The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1922-02-25
WORK they ENJOY
Darkeys in Their Element at
Cane.Cutting Time.
Bvsy Scenes Are Those on the Sugar
Plantations When the Harvest
10 Being Gathered.

Nv axe up, you nlS8erSs anu IA yuan
brekfus ready! Wake up and git ia
work. rings through the streets OF
the little town still rapt in slumber'
Helene Robbins writes in the New Or
leans Times-Picayune. -Four o'clock
and the crier goes slowly on. The
h'acs, fossy night lag. in fight as II
wondering whom tho hrilIian, sun will
come to brighten it away. Loudly and
more insis,en'Iy the old msn cries the
3 la no, alternating between a sing song
and q more emphatic call, till gradual
ly one seems to know that life bestirs
itself behind the closed doors Of the
cabins. Here a woman, opening the
door, stares at the receding back OF
the crier, there mans dark head pro-
trudes from the white curtains in an
open window and calls to friend In
the neighboring house. Smoke curis
upward from rows of chimneys. The
odor Of coffee fills the air. Lights
CLEAN in the curtained> doorways, and
boisterous chatter proclaims the work
ers preparing for the field.
Soon they stream from the cabins
men and women, young and old; huge
sun hats cover the dusky heads. The
women's skirts. looped up by the tie
strings about the hips, reach only to
the knees, the upper excess OF cloth
forming a hustle effect Of ample pro-
portions. Pipes in mouths, dinner
buckets in hand and cane-knives slung
over shoulders, the colorful procession
of workers wends its way, slip.slop,
slip-slop, through the streets, into
dusty roadways and on to the cane
field destination. Children. too. ac-
company It, to play with the shanty
children on the plantation grounds.
Or left to themselves at home they
grasp their chance Of uninterrupted
squabble and play with happy hearts.
Now in the fields, the slashing Of the
tall cane stalks forms an acconpani-
ment for the songs and chatter Of the
negroes. The oyerseer as he rides by.
stopping his slow-moving horse for a
moment to survey the fields Of work
ers, sees Bonded backs, hears the calls
to one another or the now almost
breathless songs, and smiles bit, for
he enjoys tho cane-cutting harvest as
much az they. And truly the negroes
enjoy II, that camaraderje especially,
and rhe opportunity to exchange the
sawmill Jobs at 81 and SO day for
s1.50 and a full days work in the
field. They cut, as they say, from
kin to cain't," from the time when they
can see till the time when they can't,
and they enjoy it.
But the negroes, ara not, the only
ones who enjoy the cane cutting and
grinding season. The boys Of, the
neighborhood ara in the element.
When armed with a stout knife they
battle against the huge ever.revolving
carrier that hauls the stalks up into
the mill and out Of their reach. Bet
ter anti sweeter still is the cane
chewed on the sly in the solitary midst
Of a waving cana field. or "swiped"
from loaded freight cars in the early
morning. one eye 'peeled for the
watchman," the other on the lookout
against wormy cane. How torturing
are the afternoons spent at school for
lesson failure or for teasing the
girls" when the other fellows are
out in the cane fields or at the mill
And when knives are forfeited for a
period, for cutting desks instead OF
cane, how cruel to them is the punish.
ment! Sugar cane season Is indeed a
school season Of cutting and squirm.
ing.
One can imagine, for houts at a
time, the scenes taking place in the
fields or in the mill, but cares and
duties call and the fascinating planta-
tion view must be left for fall house
cleaning, or garden-making, or bust
ness, until the bell calls once again.
In the meantime, negroes bend to
their task in the fields, the great mouth
Of the derrick hauls the cane into the
carrier, boys and girls chew cane. and
life on the plantation, a midget world
in itself, goes along in humdrum, every
day fashion.