Part 21 (1/2)
CHAPTER xxxI
THE FLORIDA CRACKERS
When the previous thirty chapters were in press, the conviction was forced upon me that any book which touched upon Florida without a description of its poor whites called ”Crackers,” would be like the play of ”Haladly pay this tribute of grateful remembrance to the most unique, and the only truly contented people that I have ever htens us, the ancestors of these peculiar specimens of the human race were never born anywhere in particular, but like Topsy, they ”si, lean, lank, saffron-hued, erst-while clay-eaters have received such an unromantic nagested by the fact that when not otherwise e the lice which swarm in their never-co of their rifles and long whip-lashes as they pursue their game or drive their cattle An ex-slave of one of them tells me that they are called ”Crackers,” because they are all ”cracked as to their cocoanuts”
Although the faces of many of these children of nature are usually as expressionless as a cast-iron cook-stove, they are far fro as stupid as they look; for even General Jackson, ”the man of blood and iron,” would have won but few, if any, laurels in his caainst the Seuard of the warlike ”Crackers”
”Out there in history” we see hi the redskins, become lost and bewildered in the vast primeval forest Day after day, they htfall found the
Provisions failed, and hunger and thirst drove the soldiers frantic
Every night they were pelted by bullets fro by innumerable insects; death for all stared them in the face; myriads of buzzards whirled above them, anxious for their prey
While Jackson and his e for succor, suddenly the air seemed to be filled with huels sent in answer to their fervent petitions Grotesque looking angels were these, swinging from limb to limb of the forest trees; but heavenly in their beneficence were the soleround and fed the exhausted warriors with ”hog, hominy,” and water from packs strapped with their rifles to their dirty, sturdy shoulders--”'nough sight better work for angels to do than loafin' around the throne” While the feasting was in full swing, suddenly the haggard and careworn face of ”Old Hickory”
appeared in their midst ”Boys,” said he, in his quick, incisive tones, ”don't eat any more, 'twillto the Floridians, he quietly remarked, ”Gentlemen, you saved our lives; many thanks! Noill do as much for you Where are the Injuns?” All the tree-climbers arose respectfully, saluted, and a tall, cadaverous-looking, long-haired, coon-skin-capped leader advanced, took the general by the hand, and slowly drawled,--
”Ginrul, the red niggers air skulkin' yender to the river, waitin' to chaw up you uns tonight
”Colonel Tompkins,” came the quick command, ”_climb_ your forces to the river, pour a volley into the red-skins at sundown, yell for all you're worth, we'll do the rest”
”All right, Ginrul, we uns will be thar,” and aent the ”flying Crackers,” facing unspeakable dangers as cal eyes of its lided noiselessly as the autumn leaves cleave the air over the pine-needle carpet of the forest, and when this was is and morasses, which would s theh the tops of the sighing pines until they had flanked their unsuspecting foes; then, just as the sun was setting, they struck terror to the hearts of the Sehtful yells,
”As if all the fiends from heaven that fell, Had pealed the banner-cry of hell”
The red- the narrow isthht upon the ambushed arrass before the scythes The spirits of the Indians were crushed, and the remnant of a once powerful tribe fled into the vast, to the whites, inaccessible everglades, where their descendants now live on their fertile oasis, which is cultivated by their negro slaves, who never heard of Abraham Lincoln, or his proclaallant soldiers have all the glory; but their heroic allies returned quietly to their huts, their ”hog and hoa quail
The stolidity and patience of the ”Cracker” is equalled only by that of ”their cousins, the Indians”; I have seen one of the without being encouraged by even a little nibble; his face was as placid as that of a mummy which he closely resembles; then suddenly he would pull in scores of trout, but with the sah al to their love of ease, these children of nature are proverbially hospitable, and you are welcouest until you eat his last bit of food unless you offer him compensation therefor; if you do that his wrath knows no bounds, as I once found towith three other horseback riders for a day and night lost in the woods; ere hungry and tired to the verge of collapse, when suddenly up went the heads and tails of our quadruped friends, who neighed with delight, and dashed pell ation of buildings which loo with our saluting shouts, but there was no response, the settlement was deserted; we stabled and fed our horses in the near-by barn, and led by a Floridian friend entered the largest house Had manna fallen to us froe table was before us covered with enormous quantities of roasted alore We fell upon the provisions like fa voids” were filled, ere appalled at the havoc we had wrought; still no hosts appeared to welcome or rebuke
On the wide ars from which those of us ere ”slaves to the filthy weed”the wise ar, ”a roll of nausea with fire on one end and a fool on the other,” when the air resounded with loud reports like pistol-shots and shouts of ”whoa, whe, gee,” rebel yells and barking of dogs; then a ed on by a cavalcade of lances until the round-up was co crowd cauilty consciences made us fearful of dire punish-haired patriarch saluted us with ”Howdy, strangers, howdy,” shook hands with us heartily, and with a wave of his hand, ”lanced at the iood appetites, strangers, ”
The whole crowd gave us atub where they perfor, pork and sausages sizzling, doughnuts swelling,hands: then the whole arhable to see that crowd of sons, daughters, grand-sons, grand-daughters--fifty in nu”
Each one re as said to devour a half-bushel of boiled potatoes, and when he was outside of all that, he, himself, would not fill a two quart irls helped ; it required a dozen strongcohile a woman, squeezed out a little ave down freely later when the ravenous calf took hold If the oes the irate cow's heels, away goes the pail ”dowsing” themilk from head to foot, anon the wild-eyed brute would down horns and charge, the ht of lassoos, over goes the frantic anihten until she was conquered and forced to ”give down some of her juice” One dose of this medicine was usually sufficient for any wild cow, and forever after she would ”stand and deliver in peace”
Shall we ever forget the feeding of the pigs? Oh, the wild charge they hs filled! ”Everyone for hie razor-back stretches hienerous attes of thes, and by a dextrous pull sends his swine-shi+p whirling and rending high heaven with his larand in the sun, they express by their contented grunts and snores, ecstatic rapture as they pile on flesh for the stuffing of their carniverous owners Then atched a giant Crackeress feeding what she called her ”feathered hogs” With frenzied eyes, whirring wings and waring beaks, all rushed to cheat the others and to secure the whole earth, each for his without feathers”; a hen seizes a hoe-cake of her own size and frantically rushes away in the vain hope of devouring it in peace in so, and her uncles and her aunts pursue, striking with beaks and claws to rob her of her big all It was a s and foul birds of prey fight to the death to plunder their own brothers
And now gently the night stole o'er us--
”Night, so holy and so calm, That the moonbeams hushed the spirit, Like the voice of prayer or psalenerations listened intently, apped stories with our generous ”Crackers”