The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1917-11-02
Letter from Alabama

THIS Sunday morning, October 18th,
we went on a ramble across the
country, and it was a forenoon Of
finding many new sights for me. l
have always heard much about the
south, and its native negroes, and l
found them. Log cabins with the
chimneys built up from the ground
on the outside, are common, and most
of the cabins have slab roofs. The
negroes have no pumps in their wells,
but draw the water up with a rope
or chain. The well is simply hole
dug in the ground about twenty feet
deep, and with no cover to keep the
dirt and refuse out. Dirt is very
plentiful too, for the soil is red
clay and very sticky when wet. These
natives do not take very much pride
in keeping their cabins clean, or
themselves either for that matter.
Five of US saw cabin across a field
and went over to visit it. In what we
would call the front yard up home,
we found two calves and a pig tied
to tree just in front of the cabin.
The well was off to one side, but
after taking a look down in, we de-
cided we were not thirsty. | have a
pretty good stomach to, you know.
The cabin was a small hut set on
posts. No work for the masons on
these cabins. 1t was about fourteen
by eighteen feet, and divided into
three rooms. / don't see how eight
or nine people can sleep in these
rooms, but they do, and every one of
them look healthy. In front of the
cabin sat an old woman and three or
four of her flock, three boys and one
girl, ages ranging from twelve to
twenty years l should Judge. They
did not seem to be disturbed at all to
see US come in. The chief attraction
was the woman, who was eating
sugar cane We wanted to see how
she did it, for we had tried to eat
some on our way over, and were
not very successful. The sugar cane
looks like corn stalk and she would
rip the hard, covering from joint to
joint in strips, and then chew the
core to get the sweet juice. When
the juice was extracted she would
poke the wad Of pith out of her
mouth. Sometimes it would fall on
her lap, and sometimes on ths>bench
on which she was sitting. These
natives don't have many table man.
ners down here. Two of her boys
about seventeen and eighteen l should
say, were amusing themselves teasing
a cat. They had bicycle pump, and
would force air into its ears. When
it seemed to hsrt the cat they would
laugh. 1t was great sport for the
boys. One of the boys brought out
a banjo, but couldn't play much. A
checker board was next brought out.
One Of our party asked him if he
wanted to play a game of checkers,
anu IrdIlttS ului hIOW Wlldt uc
meant. They call the game "Dras
and Long Dras." Dras is our or
binary game of checkers, and Long
Dras is where you move either way
on the board, in other words all the
men are kings. That young negro
could play the game to, for he won
two out Of three games with one of
our boys. In grove near the cabin
/ found what proved to be the family
burying lot. l had oftened wondered
where these natives bury their dead,
as | never saw cemetery here. So
found that each cabin had its own
burial place near the house. There
were boards driven in the ground to
mark the graves.
1t was getting dinner time now,
and we made tracks back to camp,
arriving just as the boys were fall
ing in line. / spent the balance Of this
Sunday on my cot, thinking Of what