Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1920-02-07

derland O fIOrida 49, PIantatlOn
system In The South Many
Wealthy C0IOred Folk Own Autos
! In The Southland ST. Margaret's
Dnlryman Using Canned Cream
To the Editor Of the EreninO Capital:
So much has happened since we
left Annapolis il is hard for me 10
remember clearly the details of our
"trip. When we got TO the southern
part OF South Carolina Monday night
we found the weather compared with
+ late March and early April in Mary
land and we were perfectly comfort
able in a room heated by a brilliant
fat wood fire. by which / could see
! to write with perfect ease. IL found
there was only one lamp in the house
where we stopped. and that was used
10 eat by
| The children all clustered around
the fire. some stduying and the man
OF the house made himself staff for
a black snake whip. beautifully plait-
ell out of marrow leather. These whips
are used by the negroes who seem
very Industrious and keep their
mules moving very fast Early one
morning we saw a pair of black
mules used by a black man, with a
long black-snake whip cutting up the
lold cotton fields and | thought them
a very interesting study in black. The
white men do not work on the farms,
but on one plantation in Georgia OF
10000 acres, where We spent Wednes-
day night. was an overseer, who
+, spends the whole day on the back OF
IA beautiful horse.
At six O'Clock in the morning we
were startled by the loud changing
iof the farm bell very near us. that
we had not noticed the night before
and In little while, the colored men
came in, one by one, each carrying
This dinner bucket on his arm
The system here on these big plan
J tations is TO rent out the land to the
negroes on shares; they do the worl,
and the owner to furnish the seed
fertilizer and horses. The owner also
hires an overseer, white man, TO
make the negroes work. This man
does not do any work at all Just sees
that the colored men do not neglect
theirs. He said he never allowed
them to have much money, that when
he owed them good sum he always
made them buy something from him.
for If they had too much money they
] saw so many of the darkies in
automobiles, which | find they own in
large numbers. AS we got down in
Florida. | found there were many
wealthy colored men, who were most
respectable. Some near Titusville, on
the Indian river, were reputed to have
property to the amount of $4,000 and,
of course own automobiles as WISH
BILE proof OF their riches found
them in all cases respectful and kind
ly. and so courteous and willing to
give any information desired.
Among the colored men, who came
at daylight to begin work on the cot
! ton plantation, was an aged negro,
who was a widower The oyerseer
! joked about his girl. He said while
The old man was coating" the girl,
his beast had broken loose and gotten
over in her garden and eaten up her
patch Of greens, and that now he
/ thought the fiat was all in the fire. "
/ The weather was much milder in
| Georgia II is gradually getting
warmer and the grass is q beautiful
1 green Alike we Maryland people have
later in April--and we camped for the
/ drst time in Georgia and enjoyed the
/ feeling of independence. that having
your own house along intact. gives.
The roads around Georgia's capital,
Augusta. are a sand clay and a JOY to
he moiorist For the first time We
struck the Dixie highway at that
point Nv husband had been talking
ali the way down about thai same
highway, :'cab,e must no; be misled.
sounds mighty nice to say we VIII
trika the highway. and when we
struck il al last at Augusta, We gave
! sigh of relief and ran along so gayly
tor about % miles Then we struck
road that should make Dixieland
ashamed of herself. but it was nothing
compared TO the road south of Way
cross. Georgia, which is through
genuine desert and the most difficult
road we ever tried to drive over, 1t
was through deep ruts. cut by auto
mobiles, in the softest sands of the
desert Fortunately, we did not meet
a machine oftener than once in four
or five miles. when both machines
would almost stop and struggle to get
out of the deep rut into the deeper,
soft sand. Once We ran head-on into
a machine. and gave it sound bump
ing. much TO the CONSERVATION of a
lady in the oncnming car. We all had
10 get out TO help the poor man push
his car over the edge of the rut so we
could pass.
As We came along through South
Carolina and Georgia we had seen
he chain gangs working on the