CHAPTER XV.

LABORS ON SUGAR PLANTATIONS--THE MODE OF PLANTING CANE--OF

HOEING CANE--CANE RICKS--CUTTING CANE--DESCRIPTION OF THE CANE

KNIFE--WINROWING--PREPARING FOR SUCCEEDING CROPS--DESCRIPTION OF

HAWKINS' SUGAR MILL ON BAYOU BOEUF--THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS--THE

CARNIVAL SEASON OF THE CHILDREN OF BONDAGE--THE CHRISTMAS

SUPPER--RED, THE FAVORITE COLOR--THE VIOLIN, AND THE CONSOLATION IT

AFFORDED--THE CHRISTMAS DANCE--LIVELY, THE COQUETTE--SAM ROBERTS, AND

HIS RIVALS--SLAVE SONGS--SOUTHERN LIFE AS IT IS--THREE DAYS IN THE

YEAR--THE SYSTEM OF MARRIAGE--UNCLE ABRAM'S CONTEMPT OF MATRIMONY.

In consequence of my inability in cotton-picking, Epps was in the

habit of hiring me out on sugar plantations during the season of

cane-cutting and sugar-making. He received for my services a dollar

a day, with the money supplying my place on his cotton plantation.

Cutting cane was an employment that suited me, and for three

successive years I held the lead row at Hawkins', leading a gang of

from fifty to an hundred hands.

In a previous chapter the mode of cultivating cotton is described.

This may be the proper place to speak of the manner of cultivating

cane.

The ground is prepared in beds, the same as it is prepared for the

reception of the cotton seed, except it is ploughed deeper. Drills

are made in the same manner. Planting commences in January, and

continues until April. It is necessary to plant a sugar field only

once in three years. Three crops are taken before the seed or plant is

exhausted.

Three gangs are employed in the operation. One draws the cane from the

rick, or stack, cutting the top and flags from the stalk, leaving only

that part which is sound and healthy. Each joint of the cane has an

eye, like the eye of a potato, which sends forth a sprout when buried

in the soil. Another gang lays the cane in the drill, placing two

stalks side by side in such manner that joints will occur once in four

or six inches. The third gang follows with hoes, drawing earth upon

the stalks, and covering them to the depth, of three inches.

In four weeks, at the farthest, the sprouts appear above the ground,

and from this time forward grow with great rapidity. A sugar field is

hoed three times, the same as cotton, save that a greater quantity of

earth is drawn to the roots. By the first of August hoeing is usually

over. About the middle of September, whatever is required for seed is

cut and stacked in ricks, as they are termed. In October it is ready

for the mill or sugar-house, and then the general cutting begins. The

blade of a cane-knife is fifteen inches long, three inches wide in the

middle, and tapering towards the point and handle. The blade is thin,

and in order to be at all serviceable must be kept very sharp. Every

third hand takes the lead of two others, one of whom is on each side

of him. The lead hand, in the first place, with a blow of his knife

shears the flags from the stalk. He next cuts off the top down as far

as it is green. He must be careful to sever all the green from the

ripe part, inasmuch as the juice of the former sours the molasses, and

renders it unsalable. Then he severs the stalk at the root, and lays

it directly behind him. His right and left hand companions lay their

stalks, when cut in the same manner, upon his. To every three hands

there is a cart, which follows, and the stalks are thrown into it by

the younger slaves, when it is drawn to the sugar-house and ground.

If the planter apprehends a frost, the cane is winrowed. Winrowing is

the cutting the stalks at an early period and throwing them lengthwise

in the water furrow in such a manner that the tops will cover the

butts of the stalks. They will remain in this condition three weeks or

a month without souring, and secure from frost. When the proper time

arrives, they are taken up, trimmed and carted to the sugar-house.

In the month of January the slaves enter the field again to prepare

for another crop. The ground is now strewn with the tops, and flags

cut from the past year's cane. On a dry day fire is set to this

combustible refuse, which sweeps over the field, leaving it bare and

clean, and ready for the hoes. The earth is loosened about the roots

of the old stubble, and in process of time another crop springs up

from the last year's seed. It is the same the year following; but the

third year the seed has exhausted its strength, and the field must be

ploughed and planted again. The second year the cane is sweeter and

yields more than the first, and the third year more than the second.

During the three seasons I labored on Hawkins' plantation, I was

employed a considerable portion of the time in the sugar-house. He is

celebrated as the producer of the finest variety of white sugar. The

following is a general description of his sugar-house and the process

of manufacture:

The mill is an immense brick building, standing on the shore of the

bayou. Running out from the building is an open shed, at least an

hundred feet in length and forty or fifty feet in width. The boiler in

which the steam is generated is situated outside the main building;

the machinery and engine rest on a brick pier, fifteen feet above

the floor, within the body of the building. The machinery turns two

great iron rollers, between two and three feet in diameter and six

or eight feet in length. They are elevated above the brick pier, and

roll in towards each other. An endless carrier, made of chain and

wood, like leathern belts used in small mills, extends from the iron

rollers out of the main building and through the entire length of the

open shed. The carts in which the cane is brought from the field as

fast as it is cut, are unloaded at the sides of the shed. All along

the endless carrier are ranged slave children, whose business it is

to place the cane upon it, when it is conveyed through the shed into

the main building, where it falls between the rollers, is crushed, and

drops upon another carrier that conveys it out of the main building

in an opposite direction, depositing it in the top of a chimney upon

a fire beneath, which consumes it. It is necessary to burn it in

this manner, because otherwise it would soon fill the building, and

more especially because it would soon sour and engender disease. The

juice of the cane falls into a conductor underneath the iron rollers,

and is carried into a reservoir. Pipes convey it from thence into

five filterers, holding several hogsheads each. These filterers are

filled with bone-black, a substance resembling pulverized charcoal.

It is made of bones calcinated in close vessels, and is used for the

purpose of decolorizing, by filtration, the cane juice before boiling.

Through these five filterers it passes in succession, and then runs

into a large reservoir underneath the ground floor, from whence it is

carried up, by means of a steam pump, into a clarifier made of sheet

iron, where it is heated by steam until it boils. From the first

clarifier it is carried in pipes to a second and a third, and thence

into close iron pans, through which tubes pass, filled with steam.

While in a boiling state it flows through three pans in succession,

and is then carried in other pipes down to the coolers on the ground

floor. Coolers are wooden boxes with sieve bottoms made of the finest

wire. As soon as the syrup passes into the coolers, and is met by the

air, it grains, and the molasses at once escapes through the sieves

into a cistern below. It is then white or loaf sugar of the finest

kind--clear, clean, and as white as snow. When cool, it is taken out,

packed in hogsheads, and is ready for market. The molasses is then

carried from the cistern into the upper story again, and by another

process converted into brown sugar.

There are larger mills, and those constructed differently from the one

thus imperfectly described, but none, perhaps, more celebrated than

this anywhere on Bayou Boeuf. Lambert, of New-Orleans, is a partner of

Hawkins. He is a man of vast wealth, holding, as I have been told, an

interest in over forty different sugar plantations in Louisiana.

* * * * *

The only respite from constant labor the slave has through the whole

year, is during the Christmas holidays. Epps allowed us three--others

allow four, five and six days, according to the measure of their

generosity. It is the only time to which they look forward with any

interest or pleasure. They are glad when night comes, not only because

it brings them a few hours repose, but because it brings them one day

nearer Christmas. It is hailed with equal delight by the old and the

young; even Uncle Abram ceases to glorify Andrew Jackson, and Patsey

forgets her many sorrows, amid the general hilarity of the holidays.

It is the time of feasting, and frolicking, and fiddling--the carnival

season with the children of bondage. They are the only days when they

are allowed a little restricted liberty, and heartily indeed do they

enjoy it.

It is the custom for one planter to give a "Christmas supper,"

inviting the slaves from neighboring plantations to join his own on

the occasion; for instance, one year it is given by Epps, the next

by Marshall, the next by Hawkins, and so on. Usually from three to

five hundred are assembled, coming together on foot, in carts, on

horseback, on mules, riding double and triple, sometimes a boy and

girl, at others a girl and two boys, and at others again a boy, a girl

and an old woman. Uncle Abram astride a mule, with Aunt Phebe and

Patsey behind him, trotting towards a Christmas supper, would be no

uncommon sight on Bayou Boeuf.

Then, too, "of all days i' the year," they array themselves in their

best attire. The cotton coat has been washed clean, the stump of a

tallow candle has been applied to the shoes, and if so fortunate as

to possess a rimless or a crownless hat, it is placed jauntily on the

head. They are welcomed with equal cordiality, however, if they come

bare-headed and barefooted to the feast. As a general thing, the women

wear handkerchiefs tied about their heads, but if chance has thrown in

their way a fiery red ribbon, or a cast-off bonnet of their mistress'

grandmother, it is sure to be worn on such occasions. Red--the deep

blood red--is decidedly the favorite color among the enslaved damsels

of my acquaintance. If a red ribbon does not encircle the neck, you

will be certain to find all the hair of their woolly heads tied up

with red strings of one sort or another.

The table is spread in the open air, and loaded with varieties of

meat and piles of vegetables. Bacon and corn meal at such times are

dispensed with. Sometimes the cooking is performed in the kitchen on

the plantation, at others in the shade of wide branching trees. In

the latter case, a ditch is dug in the ground, and wood laid in and

burned until it is filled with glowing coals, over which chickens,

ducks, turkeys, pigs, and not unfrequently the entire body of a wild

ox, are roasted. They are furnished also with flour, of which biscuits

are made, and often with peach and other preserves, with tarts, and

every manner and description of pies, except the mince, that being an

article of pastry as yet unknown among them. Only the slave who has

lived all the years on his scanty allowance of meal and bacon, can

appreciate such suppers. White people in great numbers assemble to

witness the gastronomical enjoyments.

They seat themselves at the rustic table--the males on one side, the

females on the other. The two between whom there may have been an

exchange of tenderness, invariably manage to sit opposite; for the

omnipresent Cupid disdains not to hurl his arrows into the simple

hearts of slaves. Unalloyed and exulting happiness lights up the dark

faces of them all. The ivory teeth, contrasting with their black

complexions, exhibit two long, white streaks the whole extent of

the table. All round the bountiful board a multitude of eyes roll

in ecstacy. Giggling and laughter and the clattering of cutlery

and crockery succeed. Cuffee's elbow hunches his neighbor's side,

impelled by an involuntary impulse of delight; Nelly shakes her finger

at Sambo and laughs, she knows not why, and so the fun and merriment

flows on.

When the viands have disappeared, and the hungry maws of the children

of toil are satisfied, then, next in the order of amusement, is

the Christmas dance. My business on these gala days always was

to play on the violin. The African race is a music-loving one,

proverbially; and many there were among my fellow-bondsmen whose

organs of tune were strikingly developed, and who could thumb the

banjo with dexterity; but at the expense of appearing egotistical,

I must, nevertheless, declare, that I was considered the Ole Bull

of Bayou Boeuf. My master often received letters, sometimes from a

distance of ten miles, requesting him to send me to play at a ball or

festival of the whites. He received his compensation, and usually I

also returned with many picayunes jingling in my pockets--the extra

contributions of those to whose delight I had administered. In this

manner I became more acquainted than I otherwise would, up and down

the bayou. The young men and maidens of Holmesville always knew there

was to be a jollification somewhere, whenever Platt Epps was seen

passing through the town with his fiddle in his hand. "Where are you

going now, Platt?" and "What is coming off to-night, Platt?" would be

interrogatories issuing from every door and window, and many a time

when there was no special hurry, yielding to pressing importunities,

Platt would draw his bow, and sitting astride his mule, perhaps,

discourse musically to a crowd of delighted children, gathered around

him in the street.

Alas! had it not been for my beloved violin, I scarcely can

conceive how I could have endured the long years of bondage. It

introduced me to great houses--relieved me of many days' labor in the

field--supplied me with conveniences for my cabin--with pipes and

tobacco, and extra pairs of shoes, and oftentimes led me away from the

presence of a hard master, to witness scenes of jollity and mirth. It

was my companion--the friend of my bosom--triumphing loudly when I was

joyful, and uttering its soft, melodious consolations when I was sad.

Often, at midnight, when sleep had fled affrighted from the cabin, and

my soul was disturbed and troubled with the contemplation of my fate,

it would sing me a song of peace. On holy Sabbath days, when an hour

or two of leisure was allowed, it would accompany me to some quiet

place on the bayou bank, and, lifting up its voice, discourse kindly

and pleasantly indeed. It heralded my name round the country--made me

friends, who, otherwise would not have noticed me--gave me an honored

seat at the yearly feasts, and secured the loudest and heartiest

welcome of them all at the Christmas dance. The Christmas dance! Oh,

ye pleasure-seeking sons and daughters of idleness, who move with

measured step, listless and snail-like, through the slow-winding

cotillon, if ye wish to look upon the celerity, if not the "poetry of

motion"--upon genuine happiness, rampant and unrestrained--go down to

Louisiana, and see the slaves dancing in the starlight of a Christmas

night.

On that particular Christmas I have now in my mind, a description

whereof will serve as a description of the day generally, Miss Lively

and Mr. Sam, the first belonging to Stewart, the latter to Roberts,

started the ball. It was well known that Sam cherished an ardent

passion for Lively, as also did one of Marshall's and another of

Carey's boys; for Lively was _lively_ indeed, and a heart-breaking

coquette withal. It was a victory for Sam Roberts, when, rising from

the repast, she gave him her hand for the first "figure" in preference

to either of his rivals. They were somewhat crest-fallen, and, shaking

their heads angrily, rather intimated they would like to pitch into

Mr. Sam and hurt him badly. But not an emotion of wrath ruffled the

placid bosom of Samuel, as his legs flew like drum-sticks down the

outside and up the middle, by the side of his bewitching partner.

The whole company cheered them vociferously, and, excited with the

applause, they continued "tearing down" after all the others had

become exhausted and halted a moment to recover breath. But Sam's

superhuman exertions overcame him finally, leaving Lively alone, yet

whirling like a top. Thereupon one of Sam's rivals, Pete Marshall,

dashed in, and, with might and main, leaped and shuffled and threw

himself into every conceivable shape, as if determined to show Miss

Lively and all the world that Sam Roberts was of no account.

Pete's affection, however, was greater than his discretion. Such

violent exercise took the breath out of him directly, and he dropped

like an empty bag. Then was the time for Harry Carey to try his hand;

but Lively also soon out-winded him, amidst hurrahs and shouts, fully

sustaining her well-earned reputation of being the "fastest gal" on

the bayou.

One "set" off, another takes its place, he or she remaining longest

on the floor receiving the most uproarious commendation, and so the

dancing continues until broad daylight. It does not cease with the

sound of the fiddle, but in that case they set up a music peculiar to

themselves. This is called "patting," accompanied with one of those

unmeaning songs, composed rather for its adaptation to a certain tune

or measure, than for the purpose of expressing any distinct idea. The

patting is performed by striking the hands on the knees, then striking

the hands together, then striking the right shoulder with one hand,

the left with the other--all the while keeping time with the feet, and

singing, perhaps, this song:

"Harper's creek and roarin' ribber,

Thar, my dear, we'll live forebber;

Den we'll go to de Ingin nation,

All I want in dis creation,

Is pretty little wife and big plantation.

_Chorus._ Up dat oak and down dat ribber,

Two overseers and one little nigger."

Or, if these words are not adapted to the tune called for, it may be

that "Old Hog Eye" _is_--a rather solemn and startling specimen of

versification, not, however, to be appreciated unless heard at the

South. It runneth as follows:

"Who's been here since I've been gone?

Pretty little gal wid a josey on.

Hog Eye!

Old Hog Eye,

And Hosey too!

Never see de like since I was born,

Here come a little gal wid a josey on.

Hog Eye!

Old Hog Eye!

And Hosey too!"

Or, may be the following, perhaps, equally nonsensical, but full of

melody, nevertheless, as it flows from the negro's mouth:

"Ebo Dick and Jurdan's Jo,

Them two niggers stole my yo'.

_Chorus._ Hop Jim along,

Walk Jim along,

Talk Jim along," &c.

Old black Dan, as black as tar,

He dam glad he was not dar.

Hop Jim along," &c.

During the remaining holidays succeeding Christmas, they are provided

with passes, and permitted to go where they please within a limited

distance, or they may remain and labor on the plantation, in which

case they are paid for it. It is very rarely, however, that the latter

alternative is accepted. They may be seen at these times hurrying in

all directions, as happy looking mortals as can be found on the face

of the earth. They are different beings from what they are in the

field; the temporary relaxation, the brief deliverance from fear, and

from the lash, producing an entire metamorphosis in their appearance

and demeanor. In visiting, riding, renewing old friendships, or,

perchance, reviving some old attachment, or pursuing whatever pleasure

may suggest itself, the time is occupied. Such is "southern life as it

is," _three days in the year_, as I found it--the other three hundred

and sixty-two being days of weariness, and fear, and suffering, and

unremitting labor.

Marriage is frequently contracted during the holidays, if such an

institution may be said to exist among them. The only ceremony

required before entering into that "holy estate," is to obtain the

consent of the respective owners. It is usually encouraged by the

masters of female slaves. Either party can have as many husbands or

wives as the owner will permit, and either is at liberty to discard

the other at pleasure. The law in relation to divorce, or to bigamy,

and so forth, is not applicable to property, of course. If the wife

does not belong on the same plantation with the husband, the latter

is permitted to visit her on Saturday nights, if the distance is not

too far. Uncle Abram's wife lived seven miles from Epps', on Bayou

Huff Power. He had permission to visit her once a fortnight, but he

was growing old, as has been said, and truth to say, had latterly

well nigh forgotten her. Uncle Abram had no time to spare from his

meditations on General Jackson--connubial dalliance being well enough

for the young and thoughtless, but unbecoming a grave and solemn

philosopher like himself.