The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-10-14
IT'S THE CALL TO
THE COTTON FIELD
THE OKLAHOMA NEGRO HAS
HEARD AND HAS RESPONDED
TO THE COTTON FIELD.

Guthrie, okla, Oct. BIN Oklaho-
ma the season has come when the
no se-keeper gazes upon her fireless
cooker and also upon her tireless cook
stove. and wrings her hands and
weeps Cotton picking is under way
and every blessed negro domestic SER
want from Sis who totes the
baby, TO Candy" who presides over
the culinary department and rus'les
the suds on washday, has disappeared
and gone to the cotton fields, lured by
higher wages and the pleasures of a
frolic that will continue until snow
flies about Christmas time. Then they
Will return laden with spoils. Flat
broke in pinching weather, they will
appear some frosty morning and meek
~ ask if "Missus doan' want 10 hyah
a good homes woman to work aroun'
dc house"
Beginning about September | and
continuing until Christmas, the domes-
tic servant problem in Oklahoma is
acute and gnawing. Mrs b. Ridge
sends her invitations for an afternoon
function. Mrs. B. Ridge takes pride
In her renown as a hostess. Her
cookery is the talk of the town.
Mandy" says Mrs. b. Ridge to her
faithful domestic, next Tuesday |
shall have guests, and expect you TO
co your best. Come early in the morn
ing, and don't forget your new white
linen cap and the new apron | gave
you"
Law saKes, Missus," eXclaims
Mandy, rolling her eyes, III be done
gone by dat time. My ole man an me
and de chiluns gwine to de cotton
patch next Saturday. Ise jes' bin hat
in to tell you bout it,
Mrs. b. Ridge collapses, in tears.
And thus it is in every town within
reach of the cotton fields. The exodus
oil the servant population may be OBJ
served along every highway and in
every public square. Farmers have
come with their big wagons and their
promises of good wages and abundance
of provisions and wrought havoc
Their wagons are filled with entire
families, all thrilled with anticipation
of their annual autumnal high J.nks
On the farms chickens are at their
maximum frying size. The watermel-
on patches are groaning for attention.
Apples hang red on the trees In the
orchards, and down in the creek bot
toms, where wild grapes and haws are
ripening, there are countless 'possum
tracks.
With every outfit of cotton pickers
Is banjo, and every cotton picker
can sing and dance. At the end of the
dav when the cotton pickers nave
come in from the field and supper has
been eaten, the music starts, and long
after the moon has begun dropping
toward the west the sound of reveiry
continues. The negro Is gregarious'
loving to mingle with his kind. The
cotton patch, aside from the wages,
has an Irresistible attraction for him.
The wages, however, are not to be
sneezed at The cotton planters pay
seventy-five cents a hundred pounds
for picking the seed cotton. With a
llong sack trailing behind, the picker
follows row after row, deftly plucking
the white bolls and stuffing them into
his sack. 1t is work in which every
member of a family big enough to tod
Ole may be employed. An able-bodied
man can pick four hundred pounds a
dav. and a woman easily picks two
hundred pounds. often more. A IL
year-old boy or girl can pick from one
hundred to one hundred and fifty
hounds. The wages of a single family
in a day amount sometimes to IS and
$40. There is little opportunity TO
srend this money, save In playing
Grams. and the women usually put their
foot down on this by making them
selves custodian OF the family money
bag. At the end of the cotton season.
II Is not uncommon for negro family
TO return to town with 5000 or $500
in cash.
Then begins the Joy of spending the
money. Merchants have prepared for
the returning cotton pickers and their
shelves and counters are piled high
with gaudy goods admired by the ne