The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-07-23
OCALA, FLORIDA, FRIDAY, July %, 1909.
UNCLE DICK And The RABBITS.
Written for the Ocala BANNER ByW. H. III.
All rights reserved.

crowd or farmers and truckers had
gathered at the country store and
postOfice. They were awaiting the
Iarrival of the one daily mail, horse
route from the railroad village OF
Redmond, give miles away, and dis.
lcussing the returns they had received
and were expecting for beans and
Icabbages, shipped to the northern
markets.
1t was nearing the middle of April
The season had been very backward
for this part OF Florida, and most of
them still had truck to ship. They
were condoling with each other, and
Uniting in "cussing" the railroads and
commission men, when old man Hen
dersOn walked in. He was a typical
cracker" and as this is his story /
will try TO describe him to you:
He was short and knotty, about six
ty or sixty-fve, but still quick and
spry; red-faced, red-necked and red
eyed. His complexion, and the dirty
white of his hair and beard indicated
that he had once been red-headed, and
therefore had a right to his red skin,
even without his years of exposure to
the tropical sun and wind, but his lit
tile red eyes had a merry twinkle that
showed he was still full of fun.
Hello, boys!" said he. "How's
beans? You fellows gittin' rich ship
PIN beans this year, amt you?"
well, l can't say we are getting
very wealthy by the returns that's
been coming in so far, Uncle Dick"
replied Jones, speaking for the crowd
Mr.. Brown, here, says he got net re-
turns of eight cents a basket for some
! he shipped to New York, and the pick
ing cost his fifteen and the baskets
ter cents each. That amt getting
rich very fast, is it? But guess l
amt got no kick coming. Mines
PANIED out pretty good so far. What
are you shipping?"
well, now" said the old man. You
fellows know l done quit bein' fool
enough to support the railroad and ex-
press, an them burned Yankee I'M
mission men. Leastways, | amt rails
in no more beans. A burnt child
breads the fire, an | sure got burn.
good on beans too long ago to ta1i
about"
was newcomer" and l, too, was
shipping a few beans, and had been
very much disappointed by the size of
the checks my commission man had
been sending. So l got the old man
over in the corner where the refriger-
ator stood and. having bought a cou-
pie of bottles of what he called "sody
pop" l asked him to tell me his exper-
fence, which he did as follows, an
near as | can remember:
TO start with, I've been down here
a long time, young man. My folks
moved from South Carolina down kere
before any railroads was built in this
country. We came through in a wag-
on when / was a little chap, about
nine years old, an l had my second
wife an was Twin right where | am
now long before this truckin' business
started up.
About eight or nine years ago l
was over here one Sat'day evenin' an
heard Alderman Jackson BLOWN
about how much, he made on peas an
beans. He lowed it beat raisin' corn
an cotton an pindars all hollow. Said
he done already got hundred dollars
on of one acre of beans an was still
shippin'; an Dragged around that he
expected to make a heap more next
year.
Now, old man Jackson had about
five acres of regular garden-spot land
that he had been cow-pennin' for two
or three years, an he had a chicken
wire fence all around il. He didn't
have no horse-just a little old plug
of a pony-an' a cranky old wagon.
But he had ten children, an all of 'em
boys, so he didn't have to hire no help
TO pick an ship them beans.
Il had been ploddin' along, raisin'
corn an cotton an pindars an hogs.
an a little cane for sweetenin'. an
Maria that was the name of the wife
l had then) an me always had plenty
TO eat, but We never had much ready
money So old man Jackson's talk,
an shown around of them pretty
New York checks kinder set me to
thinkin' about truckin' some myself.
1--WE didn't have no children then,
but seven gals, an they wasn't big
enough to help much, but thinks | to
myself, what old man Jackson can do |
can. too. We had fine place, about |
forty acres cleared, an a good rail |
fence all around it So when / got |
~ko3