The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1907-08-12
BUT THEY'RE HAPPY
A CLASS KNOWN AS MOVERS"
WHO LEAD HAPPY BUT
shlFrlEss LIVES.

Clarksville l. r.. Aug 11.-Over IN
the Choska bottoms where one sees
a lazy smoke arising from camp
fire In the early sunrise. is pecu.
liar type of people. There may be
found girls. husky. healthy and strong
from outdoor life. the equals OF their
brothers In any test OF strength or
endurance. sixteen and seventeen
years of age who never slept in a
house in their life They are 'mOy-
ers.' They belong to that class Of
people who are constantly ON the
move, whose home is in a covered
wagon, and whose living is made by
picking cotton in the summer and
fall strawberries and fruit In the
spring and early summer. and by
loafing and fishing and hunting when
there Is not enough to eat for a
week.
Movers" were originally rent.
ers." They lived on farm and
tended crap" for one season
made a failure, moved to another
farm. tried it another year and failed
and so on until disgusted with farm
ing. If their methods could be called
farming. they have given up alto
gether and now they do not pretend
to rent or to work farm. They
work by the day during the picking
season and demand their pay every
| day or at the end oI each job.
This class of people is not un'
familiar In Oklahoma, Texas and
Arkansas and even as far soath a.
Mississippi, and their number is much
larger than one would suppose, Le
cause they are scattered over 80
much territory. They follow Il,
crops Beginning with the early
| berry picking season In Arkansas
| their canvass covered wagons and
small tents dot the Arkansas hills
As the strawberries and early fruit
pass the movers" drift southwark
usually To Texas where the cotton
season opens early and commence to
pick cotton. As the season advances
and the cotton is picked out they
move northward into Oklahoma and
Indian Territory finishing the season
there ON the frost line, as II were.
of the cotton belt. In this section
there is more or less cotton to pick
far into the winter and this causes
many movers" to winter In the Ter
ritory. They finish the cotton here
and are close to the Arkansas ber'
rics next season.
\ family of movers" Is always
distinguishahlc 10y the large number
OF children. This is an important
item in the welfare of mover.
Children, after they reach ten years
of age, are a valuable asset In the
berry fields or the cotton patches. a
mover" with five or six children old
enough To work. can, with the assist
ance of his wife and daughters tthey
all work in the helds) earn 81 or 81
day. II to them, is far more prof.
table than their haphazard efforts at
farming on a rented place. At the
end OF the cotton picking season
there is usually 800 or so ahead and
with this the winter is secured
4 movers" outfit consists of a
wagon and team, rusty old COOK
stove with three joints of pipe, n
brindle dog, a COW, a few bed clothes,
an old rifle, or shotgun, n clay pipe
each for the husband and wife, and
plenty of children Sleeping under
the stars living in the open always,
they grow up sturdy, fearless, ignor'
ant and happy Oftentimes a unmber
OF movers outfits will congregare
in a favorable location and go into
winter quarters. II their money gives
out they will cut and haul to town
load OF wood now and then or do
some other job 10 get the money TO
buy bacon and corn meal with. Thus
they live on until spring opens up
again when their outfits, sometimes
lean from the winter. start up again
on their annual tour,
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