The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1909-11-03
A PARADISE FOR
L0AF|NG NEGROES
Life of Happy-go-Luckv
West Indians.
LAZY ilY FO.l LITTLE work
Six Months Labor Enables
Them TO LOll In Incidence
a Year and a-Haif.

A happy-go-luck! stand up and fall
down, genial inconsequential spirit
animates the Yves. Indian negroes In
their lqbors and in their begging.
From the sweating toilers on the dock
at Macoris loading sugar into the
steamers, with their warning cry,
'Bee-lo-y." to the men in the hold, TO
the grinning boys hauling their fish
ing obats up on the beach at Do
minica, they live from day to day and
take no thought of the morrow. A
West Indian negro with $50 will live
for a year and never do a stroke of
work.
And Why not? His living costs him
only cents day. He has his little
cabin for the occupancy. A mango
tree grows in his yard, and he can
.pick plantains by the road at will. II
he is too lazy to bake,5 cents will buzz
bread for the family for the day, and
few cents more will buy dozen
small fish and one large one. a sin
gle garment does for the women, and
So will clothe the man for a year,
while the pickaninnies run as God
made them.
The West Indies are the paradise Of
the happy loafcr. Every year the is
lands are combed from end to end
for hands to work the great sugar
plantations in Santo Domingo, and
at that the negroes must often be
specifically kidnapped to get them on
the boats.
In November OF each year the sugar
boats, little sloCus and schooners that
spend the remainder of the year trad
ing among the islands, get into tho
Santo Domingo negro trade. Their
captains and supercargoes, when they
have them, and the owners go up and
ii. down the islands telling the negroes
= that on a certain day the vessel will
sail for Santo Domingo and take all
who want TO go to work on the SUI
gar plantations.
Take the little island of st. Mar
tins for illustration. For a week the
island is combed, and on the appoint
ed day a dozen sloops and schooners
are crowded into Marigot bay. The
night before the negroes have begun
to stream into the little town that
sleeps through the year, waiting for
this one day to bring it to life. Boards
are laid across boxes, and rum and
whiskey are set out to arouse the ne
groes, to the pitch that will carry
them out to the vessels bound fer
the plantations.
All day the men stream into the
town, travelling barefooted along the
sandy roads, swept in by the sailors,
singing their song OF riches to be
had for the asking. Ahead Of the men
walk their women. toting heavy boxes
on their heads, while the men are
dressed in their best. with cocky
straw hat perched on one ear,swinging
a DANDY cane and carrying their
shoes in their hands At the outskirts
of the town they put on their shoes
and swing gayly up to the open air
bars on the beach,
The women lug the big boxes down
to the beach and wall at being left
alrne until they, too. become filled
with the excitement of the scene and
urge their men folks on. The men
hang back and laugh and drink and
deny that they are going.
as you goin', Big Tawm?"
NAV, All Amt goin'. All jus come
tub see.''
s'Yas, yo' is goin. Big Tawm. Git
in dat boat"
"Come on heah, boy. va, hal"
And all the time the rowboats, load
ed to the gunwales, are plying back
and forth between the shore and the
sloops. BY shutdown the beach is
swept clean and six little sloops and
schooner make sail and drift out OF
the harbor on dying breeze. loaded
down with a thousand black men
and women, who will, wake in the
morning with raging thirst Then
woe be to the captain who has not
filled bis water casks. for there is
sure to be It feast one body to be
- I A, IN \ "a a = Ll.s <.