of the coun- | try to the other, becomes familiar with l every nook and corner of the United | States. It would be impossible to name town of any size that he has not visited, and in the course of his career there is no way to estimate the number of people | with whom he has come in contact. Such a life is always rich in experiences, and
 a press agent of any parts can relate
 many interesting adventures that have befallen him in his travels.
 A negro sawnil hand" slouched up to the engineer one day and perpetrated the following specimen of mutilated English:
 Say, you ain't got no chawing.. are yer?" It would require a genius to devise a sentence more incorrectly spoken