The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1956-02-24

way was to get all the sap sugar
we could, make candy of it, and
sell it to the darkey boys for
enough money to buy new net.
Then get rich fishin' and we could
buy all the sap sugar we wanted.
We should have stopped before we
started, but we didn't seem to
know how then or any other time.
We didn't know how to make
candy and we didn't know lot
of other things such as KNOWN
when we was well off. Fact is,
/ never have learned that yet.
Grandmother had a big fry pan
out in the yard for the chickens
to drink out of that looked just
right for US to make the. candy in,
so we toted it down to Tiber
Greek and cleaned it out right
good 'ceptin' it had some clay in
the bottom about an inch of it
that had been plastered in there
and then cured in the fire. 1t was
to keep the pan from rusting and
to keep the ice from breaking it.
We couldn't pry it out handy so
we decided it wouldn't hurt any
thing to leave it in. Mebbe it
wouldn't have hurt anything iffen
we had tended to our cookin'
1--WE toted the pan and the sugar
out Rumquarter Road most out to
Snod Bailey's place. There was a
deserted farmhouse and barn there
so we knew we could find plenty
of dry wood for the fire. We fixed
some bricks to set the pan on and
then built a little fire. We poured
some water in the pan and put it
over the fire. Our idea was to di-
lutte the sugar so as to make more
candy. We stood around waiting
for the water to boil and plannin'
what to do with our money when
we got rich. The water was slow
boiling so Brud allowed he had
heard that a watched pot never
boils so we poured the sugar in the
pan til it was heaped up. Then
put some wood ON the fire and to
keep from watchin's the pan, we
wandered over to the house and
explored around there.
eve. got interested in chunkin'
stones at some pigeons on the roof.
About all we did was scare 'em
away and when they lit on the
barn roof, we went over there and
were quite busy chunkin' at 'em
when we smelled sugar burnin'
1t was a middlin' far piece back
to the fire. We sped as fast as
we could, but as the preacher says,
it was everlastingly too late.
Calamity Comes Forth
There must have been some
light wood in that last lot l put
on the fire because the fire was so
hot that We wouldn't get near the
pan to lift it off. We hauled water
up outten the we'll and throwed
about five or six buckets full on
the fire fore we had put it out.
1t sure was mess. When the
smoke and steam cleared away
somewhat, we could see that the
pan was still about half full of
something, mostly ashes and water
we figgered. Anyway we was
right downright Disguised with the
candy maxim business so went on
home leaving the fry pan to cool.
We never went back till most
dusky dark. We wouldn't have gone
then but grandmother missed the
fry pan and was cussin' the YAM
KEGS for stealin' water away from
her poor chickens lin polite lady
like way of course).
"The sugar that was left in the
pan was black and as hard as
tombstone rock. We couldn't even
dent it. However, the venture
wasn't an entire loss. On our way
home we met a yellow boy named
Chocolate and traded the sugar in
the pan for four ears of corn to
bait a pigeon trap that we were
planning to build and get rich
sellin' pigeons to the soldiers. He
was to bring the pan back next
day by high sun.
eve expected Chocolate to melt
the sugar outten the pan but that
boy was smart. He set himself up
in business and made a lot of
money. He rugged himself a tin
cup with a hole in the bottom
and a box of dry sand. He had the
fry pan tied fast to a tree stump
and then when a colored boy paid
Chocolate penny, Chocolate would
tell him to kneel down by the
stump and then he would hold his
finger over the hole in the tin cup
and fill it with sand. He would
say Get ready and then take his
finger away from the hole and
yell Start lickin'.' The boy could
lick the pan as long as the sand
was running, but when it had all
run out, Chocolate would holler