The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-04-23
A LOAFERS' PARADISE! THE RIDDLE OF SLEEP
Lite OF the Happy-go-Iucky West
Indian Negroes.
LAZY Joy FOR LITTLE WORK.

Six Months Labor Enables Them to
loii In Incidence For a Year and
Half--combins tho Islands For Men
For the Sugar Plantations.
A happy-go-lucky. stand up and fall
down. genial. inconsequential spirit an-
imater the West Indian negroes In
their labors and In their begging
From the sweating toilers on the dock
at Macoris loading sugar into the
stea mers. with their warning cry.
"Bee-low" to the men In the hold. to
the grinning boys hauling their fishing
boats up on the beach at Dominica.
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 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. If
he Is too lazy to bake cents wilt buy
bread for the family for the day. and
few cents more will buy a dozen
small fish and one large one. A single
garment does for the women, and IS
will clothe the man for a year, while
the pickaninnies run as God made
them.
The West Indies are the paradise Of
the happy loafer. Every year the is
lands are combed from end to end for
hands to work the great sugar planta.
tions In Santo Domingo. and at that
the negroes must often be practically
kidnapped to get them on the boats.
In November Of each year the sugar
boats. little sloops and schooners that
spend the remainder Of the year trad
Ing among the islands get into the
Santo Domingo negro trade. Their
captains and supercargoes. when they
have them. and the owners go up and
down the islands telling the negroes
that on n certain day the vessel will
sail for Santo Domingo and take all
who want to go to work on the sugar
plantations.
Take the little island Of st. Martins
for illustration. For a week the island
Is combed. and on the appointed day
dozen sloops and schooners are crowd
ed 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
1t to life. Boards are laid across boxes.
and rum and whisky are set out to
arouse the negroes to the pitch that
wll carry them out to the vessels
bound for 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 a cocky straw hat
percbed 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
alone until they. too. become filed
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.
"ls you goin'. Big Tawm"
Nav. Ah ain goin'. All JUS come
tub see."
"Yas. yo' is goin'. Big Tawm. Git In
dat boat"
"Come on heah. boy. va. ha"
And all the time the rowboats. load.
ed to the gunwales. are plying back
and forth between the shore and the
sloops. BY sundown the beach is swept
clean and six little sloops and a schoon-
er make sail and drift out Of the har-
Dor on dying breeze. loaded down
with a thousand black men and wo-
men. who will wake In the morning
with raging thirst. Then woe be to
the captain who has not filed his wa
ter casks. for there is sure to be at
least one body to be given to the sharks
after the fight around the butts.
When the vessels drop anchor Of
Macoris the plantation foremen come
on and look over the cargoes and pay
the shipmasters $3.50 each for passage
money for the negroes. Then the
blacks are herded ashore and are cred
tied with 80 cents a day for q month
Tor working from sunrise to sunset in
the cane fields. BY that time the $3.50
passage money Is paid back. Then
they receive their 80 cents a day In
cash for the next six months until
the cutting and grinding season is
over when the sloops show up again
and take them to their homes for $3.50
each. paid In advance.
The foremen collect from the planta.
tion owners 63 cents a day each for
pay for the black hands. but with their
share of the money the negroes can
live for year and half before they
have to think Of doing another davis