Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-03-26

Sam found tina his crop had yielded
one bale to the acre. The five bales he
sold for $3.50 and stored away $50
bushels of seed for feed.
The four acre tract Of corn yielded
seventy bushels to the acre, or a total
of $50 bushels, all Of which Sam put
in the barn with that from the n
acre. He didn't intend to sell any OF
this crop, as he could make more by
feeding it to hogs.
The crops were nov about all gath
cred. There remained the peas and
the pumpkins that had been sown
among the corn and the turnips, which
were not yet ready to be gathered.
Sam hauled out many big loads of
big golden pumpkins with the one
horse wagon. There was not much
market for pumpkins, but he managed
to sell about 100 at s cents each, or a
total Of IS worth. And still he had
more pumpkins than he knew what to
do with. He knew, however, that what
the family did not use would be fine
feed for the hogs and COWS when the
| cold weather Of winter came on. SO
he cheerfully stored them away.
With the blask eyed pea crop 1t was
| the same. Sam thought h a he had
never seen so many peas in all his life.
| He sold $40 worth, gathered what
would be needed at home, and then,
the vines still full, he turned in the
| hogs and cows for a weeks feast
According to agreement, Bill Googe
| came over when the stock had eared
| out most Of the pea crop m set to
| work with a large pillow turning under
| vines, stalks and all. The cotton stalks
| were large, and a great many of them,
| as we'll as some c~ornstalks, were left
| above ground. But when Sam sowed
| the ground with winter oats and rye
and had Googe follow him with a disk
it cut the stalks to pieces and left the
| soil smooth and unbroken.
Soon after they finished sowing a
gentle rain began falling, lasting for a
| day. 1t sank into the soft soil and
| seemed to touch the planted grain
| with magic. In q very short time the
| field from end to end was n long
carpet Of green.
The year was growing old, and the
great bulk Of the work was done. Sam
now had more leisure than he had had
at any time during the year. OF morn
| ings there was sometimes a hint OF
frost In the air, but the days were yet
| hot and sultry. Sans friends, Fred
| Martin, Joe Watson and Andrew
| White, had visited him several times
that summer in addition to the days
that they had worked. But he had
something that he thought would
make a pleasant surprise for the boys,
so he invited his neighbor, Bob Pagan,
and those three from town to visit
him on Saturday. Sans surprise was
some large watermelons, the last of
the season, that he had covered up
with grass and kept fresh and sound.
The melon crop had been gone for a
long time and this would be a treat
worth giving on what would probably
be their last visit this year. Even Bob
Pagan would be as much surprised as
any, for they never grew melons on
the Pagan farm and knew nothing
about keeping them until cold wealth
er.
The boys came, and the day proved
to be suitable for the occasion. 1t was
a hot, sultry day and seemed to belong
more to midsummer than autumn.
First the melons were carried to the
creak near the swimming hole and
dumped in a clear pool to float round
and round and cool. Then the boys
were off on a hunt for wild grapes
and pecans. They found both. Winter
grapes and fox grapes they found
hanging in thick, purple clusters from
boys generally had to do a lot of
climbing, but they liked this, though
they had to be careful about getting
too far out on weak limbs.
The peacan' hulls were popping open
and dropping their fruit to the ground,
so they had little to do except to pick
them up or chunk the trees to bring
more down. The only competitors they
had were the squirrels and crows. The
crows merely Toasted, but the squirrels
were busy in every tree, gathering
their winter supply and storing them
away in their homes in the tree hoil-
laws.
Autumn is a time Of beautiful
colors, and the nature lover, like Sam
Powell, prizes it almost as much as
spring. Sam gave his comrads their
first lesson in woodcraft-how to see
things. He pointed out to them the
flashing colors of red and brown and
green and gold. For the first time they
really saw the surmacs flaming on the
hill or the red birds and jay birds
making red and blue streaks as they
flew swiftly through the woods. He
showed them how to sit very still and
see the wild things that would come
out and begin their work and play all
around.
The hours passed by swiftly, and be-
fore the boys realized it noon was long
past. Being hungry and tierd, they
turned back toward the creek and the
pool where the melons were floating
in the sparkling water. In a short time
they were there, and, carrying melons
to a grassy place in the shade Of some
trees, they cut them in halves and ex-
posed the juicy read hearts. In a jiffy
each boy had a big dripping slice and
! was eating it between grunts Of salts
faction.
They lay in the shade and talked a
long time after they had disposed Of
the watermelons. One or two slept,
and Sam and the others amused them
| selves by throwing rocks at the trunk
of a tree. Suddenly some n said:
Lets go swimming. I'm going to be
first in" Then the race began. Every
boy vas up in a second, peeling off his
clothes faster than he had ever done