The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-06-26
Month of Wheat Harvest.
July's Festive Fourth

June rains have aoated for the har.
vesting Of the wheat that has turned
from green to gold with the coming Of
the harvest month and the opening OF
the pendant locust blossoms
Few sights are more beautiful to
the eye than a iield of r!pened wheat
with the summer breezes ripping its
surface and billowing the fruitful,
reach. rhd kFfves,,ns of the grain has
been rendered quite simple affair
by the introduction of the reaping
machine, which does it's work in quick
mechanical fashion, very much in the
style of the buggy plows and the corn
planters, which have replaced the
manual labor of a cruder. more prim-
tive agricultural age.
The Rcapers' Swath.
The harvest festival of that former
day with It's feast, its songs and its
trial of speed and endurance among
the reapers. is a picturesque reminis-
cence which has survived the years
since its passing in the memories of
those who once witnessed it. The
leader of the negro men who did the
work of reaping was always an eX-
pert Grader and fine singer AT his
signal the cradles, with their keen
blades flashing in the sunshine, were
uplifted, and the rhythmic swing
which cut the broad, clean swath down
through the waiting grain. kept meas
ure with the chant in which musical
high tenor was upborne by deeper
baritone and delightful mellow bass.
The Harvest Songs.
Every now and again the leader
paused and the other cradles rested,
while blades were sharpeued to the
tune of melody, the pathos OF Miss
Nelly Was a Lady" or Garry Me
Back to Old virginia's Shore" con-
tras,ing with the JOY Of acton. the
powerful sweep of bronzed muscles,
the finging backward of the sheaves.
and the pride o. the workers in their
work.
Behind the reapers, down the ever
widening path that stretched in their
wake, stepped the binders deity
catching the sheaves before they
reached the ground and tying them
into shape for the shocks which Were
later to dot the ground from end to
Z end of the field. The binders We're the
chorus, sending back the refrain of
the songs sweet and clear. and adding
bright color contrasts with their gay
bandana kerchiefs and their cotton
made frocks, to the striped shirts and
big straw hats of the men.
The MONDAY Feast.
The stroke of noon called reapers.
binders and all to the harvest table
spread beneath the shade Of shelterins
trees, and in convenient proximity to
a spring where thirsty men were sup
no. ,r.c
drink. made from famous old plan
tation recipe that had been handed
down for years.
Roast pig, roast lamb. ham and cab
bage vegetables in abundance, corn
pone, apple pie and blackberry dump
lings. buttermilk and sweet milk We're
1avor!te fare for the harvesters. SIM
pie sons of the soil. they ate heartily
and thankfully, took their rest be-
meath the trees. and went back 10
their labor at their leaders call.
The Song Of the Fiddles.
Sunset finished the reaping for the
day and ushered in a supper which
was the more enjoyed. because 1t was
the browning feature of the day. Then
the dusk of evening brought the
strumming of the banjos and the song
of the fddles, the answering patter of
dancing feet, the bowling and the curt
seyng, the cutting of the pigeons
& wing" and other exhibitions of plan
iation achievement in the Terpsicho-
rean, art.
The old plantation homes have.
since the reapers day. crumbled into
decay or have passed into alien hands.
The Quarters where the banjos
throbbed, the fiddles answered back,
and the musicians called the figures"
for the eager dancers have been pulled
down. or stand stark and empty mute
witnesses Of what once went on with
in their walls.
How We Have Progressed.
Tho "reapers' swath" no longer
stretches like a ribbon over the aelds
of the present. The reaping machine
does the work now How we have
progressed" says the man that sits at
his ease and drives the horses which
pull the machine. Yes, we have pro-
crossed, but, sad to say, we have left
behind in the progression the color
and the pcturesquesness and the
spontaneity that rendered the simple
life" of past days, possessed of some
thing that the present should find and
restore.
From Yesterday to To-Day.
The national celebration formerly
known as the Glorious Fourth and
more recently as Independence Day"
is at hand 1t will be kept on Mon
day week, with the expenditure OF
thousands of dollars. with house par
ties and outings of all kinds. 1t will
synboliZe the spirit of 1910 and in It's
gorgeous displays and its profusion,
will mark the distance Americans have
travelled between the yesterday left
behind and the to-day which has been
reached.
VIRGINIA MISSIONER.
Dear TO the Hearts Of Children.
To be in fashion is dear 10 the hearts
OF children, as it is to their elders, and
an amusing instance OF this occurs in
Neaita Se!bert's new book, THE Cos
sarner Thread" which chronicles the
unfolding mind and soul of exquisite
Neleda, German-American little girl.
whose doings have wreathcd the faces
of her compartiots in tender smiles.
The point of fashion at issue is spring
beeled shoes, because Ethel Napoleon
the school fashion-leader, Is wearing
them, Velleda gets pair, after much
persuasion. only 10 ind that Ethel has
changed once more to shoes with heels
''Velleda for once had nothing TO saw
Tho world seemed turning the wrong